The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1924-12-18
by GILBERT MILLER.
Producer o. "TIe swan. 2

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II all began in London, in Do
cennber. 1919, at g time when my
activitiee were solely concerned
with my English productions. Vic.
tor jacob, the noted composer,
and q warm friend OF mine, had
come to town from New York to
supervise the London production
Of ''SibyI." We were together con.
stantly, as jacob was rather sem
sitive about being considered nm
enemy alien and avoided alrnoat
altogether his former English
friends. During rehearsals Of his
operetta, jacob laid plans for q
visit to his family in Budapest,
none OF whom he had seen since
the outbreak Of the war. How
ever, thanks to the communicate
activities Of Bella Kun he WAS
able TO 90 only as far as Vienna,
! where he was met by his brother
Oliver. sE
Upon Jacobs return to London 3
Z he spoke with great enthusiasm
of q new comedy by his friend,
Ferenc Molnar. then being played
+ at the Burg Theater, In Vienna.
He insisted that ii was far and
away the finest piece Of work
MOlnar had done.
No manuscript was available,
but upon hearing that the plot
dealt Central European roy
atty my interest was ended at
the time, regardless Of Jacobs
estimate Of. its value. / considered,
q play Of the sort. scarcely .A<dra-
matte tid-bit for London I'M those
days with the wound Of war still
raw. 8.
In August. -1921. ! returned to
this country to assume charge Oe
the Frohman Company / again
saw a great deal of jacob, and
calling on him one, day at his
apartment ] noticed a German
printed edition OF 1.-The Swan" on
his desk. / recalled that he had
spoken to me about the play in
London and asked him IL T might
take 1t along and read 1t. He
granted the request eagerly and
explained that, for Molnar's sake,
he had the play translated into
English in order to submit Ii to
"a New York manager with whom
he was then associated in the pro
duction of operettes, but that the
manager had not cared for IL.
NY own reading of the play
thrilled me; bewitched me. /
longed at once to produce IL here
and set about procuring the
rights.
In the spring OF 1922 went to
Budapest to meet Molnar and. IL
possible, witness 9 performance Of
The Swan" The play would
not have been given during my
visit but for the great courtesy of
Ben Blumenthal, who, though a
New Yorker with many interests
in his native city, happens.
strangely enough, to be the pro.
prietor OF two Of Budapest's lead
ing theaters, one OF these being
the Vigszlnhaz. which translated
into English means THE Comedy
Theater," and which Is indeed the
comedy theater of Hungary.
Blumenthal arranged a special
performance of 'aThe Swan for
nal cast. =
It was a memorable occasion.
! knew no more than a dozen
words of Hungarian, picked up
from Victor Jacob, but had
acquired an intimate knowledge
OF the play from the much-perused
German text. and So. aided by an
interpreter at my elbow, the I'm.
excelied facial play of the actors
ana an occasional word with
which L was familiar, was able
10 Follow the play perfectly.
After the performance I called
on Molnar at his apartment over.
looking the Danube and remained
there for hours going over the
stage business Of the plav uoint
py point with. man who, be.
sides being perhaps the foremost
dramatic author OF the day, Il
also one OF the two greatest stage
directors have met. = Despite
my filial pride / win refrain. from
mentioning the other!
Molnar gave me a, copy. Of
sthe printed German prompt book q
which Is. the same sas-the ordinary
printed copy except that it il
interleaved with. diagrams. of the
actors position. was SURPRISED
that publisher should 60 to the
expense of preparing a COPY Of
this sort, In view of the number
Of plates that had to be en-
graved, but soon understood that
the expense was thoroughly
justified due to its permitting
the play to be given in every
German-Speaking city in the
world in precisely the way Mol.
mar had directed 1t In Budapest.