Adam Mularczyk

Adam Mularczyk was born in Krakow on January 13, 1923 and was born to be in the theatre. His parents firmly believed in that; his friends talked about that and his professional colleagues and peers resigned themselves to and accepted that fact. An ancestral source for this talent was never identified. Adam was truly the first in his family to have the theatre in his blood. His first steps on "stage planks" were as a six-year-old under the family dining room table. On this small stage with a curtain sewn by his mother, the little artist, full of creative energy and even then, a touch despotic, played two and three different roles, changed costumes, and did his own makeup with watercolors and glued a mustache made of corn husks onto his face. He tirelessly danced and entertained his audience who rewarded him with heartfelt applause.

Adam grew and so did his theatric ambitions. When he reached age of 13, his dreams were realized in the form of the theatrical school under the name Jadwiga Smosarska, an actress whose movies he adored. His diary from that theatre was hidden and protected during the war and survives until this day. Even during childhood, Adam was a collector and archivist. On a true theatrical stage, 13 yr. old Adam first performed in the Slowacki theatre in Krakow, where together with the Krakow children's choir he appeared in Bizet's opera Carmen. This was a great experience for him. He would not appear again on that stage until 29 years later when he came back to Krakow as an actor in the National Theatre for a guest appearance in the plays "Historyja o Chwalebnym Zmartwychwstaniu" and "Zywot Jozefa".

Adam and his sister Marysia

Already in 1940, a 17 year old Adam assembled a group of 94 people, young, curious and hungry for the theatre as he was himself. Without professional training, Adam through sheer instinct sorted the members of his group according to their talents as actors, scenographers, musicians, machinists, dancers, make up artists and administrators. With this group under the name of the Krakow Underground Theatre, theatrical preparation was begun under the very noses of the German Occupation and the harsh rule of Governor Frank. This was a task that was neither easy nor safe.

Despite growing hardships, Adam's Krakow Underground Theatre from 1940 to 1945 prepared eight premieres and at secret locations gave 16 performances that were seen by around 2000 people. The plays were "Podejrzana Osoba" by Dobrzanski, "Kozlowickie Sherlocki Holmesy" by Piatkowski (Pobratymiec), "Wesele" by Wyspianski, "Werbel Domowy" by Gregorowicz, "Zemsta" by Fredro, "Trojka Hultajska" by Nestroy, "Niespodzianka " by Rostworowski, "Bo Gdy Harmonia Gra" and "Smiech to Zdrowie ".

When working on these productions, Adam benefited from the professional help of some of Krakow's most experienced theatrical icons like Wieslaw Gorecki, Wiktor Bujanski, Tadeusz Kudlinski who later after July of 1945 along with Mayerhold, J. Zielinski and J. Merunowicz taught courses on theatre in Krakow.

One of the guests at rehearsals was Karol Wojtyla who was three years older than Adam and was then an actor in his own rite in the Underground Rhapsodic Theatre of Krakow. Among the young members of the Krakow Underground Theatre could be found names of people who were later pillars of the Polish stage and screen, Halina Mikolajska, Halina Romanowska, Krystyna Pachonska, Irena Stelmach, Irena Wilkoszewska, Marian Cebulski, Stanislaw Zaczyk, Marian Friedman, Jerzy Passendorfer, and Jerzy Twardowski.

The Krakow Underground Theatre founded by Adam Mularczyk went down to the history of Polish Theatre. In 1945, Adam and the majority of his actors were accepted to study in the recently opened "Teatr Stary Studio" in Krakow. This group was organized by Ronard Bujanski and led by accomplished pedagogical actors. After completing examinations, Adam was accepted into the membership ranks of the "Union of Artists of the Polish Stage" which provided him the credentials of a professional actor. In 1947, Adam added his Krakow Underground Theatre to this organization thereby extending professional actor status to the members of the Krakow group.

As a professional actor, Adam's debut performance was witnessed by some of the stars of the Polish stage, Juliusz Osterwa, Maria Duleba and Janusz Warnecki. From 1945 to 1946, he acted in the "Teatr Stary" in Rostworowski's "Niespodzianka", Zawiejski's "Maslaw, de Peyret-Chappuis' "Nieboszczyk pan Pic", Hocker and Post's "Krol Wloczegow", Garaul's "Zlota Ciocia", J. Anouilh's "Pasazer bez bagazu" and Marivaux's "Igraszki Trafu i Milosci".
 
 
 

Paris 1964

In 1947, along with his mentor Janusz Wamecki, Adam came to Warsaw to the "Teatr Muzyczny Domu Wojska Polskiego". Here under the direction of J. Tuwim and J. Warnecki he played in Dobrzanski's "Zolnierz Krolowej Madagaskaru" adapted by Tuwim. Here, Adam played alongside great actors such as Mira Ziminska and Ludwik Sempolinski. This performance was a huge success. In this same year, Adam became involved in the New Theatre organized by Tuwim and Meller, where in the course of 7 years he performed in many plays such as Beaumarchais' "Wesele Figara", Balucki's "Dom Otwarty", Labiche's "Slomkowy Kapelusz", de Molin's "Zielony Gil", Gogol's

This period gave rise to some of Adam's greatest performances. Chudogeba in "Wieczor Trzech Kroli" by Shakespeare, Bazylio in "Wesele Figara" by Beaumarchais, Prologus, Judasz i Jandras in "Historyja o Chwalebnym Zmartwychwstaniu Panskim " by Mikolaj of Wilkowiecko. He also performed in "Henryk VI na Lowach"  by  Boguslawski, "Opera za Trzy Grosze" by Brecht, "Niedzwiedz" by Chekov , "Ksiaze Homburgu" by Kleist, "Slowo o Jakubie Szeli" by Jasienski, "Zywot Jozefa" by Rej, "Dziady " by Mickiewicz,, "Kordian" by Slowacki, "Muchy" by Sartre and in "Ciezkie Czasy" by Balucki.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

In 1973, Adam, not receiving satisfactory roles under the director Hanuszkiewicz,  moved from the National Theatre to the Polish Theatre in Warsaw, where under the direction of A. Kowalczyk played in Shakespeare's "Jak sie wam podoba", Wiszniewski's "Tragedia Optymistycna",and in "Podporucznik Kize" a comedy by Fedecki and Jarocki. Also in the Polish Theatre, he played in "Osielek Porfironi" by Galczynski and created an unforgettable character of Kola Brynion in "Leki Poranne" by S. Grochowiak. 

Photo album

Adam also acted in several films and television spectacles.  Some of these films brought him enormous popularity, among them "Godziny Nadziei", "Krol Macius I", "Poszukiwany, poszukiwana", "Tysiac Talarow", "Pieczone Golabki", and "Nie Lubie Poniedzialku".  These films are still shown on Polish television today.  Adam very much enjoyed his work in film, being drawn to its technical and dynamic workings and its boundless possibilities.  However, his uncompromising political attitude during those years limited his appearances in film despite his enormous popularity.

Beyond his very active professional work on stage, film, radio and television, Adam's hobby was his theatrical work with amateurs.  Much time and effort was invested in working on the gestures and rhetoric of the clerics, students of the Metropolitan Seminary and Pauline order in Warsaw.  During the course of 11 years, he trained over 350 students. One of his students was Father Jerzy Popieluszko. 

Adam organized a student theatre in the Academy of Catholic Theology in Warsaw and theatre in St. Augustine's High School.

Some of his other hobbies centered on his love of the Tatra Mountains and their inhabitants, the gorale.  He adored cars, or as he called them "motorized machines".  He was a passionate archivist, chronicling his times  by way of his photographic memory. 

In 1973, Adam left Poland with his family to settle in the USA in the City of Philadelphia where he started the Polish Dramatical Theatre that was housed at the Associated Polish Home.  He never returned to Poland.  He died in Philadelphia on June 12th, 1996.  His ashes reside at the Cemetery of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown.  In keeping with his wishes, in 1996 a scholarship fund was initiated in the name of Adam Mularczyk for the best student in the actors division of the Theatrical Academy in Warsaw.