In the history of Serbian theater, a special place is reserved for Alexander - Šandor Popović from Novi Bečej (Vranjevo). Unfortunately, he was not given the opportunity to further demonstrate himself, or perhaps he was so dynamic that he simply could not confine himself to a narrower creative field. Despite this, for what he did for Serbian theater during its formative period, we believe that he has not been given the appropriate place in cultural history, especially in the history of Serbian theater.
Regarding him, Petar Marjanović in his book "Artistic Development of the Serbian National Theater 1861-1862" states that his "indirect significance for the history of Serbian theater is greater than presumed." Because of this, I will dedicate more space to him to showcase his merits and correct errors or provide accurate biographical data about him.
The only source of data through which Alexander A. Popović entered the history of Serbian theater are his letters (23) addressed to Jovan Đorđević, director of the Serbian National Theater, and the Board of Directors of the Serbian National Theater in Novi Sad. Since all these letters were written in Ruma, Serbian theater historians consider him to be from Ruma. This is the view of Mihovil Tomandi in his "History of Serbian Theater in Vojvodina," and likely influenced by him, Borivoje Stojković in "History of Serbian Theater from the Middle Ages to the Modern Era" considers him a native of Ruma. Both cite him as the founder of the first amateur group in Sombor, which operated from October 1847 to April 1848.
Jovan Đorđević, despite conducting conversations with him in Ruma and receiving about twenty of his letters, still did not know his origin. In a letter to Antonije Hadžić on June 12, 1862, in Budapest - regarding the announcement of a competition for the position of director at the Serbian National Theater - he writes: "We have already declared bankruptcy for directors. We haven't been able to find a 'real' director so far, but there have been 'directors' aplenty. Three are competent so far. The first Baron Mita, sic et ita, there's no profit there. The second is Šandor Popović from Bašaid, Luka's brother who is currently under judicial investigation in Ruma: there is quite enough knowledge and skill, but he is 'szeleverdi' (freely translated from Hungarian - a featherhead - note by LM)."
In explanations, the author of the book - Correspondence between Jovan Đorđević and Antonije Hadžić - Dr. Božidar Kovačev, guided by this Đorđević's assertion, makes a mistake when on page 57 in a footnote he gives the following explanation: "Šandor Popović was a private official, the brother of the priest Luke Popović and the uncle of actresses Draginja Ružić, Jeca Dobrinović, Ljubica Kolarović, and Sofija Vujić. In the 1850s, he worked with amateurs in Irig."
Dr. Petar Marjanović, in his book The Artistic Development of the Serbian National Theater, probably assumes that Jovan Đorđević must have known where Alexander Popović came from and who he was, makes a mistake when he states that Alexander Popović is the brother of Luke Popović and says: "so that he could not approve the departure of Draginja (referring to Draginja - note by LM) and the rest of the children into actors (referring to Father Pop Luka, who died six years ago - note by LM). Draginja was still a young woman then, twenty-six years old. At that age, and probably in very modest material circumstances, her decision to become an actress should be soberly evaluated, without unnecessary embellishment (completely accurate and realistic - note by LM). It could have been the inspiration for the departure of pop-Lukin's children into actors, his brother Alexander Popović..."
Based on Jovan Đorđević's assertion that Alexander - Šandor Popović was Luka's brother, and the age at which Alexander, in one of his letters, states, I have come to the conclusion that he could have been in the birth records of the village of Vranjevo, from where Luka was also from. This was also prompted by his letter of January 25, 1862, in which, among other things, he writes J.
To Đorđević, that - 'my enemy A. Danko here, appointed as the district judge in T. Bečej' (Turkish Bečej is Novi Bečej - note by LM). This was further confirmation, as Alexander Danko was a judge in Novi Bečej. They probably knew each other even before Ruma, as they were from the same place (Novi Bečej and Vranjevo were essentially one place at the time, but with two municipalities). Perhaps their animosity dates back to their youth, and they coincidentally found themselves in Ruma in service, where A. Danko had the opportunity to even retaliate as the Court Administrator in Ruma.
By reviewing the birth records of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Vranjevo, I found that under ordinal number 5132/512, a male newborn named Popović Aleksandar was born on November 2, 1829, to father Arsenije and mother Rava. There is even an unusual note that under this ordinal number, the newborn's name was changed three times.
According to some assumptions, after the death of his father Arsenije, his mother remarried to the neighboring village of Bašaid to Stanković, hence why Jovan Đorđević considers him from Bašaid, especially since after the great uprising, Alexander himself worked as a municipal official in Bašaid.
Further research has shown that Alexander Popović is not the brother of Luke Popović. Firstly, there is a significant age difference. Luka was born in 1808, and Alexander in 1829, which was possible at the time due to the large number of children that families had, but in this case, it is not acceptable. According to birth records from the village of Vranjevo, Luka had only two sisters, Sofia born in 1810 and Ekaterina born in 1812.
Luka and Alexander were not even cousins. Here's the evidence. The surname of Luke's parents is Popov, so Luka was recorded in the birth registry of the village of Vranjevo as a male newborn named Luka Popov, son of father Timotije and mother Stefanija, while Alexander, with the surname Popović, was also recorded in the birth registry, and his father Arsenije also bore that surname.
He is not the brother of Luke Popović, but that does not mean they could not have been distantly related, although there are certain reservations because in one of the letters to Đorđević, he asks to greet 'Miss Draginja and Ljubica Popović...' without mentioning them as his relatives.
I will reiterate what has already been stated in the history of Serbian theater about Alexander A. Popović, but additionally, of course, if space permits, I will also quote his letters to show, as Dr. Petar Marjanović calls it, his indirect contribution to the development of Serbian theater.
Alexander A. Popović was born on November 2, 1829, in Vranjevo (Novi Bečej), to father Arsenije, a landowner, and mother Rava, a housewife. After his father's death, he moved to Bašaid, where his mother remarried. He studied law and worked as a municipal official in Bašaid, then in the magistrate of the Veliki Kikinda district, and later in Ruma. He traveled extensively and lived in Timișoara, Arad, Budapest, Vienna, Veliki Bečkerek, Sombor, and other cities of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
In his history 'Serbian Theater in Vojvodina,' Dr. Mihovil Tomandi highlights Popović as a co-founder, alongside Kosta Živanović, of the Serbian Theater Society, with whom he performed plays in Sombor from October 1847 until the Great Uprising in April 1848. The society staged 36 theatrical pieces in Sombor. In the 1850s, Popović founded an amateur group in Irig, with which he also performed.
Dr. Tomandi, emphasizing the importance of adopting the 'Rules for the Company of the Serbian National Theater,' prepared and written by Jovan Đorđević, writes: "Here we should add that Aleksa A. Popović from Ruma already in April 1862 prepared according to Gete Rules for actors and submitted it to the Artistic Committee for review and eventual use. In it, in 90 paragraphs, Popović talks pedagogically about acting art in chapters on dialect, pronunciation of words, recitation, declamation, rhythmic speech, posture and movements of the body and hands on stage, mimics, behavior on stage during rehearsals and in everyday life, and finally, standing and grouping of faces on stage. By its content, these rules are the first acting textbook in Serbian, which could be useful for both actors and directors, especially when acting art in our country was in its early stages of development. Popović translated eight more plays, from Shakespeare, Schiller, Czokor, and Kocebu."
In addition to these rules and translations of theatrical works, Popović through his letters addressed to Jovan Đorđević as the director of the Serbian National Theater in Novi Sad, contributed to the survival and progress of the Theater.
In response to Jovan Đorđević's message expressing his doubts and the survival of the Serbian National Theatre, as well as his loss of will to continue working with the Theatre, Popović, in his letter dated March 24, 1862, showed how much he cared about the survival and advancement of the Serbian National Theatre. In the letter, he not only offers conventional words of encouragement but also provides advice on how to lift the Theatre out of lethargy and inertia, how to motivate actors, and how to attract and retain Serbian audiences. He insists on the education of actors and their greater involvement for the Theatre's success. He believes that the actors at the Serbian National Theatre are 'nobly paid,' and therefore, they must know much more and work much harder for their salary.
The comparison with the salaries of teachers and professors at that time demonstrates how high these salaries were. In 1862, Draginja Ružić at the Serbian National Theatre had a monthly salary of 70 forints or 840 forints annually, Dimitrije Ružić, Nikola Nedeljković, Nikola Zorić, Ljubica Kolarović-Popović each had 50 forints monthly or 600 forints annually, while others had 35-40 forints monthly. It should be noted that these were all young people with elementary school education.
Miletić's first municipality, in a meeting held on October 24, 1861, under the chairmanship of Miletić (with Jovan Jovanović, later Zmaj, taking notes), listened to the report on salaries for existing and newly appointed teachers and decided: 'That all teachers in normal schools (referring to Novi Sad - note by LM) be given equal salaries as follows: teachers who enjoy a natural state receive a salary of 450 forints annually, those who do not receive this, get 500 forints annually, and firewood allowances are provided in kind.'
In Novi Sad's Real School, 'The Assembly on September 13-14, 1869, elected Franca Rihter as the potential director, current professor Franz Reinhart, and Filip Oberknežević and Svetozar Savković as regular professors. The salary for the first was set at 750 forints, and for the others at 600 forints. The Ministry was informed of all these decisions.
With such high salaries, Đorđević likely aimed to retain and attract actors primarily, as they could not expect nearly as much from Jovan Knežević, but it is not excluded that he influenced the height of the salary for the manager himself, which amounted to 100 forints monthly or 1,200 forints annually.'
In his letter to Đorđević, Popović proposes expanding the repertoire of the Serbian National Theatre with new plays and directs him to works translated in Zagreb, making them easy to adapt to our language. He suggests introducing more singing on stage, as our people love song and music, and believes all actors should learn musical notes 'which is easier than learning to read, so that they can always correct their voice next to the music and at least keep the beat if they cannot achieve perfection for the same time.'
Đorđević seemed to find these suggestions valuable, and in his further work with the Serbian National Theatre, he sought to educate actors and equip them with necessary theatrical skills, demanding that theater conductors train actors in singing. He did not give up on this even during guest performances.
As seen from some letters of Aleksandar A. Popović, he completed legal studies and spoke Hungarian and German in addition to his native language, and was familiar with Latin and French. Thanks to his knowledge of these languages, he was able to use foreign literature, educate himself, and become a skilled theater translator and manager. Particularly - as he states in the letter of February 26/14, 1862 - 'I have visited various theaters day by day for a full nine years, as this has been my favorite pastime.'
In addition to all he learned, he excelled in exceptional intelligence and innate talent. His extraordinary memory is confirmed in the letter of April 27, 1862, where he says, 'for I can memorize a role of 4-5 pages that I receive in the morning and recite it in the evening without a prompter, a quality which your current company can attest to as true...'
Popović also engaged in translating theatrical pieces from German and Hungarian. Among others, he translated works by Shakespeare and Schiller. He not only translated but also adapted many works of foreign authors for the Serbian stage. Unfortunately, few of these translations were staged by the Serbian National Theatre. He translated all theater plays while in prison in Ruma without the appropriate dictionaries and other necessary aids (lexicons, etc.), so it can only be presumed what his contribution would have been solely on the translation level for the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad had he been provided with the necessary conditions for that work.
In his letter of April 27, 1862, to Jovan Đorđević, among other things, he offers to accept the obligation 'besides my remaining duties, every two months to translate or adapt any dramatic work that you choose from German, Hungarian, or Croatian - if my translation method suits you - into Serbian, and if it is to the liking of the Honorable Committee, to grant the right to print and sell, as working for the benefit of the theatre is my favorite pastime.'
Popović was the first to respond to the invitation of the Serbian National Theatre for writers and translators of theatrical works to relinquish copyrights and property rights in favor of the Serbian National Theatre.
In addition to his versatile knowledge, abilities, exceptional energy, and strong desire to engage in the work of the Serbian National Theatre for patriotic reasons, his application to become a director or actor was not accepted.
The reason was not because he was in prison at that moment and needed to be saved from there, as then, Jovan Đorđević would not have engaged in correspondence (negotiations) with him, considering that Popović had already informed him of this in his first letter dated January 3/18, 1862.
I'm not sure if the reason is the one Jovan Đorđević mentioned in his letter to Antonije Hadžić, where he describes Popović as knowledgeable and skilled but erratic. From the letters, certain elements suggest that such versatility with such dynamism and energy is hard to commit to one job, nor is it always easy to restrain such personalities. Yet, I believe that the Serbian National Theatre needed exactly such a person - full of knowledge and skill.
Apart from Aleksandar Popović, Jovan Knežević, and Nikola Đurković, Serbian theatrical art at that time did not have such capable individuals. They cannot be compared with Antonije Hadžić or Laza Telečki, who were probably more suitable for collaboration than Popović. However, they joined the Serbian National Theatre without the knowledge and skills so essential in its early years of operation.
Jovan Đorđević's approach, earlier towards Jovan Knežević and this time towards Aleksandar Popović, and the fact that, given the situation of the Serbian National Theatre at the time, he did not invite Nikola Đurković as his collaborator (director), may still suggest an answer. Especially since Đurković, then an official of the Danube Steamship Company in Osijek, translated theatrical works for the Serbian National Theatre and maintained written contact with J. Đorđević. In one of his letters, Đurković writes to Đordević, among other things, about the role of the director in the theatre and says:
'If he is not in his place and lacks ability, then neither actors work successfully nor can the performance succeed as it should and as the work demands; much depends on him and his skill, and whether you have such a person, I do not know, he has a great share in it.'
'Unlimited love can affect me more on this subject than it is proper for me to speak so distant. You will know how to excuse, and for now, I have nothing else but to await your response. Kind regards...'
Perhaps thanks to such actions by Jovan Đorđević towards the most skilled individuals during his tenure at the Serbian National Theatre, it teetered on the brink of existence. Until his departure to the National Theatre in Belgrade, Đordević lived convinced that such a vegetative state of the Serbian National Theatre could not last indefinitely. Perhaps this view of the perspective of the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad quickly and easily led him to accept Prince Mihailo's invitation to move to Belgrade and establish the National Theatre. However, it should not be overlooked that at that time, there was also a great patriotic sentiment among the Serbs of Vojvodina towards Serbia, and almost every prominent Serb in Austria-Hungary might have acted similarly.
Yet, my aim is not to evaluate Jovan Đorđević's actions and contributions to the success of Serbian theatre, especially the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad, but to assess his approach to Aleksandar Popović and conclude that such a pioneer of Serbian theatre, like Aleksandar Popović, was not given the opportunity to flourish. His first endeavor in Sombor was interrupted by the Great Rebellion of 1848/49, which halted the theatrical activities of the Sombor troupe, and in the Serbian National Theatre, Jovan Đorđević obstructed such activities.
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