Famous Hungarian Immigrants to the U.S. Craig L. Dicker, Ph.D. Office of English Language Programs U.S. Embassy, Budapest [email protected].

Famous Hungarian Immigrants to the U.S.

Craig L. Dicker, Ph.D.Office of English Language Programs

U.S. Embassy, [email protected]

Presentation Outline

• Hungarians and the making of motion pictures

• Hungarians and the making of the atomic bomb

• Hungarians and popular culture

• Hungarians and the fine arts

• Hungarians and big business

• Hungarians and America

Hungarians and the Motion Picture Industry

Adolph Zukor - (b. 1873, Ricse, Hungary, d. 1976, Century City, CA)  "Mr. Motion Pictures" and Oscar Winner

•Founder of Paramount Pictures

•Founder of Loews Theaters

•Produced first full length motion picture, “ the Prisoner of Zenda”

•Recipient of a special academy award (l948) for his contributions to the industry

shown left to Right: Jesse L. Lasky, Adolph Zukor, Samuel Goldfish (later Goldwyn), Cecil B. DeMille and Albert Kaufman

Hungarians and the Motion Picture Industry

William Fox - (born Vilmos Fried, 1/1/1879, Tulchva, Hungary, d. 5/8/1952, New York) Producer and Hollywood Mogul - Founder of Fox Studios! 

•Bought his first penny arcade in 1904

•Expanded to film distribution, exhibition and production, creating Fox Film Corporation in 1915

•By the mid-1920s, Fox owned more than 500 theaters in the US alone and produced many of the top stars

•In l935, during the height of the depression, Fox Film merged with 20th Century Pictures to create 20th Century Fox

•In l936, Fox attempted to bribe the judge proceeding over the liquidation of his assets during his bankruptcy proceedings. He was sentence to 1 year in prison (l942-3) but never worked in Hollywood again.

Hungarians in the Motion Picture Industry

George Cukor - (b. 7/7/1899, New York, d. 1/23/1983, Los Angeles) Double Oscar Winning Director 

*One of the great all time directors

*nominated 5 times for best director, winning twice (for “the Wizard of Oz” and “My Fair Lady”

*Directed 8 actresses to Oscar nominations for best Actress

* Directed over 65 films, including “A Star is Born”, “Something’s got to give”, “Gone with the Wind” and “It should happen to you”

Pictured here with Audrey Hepburn accepting his first Oscar

Hungarians in the Motion Picture Industry

Andrew Vajna -  born in Budapest Producer, Hollywood Legend: President of Cinergi Productions, co-Founder of Carolco Pictures

•Fled Hungary in l956 and settled in the US

• Produced blockbuster hits like Rambo, the Music Box, Total Recall, Air America and Jacob's Ladder, Die Hard: With a Vengeance, Terminator, Color of Night, Judge Dredd, The Scarlett Letter, Oliver Stone's Nixon, Evita, An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn, Shadow Conspiracy, Out of Order

Hungarians in the Motion Picture Industry

Michael Curtiz - (b. Manó Kertész Kaminer, 12/24,1898 Budapest, d. 4/10/1962, Hollywood, California)Oscar Winning Director of "Casablanca"

Between l912-1920, he shot 38 productions in Hungary, including a film version of the popular poem of Antal Farkas with the title Jön az öcsém (1919).

•Moved to the U.S. in l926

•His films during the 30's and 40's included Casablanca (1942) , Mildred Pierce (1945), Captain Blood, The Charge of the Light Brigade, Angels With Dirty Faces (Oscar nomination), The Adventures of Robin Hood,  Four Daughters (Oscar nomination), The Sea Hawk, Yankee Doodle Dandy (Oscar nomination),  This Is the Army, Night and Day and White Christmas. He even directed one of Elvis Presley's most credible films, King Creole in 1958

Directing Bogart and Bacall in Casablanca

Hungarians in the Motion Picture Industry

Miklós Rózsa - (b. 1907, Budapest) Triple Oscar Winning Film Composer 

*Revolutionized the art of writing film scores with his unconventional approach, dynamic use of percussion and powerful string arrangements

•Wrote hundreds of film scores, including “The Thief of Bagdad”, Hitchcock’s “Spellbound”, “Ben Hur”, “El Cid”, “The Jungle Book”, and “Julius Cesar”

Hungarians and the Atomic Bomb

Edward (Ede) Teller - (b. Jan. 15, 1908, Budapest)Physicist, instrumental in the Manhattan Project, Father of the the H-Bomb: co-developed the Atomic Bomb and Discovered BET equation. 

•His first published paper: "Hydrogen Molecular Ion," was one of the earliest statements of what is still the most widely held view of the molecule.

•In 1941 Teller joined America's best physicists in the top secret Manhattan Project. Their mission: to develop the atom bomb before the Germans did.

•Lead the research team on the development of the hydrogen bomb at Los Alamos Laboratories

Accepting the National Medal of Science from President Kennedy

Hungarians and the Atomic BombLeo Szilárd - (b. Feb 11, 1898, Budapest, d. May 30, 1964, La Jolla, California)Physicist  - Co-developed the Atomic Bomb, patented the nuclear reactor, catalyst of the Manhattan Project

•, he convinced Einstein, the scientific community, and the President to start the Manhattan Project

•First realized the potential use of nuclear fission in an atomic bomb, and worked with Fermi on the first nuclear reaction.

•his other ideas included the electron microscope, cyclotron,  and linear accelerator.

•He proposed term "breeder" to describe an nuclear reactor and holds a joint 1955 US patent on the nuclear reactor with Enrico Fermi

•proposed methods of reducing US-USSR tensions, including the Washington-Moscow "hotline." 

• Shared Atoms for Peace Award with Eugene Wigner and devoted much of his life toward nuclear disarmament and preventing the harmful use of nuclear energy. 

Hungarians and the Atomic BombJohn von Neumann - (b. János Lajos Margittai Neumann on Dec 28, 1903, Budapest - d. Feb 8, 1957, Washington, DC)Legendary Mathematician, Physicist, Logician, and Computing Pioneer

•Father of Binary Code and the Stored Program Computer, the keys to modern computer programming.

•Father of Game Theory (a tool to analyze the unthinkable--global nuclear war--and led to the doctrine of "mutually assured destruction,“)

•Proposed Implosion and co-developed the Atomic Bomb.

• Built a solid framework for quantum mechanics.

•Played a key role in the development of the U.S. ballistic missile program.

•Director of the Atomic Energy Commission and Chaired the Atlas (later ICBM) Scientific Advisory Committee which monitored Atlas progress and sought to speed up development of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles

Hungarians in Popular Culture

Joseph Pulitzer born in Budapest, l840 – Reporter, Publisher, founder of the journalism prize bearing his name, responsible for building of the Statue of Liberty

•After a stint in New York’s sweatshops, became a reporter, saved money and bought the Westlische Post

•Soon acquired the St. Louis Dispatch, the Evening Post and the New York World where he earned a reputation as a fearless crusader against government corruption.

•Initiated a fund raising drive to assemble the Statue of Liberty which had been sitting, unassembled in New York Harbor, for years.

• Was the first to call for university level journalism training- Upon his death in 1904, bequeathed Columbia University’s School of Journalism with funds to award outstanding journalists with prizes bearing his name.

Hungarians in Popular CultureBéla Lugósi -  Actor - The Original Dracula  Born Béla Ferenc Deszö Blaskó in Lugos, Hungary, in the Bánát, (now Romania)

•In 1914, he enlisted in the Hungarian army. He was discharged in 1916 after convincing officials that he was "mentally unstable." •In l917, started appearing in the movies with the film A Leopárd, in which he played the lead role. •In l920, emigrated to the United States of America •His first American film was 1923's The Silent Command, a suspenseful spy movie in which Bela played the bad guy. •. He took on the role of Count Dracula in Horace Liveright's play in place of actor Raymond Huntley in 1929. •After 33 smash weeks on Broadway, the rights to play were picked up by Universal Studios.

Hungarians in Popular CultureHarry Houdini (b. 3/24/1874, Budapest)The "Greatest Magician on Earth," Actor, Pioneer Pilot

•1878, at the age of four, moved with his family to Appleton, Wisconsin (where his father became a rabbi

•At age15, he an autobiography by the French Magician named Jean Robert-Houdin. Wanting to be just like Robert-Houdin, he added the letter “I” which means “like” to his name, and became Houdini

•In 1926, he lay underwater over 90 minutes in a sealed casket to beat the world record.

• Died of a ruptured appendix from being punched in the stomach before having physically prepared himself for the blow.

Hungarians in Popular CultureGábor Csupó - (b. 1952, Budapest)Co-founder of Klasky-Csupo, a leading independent animation studio. 5 EMMYS and 2 CABLE ACE Awards - produced Rugrats and the Simpsons

•received his animation education at Hungary's famed Pannonia studio.

•In 1975 he fled Communist Hungary by walking for 2.5 hours through a darkened railway tunnel to Austria

• In l981, formed Klasky Csupo, Inc. in the spare room of his apartment with Arlene Klasky

Hungarians in Popular Culture

Tommy Ramone (b. 1/29/1952, Budapest, Hungary)Drummer and Producer of the Legendary, Pioneering Punk Rockers, the Ramones!

•. Emigrated to the US at the age of 4 in l956

•The Ramones formed in 1974, after the foursome graduated or left high school in Forest Hills, New York.

•In the mid-'70s, the Ramones shaped the sound of punk rock in New York with simple, fast songs, deadpan lyrics, no solos, and an impenetrable wall of guitar chords

•. The Ramones have released 14 studio albums

Hungarians in Popular CultureGeorge Pál (b. 1/2/1908, Cegléd, Hungary, d. 5/2/1980 -Cartoonist - Winner of SIX Oscars, and pioneer of stop-action animation

•Developed methods for integrating animated special effects with live action

•George graduated with an architectural degree when Hungary was in no need of architects, but there were jobs for animation illustrators at Hunnia films

•Fled the Nazis just before WWII and moved to the US

•In the '50s Pal turned to live-action films as a producer starting with "Destination Moon," (Oscar) 

•He later brought to the screen such classics as H.G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds" (Oscar) and "The Time Machine" (Oscar), and "When World Collide" (Oscar)..

Hungarians in Popular CultureSylvia Plachy - (b. 1943, Budapest)Acclaimed Photographer, Mother of Actor Adrien Brody

•Escaped Hungary during the 1956 revolution

• Ended up becoming a photojournalist for the “Village Voice”

•Won the International Center for Photography Prize in l990

•Her pictures can be found in the Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Hungarians in Popular Culture

Eva Gábor (b. 2/11/1920, Budapest, d. 7/4/1995)Actress

Zsa Zsa Gábor - (b. 2/6/1918, Budapest)

• known for roles in "Moulin Rouge," 1952; "The Story of Three Loves," 1953; "The Girl in the Kremlin," 1957; and Orson Welles' classic "Touch of Evil," 1958.

Best known for her role as Lisa Douglas on the popular TV sitcom Green Acres (1965-70).

Hungarians in Popular CultureGene Simmons of KISSLegendary Rock-n-Roller!Born Chaim Witz in Haifa Israel in 1949, his mother Florence was a Hungarian survivor of a Nazi concentration camp, and his father Yechiel was a carpenter

•Settled in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, NY at the age of 9

•Taught school in Spanish Harlem

•Speaks Hungarian, Turkish, Hebrew, Spanish and English

•Started playing the guitar at age 15

•Style (particularly dress and make up) influenced by the comic books he read when young and trying to master the English language

Hungarians in High Culture

Eugene (Jenö) Ormándy - (b.11/18/1899, Budapest, Hungary, d. 3/12/1985, Philadelphia)  Renowned Conductor (Philadelphia)

•Graduate of the Budapest Royal Academy- became a professor of Violin himself at the age of 17

•In l921, while supposedly beginning a concert tour of America, he canceled the tour and took a job with the orchestra of the Capitol Theatre in New York

•1931-6 was the conductor of the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra

•1936- went to Philadelphia and shared conductorship with Leopold Stokowski

•1938-1980- principal conductor for the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra (which became known for its warm, textured sound and velvety string feeling)

Hungarians in High CultureGeorge Széll - (b. Budapest 6/7/1897, d. Cleveland, Ohio 1970)Legendary Conductor

•A child prodigy, was performing in public by 11, conducted the Vienna Symphony Orchestra at 16 and the Berlin Symphony (also playing the piano) at 17

•Is credited for having transformed the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra into one of the greatest in the world (among the U.S.’s big five)

• In l939, he made his way to NYC where he started to conduct the NBC Symphony Orchestra

•In the early 1940s, he often conducted Metropolitan Opera in NYC

•In l946, he became the principal conductor of the Cleveland Symphony

Hungarians and Big BusinessCharles Simonyi (b. 9/10/1948, Budapest)Billionaire Computer Scientist and Chief Architect, Microsoft Corporation

•led a team of programmers in the development of Bravo, the first WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get, pronounced wizzywig, i.e. MS Word) word processing editor

•worked for the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center from 1972-80 and joined Microsoft in 1981 to start the development of microcomputer application programs

•. He hired and managed teams who developed Microsoft Multiplan, Word, Excel, and other applications

Hungarians and Big BusinessPeter Carl Goldmark - (b. 12/2/1906, Budapest – d. Westchester County, NY, 12/7/1977)Engineer, CBS Chief Scientist - Invented the Color Television, 33 1/3 LP Record, and the Electronic Video Recorder 

•Emigrated to the U.S. in l933 and began working for CBS Broadcasting in l936

•developed the first commercial color television system, which used a rotating three-color disk, and announced in 1940 that CBS had a marketable color television and broadcasted in New York

•Developed the 33 1/3 LP, greatly expanding the length of disk play and made the disk of vinyl, rather than the shellac-and-clay blend previously employed.

•developed the first electronic video recording system—the forerunner for the VCR in your home today

•developed a scanning system used by the Lunar Orbiter spacecraft in 1966 to transmit photographs to the earth from the moon.

•CBS received credit for all of his work. As a result, Goldmark has not been given the recognition he deserves.

Hungarians and Big BusinessAndy Grove (b 1936, Budapest)Former President/CEO, and Chairman of Intel.  Time's Man of the Year for 1998

•In July 1968, Dr. Grove participated in the founding of Intel Corporation

•In 1979 he was named its President, and in 1987 he was named Chief Executive Officer.

•Andy's goal to get a computer in front of everyone skyrocketed.

•In May 1997 he was named Chairman and CEO, and in May 1998 he relinquished his CEO title and remains as Chairman of the Board.

•. He has written many books, including “Only the Paranoid Survive,” and patented several semiconductor technologies

Hungarians and Big BusinessAgoston Haraszthy (1812-1869)Father of Modern VinacultureBorn in Pest, Hungary

•1840 emigrated to Wisconsin, becoming one of the first Hungarians to settle there permanently.

•1849- due to asthma and debt, moved to California

•1857. purchased land at Sonoma, named it Buena Vista, and put his son Attila in charge. Initially planted 25 acres of grapes, more than doubling the total vines at Sonoma. Another 60 acres were planted the following year.

•He experimented with new techniques, such as using redwood for barrels, planting on hillsides, hiring Chinese workers, digging tunnels for storage, and planting vines closer together.

•1864. Buena Vista was incorporated as the Buena Vista Viticultural Society in order to gain the support of new investors for capital improvements.

•1866. Haraszthy's innovative planting methods were blamed for damage actually caused by the root louse and forced to resign. New management promptly destroyed every other row of vines in order to return to the original eight foot spacing.

•1869. Haraszthy set out alone on a mule to discuss the construction progress of a new sawmill. He never returned home and no trace of him was ever found.

Hungarians and Big BusinessGeorge Soros -"The world's greatest money manager" and Great Progressive, Controversial Philanthropist.

•Soros founded the multi-million dollar "Soros Fund”

•actively develops and supports philanthropic endeavors throughout the world, including Hungary and former Hungarian lands

•has also established educational institutions such as the Central European University

•achieved his lasting fame in 1981 he was hailed as "the world's greatest money manager" by the bible of the trade, Institutional Investor

Hungarians and AmericaTom Lantos - (b. 2/1/1928, Budapest, Hungary)11-term U.S. Congressman from California (D)

•was a member of the anti-Nazi underground as a teenger and later of the anti-Communist student movement

•was awarded an academic scholarship to study in the United States, and he arrived in 1947

•received a B.A. and M.A. in Economics from the University of Washington in Seattle and later earned a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley

•For three decades before his election to Congress (1950-1980), was a professor of economics, an international affairs analyst for public television, and a consultant to a number businesses

•He also served in senior advisory roles to members of the United States

•first elected on 13th of January, 1981 at the age of  52. 

Why such outstanding productivity?

• Financial support? Incentives?

• Intellectual freedom?

• Self selection artifact? (who immigrated?)

• Promise of social mobility in America (i.e. the ideal of the self-made made)?

• The strength of heterogeneous, multi-ethnic societies?

Garston Ash’s “nationalism” vs. “patriotism”

• A “nation” goes beyond political borders

• A nation is united by a common language, history, culture, literature

• A nation is something you must be born into

• Nationalism is love for your “nation”

• “patriotism” is respect and loyalty to a political state

• “patriotism” implies dedication to and respect for a set of legal, political and economic institutions

• You don’t have to be born into a society to be patriotic

The Ornament of the World• Multi-ethnic societies (like medieval

Spain) have been hotbeds of creativity and intellectual development

• The potential of cross fertilization of ideas from different societies creates a dynamic that is hard to replicate in mono-ethnic societies

• The U.S., in some senses, epitomizes the potential of such multiethnic societies through its fluid social structure, focus on individual achievement and openness.