Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: Tracing Nat King Cole's "Nature Boy" to an Old Yiddish Song

Nature Boy is a song first recorded by American jazz singer Nat King Cole. It was released on March 29, 1948, as a single by Capitol Records. The song has a very unusual history that goes back to a Yiddish song that was written in 1935 by Herman Yablokoff, a veteran of the Yiddish theatre. 

The song was written for Yablokoff's play Papirosn, with a title song that also became very popular with Yiddish theatre-goers.

Yablokoff's song was the basis for a song written by eden ahbez, a hippie before there were hippies, who refused to capitalize his name because in his view only God and Infinity deserved capitalization.

This video explains the evolution of the song from the Yiddish theatre to becoming one of the most enchanting songs of all time and the song most associated with Nat King Cole.

Enjoy!

 

 

The Story of "Bei Mir Bistu Shein" with the Zamir Chorale of Boston

The Zamir Chorale of Boston and Josh Jacobson present the fascinating story of "Bei Mir Bistu Shein"-- how it went from being the hit of a Yiddish musical comedy in 1932 to become the best selling song in American History in 1937, sung by The Andrews Sisters.

Josh Jacobson narrates the story, followed by a delightful performance of the Yiddish and English versions by the Zamir Chorale of Boston. Edwin Swanborn is the pianist; Taki Masuko the drummer; Cantor Joel Caplan plays the clarinet; Deb Wollner, Susan Rubin and Deborah Melkin are the soloists. The recording is by Larry Sandberg.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO IS NOT VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

BREAKING NEWS! Yiddish Fiddler on the Roof Extended Again Through November 18

If you haven't yet seen the highly acclaimed new Yiddish production of Fiddler on the Roof at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City, you can still get tickets because the show has been extended for a third time, through November 18.

Directed by Joel Grey and starring a very talented cast, most of whom learned Yiddish in a few weeks, Fiddler has gotten rave reviews in the media.

One of the accomplished cast members is Adam B. Shapiro, who plays the role of the town rabbi and is understudying the role of Tevye. He has made some YouTube videos called One Man Broadway, in which he plays all of the major characters. Today we're sharing a video that he made singing The Dream from the show, playing the roles of Tevye, Golde, Grandma Tzeitel, and the butcher's departed wife Fruma Sarah.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

Remembering Fyvush Finkel and His 93 Years in Yiddish and Broadway Theatre

Philip "Fyvush" Finkel, who died Sunday at the age of 93, was an American actor known as a star of Yiddish theater and for his role as lawyer Douglas Wambaugh on the television series Picket Fences, for which he earned an Emmy Award in 1994. 

He is also known for his portrayal of Harvey Lipschultz, a crotchety history teacher, on the television series Boston Public.

Finkel was born at home in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, New York, the third of four sons of Jewish immigrant parents, Mary, a housewife from Minsk, Belarus, and Harry Finkel, a tailor from Warsaw. He adopted the stage name "Fyvush", a common Yiddish given name.

Finkel first appeared on the stage at age 9, and acted for almost 35 years in the thriving Yiddish theaters of the Yiddish Theater District of Manhattan's Lower East Side, as well as performing as a standup comic in the Catskill's Borscht Belt. 

Six years ago we posted a tribute to Finkel when at the age of 88 he starred in a musical celebration of his life on stage with highlights from his roles spanning Second Avenue to modern-day television stardom.

In 2008 he recalled:

I played child parts till I was 14, 15, then my voice changed. So I decided to learn a trade and went to a vocational high school in New York. I studied to be a furrier, but I never worked at it. As soon as I graduated high school, I went to a stock company in Pittsburgh, a Jewish theater, and I played there for 38 weeks, and that's where I actually learned my trade a little bit as an adult.

He worked regularly until the ethnic venues began dying out in the early 1960s, then made his Broadway theatre debut in the original 1964 production of the musical Fiddler on the Roof, joining the cast as Mordcha, the innkeeper, in 1965. The production ran through July 2, 1972. Finkel then played Lazar Wolf, the butcher, in the limited run 1981 Broadway revival and eventually played the lead role of Tevye the milkman for years in the national touring company.

Two years ago at the age of 91, Finkel invited Jews and goyim alike to celebrate Purim at the theatrical temple of 54 Below. He was joined by his two sons, pianist Elliot Finkel and xylophonist Ian Finkel, to commemorate his eight decades onstage. This video was  TheaterMania's sneak peek of Finkel's says first true nightclub performance, traversing the broad expanse of his life and career through songs, stories, and, simcha.

Enjoy!

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)



(Thanks to Wikipedia for biographical info about Fyvush Finkel)  

Di Goldene Kale, Lost Yiddish Operetta, to Get Full Staging in New York in December

Di Goldene Kale in Concert at Rutgers University (Photo: Jody Somers)

In August we attended a concert version of Di Goldene Kale (The Golden Bride), a Yiddish operetta from the glory days of the Second Avenue Yiddish theatre. (Kale is pronounced kalleh - rhymes with challah, not kale, the leafy green vegetable.)

The performance was at the Nicholas Music Center on the campus of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

The audience was enthralled by the beautiful music and funny dialogue, which was projected on a huge screen in English translation.

When the cast and orchestra took their bows, Zalmen Mlotek, the musical director of the Folksbiene - National Yiddish Theatre addressed the audience which gave them a standing ovation. He told the audience that with the theatre group taking up permanent residence at the Museum of Jewish History in downtown Manhattan, he was hoping get support to stage a full production with professionally designed sets and costumes. 

Apparently support came quickly, because Folksbiene announced last week that they are selling tickets for the full production which will be staged from December 2 through December 27 at the Edmond J. Safra Hall at Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Place in Manhattan.  

This is a must-see production which will have you humming the melodies and laughing at the funny lines as you leave the theatre.

As Joshua Barone wrote in the New York Times,

“Di Goldene Kale” — with music by Joseph Rumshinsky, lyrics by Louis Gilrod and a book by Frieda Freiman — had its premiere in 1923 at Kessler’s Second Avenue Theater, where it filled the 2,000-seat house and ran for 18 weeks.

In the operetta, a beautiful young woman named Goldele, who was abandoned as a child, receives an unexpected inheritance and sets off on a journey to claim her estate, find her mother and offer her hand to the man who can help.

Here's a video clip of the cast rehearsing for the August performance of the concert version followed by an earlier recording of one of the main songs of the operetta, My Goldele.

Enjoy!

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)

(A tip of the kippah to Debbie Drachman for bringing this story to our attention.)

KulturfestNYC Opening Night Sets Tone for Week of 100 Jewish Cultural Events

Last Sunday evening more than a thousand people assembled in the Winter Garden atrium in the upscale shopping mall at Brookfield Place upscale in lower Manhattan for the opening concert of KulturfestNYC.

The two hour concert featured appearances by many of the stars of the Yiddish stage and films as a preview of the 100 events that are being performed this week up and down Manhattan to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene.

As Seth Rogovoy wrote in The Forward,

The event was held at at Brookfield Place, and if you’ve never seen a concert there, don’t feel the need to rectify the omission, because it’s actually a shopping mall atrium. Nevertheless, every seat was occupied, every inch of staircase was taken up by concertgoers, and the rest were left standing on the sidelines or hanging over the railings of the balcony level of retail stores.

The concert – functioning as a sampler or smorgasbord of all the musical artists who will be performing in the festival through next Sunday – included the obligatory rendition of “Rumenye”; a nod to the tradition historically embodied by Paul Robeson of African-Americans singing Yiddish through a lens of spirituals, here delivered by Elmore James; and a set-closing appearance by pop legend Neil Sedaka, who accompanied himself solo on the Steinway Grand with a poignant rendition of “My Yidishe Mame.”

We were among those hanging over the railings and managed to video a portion of the concert to share with you. Here's a clip of Bernard Hiller singing Rumania Rumania.

Enjoy!

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)

Jewish Jokes from Second Avenue Embedded in Song by Bruce Adler

We hear a lot about how even before the Catskills, Jewish humor was born on Second Avenue in New York City. The era of Jewish theatre on Second Avenue came to an end before most of us were born and we missed out on a vibrant and funny entertainment form. 

Sometimes a search for Jewish humor on the internet yields an unexpected surprise, and we have a Second Avenue experience to share with you today.

Bruce Adler (1944-2008) was an American Broadway actor. He made his stage debut at an early age, appearing with his parents, Henrietta Jacobson and Julius Adler. The three Adlers played the London Palladium with Sophie Tucker in the 1950s. He continued to appear in Yiddish theatre throughout his teens, also appearing in mainstream American theatre as his parents made a similar "crossover," most notably appearing in productions of Neil Simon's Come Blow Your Horn.

After debuting on the Broadway stage as Ali Hakim, the peddler, in the 1979 revival of Oklahoma!, he went on to a career that saw him nominated for Tony Awards as Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Those Were the Days (1991) and Crazy For You (1992). His film work was limited to voice work in animated films, notably providing the singing voice for the narrator of the 1992 Disney film Aladdin and 1996 film Aladdin and the King of Thieves.


In this video gem, Adler bursts onto the stage with Hootsasa, a classic song from Second Avenue. Back in the day, he sang it in Yiddish, but this version is in English, "for the Yiddish-impaired." There's not much to the song itself, but it serves as a vehicle for a barrage of old Jewish jokes, most of which you've probably heard, but he tells them nonstop, and you can't help laughing out loud.

Enjoy!

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO IS NOT VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)