Muhsin Ertuğrul’un vefatının üzerinden 44 yıl geçti

Theater and film artist, director, actor, producer and translator Muhsin Ertugrul44 years have passed since his death.

Ertuğrul, the son of Hüseyin Hüsnü Bey, an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Fatma Dilruh Hanım, a German, was born on February 28, 1892, in Istanbul.

Ertuğrul, who was educated at Istanbul Tefeyyüz School, Darüledep High School, Soğukçeşme and Toptaşı, and Mercan High School, became interested in traditional stage performances such as meddah, Hacivat Karagöz and middle dance.

The artist worked with his schoolmates in an amateur theater when he was a high school student. Ertuğrul made his professional debut in 1909 with the character “Bob”, played by the Burhanettin Company in the play “Sherlock Holmes” in Erenköy.

Ertuğrul, who worked at the Odeon Theater for a while, participated in the productions of William Shakespeare’s “Othello” and “Hamlet”, which was staged for the first time in Turkey.

He went to France in 1911 with the advice of Vahram Papazian.

The master actor, with the advice of his friend Vahram Papazian, returned from France in 1911, where he had gone in 1911 for training, and founded his own band with his friends.

Ertuğrul, who managed the Turkish theater, went to Paris again in 1913, where he finished his education and had the opportunity to meet world-famous theater companies.

Ertuğrul, who took private lessons from Paul Gravolet at the Comedie Française that same year, staged short theater plays at the Ertuğrul Cinema, which he opened in Şehzadebaşı, before movie screenings.

Muhsin Ertuğrul participated in the establishment of the center, which was established in Istanbul in 1914 as “Darülbedayi” and later renamed to City Theatres. The artist worked with Reşat Rıdvan Bey and Andre Antonie at Darülbedayi.

Ertuğrul, who founded the Istanbul Film Company in Berlin, where he lived in 1918-1921, to run film and theater studios, also took over the partnership and directorship of Ustat Film during the same period.

After a significant role in the film “Light in the Darkness”, the master of acting recorded the films “Samson”, “Festival of Black Tulips” and “Devil Worshipers”. The artist who founded a group called “Delegation of Literary Theater” in 1917 during the German days also staged Halit Fahri Ozansoy’s “Owl” in those years.

Muhsin Ertuğrul, who played the role of a revolutionary officer in the film “The Duchess of Beranien” in Berlin, wrote various film reviews in Temaşa magazine a few months after returning to Turkey.

Ertuğrul, who prepared the opera “Kenan Shepherds” composed by Vedi Sabar and wrote the libretto by Halida Edip at Robert College, directed the film “Victory Roads”, which is considered the first documentary film about the War of Independence.

Made 3 films in the Soviet Union

Muhsin Ertuğrul had the opportunity to meet and work with many people from the world of cinema through Nazım Hikmet in the Soviet Union, where he was in 1925-1927.

The artist who filmed the films “Tamila”, “Spartak” and “Five Minutes” here, also received permission to enter all cinemas in Moscow, met and participated in the works of such names as Stanislavski, Nemirovich-Danchenko, Aleksandır Yakovlevich Tayrov, Vsevolod Meyerhold.

Ertuğrul traveled to the USA to conduct various studies in cinematography and theater and continued to be the artistic director of Darülbedayi, which he took over in 1927, until 1949 when he returned to Istanbul.

Ertuğrul, who made the first Turkish sound film “The Streets of Istanbul” and “The Nation Awakens”, appeared as “Mumtaz Osman” as a screenwriter in the films “If a Woman Cheats on Me”, “Söz Bir Allah One”, “Leblebici Horhor Ağa “, “Aysel Bataklı Damın Kızı”. He worked with Nazım Hikmet, who used his pseudonym.

Ertuğrul, who was the only film director in Turkey from 1922 to 1940, pioneered the establishment of İpek Film, Turkey’s second largest production company, in 1928.

Ertuğrul was among the founders of the Theater Vocational School in 1931. Joseph Marx, the head of the Vienna Music and Theater Academy, who was invited to Istanbul in 1933, reorganized this school, which can be considered the pioneer of the City Conservatory, and Muhsin Ertuğrul held lectures in this school as well. establish.

He worked as the main director at the Istanbul City Theatre.

After studying children’s theater in Moscow, the artist started the first regular children’s plays in Turkey at the Istanbul City Theater in the 1935-1936 season. In 1932, Ertuğrul received the Goethe Medal for his services in the field of theater.

Ertuğrul, who worked for some time as a theater teacher at the Ankara State Conservatory, published a magazine called “Perde” and “Sahne” with his wife Handan Ertuğrul in 1941.

Ertuğrul founded the Small Theater in Ankara in 1947 and the Great Theater in 1948, and in 1949 he was appointed general director of the state theaters.

The artist, who was last seen on stage as an actor in the role of an inspector in the play Došao je Bir commissar, resigned from the position of director of state theaters in 1950.

Ertuğrul made the first fully colored film in Turkish cinema, “Halıcı Kız” in 1953, and that film was the artist’s last cinematic work. Ertuğrul, who became the general director of the State Theater for the second time in 1954, opened the Small Theater and the Chamber Theater in 1955.

Ertuğrul, who was the main director at Istanbul City Theater from 1958-1966, opened Üsküdar Theater, Kadıköy Theater and Zeytinburnu Theater during this period. He received the State Cultural Gift in Turkey for the first time on October 23, 1971.

In 1974, at the age of 82, the master actor was once again appointed the chief artistic director of the City Theatre. Ertuğrul directed 30 films, which are the first examples of different genres in Turkish cinema.

He didn’t want a funeral on stage

Muhsin Ertuğrul, who won the first international award for Turkish cinematography at the “2nd Venice Film Festival” with his film “Leblebici Horhor Ağa”, implemented Western theater innovations in interpretation, stage technique and management in Turkish theater and contributed to the spread of theater to cities outside Istanbul.

Muhsin Ertuğrul received an honorary doctorate from Ege University on April 23, 1979. In a speech he gave at the ceremony, a week before his death, the artist said: “It is good not to be forgotten. I have received the best gift of my artistic life. Even if I die , I won’t be sorry.” he spoke.

The funeral of the artist who died of heart failure on April 29 in Izmir, where he went to receive the title and attend the celebration of the 70th anniversary of his artistic life, was buried at the Zincirlikuyu cemetery in Istanbul.

The artist, who wrote a letter shortly before his death, stated that he wanted a ceremony at the Levent Mosque and said: “No one should send flowers. No advertisements in newspapers. My coffin should not be placed on theater stages. No one should enter to the ceremony in front of me and bury my funeral in the place reserved next to my first wife Neyyira in Zincirlikuy.” made his will.

The films are signed by Muhsin Ertuğrul

Muhsin Ertuğrul, “Duchess of Beranien”, “Passion/Samson”, “Bosphorus Mystery: Nur Baba”, “Fire Shirt”, “Disaster in the Maiden’s Tower”, “Ankara Post”, “Victim of Lust”, “Jealousy” acted as .

An artist who also directed the films “Black Tulip Festival”, “Devil Worshipers”, “Samsun”, “A Disaster in Istanbul”, “Izdırap in Istanbul”, “Coffee Beauty”, and “Samsun” as a producer, She participated in “Aysel Bataklı Damın Kız”.

The master artist also appears in “Mystery on the Bosphorus”, “Catastrophe in Istanbul”, “Catastrophe in the Maiden’s Tower”, “Fire Shirt”, “Horhor Pebbles”, “So-Called Girls”, “Ankara Post”, “Smugglers”, “On the Streets of Istanbul”, “The Nation Awakens”, “Leblebici Horhor Agha”, “Aysel Bataklı Daughter on the Roof”, “Kavuk overturned”, “Married or Single?” and “Halıcı Kız”, wrote the screenplay and directed the films .