Painting of the Szentháromság street, depicting the 1970s.

In the spring of 1932, a distinguished confectioner apprentice came to Ruszwurm: Blanka, the daughter of the finance minister Baron Frigyes Korányi. She worked hard for half a year to learn the job. When she was to take her exam, Henrik Spelter, chairman of the craftsmen’s association asked her the questions. When it came to the recipe of ice cream, the chairman was really surprised to hear the quantity of the ingredients (one litre of water, one kg sugar and one kg crushed fruits). He checked her answer with Ferenc Tóth, Blanka’s tutor, who said the answer was correct.

The Ruszwurm today, with its modernised interior.

The chairman doubted the composition of the ice cream because he found it too thick to freeze. At other places, eight to ten litres of water were used instead of one litre. The other examiner, József Szikora, also expressed his doubts and had a dispute with Mr Ruszwurm about the ice cream composition. Finally the old master turned to Szikora and said: “Listen, my son, you were not even born when I had already been making ice cream in this manner.” After the successful exam, they had a party in the inside room of the confectionery, and the baroness received the confectioner assistant’s licence. There were three other apprentices in the workshop (Julianna Jakus from Esztergom, Ágnes Mérő from Járosd and Erika Vendrei from Badacsony, as well as Ilona Tóth, the master’s daughter), which was quite rare in those days. Until 1940, Ferenc Tóth was the only confectioner to sign a contract with female students to prepare them for the assistant’s exam.
Ferenc Tóth opened three other shops (one at 10 Mészáros street, another one on the corner of Hegyalja street and Budaörsi street, and the third one opposite the Lukács medicinal spa) and delivered the orders by car. Vilmos Ruszwurm died in 1936, at the age of 84. The death of the mentor of the Hungarian confectioners evoked the deepest sympathy in large masses of society. The funeral was attended by Henrik Spelter, president of the craftsmen’s association and he delivered a touching farewell speech. He appreciated Vilmos Ruszwurm’s human values, his excellent professionalism and all his merits that gained him great popularity. The confectioners’ choir sang mourning songs at the farewell party. His daughter, Ilona, and her family moved back to the house, and Rezső Ruszwurm sold his inheritance (a part of the house, the confectionery and the right to use the name) to Ferenc Tóth.
The second world war destroyed all that Ferenc Tóth achieved through hard work. In 1945, after the siege, he had to revive his business again amidst difficulties. A few years later, when the shop got its old glory back, it was nationalised on 20 February 1951.