Birth name Miklos Voglhut Role Singer Name Miklos Vig | Origin Hungary Also known as Miklos Vig Date killed December 19, 1944 | |
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Died December 19, 1944, Budapest, Hungary Similar People Jura Soyfer, Rene Blum, Kurt Gerron | ||
Miklos vig szeresd a regi muzsikat
Miklós Vig was a Hungarian cabaret and jazz singer, actor, comedian and theater secretary in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. Born in Budapest on July 11, 1898, he was murdered there on December 19, 1944 by members of the Arrow Cross.
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Early life
He was born Miklós Voglhut in 1898 to a Hungarian Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary. Although he went to acting school, he had better success as a cabaret singer. In 1924 as his career was picking up he changed his surname to Vig. He changed his name because Voglhut was a Jewish-sounding name and antisemitism was growing at the time. Vig means cheerful or merry; it is a nice, short, typically Hungarian name that also made a great stage name.
Family
Other musicians from the Vig family include saxophone and clarinet player György Vig (brother) and jazz musician Tommy Vig (nephew).
A nephew of Miklós Vig, Dr. John R. Vig, was president of the IEEE in 2009.
Murder
The fact that he was married to a Catholic woman, Kati Szőke, and the fact that he changed his name did not save him from the Holocaust. On December 19, 1944, Miklós was among a group of Jews who were bound, lined up along the banks of the Danube and machine-gunned into the river by Hungarian Nazis, members of the Arrow Cross Party. The Shoes on the Danube Promenade honors the memory of those who were murdered in this fashion.
Music and Comedy
He was a student of Géza Boross and his talent was discovered by Dezső Gyárfás and Antal Nyáray.
He had his first major successes at the Intim Kabaré as a soloist, and later performed frequently in other cabarets including the Budapest Operetta Theatre and Budapest Orfeum. Although he made many recordings, he became most famous as a singer of popular music on the radio. A 1935 article in Színházi Élet describes Miklós as a singer of popular sentimental songs.
According to Gramofon (the Hungarian Jazz and Classical music magazine), Miklós was considered part of the first generation of recorded Hungarian musicians. When Deutsche Gramophone found themselves falling behind the competition, they signed Miklós who ultimately became their first dance-music star "beloved all around the country."
As a comedian, he performed in the early 1920s at various cabarets including the Rakéta Kabaré - occasionally with female partner Annus Nagy.