The famous artist Jiří Korn relates his forty years on stage.
Who knows what the ghosts would say, the real ones who sleep among the effigies of the Golem and the silence of the Castle, of the show performances of our Jiří. Perhaps, they would be annoyed.
Annoyed by his black-white , by his everlasting dark glasses, his swiftness on the stage, by his capacity to improvise and suddenly dispel, with a sudden turn, the ever anxious expectations of the spectators.
But it is not so: the ineffable Jiří draws a door on the stage curtain and enters triumphantly, amid thunderous applause. An all-round artist who combines music, theatre acting, dance and even a little literature. Mystery? Pure invention? Bluff? Hamming? All these things brought together, as can only happen to unique artists, giften by a generous nature, to be able in every circumstance to play the inexplicable role of the histrionic performer.
Do not ask him how, nor ask him
Why. It is a matter of fact that the heroic Jiří has been performing on stage in Prague and in neighbouring theatres for about thirty years.
It is no joke, in fact. A first rate actor, then, who is able to withstand the hardship of time. He is not affected by wrinkles; his tip tap shoes twirl and mock at the calendar, he plays golf, he is a master at billiards, he woos his admirers; success runs over his rivals, churning out great musicals with a tried and tested staff of collaborators. And then he is affected by an almost magical luck, as one who has always been living above the clouds.
A film actor (remember his ‘‘2Bobule‘‘, an ironic exaltation of Moravian wine), a theatre actor, of radio drama, often accompanied by great actresses and singers. Two in particular among a list of many are his favourites: Helena Vondráčková and Lucie Bílá. With Helena there was a gradual understanding. But in the end, we ended up doing the “great couple”, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers style, as a journalist put it, a well matched couple.
- Couple of stars, an immodest observer would say.
But what about the regime, what was life like under the regime?
“I grew up with state-controlled radio, cinema and television, but I do not regret anything – explains Jiří – I do not regret the years as a singer during the communist period or the radio programs of Husák. Censorship towards artists was vigilant, but at the same time, it was not so obsessive. The real annoying aspect for an actor was above all the fact of not being able to go to the West.
It seems a rather too idyllic picture….
I have to be honest: I experienced the only real serious problem in the Eighties with a song entitled “I haven’t got any money in my wallet”. The state officials blocked it with the motivation that it was a lie. What the heck.., every good Czech citizen had money in his wallet! What sort of stories was this artist going on about … Since then, I have always worked between the old Czechoslovakia and the GDR .
- Let’s face it. How did I experience the collapse of communism and the “Velvet Revolution?”
- I was already well-known in 1989, but, as everybody else, I breathed a wave of new air, mainly because the frontiers were being opened and the flair of an artist cannot be fenced in.
- Well then, Prague as a cosmopolitan capital. Do you remember the Prague of the early 1990s full of “hemingwajové”, of aspiring American artists?
- I remember a great wish to do things, surely, a great deal of desire for reciprocal understanding on both sides. I may add that it would seem a paradox that this
Americanization has however lowered the quality of certain programs, on television, for example. And this is said by one who has always believed in television, including the musicals such as Rendez Vous or shows as Dracula which often went on video.
For once, he takes off his ever-present dark glasses. The masque is by now stronger than any natural expression. The immortal Jiri Korn now smiles towards a friend in the same manner that he smiles and has always smiled to his public.
On the assumption that television does not enchant him as in the past, in Jiri’s cylinder hat there are still thousands of other ideas and proposals. Songs to be re-interpreted (“But master of all, please take note, will always be the immortal Karel Gott…”), with appearances in Germany and in Vienna. Also a trip to the beloved Venice and the favourite Adriatic Coast…
- Italy and the Czech Republic: a contradictory relationship, also from an artistic point of view…
“I do not believe it has only to do with a problem of Italy, or of another country – the singer explains – We can say that we are a country of artists. But, at a certain point, talent must grow wherever it is born. Thus, it is normal to find today that a young Czech artist feels the need to emigrate, in order to grow. It happened to Milan Kundera, it happened to Miloš Form and, to a certain extent, to all those who then became great artists. In another field, it happened to Eva Herzigová and Kurková and to the numerous beautiful women that our country churns out, thanks to God and our Bohemian land. But who, inevitably, have to emigrate to the capitals of fashion: Milan, Paris, New York… Among the singers, one that surely deserves particular mention is Dasha. Much more than a promise in today’s light music.”
He does not pause. Another smile, another anecdote, another photo to show me : here is a show performance, a tip tap by his beloved Fred … And now, the untiring man with his dark glasses (a must, someone might add) is rehearsing for the 4tet show at the Karlín theatre.
“I debut in November – explains the eclectic Jiri in front of a cup of coffee. Nothing to do with Eliot, though, it is something different, realized together with my group, thanks to scriptwriter, Jiří Škorpík, a clever 30 year old from Prague. Four artists on the stage, music and theatre together, but which will also be appreciated by the foreign public. I will be on show for the whole winter. I look forward to seeing you in Karlín, don’t forget…”
By Ernesto Massimetti