Bahiga Hafez, Alexandrian Actress

 

Bahiga Hafez, (1908- 1983) her real name Bahiga Ismail Hafez, Alexandrian Egyptian actress. ٍٍShe was producer, actor, editor, costume designer, pianist and violinist and music composer. She was a respectable from a well-established Alexandrian aristocratic family spoke Arabic, English, french and Italian as a good representation of the Alexandrian cosmopolitan spirit. She studied in Alexandrian language school. She was also taught music at a very early age and learned to appreciate the arts as she was brought up in an artistic milieu created by her father who was a patron of the arts and encouraged promising young artists, among whom were Abdel Hai Helmi and Abdou el Hamouli, at his house in Moharrem Bey. She turned her house into a place where writers, poets and artists met. 

She married in a very young age to Iranian prince but their marriage didn't last for too long. She studied music and had a degree in music. Hafez took part in seven films, the first of which was Zeinab directed by Mohamed Karim in 1930, based on a novel- by Doctor Mohamed Hussein Heikal. It is considered the first Egyptian film adaptation of a novel.

Bahiga Hafez, the first Egyptian woman of aristocratic birth to act in the cinema, directed, produced and edited her films, and designed the costumes. She also composed the sound tracks, and on account of her stunning compositions, was given honorary membership by La in Societe des Auteurs de Musique de France.

بهيجة حافظ  فنانة متميز سكندرية من مواليد عام 1908 بحي محرم بك بالإسكندرية، لأسرة من الأعيان؛ حيث كان والدها إسماعيل باشا محمد حافظ  ناظر الخاصة السلطانية في عهد السلطان حسن كامل وابن خالتها إسماعيل صدقي رئيس وزراء مصر الأسبق، ثم تزوجت أمير إيراني ولكنهما انفصلا سريعًا، فعادت إلى الإسكندرية.

وبعد وفاة والدها درست الموسيقى على يد المايسترو الإيطالي جيوفاني يورجيزي بدار الأوبرا، لتسافر بعد ذلك إلى فرنسا وتحصل على دبلومة التأليف الموسيقي وعزفت أول مقطوعة موسيقية من تأليفها وأطلقت عليها «بهيجة»، فكانت بذلك أول مصرية تؤلف اسطوانة موسيقية عام 1926.

وبعدها اتجهت الفنانة المصرية للسينما وكان فيلم «زينب» الصامت عام 1930 هو أول بطولة لها، ثم حصلت على واحدة من أولى الجوائز المقدمة للعاملين بصناعة السينما من لجنة مراقبة التمثيل بوزارة المعارف المصرية و كانت عن فيلم «الضحايا» عام 1933.

ثم أنشأت الفنانة المصرية شركة «فنار فيلم» للإنتاج السينمائي وأنتجت فيلم «ليلي بنت الصحراء»، والذي تكلف نحو 18 ألف جنيه مصري، وهو مبلغ ضخم قياسًا بإنتاج تلك الفترة، وقد لاقى نجاحًا كبيرًا وعُرض في «مهرجان برلين الدولي» كأول فيلم عربي ناطق يعرض في هذا المهرجان ويحصل علي جائزة ذهبية.

كما رشح الفيلم للعرض في «مهرجان البندقية» وبعد سفرها وزوجها إلى إيطاليا للاشتراك في المهرجان صدر قرار عاجل من وزارة الخارجية المصرية بمصادرة الفيلم ومنع عرضه في الداخل والخارج لأسباب سياسية؛ فبعد عرضه الأول اعتبرته الحكومة الإيرانية آنذاك مسيئًا لتاريخ «كسرى أنوشروان» ملك الفُرس القديم وصدر قرار منع الفيلم ابان زواج شاه ايران من الاميرة فوزية مجاملة للحكومة الايرانية فكان له تاثير فائق على شهرة بهيجة حافظ وان كانت الحكومة المصرية تكفلت بدفع خسائر بهيجة حافظ.

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Stéphane Rosti

 
Stéphane Rosti. Stéphane de Rosti (1891-1964) Alexandria Comedian Actor. He was born in Alexandria in 1891. He spoke Arabic, English, french, Italian and German representing the the Alexandrian cosmopolitan spirit. His mother was an Italian Egyptian dancer who married to his father, an Austrian Baron, who terminate his political assignment (in Cairo) and return to his country after. Rosti lived with his mother in Ramleh in Alexandria and went to Ras el Tin Primary School, then he moved to Cairo. 

As a young man, Stephan travelled to Austria seeking recognition by his father, He managed to meet his father there but eventually fell from favour because of his relation with Austrian ballet dancer, in addition to his artistic tendencies. He danced and he worked as a translator then as a worker in the port of Naples to accompany immigrants to America, a salesman, and an entertainer for aristocratic children. In France, he worked as a tour guide, and in a library and a theatrical troupe.

 In Austria, Germany worked other jobs such as a dancer in nightclubs, an undertaker and a butcher. Rosti met and befriended two visiting Egyptian film-makers, Mohammed Karim and Sirag Mounir, who encouraged him to return to Egypt to work in cinema, given his fluency in Egyptian Arabic and after he expressed his desire to do so. Rosti returned to Egypt and enrolled as a student in the "Acting Institute" of Cairo, and accepted his first role as director of the first wholly Egyptian feature film, "Layla" from producer Aziza Amir in 1927.

Rosti would always be remembered also for his unique accent and tone of voice especially when playing a foreigner .

Zeenat Sedky (Alexandrian actress)

Zeenat Sedky (Real name is Zeinab Mohamed Mosaad) 1913 - 1978 Alexandrian Egyptian comedian actress was born in El Gomrok (the customs) district in Alexandria to a Jewish mother. She started her career as a belly dancer and monologue artist in local weddings. Her family did not allow that, so she ran away to Syria with her friend Khaireyya Sedky who gave her the name. Actor Naguib El Rihani saw her and offered her a role in one of his plays, and called her (Zeenat), She was known with her comedy roles in the Egyptian films in the forties and fifties of the twentieth century. She studied at the "Institute of representation and supporters of Cavalry," which was founded by artist Zaki Tulaimat in Alexandria. But her father prevented from completing her education. Zeinaat got married once for a short period less than one year and she lead a lonely life ever after. She was famous for the role of the maid or the single woman waiting for her man.

Cleopatra’s Needles

Cleopatra’s Needle is the popular name for each of three ancient Egyptian obelisks re-erected in London and new York City USA during the nineteenth century.  Both of them  have no particular connection with Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt, and Both were already dated back to the 18th dynasty made for King Thutmose III brought from Heliopolis around 1450  B.C.  The obelisks were moved to Alexandria and set up in the Caesaraum temple (Ramel Station Nowadays). the two obelisks moved  from Alexandria to London and New York 1870-1880.

In the 1860s, Antonio Beato photographed one of the obelisks, hemmed in by its modern neighbors, including a crude shack that blocked his camera’s view. In 1881 this needle was taken to New York and erected in Central Park; three years earlier, its partner had been installed on the Thames Embankment in London. From dynastic Egypt to Roman imperium to Victorian England and Gilded Age America, the three-millennium migration of Cleopatra’s Needles traces a history of empire from empire’s beginnings to the present.

Cleopatra’s Needle (New York’s) in Alexandria 1860

New York City’s Cleopatra’s Needle in Alexandria 1861

 

 NYC Central Park Cleopatra’s Needle as it stood in Alexandria Egypt in 1880

Cleopatras Needle being rigged down Ramel Station Alexandria 1880

View from mid-Thames, 2009 repairs in progress (London)

Cleopatras Needle just after being raised in NY city USA

 

 

 

Scuola Italiana (Italian Commercial School) Karmous

LA SCUOLA REGIE COMMERCIALE (Italian Commercial School) Alexandria, Egypt. It was designed by architect E. Bovio 1912. It is located in  Khedive street ( Sherif street Nowadays ), Karmouz, Alexandria. Now it is still used as two secondary governmental school for boys.

المدرسة التجارية الايطالية بالاسكندرية صمم المبنى سنة 1912 صممها المعمارى الايطالى (بوفو) ومكانها بمنطقة كرموز بالاسكندرية تم تأميمها فى الخمسينات وتحولت لمدرسة ثانوية واعدادية حكومية للبنين مكانها شارع الخديوى وهو ما يسمى الان بشارع شريف 

Regie Scuole Italiane 1920-1930.

 Regie Scuole Italiane 1940s

 

Rue le Khedive, Alexandria, Egypt, approximately 1915

Regie Scuole Italiane 2009  (Photo courtesy www.aaha.ch)

Khedive Street (Sherif street nowadays) 

Royal Automaton Clock Tower Montazah Royal Palace

Royal Automaton Clock Tower Montazah Royal Palace.  It was made in England, specially made at the request of King Fouad, king of Egypt , At each hour the doors of clock opens and Automaton Soldiers, four golden statues, Out from clock to salute the king with Tune the national anthem every our chimed dated back from the time of king Farouk 

برج الساعة الشهير بالمنتزة شيد فى عهد الملك فؤادأُ وكان “السلام الملكى” يُطلق يوميًّا على رأس الساعة التعى صممت بانجلترا وفقًا لميقات هذا البرج، ثم تطوّر الأمر فى عهد الملك فاروق فتمّ نحت أربعة تماثيل ذهبية له عندما تدق عقارب الساعة

Royal Automaton Clock Tower Montazah

Royal Clock Tower Montaza