- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"18.4 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear feet"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"20 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}], "supress_display"=>true}
- unitid
-
{"value"=>"*T-Mss 1947-002", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"21724", "type"=>"local_mss"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1927-1952", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1927/1952"}
- date_inclusive_start
-
1927
- date_inclusive_end
-
1952
- keydate
-
1927
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Ferenc Molnár papers"}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. <span class=\"subarea\">Billy Rose Theatre Division.</span></span> <div class=\"address\"> <span class=\"addressline\">New York, New York</span></div>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"The Ferenc Molnár papers contain a selection of scripts, correspondence and articles written by Molnár between 1927 and 1952."}
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"<p> Ferenc Molnár Papers, *T-Mss 1947-002. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.</p>"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Molnár, Ferenc, 1878-1952", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Ferenc Molnár was born Ferenc Neumann in 1878 to an upper middle class Hungarian-Jewish family in Budapest. During his schooling he changed his German indoctrinated family name to the Hungarian Molnár. He studied law in Geneva for a brief time and then returned to Budapest in 1896 to devote himself to journalism, writing feuilletons—a mixture of cultural op-ed pieces, literary essay and reportage— for various European newspapers. As a result of these he gained renown in Budapest and began traveling in the local artistic circles. In 1902, after trying his hand successfully at novels and short stories, he wrote his first play <span class=\"title\">The Lawyer</span>. His first popular success came with <span class=\"title\">The Devil</span>, which, in 1909, saw three simultaneous productions in New York, one in English, one in German, and one in Yiddish. Though he wrote largely romantic comedies, satires, and farces (of drawing room society, aristocracy and domestic squabbles), he was also sensitive to the plight of the underclasses which showed through in his articles and fiction. Strains of his works are often compared to Maugham, Wilde, Pirandello, and Shaw. The plays are occasionally tinged with sentimentality and tempered by a basic humanity, but their real force is their humor. His plays were well-received in Budapest, Berlin and Vienna before the second World War, as well as in New York where they enjoyed revivals and debuts. Molnár had great crossover success from Broadway to Hollywood as many of his plays were made into or inspired movies, namely <span class=\"title\">The Good Fairy</span>, <span class=\"title\">Liliom</span>, <span class=\"title\">Olympia</span>, <span class=\"title\">No Greater Glory</span>, <span class=\"title\">One, Two, Three</span>, and <span class=\"title\">The Swann</span>. Both Puccini and Gershwin were interested in setting <span class=\"title\">Liliom</span> to music but Molnár declined. Eventually it was transformed with much success into Rodgers and Hammerstein’s <span class=\"title\">Carousel</span>. Other plays were adapted for new productions, such as Arthur Miller’s 1947 radio play of <span class=\"title\">The Guardsman</span>, and Tom Stoppard’s 1985 staging of <span class=\"title\">Rough Crossing</span>. To avoid the rising tide of National Socialism in Germany, Molnár immigrated in 1939 to New York City and resided at the Plaza Hotel where he lived and continued to write until his death in 1952. Though the Communists banned his work in his homeland his work has since experienced a resurgence there.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Ferenc Molnár papers contain material ranging from 1927 to 1952. The collection consists of scripts (in various forms of revision), business correspondence, a Molnár short story and novel, a sampling of Molnár’s non-fiction articles, extensive notes and drafts of his autobiography, reviews and notices of his theatrical productions, as well as programs and publicity photographs of Molnár. Highlights include a short article by Billy Rose on meeting Molnár in Budapest before the second World War, and photographs of Molnár by Carl Van Vechten and Irving Penn, as well as production photos of Molnár working on <span class=\"title\">Liliom</span> with Ingrid Bergman. Collection strengths include the various drafts of scripts and early synopses, which shed light on Molnár’s editing process; and, many uncollected early feuilletons which Molnár produced for European papers and which give an idea of the early 20th century cultural climate there. Missing from the collection is personal correspondence aside from that of a business nature, and a greater sampling of novels, short stories, and theater programs.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Ferenc Molnár papers are arranged in five series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21724#c330536'>Series I: Correspondence</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1943-1952</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>7 folders</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The correspondence series is relatively small in that it includes material from just four of Molnár’s acquaintances. The correspondence is of a business nature. Included are letters to and from Molnár’s agents, namely Franz Horch, Molnár’s New York representative who also arranged overseas contracts and negotiated legalities surrounding royalties on Molnár’s works. Other agents who Molnár worked with at one time or another include Ervin Rendes, a friend from Budapest; M. Kantorowitz, a Swiss theater promoter; and Edmund Pauker, a Broadway theater promoter in New York. There are no personal letters in this collection.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21724#c330546'>Series II: Biographical Material</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1931-1947</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>4 folders</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series includes material devoted to Molnár’s life and work that appeared in publications separate from written accounts and reviews of his theater productions. Included is a profile that appeared in the Bulletin of the American Women’s Club of Paris, and a chapter devoted to Molnár in a book of drama criticism titled <span class=\"title\">Hungarian Playwrights in New York</span>. Notable is an in-depth, three-part piece published in <span class=\"title\">The New Yorker</span> during June 1946, dedicated entirely to Molnár. Also included are two biographical sketches apparently produced as material for publicity and/or press-listings. For the donatation to NYPL of his material that he bequeathed to his secretary, Wanda Bartha (whom he outlived), Molnár created a special scrapbook. The scrapbook included death notices of, and front matter dedication to Bartha, among other clippings.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21724#c330551'>Series III: Scripts</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1927-1950</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>14 boxes (5.9 linear feet)</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The majority of the collection is comprised of working drafts and translations of scripts from 1927 to 1950. There are many early drafts of scripts and the extent to which Molnár reworked scenes and wrote variations on dialogue and stage directions is evidenced in the multiple copies of certain titles. In addition to the working scripts there are a handful of synopses, further evidence of the stages of growth the plays underwent. Since Molnár manually wrote out an equal amount of this material to what he typed, “manuscript” refers specifically to handwritten pieces as opposed to the ones he typed, which are referred to as “typescript”. “Carbons” refer to the simultaneous copy made from the written or typed original. “Clean” refers to the amount of revision, “clean” or “mostly clean” meaning less revisions. Many of the plays also exist in two or more languages: English, German, or Hungarian. It was not unusual for Molnár to originate a play in one language and to have it translated into another while continuing to revise it in both.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21724#c330666'>Series IV: Writings by Molnár</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1928-1949</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>4 folders</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Before emigrating to the US Molnár wrote feuilletons for Hungarian newspapers. These unique and uncollected pieces prove to be an important barometer of the cultural climate on the Continent before, during and after WW I. Several of these articles from German, Hungarian and English papers are found here. This series also includes a short story “The Blue-Eyed Lady in the Show Window” which appeared in <span class=\"title\">The Commonweal</span> magazine and was eventually published as a children’s book. Notes on the drafts show that Molnár envisioned the story in such a way as to also appear as a short film though it was never produced. Though Molnár wrote several novels in addition to his many plays, there exists only one, <span class=\"title\">Eine Herbstriese</span>, as a working draft in this collection. Towards the end of his life he began work on his autobiography, which is a combination of stories and reminiscences, from his own life and those of his close friends, relayed not in a chronological linearity but in episodic anecdotes. This series holds many drafts of these episodes. The “autobiography” <span class=\"title\">Companion in Exile</span>, however turns out to be much more a devotional remembrance and autumnal paean to his secretary Wanda Bartha, cleverly filtering experiences through others, and installing himself as observer as opposed to main star.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21724#c330688'>Series V: Ephemera</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1927-1947</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>12 folders</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The material included here is divided into three sub-series: Clippings, Photography, and Production Materials. These series contain the outstanding remains of the collection which are related to the works and their productions but usually tell about them from another angle, or position.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p> <ul> <li>Series I: Correspondence, 1943-1952</li> <li>Series II: Biographical Material, 1931-1947</li> <li>Series III: Scripts, 1927-1950</li> <li>Series IV: Writings by Molnár, 1928-1949</li> <li>Series V: Ephemera, 1927-1947 <ul> <li>Sub-series 1 -Clippings, 1927-1950</li> <li>Sub-series 2 -Photography, 1935-1942</li> <li>Sub-series 3 -Production Materials, 1941-1947</li></ul></li></ul></p>", "supress_display"=>true}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Ferenc Molnár Papers were donated to the Billy Rose Theatre Division in 1947 by Ferenc Molnár. In addition to these papers, but filed separately as part of the Performing Arts Theater collection and the Humanities General Research collection, Molnár also donated a collection of his published works including plays, novels, short story and essay collections in various languages.</p>"}
- separatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>Two posters announcing performances of <span class=\"title\">Game of Hearts</span> (Copenhagen, undated), and <span class=\"title\">Le Cygne</span> (Paris, 1927)</p>"}
- accessrestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>Photocopying prohibited.</p>"}
- userestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>For permission to publish, contact the Curator, Billy Rose Theatre Division.</p>"}
- langmaterial_code
-
hun
ger
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"The papers include correspondence, scripts and other writings in Hungarian and German"}
{"value"=>"English"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by Elizabeth Elkind and Brad Campbell; Machine-readable finding aid created by Brad Campbell.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by Elizabeth Elkind and Brad Campbell;\n Machine-readable finding aid created by Brad Campbell .</p>"}
- extent_statement
-
18.4 linear feet (20 boxes)
- date_start
-
1927
- date_end
-
1952