Foreign Language Press Survey

Self-Educational Clubs

Magyars in America, 1927

The Chicago Singing Club and the Self-educational Circle have a worthy record. The leaders of the club are always striving with all their might and soul, and with self-sacrifice that success and happiness might bring into existence a social life of more noble ideals, and to accustom the bulk of the American-Magyars to regard with favor their work toward cultural achievements.

Not merely imported national folk plays and operettas were produced by the amateurs, and trained by the leaders themselves, but an original folk play performance was given, the "Biro Lanya," and written by Paul Berak, one of the most devoted and animated Chicago-Magyars, setting an example by this action to the other self-cultural clubs, how such projects could be and ought to be supported and developed not by word, but by deed, the specific American-Hungarian 2literary endeavor of an American-Hungarian cultural organization.

The Chicago Self-educational Circle reached its pinnacle of success because of the zeal and untiring efforts of the leaders helped to attain it. These Hungarian leaders, who labored with untiring zeal are: Bartholomew Stark, Francis Kasztory, Dr. Ernest Lowinger, Ignatz Izsak, Paul Berak, Paul Yuhas, Julius Bauer, Francis Brugovitzky, Martin Furtosh, Charles Koningsberg, Leo Laszlo, Danziger, Dekany, and a whole rank of those enthusiastic Magyars, ready for any sacrifice, without whose zealous toil nowhere could grow the "Hungarian flower."

The Chicago Self-educational Circle faithfully lived up to its name, providing not only entertainments, but by arranging scientific and literary evenings 3which satisfied the yearning of members for education, and so it was a real self-educational club.

FLPS index card