Unsung Jewish Composers and Lyricists of the Great American Songbook - Irving Gordon and "Unforgettable"

It's well known that many of the songs that comprise the collection known as The Great American Song Book were written by Jewish composers and lyricists, mostly in the decades between 1930 and 1965, but also going back to the turn of the 20th century.

The most prolific of these writers are responsible for the great majority of songs. Rodgers and Hart, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin lead the long list of songwriters and their songs number in the hundreds.

But there are many others that were written by composers and lyricists that you very likely never heard of. These songwriters wrote lots of pop songs to stand alone and as parts of Broadway and Off-Broadway shows and Hollywood movies. Most of the songs are long forgotten, but a few of them have become popular standards, and are sung as much today as in the years they were written.

In this series, which will run in Jewish Humor Central on a weekly basis, we will focus on one songwriter at a time, and feature a video performance of their most popular song.

Today we're featuring Irving Gordon (1915-1996), who was born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn. He started his music training on the violin, and later worked at Catskill resort hotels writing musical parodies for their shows. In the thirties, he was employed by Mills Music, a publishing and performer management company in New York City, as a contract composer and lyricist. He put words to some of Duke Ellington’s musical pieces.

He is best known for the music and lyrics for “Unforgettable,” recorded by Nat King Cole in 1951.

Cole died in 1965. 26 years later, in 1991, digital technology made it possible for his daughter Natalie to sing the same song in a virtual duet with her father. It was performed at the 1992 Grammy Awards.

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3 British Jewish Mums Compete for "Best Matzah Ball Soup"

BuzzFeed UK has been running a series of videos in which members of different countries or ethnic groups taste dishes of different cultures and pick the winner in each category.

 In this episode three British Jewish mums taste and review each other's cooking to see who makes the best matzah ball soup (chicken soup).

Enjoy!

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A Joke to Start the Week - "Denture Pain"

It's another Monday and time for another Joke to Start the Week. Today Mickey Greenblatt is back with another good one.

Marshal (Mickey) Greenblatt received degrees from Columbia (BA and BS in Flight Sciences), a DC from Von Karman Institute (1963) and his PhD from Princeton in Aerospace Sciences. He worked as a researcher for NASA and the Naval Research Laboratory. 

With four other scientists, he founded Fusion Systems Corporation, which invented microwave-powered UV lamps for drying coatings. He founded and served on the boards of technology companies and is active in volunteer work. He served on the executive committee of the Jewish Council for the Aging of Greater Washington for many years.

Mickey also loves Jewish jokes and sent us this one to share with you. Here's the setup: Shlomo Berger and Murray Kleinman went to High School in Philadelphia together 60 years ago. In the interim they played tennis every week. One time they were out playing tennis as usual and, at a break, Shlomo said to Murray "You know, I'm not going to be able to play next time because I have to go to this Doctor Steinhart." And then...

Enjoy!

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"The Barry Sisters" Sound Revived in a Hebrew-Yiddish Medley by Russian "MaisterBeri Sisters"

Here's a fragment of the concert "MaisterBeri Sisters" on the stage in Moscow's Gradsky Hall last August. In this performance of the duet of jazz divas Eteri Beriashvili and Liana Meister singing songs from the "Barry Sisters" program sound today. 

"Hava Nagila" / "Tumbalalaika" / "A Yiddishe mama" / "Hevenu Shalom Aleichem" - Songs that are over 100 years old! Ancient, but always modern, accompanied by the "MaisterBeri Band" conducted by Alexander Antonov, performed in the spirit of the times, but with great respect for the original. The concert was held with the support of radio JAZZ.

Enjoy! 

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Welcoming Shabbat with Mizmor Shir by Danny Maseng

Danny Maseng, Sarah Lonsert, Jessica Steinman, Michael Skloff, Gary Raynor, and Arkadiy Gips perform the Gat Brothers' Mizmor Shir.

The Hebrew text of the first two verses of this liturgical poem is:

 טוֹב לְהֹדוֹת לַיהוָה
וּלְזַמֵּר לְשִׁמְךָ עֶלְיוֹן
לְהַגִּיד בַּבֹּקֶר חַסְדֶּךָ וֶאֱמוּנָתְךָ בַּלֵּילוֹת

The English translation is:
It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto Thy name, O Most High; 

To declare Thy lovingkin​dness in the morning, and Thy faithfuln​ess in the night seasons.

Enjoy, and Shabbat Shalom!

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Throwback Thursday Comedy Showcase: Alan King on Being a Pal to His Children

Today's another Throwback Thursday and we're turning the clock back 57 years to 1965 and one of Alan King's 50 appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show.

In this segment King talks about the joys of being a pal to his two sons and the pleasures of a Sunday drive with his family.

Enjoy!

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   #Throwback Thursday      #TBT

Unsung Jewish Composers and Lyricists of the Great American Songbook - Carolyn Leigh

It's well known that many of the songs that comprise the collection known as The Great American Song Book were written by Jewish composers and lyricists, mostly in the decades between 1930 and 1965, but also going back to the turn of the 20th century.

The most prolific of these writers are responsible for the great majority of songs. Rodgers and Hart, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin lead the long list of songwriters and their songs number in the hundreds.

But there are many others that were written by composers and lyricists that you very likely never heard of. These songwriters wrote lots of pop songs to stand alone and as parts of Broadway and Off-Broadway shows and Hollywood movies. Most of the songs are long forgotten, but a few of them have become popular standards, and are sung as much today as in the years they were written.

In this series, which will run in Jewish Humor Central on a weekly basis, we will focus on one songwriter at a time, and feature a video performance of their most popular song.

Today we're featuring Carolyn Leigh, who was born to a Jewish family in the Bronx. She graduated from Hunter High School, Queens College and NYU.

 

She wrote lyrics for Broadway shows including Peter Pan, Wildcat, Little Me, and How Now, Dow Jones. Her best known song is the second one she wrote after working as a copy writer for radio stations and advertising agencies.

 

In 1953 she was urged to write songs by a music publisher. The first was I’m Waiting Just for You. Her second was Young at Heart. At the time, her father, a man with a great zest for life, had become ill and depressed.

 

“I wrote the song for him,” she recalled, “using some of his own philosophy to cheer him up. When the song became Number 1, he was the most happy fella in the hospital.”

 

With music by Johnny Richard, here is the definitive hit recording by Frank Sinatra.

Enjoy!

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Comedy Showcase: Rita Rudner on How Young People Confuse Her

We've been big fans of Rita Rudner ever since she started to appear on late night TV in the 1980s.

One of the hallmarks of her comedy is that it's clean, free from the vulgarity and shouting that many stand-up comics find necessary.  Her delivery is demure, tasteful, full of wry observations, and very funny.

We're looking forward to seeing her perform tomorrow night at the Kings Point theater in Delray Beach, Florida.

Rudner started her career as a dancer, then switched to stand-up comedy about her dating experiences.  She married British producer Martin Bergman about 30 years ago and they have a daughter.  She is fond of Jewish humor but generally reserves it for when she performs for Jewish audiences.

Rita just released video clips of some recent performances. Today we're sharing her observations on how she doesn't understand young people with their strange behavior.

 

Enjoy!

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A Joke to Start the Week - "A Memorable Sermon"

A few years ago, Toronto's Koerner Hall was the site of a performance of Jewish Folks Telling Jokes, a night of comedy to benefit Jewish Family and Child, one of the foremost Jewish service agencies in North America.

Jewish Family and Child supports the healthy development of individuals, children, families, and communities through prevention, protection, counseling, education and advocacy services, within the context of Jewish values.

We previously posted a few jokes that were told at the event, a Canadian contribution to the world of Jewish humor, probably inspired by the off-Broadway show Old Jews Telling Jokes, still touring around the USA.

We were lucky to discover a few more jokes from these talented Toronto joke tellers, and we'll be sharing some of them in future posts of A Joke to Start the Week.

This week's joke is told by David Goldbloom.

Here's the setup: It's a Saturday morning and the rabbi is finishing his sermon. And as he looks to the back of the hall, he sees Sheldon Goldstein. And then...

Enjoy!

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Lea Kalisch Sings a Yiddish Classic - "Oyfen Pripetshik"

Oyfen Pripetshik is a is a Yiddish song by M.M. Warshawsky (1848–1907). The song is about a rabbi teaching his young students the aleph-bet. By the end of the 19th century it was one of the most popular songs of the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, and as such it is a major musical memory of pre-Holocaust Europe. The song is still sung in Jewish kindergartens.

Here it is sung by Lea Kalisch, a multi-lingual and multi-disciplinary New York City based performer. Originally from Switzerland, Lea moved to NYC in 2014 to study at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. She earned a BFA in Musical Theater from The New School.

Lea has an insatiable curiosity for life and loves to use her vigorous enthusiasm to entertain and challenge audiences as much as herself.

Lea is a former professional figure-skater who always enjoyed ice-shows much more than competitions, and yet her art is her sport.

She is Jewish with all her heart and feels Latin with all her hips.

What is Swiss about her? She has an obsession for everything that contains chocolate and she ticks like a Swiss Swatch.

Lea is accompanied on guitar by Rabbi Tobias Divack Moss, a rabbi at Temple Israel of Minneapolis.

Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat with Adon Olam at Beth Israel of San Diego

Adon Olam (Hebrew: אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם; "Eternal Lord" or "Sovereign of the Universe") is a hymn in the Jewish liturgy. It has been a regular part of the daily and Shabbat liturgy since the 15th century.

Its authorship and origin are uncertain. It is sometimes attributed to Solomon ibn Gabirol (1021–1058), who is known for his Hebrew poetry, although there is no solid evidence for this, and the regular metric structure does not seem to accord with his other compositions. John Rayner, in his notes to the Siddur Lev Chadash, suggests it was written in the thirteenth or fourteenth century in Spain, noting its absence from the prayer book Sefer Abudarham c. 1340. It has also been attributed to Hai Gaon (939–1038) and even to the Talmudic sage Yohanan ben Zakkai. Although its diction indicates antiquity, it did not become part of the morning liturgy until the 15th century.

Last week the clergy of Congregation Beth Israel of San Diego led the congregation in singing Adon Olam. Congregation Beth Israel, the historic center of Jewish life in San Diego, is an inclusive Reform congregation that offers a warm welcome and a nurturing home to all who seek a meyaningful and enduring connection to Judaism.

Enjoy, and Shabbat Shalom!

Throwback Thursday Comedy Showcase: Jack Carter on Marriage, Bachelorhood, and Mothers

Jack Carter (1922-2015) was born Jack Chakrin in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, New York to a Jewish family. Carter served in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. He hosted an early television variety program called Cavalcade of Stars on the DuMont Network. 

He was lured to NBC to host his own program titled The Jack Carter Show.Carter recommended Jackie Gleason to take his place as host of Cavalcade of Stars. The Jack Carter Show appeared under the banner of the Saturday Night Revue, NBC's two-and-a-half-hour Saturday night programming slot. Carter hosted his show for one hour each week followed by the 90-minute Your Show of Shows starring Sid Caesar,Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, and Howard Morris. Carter remained friends with Sid Caesar his entire life and delivered the eulogy at his funeral.

Here's a video clip from a Carter appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1960. In this standup routine, Carter has the audience laughing at his observations on marriage, bachelorhood, and mothers.

Enjoy!

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   #Throwback Thursday     #TBT

Starting a New Series: Unsung Jewish Composers and Lyricists of the Great American Songbook - Albert Von Tilzer

It's well known that many of the songs that comprise the collection known as The Great American Song Book were written by Jewish composers and lyricists, mostly in the decades between 1930 and 1965, but also going back to the turn of the 20th century.

The most prolific of these writers are responsible for the great majority of songs. Rodgers and Hart, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin lead the long list of songwriters and their songs number in the hundreds.

But there are many others that were written by composers and lyricists that you very likely never heard of. These songwriters wrote lots of pop songs to stand alone and as parts of Broadway and Off-Broadway shows and Hollywood movies. Most of the songs are long forgotten, but a few of them have become popular standards, and are sung as much today as in the years they were written.

In this series, which will run in Jewish Humor Central on a weekly basis, we will focus on one songwriter at a time, and feature a video performance of their most popular song.

Today we're starting with Albert von Tilzer, who was born as Albert Gumm to Polish Jewish immigrants Sarah Tilzer and Jacob Gumbinsky. When his older brother Harry adopted his mother's maiden name as his own, seeking to make it sound even classier by tacking on a "Von", Albert and his other brothers followed suit.

Albert Von Tilzer was a top Tin Pan Alley tune writer, producing numerous popular music compositions from 1900 continuing through the early 1950s. He collaborated with many lyricists, including Jack Norworth, Lew Brown, and Harry MacPherson. A number of his tunes were performed (and recorded) by jazz bands and continue to be played decades later. 

But Albert's most popular song was Take Me Out to the Ball Game, with lyrics written by Jack Norworth.  Here is a video of the song performed by Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly, from a movie with the same title.

Enjoy!

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Jimmy Cagney, the Best Yiddish Speaker in Hollywood

 

James Cagney, the American actor best known for playing tough guys in gangster films and for winning an Oscar for playing George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy, was a fluent Yiddish speaker.

He spoke Yiddish in a few of his films, including Taxi (1932) and The Fighting 69th (1940).

As Henry Sapoznik wrote yesterday in The Jewish Daily Forward,

In his eponymous 1976 autobiography, Cagney crowed about his street cred zhargon that he learned from school friends who lived on the Lower East Side. And, while it does not appear that he employed Yiddish as a stage performer in New York, Cagney’s eyebrow raising bilingual skills became famous in Hollywood.

One oft repeated story was how during Cagney’s first negotiations at Warners, the brothers – not realizing his language chops — attempted to outmaneuver him by periodically switching into Yiddish. Cagney not only joined in but also did so in a Yiddish better than theirs.

Here's the clip of Cagney as a taxi driver in Taxi. He watches as a man (played by burlesque and vaudeville actor Joe Barton) tries to ask an Irish policeman how to get to Ellis Island to see his wife. When he sees that the man can't get through to the cop and says he has a goyishe kop, Cagney asks the man in Yiddish where he wants to go. The man, surprised, asks Cagney if he is Jewish. Cagney replies, "What then, a shaygetz?"

Enjoy the video excerpt.

 

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A Joke to Start the Week: "Two Astronauts on Mars"

It's another Monday and time for another Joke to Start the Week. Today Mickey Greenblatt is back with another good one.

Marshal (Mickey) Greenblatt received degrees from Columbia (BA and BS in Flight Sciences), a DC from Von Karman Institute (1963) and his PhD from Princeton in Aerospace Sciences. He worked as a researcher for NASA and the Naval Research Laboratory. 

With four other scientists, he founded Fusion Systems Corporation, which invented microwave-powered UV lamps for drying coatings. He founded and served on the boards of technology companies and is active in volunteer work. He served on the executive committee of the Jewish Council for the Aging of Greater Washington for many years.

Mickey also loves Jewish jokes and sent us this one to share with you. Here's the setup:  Two astronauts land on Mars. One of their scientific tasks is to see if there is any oxygen on the planet. "Give me the box of matches", the first one says to the other one. And then...

Enjoy!

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Six Athletes Are Representing Israel in the 2022 Winter Olympics

A small but hopeful contingent of six athletes are representing Israel in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. They will compete in figure skating and alpine skiing.

Hailey Kop, a 19-year old Modern Orthodox student from West Orange, New Jersey will be skating with Israeli figure skater Evgeny Krasnopolski in the pairs competition.

As Shaked Karabelnicoff wrote in Jewish Unpacked,

“It had always been a dream of mine to skate for Israel,” Kops said in an interview. “As a Jewish religious girl raised Modern Orthodox, I know that Israel is our home. It was always part of my plan to try to skate for Israel.”

Kops and her mother became Israeli citizens in 2013 when Hailey joined Israel’s National Juniors Figure Skating team. 

“I didn’t think twice about becoming a citizen of Israel,” she said. Just being Jewish and growing up Modern Orthodox, I always had a connection to Israel even if I do live in the U.S., so to become a citizen was really cool to me.”

Aside from the gap year, Kops spent a summer in Israel and has visited multiple times, including for three national skating championships, she said.

Here are Kops and Krasnopolski skating in a 2021 competition.

Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat with "Ki Eshmera Shabbat" by Apollo's Fire's "Sephardic Journey"

Named for the classical god of music, healing and the sun, Apollo’s Fire is a GRAMMY®-winning ensemble. The period-instrument orchestra was founded by award-winning harpsichordist and conductor Jeannette Sorrell, and is dedicated to the baroque ideal that music should evoke the various Affekts or passions in the listeners. 

Apollo’s Fire is a collection of creative artists who share Sorrell’s passion for drama and rhetoric. 

Based in Cleveland, Ohio, their album Sephardic Journey – Wanderings of the Spanish Jews reached close to the top of the Billboard World Music and Classical charts.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer's review said “Baritone Jeffrey Strauss delineated, with decorative elaboration worthy of a great cantor, the intense longing in the hearts of an exiled people to return to their homeland…"

Today we're welcoming Shabbat with the Apollo's Fire rendition of Ki Eshmera Shabbat. The Hebrew transliteration and English translation appear below.

Enjoy, and Shabbat Shalom!

 

LYRICS: 

Ki ‘eshmerà Shabbàt, ‘El yishmerèini. ‘Ot hi l’olmèi ad Beinò uveinì. [Repeat as Refrain.] 

If I guard the Sabbath, God will watch over me. The Sabbath is a seal Between God and me forever. [Repeat as Refrain.] 

Bò emtze‘àh tamìd Nòaḥ l’nafshì, Hinèi l’dor rishòn Natàn kedoshì, Mofèt b’tèt lèchem mishnèh vashishì, Kàkha b’khòl shishì Yakhpìl mizonì. [Refrain.] 

On the Sabbath I find rest for my soul. From the beginning, God gave a sign: Double-bread on the sixth day. So may my food be doubled On every sixth day. Refrain. 

Hu yom m’chubàd Hu yom ta‘anugìm, Lèḥem v’yàyin tov Basàr v’dagìm, Has’meḥìm bo, Hem simḥà masigìm, Ki yom s’maḥòt hu. [Refrain.] 

It is a day we honor, A day of pleasures: Bread and good wine, Meat and fish. Those who rejoice on the Sabbath Attain happiness, For it is a day of joy. Refrain. 

Hebrew transliteration & English translation by Jeffrey Strauss 

Throwback Thursday Comedy Showcase: Sid Caesar and Betsy Palmer as New Parents

Sid Caesar's skits were the gold standard in the world of TV sketch comedy. In addition to his many comedy sketches with Imogene Coca on Your Show of Shows and with Nanette Fabray on Caesar's Hour, he also appeared many times on the Ed Sullivan Show with actress Betsy Palmer.

As we turn the clock back 57 years to 1965, Sid and Betsy play new parents returning to their apartment from the hospital with their new baby boy.

Enjoy!

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   #Throwback Thursday      #TBT

From the Milken Archive: Pete Seeger and the Story of Tzena, Tzena

While browsing through the Lowell Milken Archive of Jewish Music, we came across a video of folksinger Pete Seeger telling about his collaboration with Israeli composer Issachar Meron to produce an English version of the Hebrew song Tzena, Tzena.

A moving story of music's ability to transcend boundaries and communicate universally, the video captures a rare moment featuring Seeger alongside the song's composer, Issachar Miron, as they lead a performance of a new trilingual version of the song that includes verses in Arabic, as well as in Hebrew and English.

Seeger, who died in 2014, taught the song to his singing group, The Weavers, who made the song popular worldwide.

A musical adventure of historic proportions, the Milken Archive of Jewish Music is an exploration of the rich variety of musical expression born of, inspired by, associated with, or reflecting the full spectrum of Jewish life in the United States—the collective American Jewish experience.

Enjoy!

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Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: Hava Nagila on a Snowy Mountainside

With the 2022 Winter Olympics starting in just a few days, we found this video clip on the Internet.

We don't know the identity of the violinist or the exact location, but there is reason to believe that it's a sneak preview of a new Alpine Olympic pentathlon sport...Fiddling Hava Nagila, Tree Hugging, Snow Sliding, Marching, and Dancing...all on a snow covered mountain.

Enjoy!

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