Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1922-04-16
ALL EUROPE KNOWS
PLAYS AND j. 5, TOO
american Woman Writer
Visits Budapest and In
tcrviews Author.
WRITES MANY SUCCESSES
"The Devil" "where Ignorance Ia
BifEs." "The Phantom RIyni' md
"The Attorney for the Defence
Remembered by ThcnterEorrs.
WRITES
SUCCESSES
by Dorothy ThOmpson.
BUDAPEST. AprIl

bC p-fII ApTI 10
iHE Budapcs, amusement park has
fallen upon cvil days. Scenic rail
ways roller coasters. and Ferris
wheels. shroudcd in canvas. loom like
tho distorted ghosts of dead Hilarity.
he cheerful roar Of the wheels are
almost stillcd. Here and there \
weary spiclcr drOncs out the merits
OF his attractions TO a thru sprink ling
! OF sausagc-cating servant girls and
Z Loud laughing factory hands. But the
/ Amusement park has followed the de-
i cline of tho city, which war. revolu-
ton. terrorism, ana poverty have
4 rohbed of It's cnchantment The lit
, re workers who used TO dance in the
amusement park now sit and hold
hands upon tho Danube quay. until a
Sendarine tells them Ia move on. For
one need pay nothing TO make love on
the Danube quay. and the amuse-
ment park no longer offers it's
benches aud trees for hfty hcllar
But though the Budapest Wurs,ed
Is silent and the voice Of the spielcr
is no longer heard in tn. land. both
are immortalizcd. Franz Molmar
-liunIary's most distinguished and be
Hi,vcd playwright. iooh budapest
apache for his hero. and the budapest
Concy Island for his scene. and from
such stun as these fashioned "Lil!om,"
the play which charmed and provoked
New York ~ no play presented in
many seasons has done. and which
WAS the most brilliant success in tho
Sew York Thcatcr Guilds career of
Euccesscs. "Liliorn" is Budapest in
the old days before The war: "I.iliom'
is the wurstel AT the height OF its
thricking glory.
Too Intensely I.orni.
Naturally thought OF Franz Mol
PAR and l.liiom. as | wandered the
ithcr afternoon in tho very arnusc-
ben park which Leo Sirnonson, dircc-
Dr OF the New York Thcatcr Guild.
eproduccd upon the Garrett Thea
RS stage not long ago. who Is
Njlnar?" asked the charming Hun
yarian friend. who was with me. /
pcan, What manner OF man is hc?'
[ My friend. who knows every one
the city where h. vas born, was
puck IL reply. "Odd-Molnar's success
ihroad? All Europe knows his plays.
knd America. too, 1t seems. The
pcNiF was a great success. wasn't 1t?
md there were Others: Where liz
horancc is Rliss: The Phantom
Rival: Tn. Attorney FOR the De-
Tense All OF these have been trans
lated from Hungarian into German
ard from German Into English and
fescntcd upon the American stage. !
h.iieE" You know Molnar has never
been translated directly into English
You get him twice removed. II is az
hcUii for us HUnEarians to under
stand why you like Moinar. He is
Intensely local. He's not the least bit
of a cosmopolitan; can't speak word
OF English or French. and his Ger
man. my dear friend. is almost AS bad
rs your own. Iic hardly ever leaves
budapest even TO go as far as Vienna.
where his plays appear simultaneous
~ with their debut in Budapest, and
Inr
iua!s have lived since the war. Ah-
solutcly the most uncurious mind. in
som" respects. which ! have ever
known. or is IL that ne plumbs so
deeply into the @ninds and hearts Of
+, budapest folk that he need look no
further to discover the whole range
Of hnmanity's thought and emotion i?
perhaps. at any rate, he thinks so
or maybe he's lazy.
but wish had known him years
ago--whcn he wrote Lili0m. It's not
a new play, you know Moinar. in
mS opinion. Is on the decline. when
lie was still in the early twcnties-
hes forty now-he wrote wonderful
things. I've read some OF his dia :
lloGucs and short stories He wrote
marvellous stories about children.
don't think any one ever understood
children beitcr-no one ever strained
sympathy for children so FREQ Of
Sentimcntalisn. He knew children
for what they arc-crucl. curious lit :
tie animals. l remember a dialogue
called 'Pctcrkin,' between two chill
drcn. one of them was about to die
Johnny tells Peterkin he has over
heard the doctor say he won't live
long and asks him for his rounded
copper. Because you won't need II
IL you die. They quarrel over the
rounded copper. and then talk about
hnslt Ia ND IN alSt
whether the horses do or do not have
black feathers stuck in their heads.
SothnE Dombey and Son about that
Its children AS they really are.
"But Molnar these days is more con-
ventional His best plays have not
been his greatest successes and no
one has ever translated his dialogues
and short stories into English. |
don't speak Of Liliom. It's fine
drama and Molnar at his hest. but
iI.iliom' was "A failure in Hungary
when first presented"
Josef jumped from Molnar's works
20 the man. Hes had n strange hec-
vic life In some ways. There was the
great romance of his youth-with
est woman in all Hungary; you
wouldn't meet a cleverer or q pretticr
woman In many travels. Versatile,
WHY Driiliant--a journalist novelist.
Faintress and musician, speaking a
meliilinous French and perfect Italian
ana English. Molnar courtcd her for
five years. She was an inyctcrate
traveller. and Molnar followed her
from capital to capital. shows how
nc felt about her. They were mar
ried for only six weeks. After her
divorce she took their child to Rome.
and she lives there now. haven't
seen her In Budapest in years.
Lives In Tenement
land now" concluded Josef. "We
Will run up and see IL Molnar is at
hbme. Perhaps YOU would like IN
meet him and form your own con-
illusions"
Then l saw that we had wandered
Into a street which I did not know
and were turning into dilapidated
odd apartment house. what n hole +"
thought, climbing the stairs. and
thinking of George MOOrc's attic in
the Kings Beach walk in London.
which he had abandoned because of
tho fastidions disapproval OF his lady
itfe. 1t occurred to me to wonder
why Molnar had not. like George
Moore. been prevailed upon to seek
more respectable quarters. The plas-
ter was peeling off the walls; the
stone stairs were worn hollow and
n