The 28th page of Lily, the life and death of a rascal

Ferenc Molnár’s suburban legend, entitled Liliom, was a failure in its world première in 1909 in Budapest. In spite of that the play became one of the most renowned Hungarian plays in the world. The success and the international reputation were brought by the German language performance directed by Josef Jarno in 1913. The play was running in Vienna in the Theater in der Josefstadt for a decade. It was adapted for the screen six times between 1919 and 1971, among others Fritz Lang directed it in 1934. Ferenc Molnár lived his play put to music: the musical entitled Carousel was a great success in 1945 in the Broadway. Ferenc Molnár wrote about this from New York Hotel Plaza (which was considered as his permanent address) to Dániel Jób 10 September 1945: “A few years back there was a Liliom revival in New York. And now, or rather on April 19, 1945, Liliom was reborn once again, but this time as an operatic, musical work that resembles Carmen and Le Boheme in structure and mood. This, thank God, is Liliom’s biggest success to date. The title of this musical Liliom is Carousel… Its music was composed by a modern American composer, Richard Rodgers, regarded by everyone here as the most important composer since Gershwin. For my own part I am thoroughly enamoured of this music, indeed I am also very fond of the libretto, which from beginning to end preserved every bit of dialogue from Liliom it was important to keep.” The hand-written bequest of Ferenc Molnár is scattered; researches on it can be done in two collections in Budapest and in more collections in New York. In the Petőfi Literary Museum there is only a fragment of the manuscript of Liliom.

Molnár Ferenc Liliom című, hét képben megírt külvárosi legendája 1909-ben megbukott a budapesti ősbemutatón, mégis ez lett később a magyar irodalom egyik legismertebb színműve a világon. A sikert és a világhírt az 1913-as Josef Jarno rendezte, német nyelvű előadás hozta meg, a bécsi Theater in der Josefstadt egy évtizeden át tartotta műsoron a darabot. 1919 és 1971 között hatszor filmesítették meg, egyebek közt Fritz Lang rendezte 1934-ben. A szerző megérte darabja megzenésítését is, a Carousel című musical óriási sikert aratott 1945-ben a Broadway-n. Molnár így írt erről 1945. szeptember 10-én az állandó lakhelyének számító New York-i Hotel Plazából Jób Dánielnek: A few years back there was a Liliom revival in New York. And now, or rather on April 19, 1945, Liliom was reborn once again, but this time as an operatic, musical work that resembles Carmen and Le Boheme in structure and mood. This, thank God, is Liliom’s biggest success to date. The title of this musical Liliom is Carousel…. Its music was composed by a modern American composer, Richard Rodgers, regarded by everyone here as the most important composer since Gershwin. For my own part I am thoroughly enamoured of this music, indeed I am also very fond of the libretto, which from beginning to end preserved every bit of dialogue from Liliom it was important to keep. Molnár Ferenc kéziratos hagyatéka szétszóródott, két budapesti és több New York-i gyűjteményben kutatható. A Petőfi Irodalmi Múzeumban a Liliom kéziratának csak töredéke található.