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Ferenc Molnár

May 04, 2023

For other people named Ferenc Molnár, see Ferenc Molnár (disambiguation).
The native form of this personal name is Molnár Ferenc. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

Ferenc Molnár (US: /ˌfɛrɛnts ˈmoʊlnɑːr, -rənts -, - ˈmɔːl-/ FERR-ents MOHL-nar, -⁠ənts -⁠, -⁠ MAWL-,[2][3][4] Hungarian: [ˈfɛrɛnt͡s ˈmolnaːr]; born Ferenc Neumann; January 12, 1878 – April 1, 1952), often anglicized as Franz Molnar, was a Hungarian-born author, stage director, dramatist, and poet, widely regarded as Hungary's most celebrated and controversial playwright. His primary aim through his writing was to entertain by transforming his personal experiences into literary works of art. He never connected to any one literary movement. However, he did utilize the precepts of naturalism, Neo-Romanticism, Expressionism, and Freudian psychoanalytic theories, but only as long as they suited his desires. "By fusing the realistic narrative and stage tradition of Hungary with Western influences into a cosmopolitan amalgam, Molnár emerged as a versatile artist whose style was uniquely his own."[5]

Ferenc Molnár
Portrait by Carl Van Vechten, 1941
BornFerenc Neumann
(1878-01-12)12 January 1878
Budapest, Austria-Hungary (today Hungary)
Died1 April 1952(1952-04-01) (aged 74)
New York City, New York
Resting placeLinden Hill Cemetery, Ridgewood, Queens, New York
OccupationNovelist
Years active1901–1952
SpouseMargit Vészi (1906–1910; divorced; 1 child)
Sári Fedák (1922–1925; divorced)
Lili Darvas (1926–1952; his death)
ChildrenMarta Molnar Sarkozi (1907–1966) suicide[1]
Ferenc Molnár was a war correspondent during the First World War.

As a novelist, Molnár may be remembered best for The Paul Street Boys, the story of two rival gangs of youths in Budapest. It has been translated into fourteen languages and adapted for the stage and film. It has been considered a masterpiece by many. It was, however, as a playwright that he made his most significant contribution and how he is best known internationally. "In his graceful, whimsical, sophisticated drawing-room comedies, he provided a felicitous synthesis of naturalism and fantasy, realism and romanticism, cynicism, and sentimentality, the profane and the sublime."[5] Out of his many plays, The Devil, Liliom, The Swan, The Guardsman, and The Play's the Thing endure as classics. His influences included luminaries such as Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, and Gerhart Hauptmann.[5] He immigrated to the United States to escape the persecution of Hungarian Jews during World War II and later adopted American citizenship. Molná's plays continue to be relevant and performed world-wide. His national and international fame has inspired many Hungarian playwrights, including Elemér Boross, László Fodor, Lajos Bíró, László Bús-Fekete [de], Ernő Vajda, Attila Orbók, and Imre Földes, among others.[5]

Life

Early years

Ferenc Molnár was born in Budapest on January 12, 1878, to Dr. Mór Neumann, a prosperous and well-regarded gastroenterologist, and Jozefa Wallfisch, both of German-Jewish heritage. The home in which he lived was opulent but gloomy. Even though he was born into wealth, "It was not a friendly atmosphere for the lively and precocious Ferenc, who constantly had to be warned to keep quiet."[5] Just a year before his birth, his parents' firstborn son and Molnár's brother, László, died. His mother was frail and frequently bedridden. Illness spread throughout the rooms of his house, and young Ferenc constantly was being told to keep quiet.

In 1887, Molnár entered the Református Gimnázium, a secondary school (high school) located in Miskolc, Hungary, where he was inspired to learn foreign languages and where his talent as a writer began to take shape. At fourteen, he started a periodical, Haladás (Progress), which sold only four copies, and a secondary publication, É letképek (Panorama), selling only 20 copies. His first dramatic work was A Kék Barlang (Blue Cave),[6] a controversial play written, directed, and staged in the basement of a friend's house.[5]

Upon completing secondary school, Molnár studied law at the University of Budapest in 1895. Shortly after, he was sent to Geneva by his father to continue his studies at the Swiss University. While living in Geneva, he began to write frequently, often sending his work to various papers. Molnár also wrote the short novella Magdolna during this time. He also traveled to Paris to see some of the chic new plays. "The fashionable boulevard comedies of Bernstein, Bataille, Capus, and others left a deep impression on him and later greatly influenced his dramatic style."[5]

In 1896, he abandoned a legal career to pursue a full-time career as a journalist. He covered a variety of topics during his time as a journalist. However, his primary focus was the court trials for Vészi's Budapesti Napló (Budapest Daily), a newspaper then edited and published by József Vészi, a Jewish intellectual who dominated Hungarian political journalism. Molnár's first wife was one of Vészi's daughters (Margit Vészi).[7] His mother died in 1898 when Ferenc was 20 years of age. Molnár served as a proud and jingoistic supporter of the Austro-Hungarian Empire while working as a war correspondent during World War I.[8] So positive were his war reports that he was decorated by the Habsburg emperor but criticized by some pacifist peers.[8] He would later write Reflections of a War Correspondent, describing his experiences.

Literary and theatrical career

In 1901, Molnár published his first full-length novel Az éhes város (The Hungry City). This novel made Molnár's name familiar throughout Hungary. It was "a relentless exposé of the evil effect of money, viewed by a young, idealistic newspaperman."[5] The year following the release of Az éhes város, Molnár began writing for the theatre. It was in this medium that he became known internationally. His journalistic work influenced his early works as a playwright. Molnár's first play, A doktor úr (The Lawyer),[9][10] and the play that followed, Józsi, are both comedies that were essentially a dramatization of newspaper sketches about a spoiled rich child and published as a collection of short dialogues.[5] His personal life inspired a lot of his writing. After separating from his first wife (Margit Vészi), he became involved with the famous Hungarian actress Irén Szécsi, who was then married to a wealthy manufacturer. The affair influenced some of his more critically successful works.

In 1907, Molnár wrote Az ördög (The Devil) for Irén, in which he challenged her to leave her husband. It brought Molnár international fame and performed all over Europe and New York. Hungarian-born American director Michael Curtiz later adapted The Devil into a film; three years later, James Young directed an English-language version. Also in 1907, Molnár wrote three books, including his juvenile novel, A Pál-utcai Fiúk (The Paul Street Boys). "His fame reached its zenith with the successful performances of Liliom abroad, though the play initially had been a failure in Budapest."[5] Molnár sought to regain favor with his wife, Lili, by portraying her in the role of Juli. It became his best-known play, adapted into a film by Fritz Lang featuring Charles Boyer (Paris, 1934) and the Broadway stage musical, Carousel (1945; film 1956) by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. Molnár expressed the complexities of his affair with Irén through his plays, The Guardsman (1910) and The Wolf (1912);[5] The Guardsman served as the basis for the 1931 film of the same name, starring American power couple Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne.

Molnár fell into a deep depression after Irén cut off the affair and returned to her family. He resorted to drinking heavily as a result, and in 1911 attempted suicide. He was rehabilitated in Austria and continued writing during this dark time. Between 1910 and 1914, five volumes of his collected essays, plus his translations of over 30 French plays, were published. "Molnár's long and turbulent life was one of hard and incessant work. For over 50 years, he transposed his inner conflict in his literary work; writing was his oxygen, elixir, and self-therapy," wrote monographist and fellow Hungarian emigré Clara (Klára) Györgyey.[5]

 
"Paul Street boys" sculpture in Budapest

Later years and death

On January 12, 1940, Molnár relocated to America and spent his last 12 years living in Room 835 at New York's Plaza Hotel. In 1943, he suffered a massive heart attack, forcing him to suspend work for almost a year. To celebrate the end of World War II, Molnár wrote and published Isten veled szivem (God Be With You My Heart) and the English Edition of The Captain of St Margaret's.

After the war, Molnár became outraged and depressed after learning of the fate of his Jewish friends and colleagues during the Holocaust in Hungary, and his personality changed. He became apathetic, morose, and misanthropic.[5]

In 1947, Molnár's secretary and devoted companion Wanda Bartha committed suicide. This event had a lasting effect on Molnár. Upon her death, he wrote Companion in Exile, his most tragic work, recalling his friend's sacrifices and their time together. Molnár donated all his manuscripts and bound scrapbooks containing articles about him, prepared by Wanda Bartha, to the New York Public Library.

Molnár died of cancer, aged 74, at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City on April 1, 1952. Because of his superstitious fear that creating a will would hasten his death, Molnár left behind several manuscripts, unfinished work, and a significant amount of money. Only his wife, Lili Darvas, attended his funeral with a few close friends. In the name of all women Molnár had loved, Lili Darvas bid him farewell with a quotation: "Liliom, sleep my boy, sleep!"[5]

Bibliography

Plays

 
Portrait of Ferenc Molnár (1918)
  • The Lawyer (1902)
  • Jozsi (1904)
  • The Devil (1907)
  • Liliom (1909)
  • The Guardsman (1910)
  • The Tale of the Wolf (1912)
  • The White Cloud (1916)
  • Carnival (1916)
  • Fashions for Men (1917)
  • The Swan (1920)
  • The Play's the Thing (1926)
  • Olympia (1928)
  • One two three (1929)
  • The Good Fairy (1930)
  • Delicate Story (1940)
  • The King's Maid (1941)

Books

 
Scene from Act 2 of The Guardsman (1911)
 
Plaque commemorating Molnár, on the wall of the primary school where he was a student from 1887 to 1895, by the sculptor Johanna Götz. It was unveiled on September 30, 2014.
  • The Hungry City (1901)
  • The Paul Street Boys (1906)
  • The Memoirs of a War Correspondent (1916)
  • The Captain of St. Margaret's (1926)
  • Farewell My Heart (1945)
  • Companion in Exile: Notes for an Autobiography (1950)

Other

  • Molnár, Ferenc (1953). "Heavenly and earthly love". In Birmingham, Frederic A. (ed.). The girls from Esquire. London: Arthur Barker. pp. 219–223.

References

  1. ^ Ágnes Bakk (April 27, 2015). "The talented Margaret Vészi". Manda – via Google Translate.
  2. ^ "Molnár". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.). HarperCollins. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  3. ^ "Molnár". Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  4. ^ "Molnár". Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Györgyey, Clara (1980). Ferenc Molnár. United States of America: Twayne Publishers. p. 174. ISBN 0-8057-6416-X.
  6. ^ Dilly Tante (1935). Living Authors A Book Of Biographies.
  7. ^ Kőbányai, János (21 April 2018). "Bíró, Lajos". YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe.
  8. ^ a b "Two Ways of Being a Jewish Writer: Ferenc Molnár and Arthur Schnitzler", Ivan Sanders, European Cultural Review
  9. ^ "The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey". www.shakespearenj.org. Retrieved 2023-02-18.
  10. ^ "Molnár, Ferenc | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2023-02-18.

External links

  Media related to Ferenc Molnár at Wikimedia Commons


May 04, 2023
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For other people named Ferenc Molnar see Ferenc Molnar disambiguation This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Ferenc Molnar news newspapers books scholar JSTOR June 2018 Learn how and when to remove this template message This article s tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia See Wikipedia s guide to writing better articles for suggestions June 2018 Learn how and when to remove this template message This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in Hungarian April 2013 Click show for important translation instructions View a machine translated version of the Hungarian article Machine translation like DeepL or Google Translate is a useful starting point for translations but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate rather than simply copy pasting machine translated text into the English Wikipedia Consider adding a topic to this template there are already 594 articles in the main category and specifying topic will aid in categorization Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low quality If possible verify the text with references provided in the foreign language article You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Hungarian Wikipedia article at hu Molnar Ferenc iro see its history for attribution You should also add the template Translated hu Molnar Ferenc iro to the talk page For more guidance see Wikipedia Translation Learn how and when to remove this template message The native form of this personal name is Molnar Ferenc This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals Ferenc Molnar US ˌ f ɛr ɛ n t s ˈ m oʊ l n ɑːr r e n t s ˈ m ɔː l FERR ents MOHL nar ents MAWL 2 3 4 Hungarian ˈfɛrɛnt s ˈmolnaːr born Ferenc Neumann January 12 1878 April 1 1952 often anglicized as Franz Molnar was a Hungarian born author stage director dramatist and poet widely regarded as Hungary s most celebrated and controversial playwright His primary aim through his writing was to entertain by transforming his personal experiences into literary works of art He never connected to any one literary movement However he did utilize the precepts of naturalism Neo Romanticism Expressionism and Freudian psychoanalytic theories but only as long as they suited his desires By fusing the realistic narrative and stage tradition of Hungary with Western influences into a cosmopolitan amalgam Molnar emerged as a versatile artist whose style was uniquely his own 5 Ferenc MolnarPortrait by Carl Van Vechten 1941BornFerenc Neumann 1878 01 12 12 January 1878Budapest Austria Hungary today Hungary Died1 April 1952 1952 04 01 aged 74 New York City New YorkResting placeLinden Hill Cemetery Ridgewood Queens New YorkOccupationNovelistYears active1901 1952SpouseMargit Veszi 1906 1910 divorced 1 child Sari Fedak 1922 1925 divorced Lili Darvas 1926 1952 his death ChildrenMarta Molnar Sarkozi 1907 1966 suicide 1 Ferenc Molnar was a war correspondent during the First World War As a novelist Molnar may be remembered best for The Paul Street Boys the story of two rival gangs of youths in Budapest It has been translated into fourteen languages and adapted for the stage and film It has been considered a masterpiece by many It was however as a playwright that he made his most significant contribution and how he is best known internationally In his graceful whimsical sophisticated drawing room comedies he provided a felicitous synthesis of naturalism and fantasy realism and romanticism cynicism and sentimentality the profane and the sublime 5 Out of his many plays The Devil Liliom The Swan The Guardsman and The Play s the Thing endure as classics His influences included luminaries such as Oscar Wilde George Bernard Shaw and Gerhart Hauptmann 5 He immigrated to the United States to escape the persecution of Hungarian Jews during World War II and later adopted American citizenship Molna s plays continue to be relevant and performed world wide His national and international fame has inspired many Hungarian playwrights including Elemer Boross Laszlo Fodor Lajos Biro Laszlo Bus Fekete de Erno Vajda Attila Orbok and Imre Foldes among others 5 Contents 1 Life 1 1 Early years 1 2 Literary and theatrical career 1 3 Later years and death 2 Bibliography 2 1 Plays 2 2 Books 2 3 Other 3 References 4 External linksLife EditEarly years Edit Ferenc Molnar was born in Budapest on January 12 1878 to Dr Mor Neumann a prosperous and well regarded gastroenterologist and Jozefa Wallfisch both of German Jewish heritage The home in which he lived was opulent but gloomy Even though he was born into wealth It was not a friendly atmosphere for the lively and precocious Ferenc who constantly had to be warned to keep quiet 5 Just a year before his birth his parents firstborn son and Molnar s brother Laszlo died His mother was frail and frequently bedridden Illness spread throughout the rooms of his house and young Ferenc constantly was being told to keep quiet In 1887 Molnar entered the Reformatus Gimnazium a secondary school high school located in Miskolc Hungary where he was inspired to learn foreign languages and where his talent as a writer began to take shape At fourteen he started a periodical Haladas Progress which sold only four copies and a secondary publication E letkepek Panorama selling only 20 copies His first dramatic work was A Kek Barlang Blue Cave 6 a controversial play written directed and staged in the basement of a friend s house 5 Upon completing secondary school Molnar studied law at the University of Budapest in 1895 Shortly after he was sent to Geneva by his father to continue his studies at the Swiss University While living in Geneva he began to write frequently often sending his work to various papers Molnar also wrote the short novella Magdolna during this time He also traveled to Paris to see some of the chic new plays The fashionable boulevard comedies of Bernstein Bataille Capus and others left a deep impression on him and later greatly influenced his dramatic style 5 In 1896 he abandoned a legal career to pursue a full time career as a journalist He covered a variety of topics during his time as a journalist However his primary focus was the court trials for Veszi s Budapesti Naplo Budapest Daily a newspaper then edited and published by Jozsef Veszi a Jewish intellectual who dominated Hungarian political journalism Molnar s first wife was one of Veszi s daughters Margit Veszi 7 His mother died in 1898 when Ferenc was 20 years of age Molnar served as a proud and jingoistic supporter of the Austro Hungarian Empire while working as a war correspondent during World War I 8 So positive were his war reports that he was decorated by the Habsburg emperor but criticized by some pacifist peers 8 He would later write Reflections of a War Correspondent describing his experiences Literary and theatrical career Edit In 1901 Molnar published his first full length novel Az ehes varos The Hungry City This novel made Molnar s name familiar throughout Hungary It was a relentless expose of the evil effect of money viewed by a young idealistic newspaperman 5 The year following the release of Az ehes varos Molnar began writing for the theatre It was in this medium that he became known internationally His journalistic work influenced his early works as a playwright Molnar s first play A doktor ur The Lawyer 9 10 and the play that followed Jozsi are both comedies that were essentially a dramatization of newspaper sketches about a spoiled rich child and published as a collection of short dialogues 5 His personal life inspired a lot of his writing After separating from his first wife Margit Veszi he became involved with the famous Hungarian actress Iren Szecsi who was then married to a wealthy manufacturer The affair influenced some of his more critically successful works In 1907 Molnar wrote Az ordog The Devil for Iren in which he challenged her to leave her husband It brought Molnar international fame and performed all over Europe and New York Hungarian born American director Michael Curtiz later adapted The Devil into a film three years later James Young directed an English language version Also in 1907 Molnar wrote three books including his juvenile novel A Pal utcai Fiuk The Paul Street Boys His fame reached its zenith with the successful performances of Liliom abroad though the play initially had been a failure in Budapest 5 Molnar sought to regain favor with his wife Lili by portraying her in the role of Juli It became his best known play adapted into a film by Fritz Lang featuring Charles Boyer Paris 1934 and the Broadway stage musical Carousel 1945 film 1956 by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II Molnar expressed the complexities of his affair with Iren through his plays The Guardsman 1910 and The Wolf 1912 5 The Guardsman served as the basis for the 1931 film of the same name starring American power couple Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne Molnar fell into a deep depression after Iren cut off the affair and returned to her family He resorted to drinking heavily as a result and in 1911 attempted suicide He was rehabilitated in Austria and continued writing during this dark time Between 1910 and 1914 five volumes of his collected essays plus his translations of over 30 French plays were published Molnar s long and turbulent life was one of hard and incessant work For over 50 years he transposed his inner conflict in his literary work writing was his oxygen elixir and self therapy wrote monographist and fellow Hungarian emigre Clara Klara Gyorgyey 5 Paul Street boys sculpture in Budapest Later years and death Edit On January 12 1940 Molnar relocated to America and spent his last 12 years living in Room 835 at New York s Plaza Hotel In 1943 he suffered a massive heart attack forcing him to suspend work for almost a year To celebrate the end of World War II Molnar wrote and published Isten veled szivem God Be With You My Heart and the English Edition of The Captain of St Margaret s After the war Molnar became outraged and depressed after learning of the fate of his Jewish friends and colleagues during the Holocaust in Hungary and his personality changed He became apathetic morose and misanthropic 5 In 1947 Molnar s secretary and devoted companion Wanda Bartha committed suicide This event had a lasting effect on Molnar Upon her death he wrote Companion in Exile his most tragic work recalling his friend s sacrifices and their time together Molnar donated all his manuscripts and bound scrapbooks containing articles about him prepared by Wanda Bartha to the New York Public Library Molnar died of cancer aged 74 at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City on April 1 1952 Because of his superstitious fear that creating a will would hasten his death Molnar left behind several manuscripts unfinished work and a significant amount of money Only his wife Lili Darvas attended his funeral with a few close friends In the name of all women Molnar had loved Lili Darvas bid him farewell with a quotation Liliom sleep my boy sleep 5 Bibliography EditThis list is incomplete you can help by adding missing items January 2023 Plays Edit Portrait of Ferenc Molnar 1918 The Lawyer 1902 Jozsi 1904 The Devil 1907 Liliom 1909 The Guardsman 1910 The Tale of the Wolf 1912 The White Cloud 1916 Carnival 1916 Fashions for Men 1917 The Swan 1920 The Play s the Thing 1926 Olympia 1928 One two three 1929 The Good Fairy 1930 Delicate Story 1940 The King s Maid 1941 Books Edit Scene from Act 2 of The Guardsman 1911 Plaque commemorating Molnar on the wall of the primary school where he was a student from 1887 to 1895 by the sculptor Johanna Gotz It was unveiled on September 30 2014 The Hungry City 1901 The Paul Street Boys 1906 The Memoirs of a War Correspondent 1916 The Captain of St Margaret s 1926 Farewell My Heart 1945 Companion in Exile Notes for an Autobiography 1950 Other Edit Molnar Ferenc 1953 Heavenly and earthly love In Birmingham Frederic A ed The girls from Esquire London Arthur Barker pp 219 223 References Edit Agnes Bakk April 27 2015 The talented Margaret Veszi Manda via Google Translate Molnar The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language 5th ed HarperCollins Retrieved 14 August 2019 Molnar Collins English Dictionary HarperCollins Retrieved 14 August 2019 Molnar Merriam Webster Dictionary Retrieved 14 August 2019 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Gyorgyey Clara 1980 Ferenc Molnar United States of America Twayne Publishers p 174 ISBN 0 8057 6416 X Dilly Tante 1935 Living Authors A Book Of Biographies Kobanyai Janos 21 April 2018 Biro Lajos YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe a b Two Ways of Being a Jewish Writer Ferenc Molnar and Arthur Schnitzler Ivan Sanders European Cultural Review The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey www shakespearenj org Retrieved 2023 02 18 Molnar Ferenc Encyclopedia com www encyclopedia com Retrieved 2023 02 18 External links Edit Media related to Ferenc Molnar at Wikimedia Commons Biography portal Works by Ferenc Molnar at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Ferenc Molnar at Internet Archive Ferenc Molnar at IMDb Ferenc Molnar papers 1927 1952 held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Portraits held at the Billy Rose Theatre Division New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Ferenc Molnar at Find a Grave Ferenc Molnar at Library of Congress with 124 library catalogue records Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Ferenc Molnar amp oldid 1141735695, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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