Early life and debut George Ranetti-Ranete was born in 1875, either on October 10 or October 18, The family, despite being assumed
Greek, was in fact Romanian. According to Ranetti, his ancestors were peasants. However, genealogical studies have confirmed his belonging to the local aristocracy. His ancestors may have included the
boyar Hranete, or more certainly a Ranete sin Dimitrie Căpitanu, ennobled in
Wallachia 1819. After school in Mizil, George went to
Saints Peter and Paul Lyceum in
Ploiești. Using the pen name Rolla, he published his first article, a defense of his father's politics, in the local paper
Gazeta Buzăului ( 1890); he made sure that his first poems, motivated by unrequited love and "ridiculously naive", were never published. After getting his
baccalaureate, he was for a while a student of law at the
University of Bucharest. He never graduated, feeling encouraged enough to start writing professionally,
Povestea Vorbei, from March 1897, and
Floare Albastră, 1898. He alternated these contributions with pieces that appeared in the provincial press of
Iași, including, in 1896, the daily
Sara (as Șandernagor) and, in 1897, the socialist
Noutatea. The following year, he was working as an editor of
Nicolae Fleva's
Dreptatea, and living on Rosetti Street, outside
Cișmigiu, when his house was robbed by an unknown assailant. Also in 1898, he and Tony wrote for the left-leaning satirical newspaper
Ardeiul, put out in
Târgu Jiu by
Witold Rolla-Piekarski, then for Tony's own
Moș Teacă. He was in parallel a reporter for
Epoca (where his brother also took a salary) By then, the more famous comedic writer
Ion Luca Caragiale had declared himself entertained by Ranetti's "delicious" poetry. For a while, they helped publish
Ciurda Literară, a satirical paper established in Mizil by Șerban Grigorescu. Employed by Caragiale, Ranetti worked for a while as editor of the satirical magazine
Moftul Român, in its second edition; he was also a guest speaker at Caragiale's banquet, marking his silver jubilee in literature, in February 1901. He continued to publish standalone booklets and volumes, either as himself or under the pen name Cyrano:
Strofe și apostrofe ("Stanzas and Apostrophes", 1900),
Ahturi și ofuri ("Aahs and Oohs", 1901),
Eu rîd, tu rîzi, el rîde ("I Laugh, You Laugh, He Laughs", 1903). Its editorial office published another one of Ranetti's books, presented as Dom Paladu's letters from Italy (
Scrisori din Italia). Those years brought his involvement as a
dramaturge of the
National Theatre Bucharest, one of several writers brought in by Chairman
Pompiliu Eliade. In 1903, he adapted for the stage a story by
Georges Courteline. His own play,
Săracul Dumitrescu ("Poor Dumitrescu"), was produced by the same company the following year. He was employed by the Oteteleșeanu Park Theater, where, in 1905, he adapted a foreign play, as
Mița Tirbușon ("Little Mary Corkscrew"); also then, the "Lyric Theater" staged two other of his adaptations—
Doctorul damelor ("A Ladies' Doctor") and
Țivila dela hotel Ghidale ("A Civilian Lady in Hotel Ghidale"). In 1903 or 1904, Ranetti also finished his "character novel"
Căsnicie modernă ("A Modern Marriage"). and
Universul, 1904. One was read by young
Victor Eftimiu, a future playwright and friend of Ranetti, who was thus convinced to pursue a career in the field. Ranetti and the traditionalists had in common a mutual dislike for the
Francization and aristocratic pretense of
fin de siècle Romanian culture. This hostility seeped into rhyming letters sent by Ranetti to his self-exiled friend Caragiale, and then into a topical volume, the 1904
Franțuzomania ("Frenchie-mania"). The socialist Eftimiu argued that
Furnicas politics were left-of-center, with Ranetti as "a convinced democrat, anti-monarchic, an enemy of those who stood for the bourgeois-landowning society". His pen, Eftimiu claims, "served to castigate racketeering politicians, prejudice, debauchery, fake patriotism, and all the dovetailing high-society that was creaking at the corners."
King Carol I himself was ridiculed, and aware of it, but took no measure to suppress Ranetti. Some of
Furnicas most noted cartoonists were
Tinerimea painters:
Ion Theodorescu-Sion,
Camil Ressu,
Iosif Iser,
Francisc Șirato,
Nicolae Petrescu Găină, and
Ary Murnu—the latter remembered especially for his routine mockery of
Ioan Kalinderu, administrator of the crown domains. The articles and caricatures were more lenient toward actor
Ion Brezeanu, who was the other
stock character in
Furnica humor. Ranetti personally was described by critic
Mihail Dragomirescu as an "independent" advocate of
Poporanism, on the left wing of Romanian agrarian traditionalism. An occasional contributor to the Poporanist
Viața Romînească, he was eventually given a permanent column, called
Scrisori din București ("Letters from Bucharest"). The same day, he witnessed the anti-French riots instigated by the nationalist doctrinaire
Nicolae Iorga at the National Theater. In a reprint of
Franțuzomania, he expressed support for Iorga, calling the movement's repression by the authorities an "intrigue" and "awful slaughter". Also that year, Ranetti produced the "rhyming prologue"
Vatra luminoasă ("Burning Hearth") In tandem,
Furnicas politics became an embarrassment for the governments of
Gheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino and
Dimitrie Sturdza, during the early stages of the
1907 Peasants' Revolt. The issues of February 15 and March 15 were confiscated by
Ministry of Internal Affairs. Two more volumes came out in 1907, as
Fabule ("Fables") and the
verse comedy Romeo și Julietta la Mizil ("Romeo and Juliet from Mizil"), followed in 1909 by the selection
Schițe vesele ("Cheerful Sketches"). for
Carol I to acknowledge Although Ranetti continued to be published by the right-wing traditionalist press, and most notably by Iorga's
Sămănătorul and
Ramuri reviews (1905–1907), his
Furnica was viewed by the culturally conservative as rather distasteful. Iorga, a noted target of Murnu's satire, However, Iorga's coauthor,
Constantin Bacalbașa (Tony's brother), qualified such statements: "Various attempts at putting out all sorts of papers, some of them pornographic in content, could not take hold [...]. Only in 1904 [with
Furnica] did there emerge a humorous paper that showed promise, and that survived to this day. [...] Leaving behind the old habit of turning a humorous gazette into a purely opposition newspaper, Messrs. G. Ranetti and N. D. Țăranu have created themselves a weekly newspaper of varied content, with very little politics."
Early 1910s Ranetti's work for the stage was continued in 1909, when his adaptation of the
Moș Teacă stories was produced by Blanduzia Theater.
Romeo și Julietta la Mizil, which became a best-seller, was itself written especially for the stage. It premiered at the National Theater in the 1909–1911 seasons, alongside Ranetti's translation of
Henry Bataille's
La Femme nue. His translation was panned by professionals, and deemed "implausibly bad" by dramatist
Liviu Rebreanu. It was also mocked by
Albert Honigman in
Adevărul, prompting Ranetti to respond with an epigram. By contrast, Ranetti's own play was well-liked by the establishment, and he was granted third place in the National Theater's biannual awards ceremony, June 1910; he shared that distinction, worth 500
francs, with Anghel and Iosif. At first, Ranetti chided Caragiale, who, on his trips back to Romania, had become an orator for the
Conservative-Democratic Party, Ranetti also registered as an Ilfov candidate in the
March 1911 election, as a Conservative-Democrat (or "Conservative-Nationalist", as that party called itself), with endorsements by Iorga's own
Democratic Nationalists. In his statement, Iorga supported Ranetti as "a cordial friend to the peasants", noting that "his 'conservatism' is a morsel of
Junimism, and shall fade out along with the last of the
Junimists (of whom very few are left!)." He lost again, polling only 326 votes. A fellow journalist, Al. V. Cazimir, writes that Ranetti "never sought a stipend", and therefore was always "engaged in a barbaric battle against poverty". he was elected (April 6, 1911) on the first Steering Committee of the Romanian Theatrical Society, alongside R. D. Rosetti,
George Diamandy,
A. de Herz, and
Paul Gusty. During May 1911, he and C. Bacalbașa left for London, where they were to cover the coronation of
George V. Later that summer, Ranetti and Eftimiu traveled into
Transylvania,
Austria-Hungary, where they witnessed aerial shows by the Romanian aviation pioneer,
Aurel Vlaicu, and met with a visiting Caragiale. On their way to the
ASTRA celebrations of
Blaj, they took the "derelict car" of Andrei Popovici, a Transylvanian volunteer in the
Second Boer War. By 1913, he had returned to his work as a dramaturge, adapting
Paul Gavault's ''L'idée de Françoise
. Before and during the Second Balkan War, he and Furnica'' began exposing cases of malfeasance in office, involving the higher echelons of the Conservative Party—focusing on
Petre P. Carp and
Alexandru Bădărău's alleged nepotism. Around that time, Transylvanian literary critic
Ilarie Chendi began referring to Ranetti as
Javranetti (from
javră, "scoundrel"). Shortly after, Ranetti and
Furnica joined a coalition of Francophiles and nationalists, supporting
neutral Romania's alliance with the
Entente Powers. In December 1914, Ranetti joined the Cultural League's Steering Committee, whose secretary was Iorga. One of the regulars at literary hot-spots such as
Casa Capșa and
Kübler Coffeehouse, and a contributor to Cristu Negoescu's review
România de Mâine, he was focused on a dispute with the more skeptical
Emil Fagure, of
Adevărul. As noted years later by their common acquaintance
I. Peltz, this turned into a quarrel: "Ranetti the humorist could not maintain his serenity and objective judgment in his everyday life, as various exaggerations of the chauvinistic kind seeped into his writing."
Wartime relocation and return In early 1915, Ranetti received from
King Ferdinand I the
Bene Merenti medal, first class. Also then, his
revue Războiul la șantan ("War at the ''
Caf'conc''") was being performed at the Carol cel Mare Theater. It depicted the adventures of a
Bukovina Jew who escapes war by moving to Bucharest, under a false Romanian identity; several political figures of the day, including
Nicolae Filipescu, were mocked as secondary characters. At that stage of his career, Ranetti was becoming opposed to the war, and in particular to those who profited from it, making his feelings known in a 1916 "
sonnet-fable". The Ententist side soon
appeared morally defeated. Following a
Central Powers counteroffensive and the
fall of Bucharest (during which
Furnica began a long hiatus), Ranetti followed the army on its hasty retreat, settling in
Iași. There, he earned an editorial position at
România, the nationalist propaganda magazine, which had been created by
General Prezan and
Mihail Sadoveanu as a means to "sustain the morale of soldiers and civilians." Ranetti's contributions included an October 17 editorial, in which he asked
Romanian Jews to cease speaking in German for the duration of war. His employment at
România entitled Ranetti to "a daily purchase of two liters of wine". While working there, Ranetti often returned to his earlier pseudonyms, including George Biciușcă and Kiriac Napadarjan, but also signed himself Geo and Marchizul de Kogealac ("Marquis of
Cogealac"). Allegedly, Ranetti's home in Bucharest was ransacked by the
Imperial German Army. Despite the initial setbacks, the Ententist side returned to prominence in late 1918, with the
defeat of Germany. On September 9,
Greerul put out its last issue. Back issues of
Furnica, dating to November 1916, appeared at the Bucharest newsstands around December 11, apparently without the editors' consent. On December 14,
Furnica officially reappeared, but without Ranetti as head editor: the December 28 issue announced that he had sold his stock to Țăranu. By January 1919, Ranetti had returned to Bucharest, again a member of Iorga's Cultural League, campaigning for the consolidation of
Greater Romania. He was mostly focused on collecting his scattered verse. These appeared as bound books: at Casa Școalelor,
De atunci și d-acolo, versuri ușurele scrise-n clipe grele ("From Then and There: Easy Rhymes of Tougher Times", 1921); at
Cartea Românească,
Poezii ("Poems", 1923). He also diversified his contributions in the press, collaborating with, or being republished by,
Românul of Arad,
Fagurele of Ploiești, and
Straja and
Robia Modernă of
Craiova. These were followed later by
Curierul Sanitar,
Cronica Romanului,
Glasul Țării,
Praftorița, and the new edition of
Cuvânt Moldovenesc. Ranetti became an officer in the
Ordre des Palmes académiques of the
French Third Republic during a ceremony in September 1919. However, fellow humorist
Tudor Mușatescu, who met him at around that time, reports that he was living in dire poverty: he only owned one overcoat, gifted to him actor
Constantin Nottara, and had to share his income with his brother, who had been blinded during the war. In 1924, he became the editorial secretary of
Universul, under publisher
Stelian Popescu. "George Biciușcă" still made occasional returns to
Furnica: in late 1923, it carried his riposte against his wartime enemy Herz, calling for his work to be censored. From 1925 to his death, Ranetti was again editor of
Furnica, restoring his partnership with Țăranu. Some of his final articles, appearing in
Universul in 1926, discussed his wartime meetings with Sadoveanu and the
România staff. Other late pieces appeared in
Dreptatea,
Foaia Noastră,
Glasul Patriei of Craiova, and Ion Moța Sr's
Libertatea. Overall, Ranetti's work comprised at least fifteen years of daily texts and, as noted by Gorun, "if collected, would amount to a genuine library." Ranetti was also trying to solved his living arrangements, venturing into
Chitila and
Buftea in search of an affordable lodging—the search is alluded to in one of his final contributions at
Universul. He reported that he only had an income of 12,000
lei, equally divided between his salaries at
Furnica and
Universul and his pension as a veteran journalist; he declared his hope that he would die suddenly, without having to go into a hospital. According to Cazimir, his cheap, firwood coffin contrasted with the crowd of admirers who had shown up to pay their final respects. In 1940, Ranetti was dedicated a special issue of
Ștefan Baciu's
Veselia. her last years were spent in acute poverty, prompting Arghezi to issue appeals for financial aid. His brother Atanase lived to 1947. He contributed a dedication on George's grave, and was eventually buried next to him. ==Work==