The comedians Abd ElMoniem Madbouly and Fayez Halawa |
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Collection title
Itnain ala hawa ( two on live broadcast)
First broadcast date
1980
Abstract
Biographies of two great comedian stars Abd El Moneim Madbouly and Fayez Halawa talking about the different obstacles they had faced during their artistic career, then comes a debate about their most important films.
Broadcaster
ERTU - Channel 1
Audiovisual form
Portrait
Personalities
- Madbouly Abdel-Moneim
- Halawa Fayez
Secondary themes
- Art, Culture and Knowledge / Media
Credits / Cast
- Nabil Abdeladime - Director
Map locations
- Egypt - Lower Egypt - Cairo
Context
The Actors: Abdel-Moneim Madbouly and Fayez Halawa
Yvan Gastaut
This programme made by Nabil Abdeladime and broadcast in 1980 on the first channel of the Egyptian television (ERTU: Egyptian Radio and Television Union) offers an interview interspersed with extracts with the superstar Abdel-Moneim Madbouly by the actor Fayez Halawa who played in Salah Abouseif’s film, Hamman Al Malatily in 1973 and was the ex-husband of the belly dancer Taheyya Kariokka.
The two men trace the evolution of their careers, particularly the various obstacles they encountered. They talk about their films, especially those they consider most important.
Endowed from childhood with a a talent for drama, Abdul-Moneim Madbouli (1921-2006), was born into a poor family in Bab Al-Chaâria. Based in Cairo, he was the first to create a theatre company in Egypt – it was 1952, the fall of King Farouk, and his kind of drama was known as “free theatre”. Thanks to him, a new wind blew through Egyptian popular culture, enriched by a new kind of entertainment.
From his childhood and adolescence, Abdul-Moneim Madbouli, driven by a passion for drama, brought together small groups of aspiring actors first in his elementary school, then in high school. Later, he joined the Arab Drama School, graduating in 1949, though his career was already well under way, working for Egyptian radio in a comedy series called Sa'aa Albak Li (An Hour for Hearty Laughter) and in a television-based theatre troupe presenting children's programmes.
The end of the monarchy gave him the opportunity to fully express his talent not only in comedy but also in more serious roles. From that moment, he wrote and directed many plays and films as well as scripts for Egyptian television.
Abdul-Moneim Madbouli was a member of many companies: in 1937, at the age of 16, he worked with the Lebanese director George Abyadh, man of theatre and cinema, later he was in Fatma Rochdi’s company, or again the Egyptian Theatre Company with its creator Zaky Tlimat.
His acting style, particularly portraying old people, was so unique it became known as “madboulisme” imitated by other Egyptian performers, such as Adel Imam (born in 1940 ) and throughout the Middle East.
Abdel Moneim-Madbouli’s career, 50 years on the boards (120 theatre plays), movie sets (more than 60 films including Madrasat Al Moucheghibin, Raya w Skina or Bayn Al Kasrayn) and television ( 30 series among which the most famous was in 1979, My Dear Children in which he played the ever-loving “Papa Abu”), together with his spontaneous comic talent that triggered helpless laughter in several generations, earned him the nickname “the Egyptian Chaplin”.