Conferences / 2018 - Cleveland State University / Papers / Submitted Papers

Cultural Studies papers by Pereszlényi, Mártha Pintér

John Carroll University

“ ‘Ölelem a Térded!’ I Hug Your Knees (Not Kiss Your Hand!): Béla Zerkovitz, Dezső Kosztolányi, and Joséphine Baker”

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
From dirt-poor beginnings in early 20th century racist America, African American cabaret performer Joséphine Baker rose to heights of global fame in interwar Europe, taking Paris by storm, later bedazzling the rest of Europe including two visits to Hungary. In 1928, this “Bronze Venus” was almost banned by the Hungarian Conservative Party, but after being screened before the police committee, her show was a huge success at the Orfeum Theatre in Budapest. According to a contemporary account from TIME Magazine, a Hungarian cavalry officer behaved too amorously, displeasing the Italian “Count” serving as her manager who challenged the officer to a sword-fighting duel. They met in a cemetery while Baker cheered from atop a tombstone. During her second Budapest visit, a young fan, hopelessly in love with Baker, shot himself after one of her concerts. Kosztolányi wrote a glowing article about her in the Pesti Hirlap. Béla Zerkovitz’ internationally renowned hit song, “Gyere Jozefin. . . ölelem a térded,” appears in the musical comedy Csókos Asszony/Kissing Lady, still regularly performed in the 21st century, though most spectators are clueless regarding the origin of the song. Despite her success as a Jazz Age mega-star, her worldwide performances were denounced as animalistic. Condemned as a primitive threat to civilization, still, she played to full houses who found her fascinating and amusing. This paper argues that Hungary was not isolated in post WWI European malaise, and by embracing Baker, who symbolized the Other of urban interwar European modernity, the country sought to evoke “metropolitan” or “European” culture and transform its capital city into a cosmopolitan metropolis.

Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Mártha Pereszlényi-Pintér is the former Chairperson of the Department of Classical and Modern Languages and Cultures and Associate Professor of French at John Carroll University in Cleveland, OH. She earned her Ph.D. in Romance Languages from The Ohio State University, and studied at the Institut de Touraine (Tours) and the Bryn Mawr Program (Avignon) in France. Her research and publication accomplishments include French and also Hungarian Literature and Culture of the pre-modern period (Medieval, Renaissance, 17th century), Film, and Language for Business & the Professions. She has read papers at national and international conferences. While at OSU, she wrote or co-wrote 16 manuals for individualized instruction in both French and Hungarian with group grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Annenberg Foundation. She was born in Austria and emigrated to the USA with her Hungarian parents. She is also a past President of AHEA, and chaired or co-chaired four past AHEA annual Conferences.

John Carroll University

Hidden Hungarians: Martin Rose, the founding father of Rose Iron Works, a Cleveland Treasure

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
This presentation will trace the history of Rose Iron Works, one of the little known treasures of Cleveland, Ohio, of which many native Clevelanders are unaware, much less that it was founded in 1904 by Hungarian immigrants. Martin Rose, born in 1870 in Csepe, Hungary, was a highly skilled ornamental blacksmith trained in the best shops in Budapest and Vienna. In 1929, he hired fellow Hungarian artisan, Paul Fehér, away from the preeminent Kiss studio in Paris in order to introduce Art Deco metalwork to the USA. “Muse with a Violin,” designed by Fehér in 1930, was inspired by the construction of Severance Hall, home of the Cleveland Symphony; the screen, a quintessential example of Rose and Fehér’s refinement of European style and an icon of American Deco metalwork, has toured many museums, including: The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Art Institute of Chicago; The Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian, and many others, including the Cleveland Museum of Art’s 2017-18 “The Jazz Age” show. Rose Iron Works became the source of decorative metalwork for prominent families building Cleveland’s early economic empire. Rose and his descendants collaborated with world-renowned designers such as Viktor Schreckengost with whom they produced a large mural for the entrance to Cleveland Hopkins Airport. They also collaborated on murals for Marathon Oil Company at their Texas headquarters. Rose Iron Works is located in the heart of Cleveland’s historic Saint Clair Superior East side neighborhood, where their forge shop has been operating for over a century.