The Beat Generation In Prague – Expression Behind the Iron Curtain

The sound of beat music broke out in Prague sometime around late 1965, 1966 and 1967. During this time there was a cultural explosion unparalleled in Eastern Europe. There was a favorable political environment, after Soviet demilitarization and the release of political prisoners, culminating in the appointment of Dubček as secretary general of the Czech Communist...

ENTERTAINMENT, History, Music, NOSTALGIA

August 21, 2017

Czech Opera Singer Štěpánka Štěpánová

With title roles such as Carmen, Aria, Madame Butterfly, Tosca, Rusalka, Šárka, etc. her voice dominated the Národní divadlo (National Theatre) in Prague for decades. But had she not discovered her voice, Czech opera singer Štěpánka Štěpánová may have had an entirely different life. Born in Bielsko (Poland) on December 13, 1906, she attended grammar school...

ENTERTAINMENT, Music

August 20, 2017

Bohumil Stepan Illustrates Gulliver in Gulliverovy Cesty

Bohumil Štěpán (April 12, 1913 Krivoklat – March 1, 1985 Mnichov) was a Czech painter, illustrator and graphic artist. He studied at the Ukrainian Academy of Fine Arts and the Rotter Graphic School in Prague. He printed his first drawings in the student magazine H2SO4. In 1937, he exhibited a figural composition in the foyer of...

Books, ENTERTAINMENT

August 13, 2017

Czech Woodstock | Slovak Woodstock | Music and the Communist Regime

Amazingly, it did happen. A (Československý) Czech Woodstock or (Slovenský) Slovak Woodstock was actually called the Koncerty mladosti, or the Concert (Festival) of Youth. But this was 1976, 1977 and Czechoslovakia was under communist rule. In fact, at the time it was regarded as a satellite state of the Soviet Union. And we all know that the...

ENTERTAINMENT, Music, Time Warp

August 12, 2017

Otakar Štáfl Takes Us To The Moon and Beyond

Otakar Štáfl was born on December 30, 1884 in Havlíčkův Brod. Located in the medieval town fortifications of Havlíčkův Brod is a bastion, which today bears the name of Otakar Štáfla. He had his studio on the premises. He did not finish grammar school and headed straight for Prague where he was admitted to the...

Childrens Books, ENTERTAINMENT

August 7, 2017

Czech Opera Bass Singer Vilém Zitek

Vilém Zitek was a Czech opera bass singer, known the world over and the first ever national artist. Zitek was perhaps the greatest opera singer in 20th Century Czechoslovakia. He was born in Prague on September 9, 1890 and died in Prague on August 11, 1956. He was originally apprenticed to work as a mechanic; but...

ENTERTAINMENT, Music

July 26, 2017

Winnetou, Old Shatterhand and Old Surehand by Karl May

Karl Friedrich May (February 25, 1842 – March 30, 1912) was a German writer best known for his adventure novels set in the American Old West. His main protagonists are Winnetou and Old Shatterhand. It began with Winnetou. Winnetou, the chief of the Apache, is a legend in many countries, especially in then-called Czechoslovakia. Fresh off...

Books, ENTERTAINMENT

July 23, 2017

R. A. Dvorský and the Melody Makers (Melody Boys)

You may want to begin today’s post by listening to this lovely song performed by an aging Rudolf Antonín Dvorský (3+ minutes). This is the last recording of R.A. Dvorský. In fact, the lovely film clip was created on June 21, 1966, and shortly thereafter, on August 2, 1966, Dvorský died. Today we honor his lovely...

ENTERTAINMENT, Music

July 15, 2017

The Smooth Baritone of Czech Singer Rudolf Cortés

Rudolf Cortés (sometimes mistakenly referred to as Cortéz), was born Rudolf Kraisinger on March 16, 1921 in Pilsen and passed away on December 12, 1986 in Krásná Lípa. His father was Czech and his mother, with the maiden name Cortéz, was born in Brazil. His father met his future wife during a working visit to Uruguay,...

ENTERTAINMENT, Music

July 12, 2017

Twelve Fairy Tales Illustrated by Jiří Trnka

Today we are looking at the lovely illustrations by Jiří Trnka from the book Dvanáct pohádek (Twelve Fairy Tales) by Jiří Mahen. The book these came from was published in 1947 and has 122 pages. We have written about the work of Jiří Trnka before, when we reviewed his film Ruka (The Hand) and looked at scenes from...

Childrens Books, ENTERTAINMENT

June 24, 2017

Watch This Fairytale: Tři Bratři or Three Brothers

Three Brothers or Tři Bratři is a Czech movie that intertwines three classic Czech fairytales, what we know here as Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, and The Twelve Months into one beautiful to look at film. The movie begins with famous Czech actor Oldřich Kaiser drawing illustrations in a book, the pictures in this book are...

ENTERTAINMENT, Movies

June 15, 2017

Andy Warhol Entertains the Rolling Stones at Montauk

We’ve often pondered if Andy Warhol’s origins are Slovak, Czech or Carpatho-Rusyn and we already know that regardless of his roots, that the Rolling Stones love hanging out with Czechs (especially Vaclav Havel). So today we’re sharing some lovely rare photographs of the Rolling Stones and Andy Warhol at his Montauk Church Estate in Long Island, 1975....

ENTERTAINMENT, Music

Špalíček-1947-Jiri-Trnka-The-Czech-Year-TresBohemes

June 10, 2017

Jiří Trnka and the Czech Year (aka Špalíček)

Puppet animation is a traditional Czech art form, of which Jiří Trnka became the undisputed master. Most of his movies were intended for adults and many were adaptations of literary works. Špalíček (The Czech Year), also called A Treasury of Fairy-Tales, is a 1947 stop-motion-animated feature film from Czechoslovakia. It was a defining moment for Trnka...

ENTERTAINMENT, Movies

June 9, 2017

Waldemar Matuška at His First U.S. Recording Session

I was recently asked to provide some photographs which I took back in the 1980’s for an exhibit at the Waldemar Matuška museum in the Czech Republic. And while searching for them, I came across the photographs I took of the album cover photo shoot for Teče, voda, Teče, as well as of the recording session for...

ENTERTAINMENT, Music

June 2, 2017

Encyclopedia of Bohemian and Czech American Biography

Today we’re sharing a message from the Czech Ambassador who praises Mila Rechcigl’s Encyclopedia of Bohemian and Czech-American Biography. You’re surely familiar with some of Mila’s work by now because he has been kind enough to allow us to share some of it here at Tres Bohemes. The work we’re looking at today was published...

Books, ENTERTAINMENT

May 31, 2017

Best Dancer Ever Fred Astaire and His Prague Roots

Fred Astaire (orig. Austerlitz) (1899- 1987), was born in Omaha, Nebraska. He was an American dancer, choreographer, singer, musician and actor, and is regarded by many as the greatest popular-music dancer of all time. His stage and subsequent film and television careers spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films,...

ENTERTAINMENT, Movies