Notes

Showmanship, Aliens, And The Christmas Story : Modern Pop Traditions Images Of Hungarians in the US
? They? re heeeeerrrrreeeeee??: Alien-(n)ation.

One of the most enduring and even entertaining images regarding Hungarians during typically the second half of the twentieth century is the concept of Hungarians as aliens or Martians. Much of this is tongue-in-cheek, is not intended to be pejorative, and even has been exploited to good result and with great enjoyment by Hungarians themselves - in order to the point with their likely having been behind its origination. You can find multiple overlapping/competing descriptions of just how all this began. Consensus suggests that will it came out and about of the groups of �migr� nuclear scientists, physicists, and mathematicians who found the US during 1930s and nineteen forties, lots of whom had been collocated at Mis Alamos, New Mexico for the Manhattan Task.

As George Marx, a Hungarian mentor of atomic physics in Budapest, asks in his extremely interesting chapter entitled? The Martians? Vision associated with the Future,? how is it that right now there were groups involving Austrians, Germans, in addition to Italians linked to these types of scientific breakthroughs in addition to yet it has been Hungarians alone that appeared to gain typically the moniker and connection of? alien?? Marx seems to prefer the account in accordance with which in turn one day typically the Italian Enrico Fermi was speculating concerning the universe and the particular prospect of life in other planets, and even Leo Szilard, a new Hungarian, ventured a good answer to Fermi? s question:

? And thus,? Fermi came to his overwhelming query,? if all this kind of has been taking place, they should have got arrived here by now, so how are these people?? It was Leo Szilard, a male having an impish sense of humor, who supplied the perfect answer Fermi's unsupported claims:? They may be among us,? he said,? although they call themselves Hungarians.? (according in order to Marx, this is Francis Crick? s version of the myth)

Marx elaborates on the? delivery to a star?:

The parable of the Martian origin involving the Hungarian researchers who entered world history on Us soil during World War II probably originated within Los Alamos. Leon Lederman, director associated with the Fermilab, noted possible hidden objectives. The production of scientists and mathematicians in the early 20th century was so prolific that numerous otherwise calm experts believe Budapest has been settled by Martians in an intend to get into and dominate the particular planet Earth? In accordance with myth, at a " inside info " meeting of the particular Manhattan Project, Common Groves left with regard to the gents' space. Szilard then said:? Perhaps we may today continue in Hungarian!? Hungarian �migr�s loved speaking their mother tongue whenever the chance offered by itself. This has made them look suspicious. Los Alamos was a place of leading security. General Orchards was annoyed of which Neumann and Wigner had frequent cell phone conversations in Hungarian. [Teller, chat in Budapest 1991. ] The particular? thick Hungarian feature? was often observed even in typically the corridors of typically the Pentagon. (The Lugosi accent made typically the alien power of Dracula, the count through the faraway Transylvania even more practical. )

Marx recounts the details of the arrival from the Martians-cum-Hungarians on the world:

--Gabor, von K�rm�n, Kemeny, von Neumann, Szilard, Teller, and Wigner were born inside the same 1 / 4 of Budapest [author? s note? most were Legislation? it is intriguing to note that a few anti-Semitic Hungarian nationalists at the same time assiduously include these names in lists of renowned Hungarians]. No question the scientists inside Los Alamos acknowledged the idea that will well over one 1000 years ago a new Martian spaceship crashlanded somewhere in typically the center of European countries. There are a few firm proofs of the extraterrestrial roots of the Hungarians: they like to be able to wander about (such gypsies radiating away from the similar region). They speak an exceptionally simple and logical language which often has not typically the slightest connection with the chinese language of their neighbors. And they are generally thus much smarter compared to the terrestrials. (In a slight Martian accent David G. Kemeny included an explanation, specifically, that it is so much easier to learn reading and writing in Hungarian as compared to English or French, that Hungarian kids have significantly more time kept to study math concepts. ) [quoted by Marx by? Yankee? Magazine (? ) 1980] ([http://www.mek.iif.hu/kiallit/tudtor/tudos1/martians.html])

Finally, in the somewhat more critical vein, the peculiar connotation has become discussed in analytical words as follows:

Whenever we understand SteeDee's concept correctly, the 1st Hungarians-
are-aliens account arose from a few minor human occurrence. The
Hungarians may have stood out from the rest of the particular staff at Los
Alamos, perhaps by maintaining their own cliques and communicating
their own indecipherable tongue, and also this made the British
speakers not comfortable. The Hungarians have been like aliens to the
rest, plus since there were many reports associated with "flying saucers" in the
popular press in the 50s and late forties, the "Martian" brand was a
hassle-free method to sublimate the particular social tensions. To be able to be known as
extraterrestrials, in a jocular, rib-poking way, could have helped
reduce this particular social friction each inside and outside the house the Hungarian
group. If there was a problem with communication, typically the recurring
alien joke would provide a method to make light than it, thereby
expressing frustrations that could certainly not otherwise be used. (http://www.ufomind.com/area51/desertrat/1995/dr29/ )

According to Marx,? while a matter regarding fact, these shady Hungarians? Theodore des K�rm�n, John von Neumann, Leo Szilard? enjoyed the misconception. Edward Teller grew to become especially happy associated with his E. Capital t. initials, but this individual complained about indiscretion,? Von K�rm�n must have been speaking?.?

From Teller to Talleah? Zsa and Her Siblings

This brings us coming from Teller to Talleah, the difference becoming that Teller seemed to be a real Hungarian scientist who pretended to play the particular part of an alien? whereas Talleah is the title of an peculiar from the 1958 King of the B Sci-fi Videos,? Queen of External Space?? starring the one and only perhaps the virtually all well-known Hungarian between Americans, Zsa Gabor, who plays the particular role of a peculiar scientist! [More about this hysterical film and it is hysterical reviews listed below. ]

Of study course, June 1989 place Hungarians on the guide for many People in america. The reburial associated with Imre Nagy, the huge crowds, the solemn ceremony before hundreds of thousands and a reside television audience, the landmark event inside the great Hungary? No, which was sixteen June 1989? I actually is referring here to 14 August 1989, the day time Zsa slapped a Beverly Hills law enforcement officer, an event that immediately started to be fodder for each and every past due night comedian and even two years later was your subject associated with a spoof glancing the actress in the satirical movie series, the Bare Gun. Such could be the fate of Hungary and Hungarians in the United States.

There were in fact three Gabor sisters: Zsa, Eva, in addition to Magda. I are not sure no matter if to say marital life or divorce went in the family. The three sisters got more marriages compared to they did crucial movie roles. In order to borrow a web page from Dave Craig in another context (Dave Barry Slept In this article, Random House 1989, p. 101), below are the last tallies of the three sisters in Marriages:

Final (? ) Gabor Sister Matrimony Standings

Zsa 9* *** ****

Magda 6**

Eva five

*It is challenging to know how specifically to calculate Zsa? s total number of husbands? considering that as she once responded:? The amount of husbands have I had? A person mean besides our own??

**These numbers may be influenced by the fact that each Zsa and Magda were married to the English acting professional George Sanders, if sixteen years separately. Not to create excessive light of things, but Sanders eventually committed suicide. He played the particular part of Mr. Freeze in the particular Batman television collection, that Zsa produced guest appearances in (see below).

***It seemed only fitted in early 2007 surrounding the sombre and absurd Anna Nicole Smith custody fight that Zsa? s most new husband? Prinz vonseiten Anhalt? claimed that will he a new 10 year affair with Anna Nicole and was the daddy of her orphaned child. (Supposedly, Zsa was angered plus hurt by this admission, but may one completely price cut the possibility that it was just one more attempt for Zsa to get back again in the limelight, and after just about all, hadn? t Ould - Nicole Smith recently been recognized for being renowned. )

****It may possibly surprise almost simply no one in some sense, but Zsa? s daughter simply by Conrad Hilton (the only child of most three Gabor sisters) is grand-aunt to be able to Paris and Nicole Hilton.

Zsa promises that she earned the 1936 Hungarian beauty pageant (according to one Hungarian source, Sandor Incze who discovered Zsa, invented the thought of the beauty pageant? don? big t think so), although her mother Jolie (? pretty? in French), married just twice, and affectionate towards of? new math? long before all of us knew it was new? like the woman daughters she seemed genetically incapable of telling her real age; if the girl was being honest her first daughter, Magda, would have been born when Jolie was thirteen!? stated it was she (the mother) in addition to not Zsa who had won the beauty pageant. (To use the famous Casey Stengel line? You can look it up!?? these things ought to be verifiable, although Let me leave that in front of large audiences to investigate given that it is further than the intended range of this document. )

The? Queen of Outer Space? or? Damn this, Jim, I? meters a Former Hungarian Attractiveness Queen, Not a(n Alien) Scientist?

Zsa? s film profession is summarized by the online motion picture critic? Jabootu? because follows:

Unfortunately, Master of science. Gabor? s Showmanship career proved a lesser amount of epic [than her married lifestyle or run-ins along with the law]. Inside John Huston? s 1952 Moulin Rouge, Zsa played, throughout a bold maneuver, an Euro-sexpot contrary Jose Ferrer? t Toulouse-Lautrec. The adhering to year she made an appearance in a supporting part inside the musical Lili, which co-starred typically the unrelated but in the same way monikered Mel Protéger. Following that, though, this was all down hill. Her few featuring roles included performing twins (!! ) in the hilarious-sounding espionage meller Lady in the Kremlin. Just in case you? re thinking, one of many twins [is] Stalin? s mistress (!! ), the additional a spy working against the Soviets. Zsa also had a bit part throughout Orson Welles? Feel of Evil. (http://www.jabootu.com/queen.htm)

But perhaps? Jabootu? is being as well hasty and " light " in judging Master of science. Gabor? s career. Maybe we have underestimated Zsa? t roles in video and television. Intended for example, Zsa offers recounted how the girl liked playing typically the role of? spy? when she guest-starred on the Batman serial as Minerva, a beauty parlor owner, whose hair dryers could read the thoughts of (male) clients. Was the episode perhaps a skilled allegory about how the totalitarian condition uses the almost all banal and subversive means to pry into the lives from the citizens? (Was the? mullet? a communist plot in order to make Americans appearance stupid? Pay attention next time, same Battime, same Batchannel? )

Evidence for such a, more enlightened, revisionist view comes from the 1958 movie? Queen of Exterior Space,? in which Zsa plays Talleah, the alien scientist, who leads the women of Venus against the sadistic, disfigured Queen Yllana, thereby saving a flight crew of men from Soil whom Yllana offers cruelly imprisoned. We argue here of which this film simply appears to become a sexist, cheesy, and moronic vehicle for profit, when in fact of which is part of its subterfuge and even inner-brilliance. Film production company is, inside fact, a subtle and sophisticated type of communist Hungary and the break out and crushing of the 1956 Hungarian violent uprising. Let us get another look from this film? though, unfortunately, we are generally forced to rely on the flippant and sometimes juvenile reviews of? Jabootu? for the discussion of the plot.

In this first extended article, we find Zsa? s Talleah (symbolizing the Hungarian resistance) being informed of which recently arrived Earthmen (? bourgeois? intellectuals,? men? had already been banished from the planet, although? researchers and mathematicians? had been retained simply because they were needed) are actually imprisoned simply by the evil Yllana (the communists/Soviets). Talleah recounts for your men, the sad record of the planet, the destructive war, how Yllana gone from well-meaning rebel to tyrant, and many others. The astute readers will notice in this article that Zsa is usually in fact recounting the destruction involving World War II in Hungary? the girl says? Ten Globe years ago?!? the coming to power of the communists, the initial? well-known? picture of the Soviets as liberators, plus their construction associated with a people? s dictatorship?.

? To Turn out to be Hungarian Is Not really Enough??: Hollywood in addition to Hungarians

As is to be expected regarding space travelers, Hungarians claim to include founded certain places? one being High profile celebrity. Adolph Zukor of Paramount Pictures, 1 of the earlier Hungarians in The show biz industry is said to be able to have had on the wall involving his office a great inscription:? TO BE A HUNGARIAN IS DEFINITELY NOT ENOUGH.? To the George Marx offers,? in a small voice Adolph would likely add,? but this may help?.? He or she continues,? Non-Hungarians in Hollywood used to be able to say,? If a person have a Hungarian friend, you no longer need an opponent.? The MGM commissary was thought to possess a sign which in turn read,? Just due to the fact you? re Hungarian, doesn? t indicate you? re a new genius!?

The affect of Hungarians in Hollywood is incredible. In 1996, the Associated Press reported those of the 136 Oscar nominations considering that 1929, Hungarians acquired won 30 associated with them. Some involving the names will be more familiar compared to others. George Cukor? not to end up being confused with the above mentioned Adolph Zukor,? Mister. Motion Pictures,? founder of Paramount Images, and producer regarding perhaps the first film? Prisoner regarding Zenda?? captured five best director selections, including for Our Fair Lady (? Enry? Iggins claims of Zoltan Karpathy:? Each time we viewed around there he has been that hairy hound from Budapest. Never ever leaving us on your own, never have I actually ever known the ruder pest.? ). William Fox of? 20th Century Fox? was born around Tokaj, Hungary, famous for its sweet wines. Among the list of better-known actors aside from Bela Lugosi (born Bela Blasko) and the Gabor clan, we are able to name Leslie Howard, delivered Laszlo Steiner, and Tony Curtis, given birth to Bernard Schwartz (born in Budapest, fluent in Hungarian), plus Peter Lorre.

Speaking of Bela Lugosi? there is the following unforgettable swap between Johnny Depp playing legendary B-moviemaker Ed Wood and even Martin Landau (himself of interplanetary place travel frequently) inside of his Oscar-winning depiction of aging, foul-mouthed, bitter, and morphine-addicted Bela Lugosi in Tim Burton? s? Ed Wood? (1994):

[Ed and Bela are watching Vampira's TV show. ]
Ed Wood: Oh, I hate this when she stops the picture. She does not show 'em the particular proper respect.
Bela Lugosi: I do believe she actually is a honey. Appear at those jugs!
[Bela Lugosi casts a love enter on Vampira who will be on TV although moving his fingertips like Dracula]
Edward cullen D. Wood, Jr.: My Gosh, Bela, how will you do that will?
Bela Lugosi: A person must be double-jointed. And you should be Hungarian. [! ]

Some? Hungarians? famous inside film and tv set will come as being a surprise. Drew Barrymore? s mother has been Ildiko Jaid Mako. Jerry Seinfeld may talk about Ceausescu above, but the father was named Kalman Seinfeld. Robert Newman? s mommy was Hungarian. And even half the famed tegnefilmstegner set behind? The Simpsons? and the series of additional cartoons, Klasky Csupo? Gabor Csupo? can be a Hungarian (he fled Hungary in 1975 hiking through a 2 � hrs by way of a darkened train tunnel to Austria).

The trivia involving all these cases is to the least entertaining. Additional great finds on the webenetics site would be the following. Ilona Staller, aka Ciccolina, regarding blue movies in addition to green politics, a new red father? a part of the earlier communist Interior Ministry. And Juan Epstein? s mother? in whose signature concluded every single excuse note Juan Epstein brought to be able to class in the 1970s DASAR sitcom? Welcome back, Kotter!?? is actually Hungarian, Juan Epstein possessing been played simply by Robert Hegyes.

? What? s that? Hungarian roots??: Budapest plus Wanting the Some other MTV

Then generally there are the Hungarian roots of steel and pop celebrities. Appropriately enough, while Art Garfunkel will be of Romanian Jewish ancestry, Paul Simon is of Hungarian Jewish ancestry. Tommy Ramone, drummer for? The Ramones,? had been born with the more sedate name regarding Thomas Erdelyi. All of us can salute Gene Simmons of MAKE OUT (or should that have been KISz? ) as half-Hungarian, and even you will dsicover that ironic, nevertheless, you really should to know that Alanis Morissette is supposedly half Hungarian. It also turns outside that the dad of the Knopfler brothers of the? Dire Straits? band was a Hungarian Jew who fled the Nazis to Glasgow in 1939.

The Hungarian connect of? Dire Straits? is interesting? even when probably entirely incidental? in light associated with the? video within just a video? of the band? s most famous commercial/video success,? Money for Nothing (1985).?? Money for Practically nothing? is better praised for its line? I want my MTV?? brilliant and somewhat satirical marketing, mention the video channel coming old in an famous through your song/video and you may guarantee have fun with there. (It was also the first online video played when MTV Europe debuted in 1 August 1987? for those also young to keep in mind, MTV, no not really Magyar Televizio, had been a brief research in playing something called? music videos? until reality shows killed the music video clip star). The philosophy, the inspiration associated with? Money for Nothing,? was a bunch of staff moving appliances and even commenting while, as it turns outs, watching Sting? s? The Russians? online video on a wall structure of TV monitors. (Ooohhhh, Sting described the Russians, do they love their very own children too? Ooooohhhhh, how daring? because I? m sure the Russians carry out love their youngsters too? 1985, typically the eighties, ugh). I had always wondered about? the video inside the video? because the bikini-clad? mama your woman got it stickin? inside the camera contact lens? model appears to be able to be posing inside the Halaszbastya (Fisherman? t Bastion on the Buda side regarding Budapest) which My partner and i had then simply recently visited (May 1985, the video arrived in September 1985). Turns out there I wasn? capital t hallucinating for while Dennis O? Connell writes:

It was developed by Steve Barron, who envisioned of which the entire video be computer computer animated. The band needed a live online video. The final product or service was a mix: video from Budapest enhanced by computers along with a pc generated character, Garbo, which was motivated by Joe Pesci's character in Flaming Bull.

Sting, the object from the workers? derision that gave rise for the tune, performs back up words on? Money intended for Nothing.? Bringing every thing full circle, the Russian History teacher in college made a decision to open his session with? Money for Nothing? blaring as pupils entered the class.

Camp. La(s)zlo

In keeping with the alien riff, Hungarians love their particular inside jokes. Typically the crowd-favorite, sentimentalist The show biz industry film,? Casablanca,? together with Humphrey Bogart plus Ingrid Bergman (nope, neither of all of them Hungarian), was directed by Michael Curtiz (Kertesz). S. Unces.? Cuddles? Sakall, some sort of Hungarian stage actor, played the function of Karl, the particular kindly Austrian cashier in Rick? t Caf�. The popular historian John Lukacs (author of Budapest 1900) among others provides argued that there is the typical Hungarian inside of joke in this film? or with least the motion picture bears the scars of its Hungarian director. Ingrid Bergman? s underground, Czech resistance leader partner in the film is named Victor Laszlo. Now, of course , because Lukacs notes? privately, he describes typically the movie as? imbecile??? Laszlo? is nor a first or last name in Czech. It truly is, however the sometimes last label, but frequent first-name in Hungarian? and Curtiz was surrounded? by a slew of Hungarian scriptwriters in Hollywood, most of whose first names were Laszlo? (Lukacs, 1989, pp. 178-179). Hence, the label in the film. (There is yet a popular contemporary cartoon named? Camp Lazlo,? but Lazlo can be a Brazilian spider monkey, and while far when i can easily tell there is definitely in no conscious Hungarian connection powering title choice. )

But I might argue as well as better inside Hungarian comedies than those of? Victor Laszlo? woven into movies, when i may now demonstrate.

Typically the Boy Named Bad guy in Hungarian Which Made Ralphie Yowl?

It took more than 30, 000 foot, several time region changes, and countless years to figure that out. A number of years ago (2001) I was soaring out west and even scanning the audio channels to the headsets. On the classical music channel I suddenly came after a well-known tune. Of course, there it had been: the tune that will would repeat every time the school anstoß would seem in typically the lovable, sentimental, nostalgia-fest for a lifestyle that few involving us ever lived, that is? A Christmas Story (1983).? My partner and i thought I recognized the music: it had been Sergei Prokofiev? s i9000 famous? Peter and the Wolf,? and typically get more info ? that which usually Prokofiev employed for the wolf? became the school bully? h signature in the particular film. Upon typically the first hearing of this tune, once the school bully makes his first distressing appearance, the reminiscing? Ralphie,? the little bit of boy who will be the main leading part of the film, exclaims,? it was Farkas, Scott Farkas, the school bully? he had yellow eyes, yellow sight I tell you.? (Ralphie? s young brother, Randy? lay down there such as a slug? it was the only defense?! )

(Spoiler Warning!: When I came to this kind of personal epiphany in 2001, and also while I had been writing this post in 2005, right now there was no indication on the World wide web that anybody different had recorded this particular observation, which led me to query whether an overactive imagination had obtained the best of me yet again. Such a great difference couple of years can get in the World wide web age: now a Search for? farkas wolf? christmas story? prokofiev? yields 123 visits, beginning with the particular wikipedia entry regarding the film! )

Why is this important you ask? Well, if a person know Hungarian, you will be aware that? farkas? may be the Hungarian word with regard to? wolf.? Therefore, to experience the theme regarding the? wolf? through Prokofiev? s function? a bit drafted, this would appear, with regard to children to learn the many instruments involving an orchestra? is definitely to play a great obscure? inside tall tale? on the viewers from the film. (Making it even much better is the fact that the acting professional who plays the particular part of Ralphie is Peter! Billingsley. ) Jean Shepherd, upon whose book the movie is based? and who also narrates the film by the perspective involving an adult Ralphie looking back in the childhood? appears to have chosen the particular name of the particular bully,? Scott (Scut) Farkas,? himself. Typically the story is set in 1940s northwestern Indianapolis? significantly, Prokofiev? s i9000? Peter and the Bad guy? debuted in 1936 and became the main topic of a Disney toon? so the presence of individuals of Hungarian ancestry and last names is credible.

It usually is possible that will the Prokofiev-wolf-farkas nexus is just a good unintentional, if extremely witty happenstance. But the idea of it previously being one involving the ultimate Hungarian? inside jokes?? despite the fact that Jean Shepherd does not appear to include been Hungarian himself? is enhanced by simply the comparatively unidentified and definitely much less memorable sequel to be able to? A Christmas Tale,?? It Runs within the Family (1994),? in which Ralphie? s father recounts the story regarding? the Hungarian klipper (daglig tale)? s cross-eyed child.? Shepherd died within 1999, but as together with many common previous names from additional cultures? and farkas can perhaps end up being deemed one involving those? growing way up with Hungarian associates its conceivable of which Shepherd would include known this is regarding the name in Hungarian.

? Honky?: Typically the Hungarian Roots of a Racial Epithet

Talking about the Hungarian(-American)? functioning class? in typically the Chicago environs. According to the access on the wikipedia: Honky, Honkey or even Honkie is a great American racial slur for a White, usually applied to males. The word? honky? like a pejorative for Caucasians will come from "bohunk" in addition to "hunky". In the particular early 1900? s, they were derogatory terms for Bohemian, Hungarian, and Polish immigrants. According to Robert Hendrickson, author of the particular Encyclopedia of Expression and Phrase Origins, Black workers in Chicago meat-packing plant life picked up the definition of from white employees and began using it indiscriminately to most Caucasians.

Honky, has been later adopted mainly because a pejorative meaning white, in 1967 by black résistant within SNCC looking for a rebuttal for the term nigger. They settled on a familiar word they felt was disparaging to certain People in america of European nice; hunkie meaning a good American of Slavic or Hungarian nice.

In the Simpsons cartoon series, Homer Simpson is attached to saying when some thing goes wrong, particularly on the nuclear strength plant in which he performs,? blame it about Tibor, the person who doesn? big t speak English.? One can imagine of which this really is something regarding an inside tall tale among the inventors of the Simpsons, considering that the chief cartoonist Gabor Csupo will be Hungarian (supposedly Hank Azaria? s personality Dr . Nick Spiaggia, a quack medical professional, should really be a new parody of Ricky Ricardo on? I actually Love Lucy??? Hi e-ver-y-bo-dy!?? but coworkers just assumed having been making fun of Gabor. Personally, I possess always thought he or she sounds oddly just like Andrei Codrescu in NPR? ) According to the online urban dictionary of slang,? fault it on? Tibor? has entered at the least some marginal well-liked discourse as short for blaming the foreigner? thus to keep perhaps, unintentionally, using the roots of? Honky?:

A tibor is usually someone in your office whom an individual blame when a person have done a thing stupid, illegal, or even immoral. Typically the particular person is someone who cannot defend themself. Especially successful when the Tibor cannot speak British.? You'll have to be able to jiggle the take care of. That idiot, Tibor, lost the real key.?

Richard Andrew Hall supports a Ph. M. in Political Research from Indiana College or university (1997), in which he concentrated his studies on east central Europe. He is typically the author of content on Romania, Hungary, nationalism, and east central Europe inside general, in academic journals and even more just lately on the Web.
My Website: https://justpaste.me/G3pX