Messiahs of 1933: How American Yiddish Theatre Survived Adversity through Satire

305 Pages·2008·4.65 MB·English

by  Joel Schechter

Messiahs of 1933

Messiahs of 1933
How American Yiddish Theatre
Survived Adversity Through Satire
Joel Schechter
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Philadelphia
COVER ILLUSTRATION: The Wonder Horse with Litvak (Isidore Meltzer) on horse
(Jack Goldman and Harry Bender) and unidentifi ed actor in We Live and Laugh,
New York, 1936. Courtesy of the National Archives.
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PRESS
1601 North Broad Street
Philadelphia PA 19122
www.temple.edu/tempress
Copyright © 2008 by Temple University
All rights reserved
Published 2008
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American National
Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials,
ANSI Z39.48-1992
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Schechter, Joel, 1947–
Messiahs of 1933 : how American Yiddish theatre survived adversity through satire /
Joel Schechter.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-59213-872-2 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 1-59213-872-1 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Theater, Yiddish—United States—History. 2. Satire, Yiddish—United States—History
and criticism. 3. Yiddish drama—United States—History and criticism. 4. Jewish actors—
United States. I. Title.
PN3035.S32 2008
792.089'92407—dc22 2007036744
2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1
Contents
1 Messiahs of 1933: How Playwright Moishe Nadir
and Artef Led America Out of the Great Depression
to a Future of Full Employment, Justice, and
Yiddish Satire for All 1
2 Nadir’s Rivington Street: The Lower East Side Arises 37
3 Prayer Boxes as Precious as Diamonds: How Soviet
Yiddish Satire Fared in America 57
4 The Federal Theatre Project in Yiddish: “The Society
of the Sorely Perplexed” Takes the Stage 71
5 The Messiah of 1936: It Can’t Happen Here in Yiddish 105
6 Pinski’s Prelude to a Golden Age: The Tailor Becomes
a Storekeeper 121
7 Menasha Skulnik Becomes a Bridegroom: Popular
Yiddish Theatre Reconsidered 141
8 Prosperity’s Crisis on Stage: The Yiddish Puppetry
of Maud and Cutler 157
9 Leo Fuchs, Yiddish Vaudevillian in “Trouble” 177
vi / Contents
10 Yetta Zwerling’s Comic Dybbuk 193
11 Menachem Mendel’s False Profi ts: Sholem Aleichem
and the Communists 203
12 The Anti-Milkhome Zamlung of 1937: The Yiddish
Anti-War Catalogue Reconsidered 221
13 Conclusion: Still Waiting for the Messiah 231
Appendix 239
Acknowledgments 245
Notes 247
Bibliography 279
Index 287
Messiahs of 1933

1
Messiahs of 1933
How Playwright Moishe Nadir and Artef Led
America Out of the Great Depression to a Future of
Full Employment, Justice, and Yiddish Satire for All
O
ne of the most radical cultural events in America could
have taken place during the Great Depression, if everyone
in the country spoke Yiddish: the public would have been
able to welcome a Yiddish-speaking messiah who arrived in New
York. With thirteen to fourteen million Americans unemployed,
thousands of banks closed permanently, and breadlines everywhere,
the nation needed a messiah. Not one, but two saviors arrived in New
York and spoke the language of East European Jews in May of 1933.
They could be seen in the company of actors at the Yiddish theatre
collective Artef (Arbeter Teater Farband, or Worker’s Theatrical Alli-
ance), when it staged Moishe Nadir’s play, Messiah in America.1
Nadir’s stage play begins with a comic portrait of theatre pro-
ducers, and extends its satire to messianism. Broadway producer
Menachem Yosef and his assistant Jack the Bluffer announce that a
Yiddish-speaking messiah has arrived, and can be seen in their the-
atre for a price. Menachem knows his messiah is an impostor, but
the public welcomes the savior, much to the producer’s delight.
The 1933 producers of Nadir’s play were messianic too. Artef’s
actors, their director, and Nadir took upon themselves the tasks
of a messiah, inaugurating in artistic form their visions of social
justice, peace, and redistributed wealth. Their Yiddish-language