They married soon after, which is reflected in one of the most famous songs of the composer: "Bir bahar akşamı rastladım size" ("I ran into you on a spring evening").Īfter living six years with a brilliant but unhappy lady, who was a drug addict by now, Selahattin Pınar gave up and the two divorced, which was also reflected in Pınar's most famous song: "Nereden sevdim o zalim kadını?" ("How did I fell in love with such a dame sans merci?")Īfife was admitted to the Bakırköy Mental Hospital until she was transferred to the Balıklı Rum Hospital shortly before her death on July 24, 1941.Īfife was completely forgotten about until the State Theater in Ankara put on a challenging play written by Nezihe Araz in her memory in 1987. In 1928, she met Selahattin Pınar, a prominent composer of Turkish classical music, at a concert where Pınar played behind the soloist.
TURKISH MUSLIM GIRLS NAME PROFESSIONAL
Though the Republic was declared and women were allowed to act on stage, Afife was not healthy enough to act in a professional and continuous manner.įinally, Afife left her career as an actress. Morphine is believed to have ruined Afife Jale's life in all aspects. So, after being fired officially in 1921, Afife began acting at private company stages all around Turkey.īeing excluded from theatrical work upon an order from the Ministry of Interior, Afife felt severe pain and a pharmacist relaxed her with morphine injections, which she would become addicted to after some time. The Management of the Darülbedayi was obliged to cut her off. Her colleagues occasionally hid her from police interference.Īfife's happy days on the stage of Darülbedayi, the official City Theater of Istanbul ended shortly. In spite of police raids, she continued acting before a male audience in Istanbul theaters. She played her first role with a pseudonym "Jale" in 1920. After a few months' training, she became a trainee actress.
She left home because her father was against acting in theater. In 1928, Afife Jale met Selahattin Pınar, a prominent composer of Turkish classical music, at a concert and they married soon after. Her father's name was Hidayet and her mother's name was Medhiye.Īfife was a student at the Girls' Fine Arts School when she was admitted to the Theater Department of the Conservatory along with a few other Muslim girls living in Istanbul. She was one of the grandchildren of physician Sait Pasha. If not, I do not exist."Īfife Jale was born in 1902 in Kadıköy, Istanbul, to a middle-class family. In her later years, she would say, "Theater made me and I exist if there is theater. This was her life's choice she was born to play on the stage. She was overwhelmed by the applause of the audience. The police came to arrest Afife but, another actress, who is also said to be of Armenian origin, helped her out. She actually acted a few days later, which caused the Istanbul police to overreact as it was against the law for a Muslim woman to act on stage in front of male strangers. She was asked to replace Eliza for the role of "Emel" (a young girl's name in Turkish) in the play "Yamalar" ("Patchwork") by Hüseyin Suat at the Apollon Theater in Kadıköy, Istanbul in 1919. Eliza Binemeciyan, a renowned stage actress of Armenian origin in Ottoman Istanbul, left Turkey for Paris, which created an opportunity and peril for Afife.
Those were strange years for Turkey because of the never-ending wars. The group of Muslim girls was allowed to receive courses on theater, although they were reminded that they could perform in special women-only occasions. 10, 1918, Darülbedayi (State Conservatory) admitted a few Turkish girls into its theater department, namely Behire, Memduha, Beyza, Refika and Afife, who would become the first ever heroines and victims of female stage acting in Turkey.
The supreme leader said there should be a Muslim stage actress and there was Bedia Muvahhit.īeyond that contrived creation of Turkish stage actresses, the real story of the actresses in Turkey began years before the Turkish Republic. When Atatürk asked why Muslim women did not show up on the theater stage, they prepared Muvahhit in hours and she acted in "Ceza Kanunu" ("Criminal Law") the next night. Indeed, Muvahhit became a theater actress overnight. Dating everything back to 1923 is an old but bad habit of Kemalist popular culture historians. However, that is true only for the Republic's sake. Bedia Muvahhit has long been identified as the first Turkish stage actress by theater historians.