Research Catalog

Ferenc Molnár papers

Title: Ferenc Molnár papers, 1927-1952.
Author: Molnár, Ferenc, 1878-1952.
Supplementary Content: Finding Aid

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20 Items

Item details
Status	Container	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 1	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1947-002 Box 1	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 2	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1947-002 Box 2	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 3	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1947-002 Box 3	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 4	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1947-002 Box 4	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 5	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1947-002 Box 5	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 6	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1947-002 Box 6	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 7	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1947-002 Box 7	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 8	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1947-002 Box 8	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 9	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1947-002 Box 9	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 10	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1947-002 Box 10	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 11	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1947-002 Box 11	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 12	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1947-002 Box 12	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 13	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1947-002 Box 13	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 14	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1947-002 Box 14	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 15	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1947-002 Box 15	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 16	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1947-002 Box 16	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 17	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1947-002 Box 17	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 18	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1947-002 Box 18	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 19	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1947-002 Box 19	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 20	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1947-002 Box 20	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre

Details

Additional Authors

Description

18.4 linear ft. (20 boxes).

Summary

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 ranging in date from 1927 to 1952.

Subjects

Genre/Form

Scripts.
Correspondence.
Clippings.
Photographs.
Programs.

Access (note)

Collection is open to the public. Library policy on photography and photocopying will apply. Advance notice may be required.
Collection is open to the public. Photocopying prohibited. Advance notice may be required.

Biography (note)

The Hungarian playwright, Ferenc Molnár was born Ferenc Neumann in 1878 to an upper middle class Hungarian-Jewish family in Budapest.

Language (note)

The papers include correspondence, scripts and other writings in Hungarian and German.

Indexes/Finding Aids (note)

Finding aid available in repository and on internet.

Call Number

*T-Mss 1947-002

OCLC

NYPT04-A23

Author

Molnár, Ferenc, 1878-1952.

Title

Ferenc Molnár papers, 1927-1952.

Restricted Access

Collection is open to the public. Library policy on photography and photocopying will apply. Advance notice may be required.

Access

Collection is open to the public. Photocopying prohibited. Advance notice may be required.

Biography

The Hungarian playwright, 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 The Lawyer. His first popular success came with The Devil, 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 The Good Fairy, Liliom, Olympia, No Greater Glory, One, Two, Three, and The Swann. Both Puccini and Gershwin were interested in setting Liliom to music but Molnár declined. Eventually it was transformed with much success into Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel. Other plays were adapted for new productions, such as Arthur Miller's 1947 radio play of The Guardsman, and Tom Stoppard's 1985 staging of Rough Crossing.

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.

Language

The papers include correspondence, scripts and other writings in Hungarian and German.

Indexes

Finding aid available in repository and on internet. http://digilib.nypl.org/dynaweb/ead/rose/themolna

Connect to:

Request Access to Theatre Division Special Collections material

Finding Aid

Occupation

Dramatists

Added Author

Bartha, Wanda, 1908-1947.

Horch, Franz, 1901-

Penn, Irving.

Van Vechten, Carl, 1880-1964.

Research Call Number

*T-Mss 1947-002

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