Miklós László
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| Miklos Laszlo | |
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 Miklos Laszlo |
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| Born | May 20, 1903 Budapest, Hungary |
| Died | April 19, 1973 (aged 69) |
| Occupation | playwright screenwriter |
| Nationality | Naturalized American Citizen |
Miklos Laszlo (May 20, 1903 - April 19, 1973) was a playwright and naturalized American citizen born in Budapest, Hungary. He is best remembered for his play "Illatszertar" also known as "Parfumerie" which was used as the storyline for three movies, "Shop Around the Corner", "In the Good Old Summertime" and most recently "You've Got Mail". The play also was adapted for the Broadway stage as the musical "She Loves Me". Miklos Laszlo died in New York City in 1973 at the age of 69.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Birth and youth in Hungary
Nicholaus Leitner (Laszlo) was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1903. Emperor Franz Josef ruled the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Great War was still a few years away, and it had been decreed by the government that all ethnic non-Magyar (Hungarian) citizens should take an indigenous name as part of the "cultural unification" of the population. The name "Laszlo" was chosen. No particular reason is known other than that it was a well-known Hungarian name and that it was similar (vaguely) to the original family name "Leitner". Henrik and Ilona Fischer Leitner therefore gave to their infant son on his birth certificate the name Leitner Laszlo Nicholaus, last name first as is the custom.
Niki grew up in the hustle and bustle of wartime Budapest. His family was in the entertainment business, and he naturally gravitated toward a career in entertainment as well. He was a clever and witty lad, always amusing friends and family with his quips and characterizations. He rubbed elbows with the Hungarian literati of the day including Ferenc Molnar the playwright whose most famous work “Liliom” is known to English speaking audiences as the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "Carousel" (see Carousel (musical)). It only made sense then that Niki was encouraged to put pen to paper and as a young adult began to produce his own little one-scene plays for the various small theatres and cabarets around the city. These "little plays" became his fame and provided spare income to support his "young man with possibilities" lifestyle. It even afforded him the time to work on some larger more comprehensive works which he would eventually complete as full multi-act plays. Money was no issue for the young Laszlo. His father continued to do very well with his own business endeavors and at one point, anecdotal information describes the father as one of the wealthiest men in Hungary. But tragically, poor management, high living and wild spending brought the family to total destitution. And then unexpectedly, his father died and Nicholas was left as the sole provider for his mother and 8 siblings. Writing was not sufficient to feed a family and pay the bills, so Niki turned to a host of jobs, none too small to earn the pay that was necessary to keep the family afloat. As he told it, he worked as a candy-maker, collar salesman, necktie agent, script typist, clerk and even worked as a laborer in a petroleum factory while siblings grew up and gradually took responsibility for their own lives and livelihoods. It came then as a great satisfaction that his first three-act play, "Legboldagob Ember", "The Happiest Man", an ironically titled play about an embittered factory worker and the dreamworld to which he escapes for solace, won him the prestigious Hungarian Royal Academy Award for Literature in 1934, the Hungarian equivalent of the American Pulitzer Prize - quite an achievement for a man barely into his 30's. He could have stayed in Hungary but World War II was approaching and Hungarians of Jewish extraction knew that the smart money was on leaving the old world behind and heading to America. So in 1938, Nicholaus Laszlo pulled up his stakes and embarked for the USA.
[edit] Coming to America
He quickly established himself in the local Hungarian community on the lower east side of New York City, bringing his charm and reputation to an immigrant audience clamoring for all things Hungarian and as everyone else, for relief from the economic depression (The Great Depression) that was gripping the nation. He was, for a time, the "toast of the town", locally at least. He now called himself Miklos Laszlo, a purely Hungarian name giving him full acceptance and cachet within the community. But fame in the insular Hungarian language-speaking community of Yorkville, Manhattan, NY is not the same as making it as a playwright to a larger English-speaking American audience. Miklos, that is "Miki", would need to further pursue his opportunities. In the fall of 1939 he married Florence Herrman, an aspiring young actress and the daughter of a successful local entrepreneur, a Cunard Line travel agent, landlord and financial exchange merchant. On December 28th 1944 he completed the transition and became a fully naturalized American citizen and officially adopted the single name now most frequently referenced, Miklos Laszlo.
During his lifetime he had numerous writing contracts with MGM. A few projects became major motion pictures, most did not. The writing experiments and the accompanying advances though kept Miki and wife Florence able to make ends meet, barely. Again, other jobs became a necessity.
Most famous of all the plays that became produced as a motion picture during this time was "Illatszertar" also called in translation "Parfumerie". This play was adapted as a movie script by Samson Raphaelson and became the Ernst Lubitsch motion picture “The Shop Around the Corner” (1940), with James Stewart, Frank Morgan, and Margaret Sullavan. A few years later it was re-filmed as "In the Good Old Summertime" (1949), a semi-musical showcase for Judy Garland, starring Judy Garland, Van Johnson and S.Z. Sakall. In 1963, the play was produced as a full Broadway musical with book by Joe Masteroff and was titled "She Loves Me". "She Loves Me" is much adored by many, many people in theatre and music circles not only for its wonderful adaptation of the script but for the beautiful music of the team of Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock (Fiorello!, Fiddler on the Roof, The Apple Tree) that brought an entirely new and endearingly authentic level to this already beloved play. "She Loves Me", is also often referred to as the "Ice Cream Musical" because of a signature song and performance by a prodigiously talented young sensation Barbara Cook. "She Loves Me" is a perennial favorite of amateur and professional theatre companies alike. It was revived in 1993 by the Roundabout Theatre Company and ran for 354 performances.
In 1998, the play was used once again as the inspiration for a screenplay by Nora Ephron which became the hit motion picture "You've Got Mail" with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Unfortunately Miki never got to see this premier as he died in 1973 and his wife Florence in 1987.
In the early 1940’s he also wrote a screenplay “Katherine” which was picked up by MGM and became the motion picture “The Big City” (1948) starring Margaret O'Brien, Robert Preston, Danny Thomas and George Murphy. The screenplay examined the diversity and underlying unity of human cultures in the microcosm of a New York City adoption.
Only one other of Miklos Laszlo’s plays was ever widely produced in the Americas. Entitled “St. Lazar's Pharmacy” it is the story of a man learning the lessons of the true value of “home” as compared to the many lures of a false and deceiving world of empty promises. The play starred famed actress Miriam Hopkins and toured all over Canada and the United States.
Perhaps the reason we have not seen very many of the plays Miklos Laszlo wrote in his early career and during his lifetime is because they were never effectively translated from Hungarian to English and as such have never really had an opportunity to be viewed by American audiences as they were viewed in the country of his birth. Translations exist for many of his works in French and even German, but few in English. The original Hungarian works continue to be performed to this day throughout Hungary on an ongoing basis.
[edit] Recent events
In 2001, the Laszlo/Raphaelson MGM script was adapted for the stage in France and was produced as a straight play "La Boutique au coin de la Rue" ("The Shop at the Corner of the Street"). This production was a faithful adaptation of the MGM movie script "Shop Around the Corner" and ran for the 2002 season in Paris at the Theatre Montparnasse winning top honors. The production garnered five “Molieres” (Moliere Award), the French equivalent of the American Tony Award for “Best new play”, “Best adaptation of a foreign work”, “Best director”, “Best set design”, and “Best lighting”.
Because of its popularity, there have been many questions regarding the existence of an English translation of Parfumerie. A translation and adaptation does exist and is available through the agent of the Laszlo literary estate.
Questions regarding availability of the works of Miklos Laszlo should be directed to The Marton Agency, 1 Union Square West, Suite 815, New York, NY 10003-3303, tel: 212 255-1908.
