Ameen al-Heneidi

Ameen al-Heneidi (b. October 1, 1925; d. June 3, 1986)

Birth name

Mahmoud Ameen al-Heneidi

Place of birth

Mansoura, Daqahliyah, Egypt

He was a comedian, whose humor showed in all his work, on stage, on the screen and on the radio.

Al-Heneidi was born to a father who worked in Kutab (a one-class school where only the Holy Quran would be memorized). Early in his childhood years, he would do imitations of the comic monologues of Ismail Yassein and Soraya Helmi. Due to the nature of his father's work, he was forced to move from one governorate to another.

Having finally arrived in Cairo Heneidi enrolled in the Shubra Secondary School, and joined the School Acting Group. Later on he would move between colleges only to settle down in the Institute of Sports and Athletic Training.

After graduation, he worked in Sudan. There he met stand-up comedian Mohammad Ahmad al-Masri (aka Abu-Lam'a). Heneidi took up acting as a profession after he returned home, and after he met comedian Abdul-Men'eim Madbouli and script-writer Youssef Ouf. Together they contributed to the program "An Hour for Your Heart". Heneidi's impersonation of Sheikh Hassan in the play Shafiqa al-Qebteya launched him into the acting profession.

Heneidi formed his theatrical group under the name "United Artists" which staged around 20 plays.

Heneidi gave very little attention to the silver screen, the stage being his ultimate passion.

In 1956, he received a Diploma from the Preparing Leaders Academy.

Youssef Wahbi

Youssef Wahbi

Youssef Wahbi was born on 14/7/1900 to an aristocratic family. His father, Abd Allah Pasha Wahbi, was an outstanding irrigation engineer in Egypt. When his father saw him acting he got very angry that Youssef Wahbi escaped to Italy where he worked for some time, then traveled to France with his colleagues Mokhtar Osman and Aziz Eid and joined its theatres. After his father'sdeath, Wahbi returned to Cairo and used the great fortune he inherited to establish a theatrical troupe named "Ramses", the Pharaonic name given to Youssef Wahbi during his stay in Europe. On May 10, 1923, the troupe premiered with a play called "AI Magnon", (The insane) which was highly welcomed.

Youssef Wahbi was the first artist to establish an artistic city, Ramses Complex in Zamalek. It consisted of a large cinema studio, an amphitheatre, an open cinema, and a show theatre. He ridiculed, in his plays, many of the old customs and attacked colonialism. He was the first to call for delimiting agricultural land ownership, such as in "Ragol AI-Saa'a" (Man of the moment).

On the social level, his theatre played a great role. He was the first to call for the abolition of the mandatory requirement for a married woman to live, against her will, with her husband at the house he chooses, commonly called "House of obedience" and the equality of man and woman in work and rights. Despite his long suffering from diseases, he continued his artistic career and fulfilled his ambitions for 50 years rich of achievements in fields of theatre and cinema. He performed more than 302 plays, of which 100 international, 60 written by him, about 185 plays, directed by him. In cinema, he acted about 50 films starting with "Zeinab", 1930 to "AI-Salkhana" (The Slaughterhouse) 1982.

On October 17, 1982 Egypt bade farewell to Youssef Wahbi, the pioneer of the Egyptian theatre.

Naguib al Rihani

Naguib al Rihani

The Great Theatre and Cinema actor Naguib El Rihani was and still being known as “KeshKesh Beik”, the name of the character he created from his own imagination and brought it to be live and real.

Naguib El Rihani was also known as “Charlie Chaplin, the East”; according to several critics Naguib El Rihani and Charlie Chaplin had several things in common among which is their difficult beginnings, their points of view and the main themes they chose for their artistic work. Both, El Rihani and Chaplin, chose to deal with the psychological insight of the poor class against the unjust aristocratic class, making fun of aristocracy in a sarcastic way.

There's a debate among several sources about the roots of Al Rihani Family, some would say it's from Iraq others say from Lebanon but regardless of his native origins, Naguib Al Rihani was born, raised and died in Egypt, for us he is Egyptian flesh and blood.

Naguib Ilyas Al Rihani was born in 1890 in Bab El Shaa'ria area in Cairo/Egypt, he studied in the Frare French School until the age of 15; his father worked in horse trading and when he died due to a financial crisis, Naguib had to leave school and start working to earn money for his family that consisted of his mother and two brothers.

In his quest for a job, he worked in the Agriculture Bank in Cairo and later on in the Sugar Company in Nagaa Hamady region, yet he could not give up his dream of becoming an actor and this was the main reason behind being fired from those two jobs.

In the beginning Naguib's mother, Mrs. Latifa, was against the idea of her son becoming an actor, or what they called in old times “ Meshakhasati” or Imitator, but later on, when his fame grew to the top, she was very proud for being the mother of “ Keshkesh Beik”.

It is surprising to know that Naguib El Rihani always wished to become a super tragedian and that becoming a comedian was never on his plan, but fortunately he was successful in both tragedy and comedy.

His comic skills were first discovered by his fellow friend, the great director and actor Aziz Eid who saw that Naguib's comic skills were dominant to his tragic ones and he tried to help him in this path but Naguib was more interested in tragedy.

Naguib El Rihani played a great role in the development of Egyptian theater at a time when theaters were presenting comic sketches that were very silly using meaningless words and actors as dummies doing ridiculous movements just to arouse the laughter of the audience but Naguib El Rihani had different ethical and valuable visions.

Beside his natural gift, Naguib Al Rihani gained a lot of experience from working with different famous artistic troupes at that time, between the years 1905 till 1916 such as:

- Okasha's Troupe / Seleem Attalla's Troupe / El Sheikh Ahmed El Shamy's Troupe

- George Abyad's Troupe (which, later on, merged with Salam Hegazy's Troupe to form a news troupe called Abyad &Hegazy'sTroupe).

Naguib Al Rihani was fired from George Abyad's Troupe as the latter saw him a bad actor, but years later George Abyad was convinced that Naguib El Rihani was gifted.

The real beginning for Naguib Al Rihani was in 1916 when he joined the famous actor, Stefan Rosty, to work in “De Rose” Casino.

Due to his great efforts, theatres started acquiring deeper aspects; El Rihani gave great attention to the ideas presented in his plays, the dialogue and the characters; dummy comic characters were replaced by more elevated realistic ones and he was able to develop his comic techniques.

He was positively reacting with the political and social changes that took place in Egypt at that time as the national spirit was newly introduced to Egyptian theatres.

Later on, in 1918, El Rihani started a new type of theatre which is the Musical Theatre or what is called the “Operette” in which he co-operated with the famous musician Sayed Darweesh as well as the famous actor and writer Badie Khairy, and together they presented several successful musical plays or “Operettes”.

He toured with his own artistic troupe “Al Rihani Troupe” to different countries to present his work such as South America, Lebanon and Syria. In the final stage of his artistic life, Naguib El Rihani starred and wrote several successful movies that are considered of the greatest movies of the Egyptian cinema with famous singers and actors, such as Laila Mourad, Aziz Osman, Anwar Wagdy, Abdul Fattah El Kosary, Youssef Wahby, Hassan Fayek, Taheya Karyouka, Bishara Wakeem and many others.

In all his plays and movies, Naguib El Rihani was always targeting the amusement of the Egyptian poor class and always insisted to adopt his topics, especially those translated from French and English, with the Egyptian environment so that his target class can easily understand and react with his work.

Finally in 1949, Egypt lost the great star Naguib Al Rihani who, in spite of his death, will always be in our minds and hearts and will always be able to make us laugh from the heart.

The way Naguib El Rihani makes us laugh each time we watch his movies and plays can never reflect the hard times he passed through in his life ever since he was a child, but when you know his life story you can easily see the scares and reflections of those hard times on his face and eyes.

Amina Rizk

Amina Rizk

Amina Rizk, 90, a pioneering actress in the Egyptian movie industry, died on August 24, 2003.

She was born in Tanta on April 15, 1910. She attended the Tanta School, and used to watch the circus during "Moulid El Sayed El Badawi". It inspired her to perform some minor roles. After her father's death, the young Amina moved to Cairo with her mother. She attended the Deya El Shark School. Amina's debut performance moved the audience crowded in the Road El Farag Theater.

But it wasn't until 1924, that she gained recognition. It was her acting alongside Youssef Wahby in the play Rasboteen that brought Amina to the limelight. Amina's work stretched through the theater, cinema, and radio where she took on different roles giving her character a multi-dimensional perspective. She performed in social and historical TV series that documented some aspects of Egyptian life. She also starred in various plays including Enha Hakan A'ela Mouhtarama and El Sanyoura.

Amina Rizk is known for her sad roles where her tears were the only solace to her soul. She is often referred to as the "Crying Lady".

Rizk began acting at age 11 and performed in her first stage play, "Soad the Gypsy," when she was 15. She was one of the last survivors of a generation of actors who helped Egypt become the center of the Arab film industry beginning in the 1930s.

The actress was best known for her roles in such movies as "Land of Dreams," "I Want a Solution" and "A Beginning and an End," which was based on the novel by Egypt's Nobel Prize laureate Naguib Mahfouz.

Rizk never married. In 1997, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak appointed her to an honorary post in the parliament's upper house

George Abiad

George Abiad
(1880 - 1959)

George Abiad is the pioneer of serious drama in Egypt, a landmark and a turning point in the history of Egyptian theatre. During his rich dramatic career, he played immemorable theatrical performances, in both Arabic and French, including Oedipus, Louis, Othello, Father Le Pionard, Saladin, Heliopolis, Heart of a Woman and Al Hakim Bi Amr Allah.

Birth and Education:

• George Abiad was born in Beirut, Lebanon on May 5,1880.

• He pursued his schooling until he obtained his high school diploma (Baccalaureate).

• He was so fond of acting that he played a key part in a French language-play. The French actor Jean Fraig, who had once performed the same part on the Paris Theatre admired Abiad's performance after attending the show and found him a promising actor.

Career:

Abiad left Beirut for his favorite city: Alexandria , Egypt where his uncle lived.

In Alexandria he made his first contact with the Egyptian theatre. He used to make frequent visits to Sheikh Salama Hegazi's Theatre, which he wished to join.

On July 29,1904, George Abiad travelled to France to join the Conservatoire. In Paris he met Sarah Bernard, the famous French actress, and became a habitual visitor of her "Salon". He also met Ya'qoob Sannou, the founder of the Egyptian theatre and press, who was deported from Egypt.

In France, Abiad managed to learn much from the pioneers of French theatre. He met the French notable star Suilivan, attended the Comedie Francaise and attained many diplomas in theatrical direction, decoration and acting.

On May 10, 1910, George Abiad returned to Egypt. Two days later, his French troupe presented "Horace" on the Khedive Opera House Theatre. Then, he presented " Charles VI", which was attended by a host of distinguished artists and state dignitaries, including nationalist leader Saad Zaghloul.

In 1911, George Abiad was commissioned by the then Minister of Education Saad Zaghloul, to arabicize education in Egypt.

Abiad told Zaghloul that the best way was to start with the theatre. Accordingly, Abiad disbanded his troupe and sent them home. For one full year, Abiad was busily engaged in arabicizing and setting those plays previously performed in French.

He Placed an advertisement in the press for the selection of the best talents for his troupe.

He encouraged men of letters to dedicate their efforts to translation and creative writing. One of the first plays translated for his Arabic - language theatre was Oedipus the King . As soon as Abiad's Arabic language- troupe was formed, it premiered with " The Wounded of Beirut", a one-act poetic drama by Egypt's eminent poet Hafez Ibrahim commonly known as " The Poet of the Nile". This was followed by several other Arabic - language plays. Abiad's Arabic language plays brought about a dramatic revolution which was intended to :

• Change the conception of art as a mean profession.

• Open the Opera house doors to Egyptian dramatic troupes.

• Initiate the foundation of Egyptian dramatic troupes.

• Write plays in classical Arabic.

• Transfer the achievements of European theatre to Egypt. Many of the above goals were actually achieved by George Abiad. In addition, he managed to introduce music into his plays, giving rise to musical compositions to enhance historical dramatic performance. Moreover, Abiad's works raised classical tragedies to top-high levels.

• The cast of Abiad's troupe included Egypt's top stars, such as Naguib El Reehani, Muhammad Abdel Qoddous, Bishara Wakeem, Hussein Riyad, Abbas Fares, Sayyed Darweesh and Dawlat Abiad.

• In 1914, both George Abiad's and Salama Hegazi's troupes were united into one troupe, called the Abiad / Hegazi Troupe. Its premiere was " Saladin ". For the first time, day performances (matine) were introduced.

• George Abiad introduced Om Kolthoum, who later became Egypt's top singer, to perform during the intervals. A drama institute was founded with Zaki Tulaimat as dean and George Abiad as professor of dramatic and tragic acting.

• In 1935, the Government-owned National Troupe was founded with Abiad as a cast member. The troupe presented its premiere "The Cave Dwellers" by Tawfik Al Hakim on the Opera House Theatre on October 15,1933.

In 1943, George Abiad was elected first chairman of Theatre and Movie Actors' Syndicate.

In 1944, Abiad was appointed professor of performance at the Higher Institute of Dramatic Acting, established in the same year.

In 1952, Abiad was appointed manager of the Egyptian Troupe, the first in this capacity after the July 1952 Revolution.

In recognition of Abiad's achievements, a bust of the artist was erected at the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts garden and a similar one at the National Theatre grounds in Cairo, together with a memorial plaque bearing his photograph at the Opera House Theatre.

Yacoup Sannou

Yacoup Sannou 15-4-1839 - 1912

Yacoup Sannou is the pioneer of Arab theatre and (Molière) of Egypt during the 1980s and early 1990s. He enriched the literary and dramatic movement in Egypt and was nicknamed "Abo Nazzara".

Born in 1839 for two Jewish parents. His father worked in the service of Prince Yakan, the grandson of King Mohamed Ali. Yacoup has studied Torah, Bible and Quoran and spoken fluently 13 languages and perfected music, painting and dance. He traveled to Italy to study arts and literature in 1853 and returned in 1855 in order to work in the service of aristocracy and palace.

Sannou lived with the popular (craftsmen, workers & farmers), intermediate and aristocratic brackets in the Egyptian society. He wrote several plays and established his own theatrical troupe to show his own plays. He trained his troupe by himself through his academic study for arts and languages as he read many works for famous dramatists in their original language (mother tongue) especially Molière, Goldoni and Sheridan and shown his plays on Al-Azbakiya Theatre. He established and published several newspapers such as "Abo Zommara", Patriotic Egyptian" and "Islamic World" which criticized Egypt's internal policies at that time.

Yacoup Sannou established his own theatre in Al-Azbakiya Garden in 1870 and brought women to act on the stage. Khedive Ismail invited him to show his plays on the theatre of Khedive in Qasr el-Nile and he dramatised three novels of social comedy, but Khedive exiled him to France, closed his theatre and dissolved his troupe.

Major works:

- Nation and Freedom.
- Jihady.
- Sheikh el-Hara.
- Sultan of Treasures.
- The Boy (El-Walad).
- Egypt Bourse.
- Friendship.
- Alexandrian Princess.