Ladislaus Bus Fekete

Ladislaus Bus-Fekete , also László Bús-Fekete or Leslie Bush-Fekete (born January 29, 1896 in Kecskemét , Austria-Hungary , † July 25, 1971 in Los Angeles , United States ) was a Hungarian-American playwright and film writer.

life and work

Ladislaus Bus-Fekete first worked as a critic for the Hungarian theater magazine Színházi Élet . His review of the only (lost) opera by the operetta composer Paul Abraham ( Etelka's Heart ) is interesting from a musical history perspective . He later worked as a journalist in Vienna and reported, among other things, on the 1936 Olympic Games.

Bus-Fekete enjoyed success as a writer of theater comedies in Budapest, Vienna and Berlin in the 1920s and also in the early 1930s. His birthday play. A life picture in six chapters was later filmed by Ernst Lubitsch under the name Heaven Can Wait (German: A heavenly sinner ) in Hollywood . After his play Jean , a Hollywood film ( The Baroness and the Butler ) and two television productions under the name Jean (1957 and 1965) were shot with his collaboration . Ladislaus Bus-Fekete was married to the playwright and novelist Maria Fagyas and worked with her on many productions.

Around 1937 the couple moved to the United States, where Bus-Fekete worked successfully as a screenwriter, primarily under the name Leslie Bush-Fekete. He wrote countless storylines and scripts for Hollywood productions, including Ein Himmlischer Sünder by Ernst Lubitsch , Reunion in France by Jules Dassin (with Joan Crawford and John Wayne ) and A Woman's Heart Never Forgets (Lydia) by Julien Duvivier (with Merle Oberon and Joseph Cotten ). After the war, Fekete also wrote numerous screenplays for television films. Together with Mária Helena Fagyas, under the name L. Bush-Fekete, he set up the novels Der verntreute Himmel and Der Abituriententag by Franz Werfel for the stage. Due to the three spheres of activity of his work (Hungary, German-speaking countries and USA), Bus-Fekete varied his first and last names many times. So he drew his works depending on the occasion as follows: Ladislas Bus-Fekete, Ladislaus Bus-Fekete, Laszlo Bus-Fekete, Leslie Bush-Fekete, L. Bush-Fekete, Ladislaus Bush-Fekete, László Bús-Fekete, Bús Fekete László and Bús-Fekete László.

Filmography (selection)

• 1932: Du haut en bas (based on his own play of the same name, as Ladislas Bus-Fekete)
• 1934: The Daughters of Her Excellency (based on his play: Die kleine Trafik , also known as Die Trafik Your Excellency , as Ladislas Bus-Fekete)
• 1936: Ladies in Love (after his piece Love - not enough , as Ladislaus Bus-Fekete)
• 1938: The Baroness and the Butler (based on his play Jean , as Ladislaus Bus-Fekete)
• 1941: A woman's heart never forgets (orig .: Lydia , based on the story Un Carnet de Bal , as Leslie Bush-Fekete)
• 1941: Consultation for love (orig .: Appointment for Love , based on the story Heartbeat , as Leslie Bush-Fekete
• 1942: Reunion in France (story, as Ladislas Bus-Fekete)
• 1943: A heavenly sinner (orig .: Heaven Can Wait , also known as The Birthday and Memoirs of a Bon vivant , after the play Birthday , as Laszlo Bus-Fekete)
• 1948: Casbah - Verbotene Gassen (orig .: Casbah , also known as Die Frauengasse von Algier , script as L. Bush-Fekete)
• 1950: Mordache - Liebe (orig .: Perfect Strangers ), based on an own play, as L. Bush-Fekete)
• 1953: The Girl Next Door (Story, as Leslie Bush-Fekete)
• 1957: Jean (TV play, as Ladislaus Bush Fekete)
• 1960: Lumbago (television play, as Ladislaus Bush-Fekete)
• 1960: Pepe - What can the world cost (orig .: Pepe , based on the play Broadway Magic , or Broadway Magic , as Leslie Bush Fekete)
• 1961: Who has the choice (TV film, screenplay Las Leslie Bush-Fekete)
• 1965: Always and Another Day (TV film, screenplay as Ladislaus Bush-Fekete)
• 1965: Jean (TV movie, screenplay, as Leslie Bush-Fekete)

Plays (selection)

• 1929: Juliska. Folk piece with singing in 3 acts . Budapest: Revesz (orig .: Pista néni )
• 1933: Money is not everything. Comedy in 2 parts . Typewritten. Vienna, Berlin: Marton (orig .: Penz nem minden )
• 1933: The small tobacco shop (also known as the tobacco shop of his excellence ). Printed as a manuscript. Vienna, Berlin: Marton (orig .: Penz nem minden )
• 1934: "The star of the ring": a story from the circus . German by Beda and Hugo Wiener . Music by Michael Eisemann and Karl Komjati . Vienna: Gyimes
• 1934: More than love (orig .: Több mint szerelem )
• 1935: birthday. A picture of life in 6 chapters
• 1937: Jean. Comedy in 3 acts
• 1946: The misappropriated sky (together with Mária Helena Fagyas - based on the novel by Franz Werfel)
• 1953: Suszy or Suszanne? : Comedy in 3 acts (together with Mary Bus-Fekete, also: Lumbago ). Trans. U. edit v. Joseph Glücksmann . Stage Ms. (orig .: Lot's Wife )
• 1960: The high school graduation day (together with Mária Helena Fagyas - based on the novel by Franz Werfel)
• around 1960: Adam's garden together with Marie Helen Fay. Typewritten. Vienna: Theater in d. Josefstadt (Austrian stage publisher Kaiser)

novel

• 1937: love - not enough . Transfer from Lola Plesz. Leipzig; Vienna: Tal (orig .: Szerelemböl elégtelen )

Web links

• Ladislaus Bus-Fekete in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Literature by and about Ladislaus Bus-Fekete in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Klaus Waller : Paul Abraham. The tragic king of the operetta . Bod, Norderstedt 2014, pp. 39-40.
2. ↑ Susanne Blume Berger, Michael Doppelhofer, Gabriele Mauthe: Manual Austrian authors of Jewish origin 18th to 20th century. Volume 1: A-I. Edited by the Austrian National Library. Saur, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-598-11545-8 , p. 190.
3. ↑ Hungarian works from this period are listed in the Internet edition of the Magyar Színházmúveszeti Lexicon , keyword Bús-Fekete, László
4. ↑ For film data, see International Movie Database (IMDb). All the names mentioned appear there in various films and on the author's page (see web links).