Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 1 no. 211 April 9, 1992 1) YIVO transcription/Molly Picon (Margaret Winters) 2) Molly Picon/Sammy Reshevsky (Bob Werman) 3) More on Molly Picon (Bob Werman) 4) Molly Picon (Mark H. David) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 08 Apr 92 09:32:15 CST From: GA3704@SIUCVMB.BITNET Subject: YIVO transcription Let me reinforce the request that was posted earlier this week (or last week?) for information on the YIVO transcription system of Yiddish into the Roman alphabet. Is there a standard place to find out what the system is: a handbook? an article? Can it just be posted relatively easily on Mendele? On another matter, I have a very fond memory of Molly Picon in the Broadway musical "Milk and Honey" some time in the 1960s - playing a middle aged American lady (and I use lady advisedly) on a group trip to Israel. What I remember best was her incredible energy! Margaret Winters 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 8 Apr 92 17:47 +0200 From: RWERMAN@HUJIVMS.HUJI.AC.IL Subject: Another Jewish hero dies, Sammy Reshevsky In addition to the sad death of Molly Picon [can you imagine, she entertained at my bar mitzva celebration!], there is also the death on the same day of 81 year old Samuel Rashevsky, the child prodigy chess player of 75 years ago who astounded the world with his brilliant playing. He toured Europe from his home in Poland, eventually landing in the States where he finally settled. His continuous and reiterating rivalry with Reuben Fine - another Jewish chess master - was a noteworthy feature of my childhood. Which would be first this year? Fine, finishing a doctorate in clinical psychology, finally left the field to Rashevsky who continued to compete until close to the end. BTW, Vergalis, Yiddishist that he may be, was a front for Stalin, Kruschev, Breznev and the others, accepted by Beria and who not. Yiddish is important but the survival of Jews in the late unlamented USSR was not less important. I feel uncomfortable offering this unrepentant tool of the Comintern a voice in our net. __Bob Werman 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 8 Apr 92 18:11 +0200 From: RWERMAN@HUJIVMS.HUJI.AC.IL Subject: More on Molly Picon My friend, Jerry Phillips of Penn State, has allowed me to forward this to Mendele: Molly Picon, however Yiddish she may have been, was a jewel in the crown of American comedy. Her role in CAR 54, WHERE ARE YOU? is regarded as the ultimate of American situation comedy. The fact that she portrayed a Yiddishe mamele was irrelevant. The fact that she could polarize and sustain a comedic mood for a full half hour on her personality alone, mainly by using "oif a pribichik" as adhesive to the development of humor, and furthermore, put that humor in a political backdrop, is still regarded as a goal for any comedian of any gender and any ethnic group. As boy, I saw Molly Picon entertain at the old Manhattan Theater in Cleveland. I did not understand her universal appeal. As an adult and a modest specialist in comedy (having performed rather unsuccessfully myself), I came to understand the marvelous blend of sadness and hilarity she was able to sustain. Gerald M. Phillips 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 8 Apr 92 13:33:02 EDT From: gensym!mhd%harvard%HUSC6.BITNET@YALEVM.YCC.Yale.Edu Subject: Mendele Vol 1.209 For those with young children, I highly recommend purchasing the videos Yidl Mitn Fidl and Mamele from Ergo Media -- available through the Workman's circle I believe. My zunele of two years old has been watching them both quite regularly for the past sixth months. His is the first generation that can enjoy Yiddish movies on video, and he certainly does. Both films are big favorites of his, but especially Yidl Mitn Fidl. He quite often adamantly cries out "Fidl? Fidl?!" -- this is his request to see that video. 'Fidl' is his name for the movie Yidl Mitn Fidl and also for Molly Picon herself, whether in the film Mamele or Yidl Mitn Fidl. Whenever he sees her, he delightfully cries out "Fidl!". He loves to hear her sing, and he dances to the music in the Khasene scene. It thrills him when the people "varf gelt arop" from the windows onto the street for Yidl and her fellow Klezmorim. He gets excited when the klezmorim ride into town on their horse-drawn wagons for the khasene, and when they run away on foot with the Kale. He gets pouty when Molly cries in one of her sad scenes, like at the end when she's reduced to tears by people laughing at her explaining her woes. I was sad yesterday to show him Molly's picture in the NYTimes Obituaries. In fact, it's a picture of her in the role of Yidl. I asked him who that was, and he answered "Fidl!". Other than seeming a little less upbeat than usual about seeing her face, I don't think he understood when I told him, sadly, "zi's avek af ebik". Meyer (Mark H. David) ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 1.211 Submissions: mendele@vax1.trincoll.edu Business: nmiller@vax1.trincoll.edu Please sign your articles.