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An Alternative Comedy History – Interrogating Transnational Aspects of Humour in British and Hungarian Comedies of the Inter-War Years

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An Alternative Comedy History – Interrogating Transnational Aspects of Humour in British and Hungarian Comedies of the Inter-War Years An Alternative Comedy History – Interrogating Transnational Aspects of Humour in British and Hungarian Comedies of the Inter-War Years Anna Martonfi Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) University of East Anglia School of Art, Media and American Studies Submitted May 2017 This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and that use of any information derived there from must be in accordance with current UK Copyright Law. In addition, any quotation or extract must include full attribution. Abstract Anna Martonfi, University of East Anglia, 2017 Supervisors: Dr Brett Mills and Dr Melanie Williams This thesis is a historical research into British comedy traditions made during an era when numerous creative personnel of Jewish backgrounds emigrated from Central and Eastern European countries to Britain. The objective is to offer an alternative reading to British comedy being deeply rooted in music hall traditions, and to find what impact Eastern European Jewish theatrical comedy traditions, specifically urban Hungarian Jewish theatrical comedy tradition ‘pesti kabaré’, may have had on British comedy. A comparative analysis is conducted on Hungarian and British comedies made during the inter-war era, using the framework of a multi-auteurist approach based on meme theory and utilising certain analytical tools borrowed from genre theory. The two British films chosen for analysis are The Ghost Goes West (1935), and Trouble Brewing (1939), whereas the two Hungarian films are Hyppolit, the Butler (1931), and Skirts and Trousers (1943). The purpose of this research within the devised framework is to point out the relevant memes that might refer to the cultural transferability of Jewish theatrical comedy traditions in the body of films that undergo analysis. The hitherto prevailing assumption that in order to understand British comedy one has to look back to music hall traditions ignores the possibility of alternative readings, despite the influx of creative personnel and the evidence suggested by the films made during the inter- war years. This research offers an alternative understanding of British comedy traditions, whereby a particular type of Jewish comedy, the urban ‘pesti kabaré’, can be seen as a relevant corresponding tradition to the films in question. Table of Contents Table of Contents ...........................................................................................................................1 List of Figures and Tables Page number ..................................................................................3 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................8 Chapter 1 – Introduction.................................................................................................................9 1.1 Aims, Objectives and Structural Specificities of the Thesis .................................................9 1.2 Historical Contextualisation .............................................................................................. 14 1.3 Academic Context and Justification .................................................................................. 23 Chapter 2 - Methodology ............................................................................................................. 33 2.1 Aims and objectives ............................................................................................................... 33 2.2 Auteur theory ......................................................................................................................... 36 2.3 Conscious or unconscious catalyst; Structuralism ................................................................... 44 2.4 Genre theory .......................................................................................................................... 46 2.5 Meme theory .......................................................................................................................... 51 2.6 Encoding and Decoding Model ............................................................................................... 54 2.7 Synthesis ................................................................................................................................ 56 2.8 Meseautó (1934) versus Car of Dreams (1935) – A Direct Juxtaposition ................................. 59 Chapter 3 – Narrative Aspects ...................................................................................................... 64 3.1 Aims, Methodology, Proppian Analyses ................................................................................. 64 3.2 Gender and Jewish Female Archetypes ................................................................................... 71 3.3 Class ...................................................................................................................................... 81 Chapter 4 – Visual and Aural Aspects (or Textual Aspects) – Cinematography, Mise-en-scene, Editing, Sound ............................................................................................................................. 85 4.1 Introduction, Literature Review and Justification .................................................................... 85 4.2.1 Mise-en-Scene – Costume: Gender and National Identities .................................................. 88 4.2.2 Mise-en-Scene – Set Design: The Dichotomy of Old vs New ............................................... 95 4.3.1 Theatricality in Mise-en-Scene .......................................................................................... 104 4.3.2 Theatricality in Editing and Cinematography ..................................................................... 110 4.4 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 117 Chapter 5 – Aspects of Humour.................................................................................................. 119 5.1 Aims of the Chapter, Justification and Literature Review ...................................................... 120 5.2.1 Quantitative Analysis – Form of the Joke ........................................................................... 125 5.2.2 Quantitative Analysis – Content of the Joke ....................................................................... 128 1 5.2.3 Quantitative Analysis – Who the Joke Concerns ................................................................ 134 5.3 Questions and Doubts Regarding Genre ................................................................................ 138 5.4 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 140 Chapter 6 – Aspects of Performance ........................................................................................... 142 6.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 142 6.2.1 British Music Hall ............................................................................................................. 145 6.2.2 Pesti Kabaré ...................................................................................................................... 154 6.2.3 Yiddish Theatre ................................................................................................................. 165 6.3.1 Actors and Actresses – Brief Introduction .......................................................................... 171 6.3.2 George Formby ................................................................................................................. 172 6.3.3 Googie Withers ................................................................................................................. 175 6.3.4 Robert Donat ..................................................................................................................... 176 6.3.5 Jean Parker ........................................................................................................................ 179 6.3.6 Eugene Pallette .................................................................................................................. 180 6.3.7 Gyula Kabos...................................................................................................................... 183 6.3.8 Pál Jávor............................................................................................................................ 186 6.3.9 Gyula Csortos .................................................................................................................... 188 6.3.10 Mici Erdélyi .................................................................................................................... 189 6.3.11 Éva Fenyvessy ................................................................................................................. 190 6.3.12 Kálmán Latabár ............................................................................................................... 191 6.3.13 Rózsi Csikós .................................................................................................................... 193 6.3.14 Ida Turay ........................................................................................................................
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