Żabczyński, Aleksander

(1900-1958)

   Actor popular during the interwar period. Coming from a military background, Żabczyński completed a military school and for a short period served as an officer in the Polish army. Later he studied law at the University of Warsaw and acting at film director Nina Nionilla's private school. After 1930 he became associated with several Warsaw cabarets and known for his successful screen appearances as a romantic lead in musical comedies. He first appeared on-screen during the silent period in Henryk Szaro's Red Jester (1926), but thanks to his singing talent and on-screen charm, his career flourished with the advent of sound. He became one of the undisputed stars of popular Polish film before 1945, appearing in twenty-six films made by some of the best-known Polish directors. For example, he played in Love Schemes (1935, Jan Nowina-Przy-bylski and Konrad Tom), Miss Minister Is Dancing (1937, Juliusz Gardan), and The Forgotten Melody (1938, Konrad Tom and Jan Fethke). He is also remembered for several musical hits that he performed on-screen, especially in The Forgotten Melody, with music composed by Henryk Wars to the lyrics of Ludwik Starski.

   Żabczyński fought as a lieutenant during the September campaign of 1939 and then, until the end of the war, in the Polish army in the west (he was wounded in the Battle of Monte Cassino). He returned to Poland in 1947 and became associated with Warsaw theaters but never appeared on-screen in postwar films.

   Historical Dictionary of Polish Cinema by Marek Haltof