Description:
Mr. Coachman! Take me to the Winter Garden is a 1917 Hungarian vintage advertising poster designed by Jozsef Pan. Originally called Jardin d’ Hiver, later renamed Telikert (Winter Garden) was a very popular bar, cafe and theater in Budapest during the 1910s, in the building which today houses Thalia Theater.
Jardin d’ Hiver – Telikert (Winter Garden)
In December 1913, a new entertainment venue opened its doors in Budapest at 22-24 Nagymezo Street. It received its elegant name: Jardin d’Hiver after the winter garden on the mezzanine floor, but the French name was also intended to make people aware of its kinship with the popular Jardin de Paris, which had been operating at the beginning of Erzsebet Kiralyne utja (Queen Elizabeth’s Road) since June 1, 1908. Both entertainment venues were run by the same woman: Mrs. Lajosne Goor, born Lujza Wabitsch.
The new variety theatre quickly became popular and fashionable, and there was no disruption until the outbreak of World War I: the audience flocked to the entertainment venue, which skillfully combined cabaret and variety shows. At first, the war was not bad as a tool of advertisement. Later, however, it caused insurmountable difficulties. The artists who were usually so reliable and punctual did not arrive. One is taken as a soldier, the other is wounded… This is how the doors of the variety shows slowly opened to the actors and actresses of Pest. The entertainment venues slowly turned into theaters. In the Telikert (Winter Garden) – the name was changed to comply with “wartime decency” in August 1914 – the main role was given to operetta. After the proclamation of the Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919, this became the only smoking theater in the capital.
Following the fall of the Hungarian Soviet Republic and the Romanian invasion, on October 1, 1919, the Nagy Endre Theater moved to the Winter Garden. Endre Nagy presented only two shows – both compositions evoked the birth of Hungarian cabaret, the “good old” Budapest. The cabaret did not live up to the hopes placed on it. The speculators and price gougers were reluctant to laugh at themselves, and what a twist of fate: Lujza Wabitsch would also be interned for speculation a year later, in the fall of 1920.
On December 1, 1919, the Winter Garden returned to the ranks of consumerist entertainment venues. This enigmatic expression meant at that time that the institution did not support itself from the entrance fees paid for the show. The food and drinks consumed before, during, and after the show brought the real profit.
When summer arrived, the gates of the Winter Garden always closed. The company moved to the summer playground, the Jardin de Paris (the Berlin Garden during the war), and continued to perform its winter hits there. This happened in 1920 as well. At that time, they probably did not yet suspect that they would not return to Nagymezo Street in the fall. (source: thalia.hu)
One of the sensations of the winter season is that a new large-scale entertainment venue opens in Budapest every year. Budapest's cosmopolitan splendor will once again be enhanced by an imposing entertainment venue. The Telikert (Winter Garden) on Nagymezo Street, which opened a few years ago, is today the most beautiful orpheum in Europe. However, this grandiose, architecturally artistic entertainment venue has only just now been completed to its true perfection. The Télikert, designed by the excellent architects Neubauer and Weinzel, has been expanded with brightly furnished new rooms. The beautiful rooms of the Telikert Bar and Cafe have just been completed on the mezzanine floor of the entire street section at the front of the building. The furnishings of the rooms are a sight to behold. No wonder, since they were designed according to the plans of Elek Falus and Rezso Herquet, these two excellent draftsmen. We had the opportunity to admire the genius of both of them in the furnishings of the new Modern Stage. If we add that this new entertainment venue is located in the magnificent building of the Telikert , where Marton Rtkai, this popular artist, used to entertain the audience in the evenings, we can be sure that the Telikert Bar and Cafe will be the busiest and most popular place in all of Pest. The new entertainment venue will be opened to traffic on Wednesday evening and the café part will be open every day from 1 pm. (source: Szinhazi Elet, 17th of December, 1916)
