Background to film report:

Date:
Approx. midday 20 November 1913

Location:
In front of the Ritz hotel on Eötvös Square, Budapest (the building, later renamed the Dunapalota, no longer exists; the modern building of the InterContinental Budapest stands on the original site.)

Event:
Ladies (three Comedy Theatre students of acting) plied Max Linder, arriving by car, with flowers at the entrance to the Ritz hotel. Linder, on seeing the camera, fled into the hotel foyer. The footage almost certainly features János Fröhlich and Aladár Fodor, founders and editors of Kino-Riport.

Background to the event:
Max Linder, the popular French comic and one of the first stars of early silent movies, arrived for a two-week guest appearance in Budapest on the night of 12 November 1913. During his tour he appeared each evening at the Royal-Orfeum. While staying here he was involved in an embarrassing incident: bailiffs surprised him in his room at the Ritz and confiscated many of his valuables. He told János Fröhlich, crime reporter on the daily Az Ujság, about the case and Fröhlich offered to film a light-hearted reconstruction of the incident. Max Linder was happy to oblige but the filming was stopped by the local representative of French company Pathé, claiming that the artist had signed with them instead of receiving a heavy fine so only they could make a motion picture of Linder. As evident from the above, Fröhlich actually used a trick to take film of the French star. His lawyers assured him that there could be no legal consequences if the comic was ‘spontaneously’ caught on camera in the street.

Cameraman:
Lajos Szőnyi

Kino-Riport footage:

“An hour later, we brought three beautiful girls to the front of the Ritz by car. Three charming Comedy Theatre students of acting, to whom we revealed our plans.
Armed with delightful chrysanthemums, the ladies took up their position to the right of the hotel entrance with my friend Fodor. We waited in the car while they were ready to leap into action. I set up the cameraman Lajos Szőnyi, with his camera, on the left. I stood in front of the entrance to the hotel, waiting for Max Linder – who had driven into the city earlier – to return from lunch.
When his car approached, I waved. At this signal, the ladies got out of the car under the direction of Fodor on the right-hand side, and on the left the photographic apparatus under the hand of the cameraman began to film.
Linder is showered with flowers by the ladies (ostensibly members of the French colony in Budapest) in front of the Ritz, which he loves. Our ladies also approached him and he didn’t know what to do: to smile at them or listen to me as I greeted him with these words:
— Good afternoon, master, I warn you that a minor assassination attempt is prepared against you.
— Assassination? Why?
I pointed to the left with my thumb. Max affably smiled in that direction. But as soon as he saw the camera operating, his face went pale and like a cat, he jumped and raced into the hotel foyer, from where he shouted desperately:
— Oh, my fine of 150,000 franks is in danger!”

Photographs relevant to the event:

 Az Ujság, 16 November 1913

Grand Hotel Ritz (Fortepan /Archives of the Capital of Budapest)

Max Linder in 1914 (Wikipedia), Tolnai Világlapja, 16 November 1913

 The founders of Kino-Riport (Tolnai Világlapja, 12 July 1914)