![]()
24.00 USD
Sári Fedák, was born (using the Hungarian word order for her name), Fedák Sarolta Klára Mária in 1879. She died in 1955. She was a complex person. Did you ever notice how, when someone is about to say terrible things about an historical personage, they often begin by telling you they were complex? :) Well, the fact is, we were able to find quite a lot of history on her, but not much of it good, really. To be fair, the old journalistic maxim of, "If it bleeds, it leads," might come into play here, by which we mean that her outspoken personality, and the scandals resulting from her actions, sold more newspapers than any quiet acts of kindness, which, it would seem, went unnoticed. The result is, that when we research her today, most of what we find is scandal.
She began her career in 1900, at the age of 21, after diligently studying acting and singing. In 1907, the Los Angeles Herald, in an article titled, "Mad Crowd Threatens To Kill an Actress," reported that she was driven from her home by a mob of angry people from whom she fled for her life, following the suicide of a Mr. Paul Widor. The crowd held Miss Fedak responsible for his death, apparently, as did the managers of local theaters who banned her from their stages. Below is a link to the article, if you'd care to read it:
http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH19070109.2.154
The article reports that she was quitting the theater as a result of this situation, but we find her back on stage, shortly thereafter.
A few years passed, her popularity reasserted itself, and following WWI, she was outspoken in her opposition to the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, in an era when many European countries were striving for independence from imperial rule. She, like many, supported the communist cause, and Hungary became, for a period of about 6 months, the Hungarian Soviet Republic, but when that government toppled, because of her politics, she fled Budapest for Vienna, where she was nevertheless arrested, and sent to prison for a short time.
Soon after her release, she married her long-time lover, writer Ferenc Molnár. Apparently their relationship was terribly stormy, which delighted the press to no end.
"The couple divorced in 1925 or 1926, after "he had accused her of intimacy with 42 gentlemen, and she had replied in kind with a list of 142 ladies"" (Thanks Wikipedia)
In the early 1930s, middle aged, but still very popular, she toured the U.S.
During WWII, she continued to enjoy a relatively successful career in Hungary, but it must be observed that in 1940's Hungary, under the thumb, as it was, of the axis powers, a leading actress with a history as a communist agitator, whose ex-husband was a Jew, prominent in literary circles, would have found herself in a tenuous position, at best.
We cannot know, then, whether it was under pressure from the occupying forces of Nazi Germany, or as an expression of her own beliefs, which would have to have been the complete opposite of those she'd expressed in the past, that on the radio in 1944, by now in her mid-sixties, she called out for her fellow Hungarians to fight on, on the side of Nazi Germany against the allied forces. Whatever her motives might have been, when the war ended, the victorious allies made an example of her. She was arrested and sent to prison yet again, this time for 6 months (a year, from one source), and banned from performances for a period of three years.
This finally broke her spirit and her career for good. Upon her release, she quietly retired from public life, and passed away, at the age of 75, in 1955. She is buried in Budapest.
These days, people seem to remember her mostly as a sparkling performer, and certainly there are many many lovely images of her from her early days on the stage and in film, this being definitely one of them.
A magnificent costume! Please examine our high res scans for detail.
Postage is for first class shipping in a secure photo mailer, and we happily combine shipping on all paper goods. If you purchase two cards, we will refund the postage on the second card, and when you purchase three or more cards from us at the same time, your shipping will be entirely free, except for international orders which, because of sudden increases in international shipping rates will still be charged one card's shipping fees on orders of three or more.
And please come visit our blog at:
redpoulaine.blogspot.com
where we post biographical and historical tidbits, images of cards and photographs for sale, some already sold but remembered fondly, related images of historical interest and sometimes even images of items that have not yet arrived in the shop, but that are expected to arrive soon, as well as coupon codes, links to other related sites, and more!
