Ferenc Molnár

Ferenc Molnár

Infobox Writer
name =Ferenc Molnár

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caption = Ferenc Molnár (photo by Carl Van Vechten, 1941)
birthdate = birth date|1878|1|12|df=y
birthplace = Budapest, Hungary (Austria-Hungary) 1
deathdate = death date and age|1952|4|1|1878|1|12|df=y
deathplace = New York City
occupation = Novelist
genre =
movement =
influences =
influenced =
website =

Ferenc Molnár (originally Ferenc Neumann 12 January 1878 in Budapest — 1 April 1952 in New York City) was a Hungarian dramatist and novelist. His Americanized name is Franz Molnar. He emigrated to the United States to escape the Nazi persecution of Hungarian Jews during World War II.

As a novelist, Molnár is remembered principally for "The Paul Street Boys" which tells the story of two rival gangs of youths in Budapest. The novel is a classic of youth literature, beloved in Hungary and abroad for its treatment of the themes of solidarity and self-sacrifice. It was ranked second in a poll of favorite books as part of the Hungarian version of Big Read in 2005 and has also been made into a film on several occasions. The most notable production was a [http://imdb.com/title/tt0062164 Hungarian-U.S. collaboration released in 1969] .

Molnár's most popular plays are "Liliom" (1909, tr. 1921), later adapted into the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical play "Carousel" (1945); "The Guardsman" (1910, tr. 1924), which served as the basis of the film of the same name (1931); and "The Swan" (1920, tr. 1922). The 1956 film version of "The Swan" (which had been filmed twice before) is famous for being Grace Kelly's last movie, and for being released the same year that she herself became a princess. She married Prince Rainier that same year.

Two of Molnar's other plays have been adapted for other media: "The Good Fairy", was adapted by Preston Sturges and filmed in 1935 with Margaret Sullavan, and subsequently turned into the 1947 Deanna Durbin vehicle, "I'll Be Yours". (It also served as the basis for the 1951 Broadway musical "Make a Wish", with book by Sturges.) The film version of the operetta "The Chocolate Soldier" used the plot of Molnar's "The Guardsman" rather than the plot of its original stage version. (The stage version of "The Chocolate Soldier" was an adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's antiwar satire, "Arms and the Man", and Shaw had disapproved strongly that the operetta had stripped the play of its message.)

Molnar's play "Olympia" was adapted for the movies twice - as "His Glorious Night" (1929 - the notorious talkie which allegedly ruined John Gilbert's career), and as "A Breath of Scandal" (1960), starring Sophia Loren. In 1961 Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond adapted Molnar's one-act play One, Two, Three into a film of the same title starring James Cagney and Horst Buchholz.

Finally, Molnar's play "The Play at the Castle" has twice been adapted into English by writers of note: by P. G. Wodehouse as "The Play's the Thing" and by Tom Stoppard as "Rough Crossing".

External links

*gutenberg author|id=Ferenc_Molnár|name=Ferenc Molnár ("The Living Death")
*imdb person|title=Ferenc Molnár|id=0597175
* [http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/molnar.htm Biography]
* [http://www.nypl.org/research/manuscripts/the/themolna.xml Ferenc Molnar Papers - The Billy Rose Theatre Division of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.]


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  • Ferenc Molnar — Ferenc Molnár, 16. Februar 1941, Fotograf Carl van Vechten Ferenc Molnár [ˈfɛrɛnʦ ˈmolnaːr] (deutsch auch Franz Molnar, * 12. Januar 1878 in Budapest als Ferenc Neumann; † 1. April 1952 in New York) w …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Ferenc Molnár — Ferenc Molnár, 16. Februar 1941, Fotograf Carl van Vechten Ferenc Molnár [ˈfɛrɛnʦ ˈmolnaːr] (deutsch auch Franz Molnar; * 12. Januar 1878 in Budapest; † 1. April 1952 in New York; eigentlich Ferenc …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Ferenc Molnár — Ferenc Molnár, de son vrai nom Ferenc Neumann, né à Budapest le 12 janvier 1878 et mort à New York le 1er avril 1952 est un écrivain hongrois du XXe siècle …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Ferenc Molnár — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Ferenc Molnár Ferenc Molnár, nacido Ferenc Neumann, (12 de enero, 1878, Budapest, Hungría 1 de abril, 1952 …   Wikipedia Español

  • Ferenc Molnar — Ferenc Molnár Ferenc Molnár, de son vrai nom Ferenc Neumann, né à Budapest le 12 janvier 1878 et mort à New York le 1er avril 1952 est un écrivain hongrois du XXe siècle …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Ferenc Molnár (disambiguation) — Ferenc Molnár is a common name for several notable Hungarian men. *Ferenc Molnár, a famous dramatist and novelist *Ferenc Molnár (footballer), a football player and later manager in Italy *Ferenc Molnár, a singer winner of Megasztár (Pop Idol) …   Wikipedia

  • Ferenc Molnár (footballer) — Infobox Football biography playername=Ferenc Molnár fullname = Ferenc Molnár nickname = dateofbirth = 8 April 1891 cityofbirth = Érd countryofbirth = Hungary currentclub = clubnumber = height = position = years = 1920 1922 1922 1923 1923 1924… …   Wikipedia

  • Ferenc Molnar — noun Hungarian playwright (1878 1952) • Syn: ↑Molnar • Instance Hypernyms: ↑dramatist, ↑playwright …   Useful english dictionary

  • Molnár — Family name Region of origin Hungary Related names Molnar Contents …   Wikipedia

  • MOLNÁR, FERENC — (originally Neumann, 1878–1952), Hungarian playwright and novelist. Born in Budapest, Molnár s first novel, Az éhes város ( The Hungry City, 1900) was a historical picture of Budapest, and particularly of its Jewish quarter. The children s story …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

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