Word and Image History of the Hungarian Cinema [antikvár]

The Café Of Budapest's many cafés the Velence was not the most splendid, but it was one of the most enterprising-and it had a good site. It was on busy Rákóczi Street, where the present Tisza Cinema stands. In this café the Hungarian cinema began its history. The café is a remarkable institution developed by bourgeois society in the last century. It used to be-and sometimes still is-a place where merchants, businessmen, artists, clerks and even radical intellectuals could mingle. At a Budapest café you were served more than coffee; food and other drinks were available, but that was not its chief attraction. One came here for companionship, business appointments, political discussion and the exchange of ideas. To attract more patrons to come more regularly the owner was obliged to stimulate conversation and keep alive the various interests of his customers. For one thing there was always plenty of newspapers; every Budapest café subscribed to as many important European newspapers as the owner could afford—this was as vital as the quality of the coffee-beans he bought. Habitués of each café knew that their favourite paper always awaited them. There were cafés with literary programmes, musical recitals and solo comedians; there were cafés with floor-shows and full variety programmes, music-halls reduced in scale. No extra fee was charged, either for this en-tertaimnent or for the always available newspapers. If the café-owner wanted regular patrons, he had to keep them well entertained. No wonder that films also found their way into the café. It was the Grand Café on the Boulevard des Capucines that gave the first commercial performance of the Lumieres' films. Immediately cafés in Berlin and Rome