Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ____________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 16.021 February 23, 2007 1) "Yidl mitn fidl" (Lori Cahan-Simon) 2) "Ana Karenina" (Eliezer Niborski) 3) "polish" (Jack Berger) 4) na dir akht un akhtsik (Jack Berger) 5) kleynkunst-teater (Gilles Rozier) 6) kleynkunst-teater (Hy Wolfe) 7) kleynkunst-teater (Martin Jacobs) 8) kleynkunst-teater (Lyuba Dukker) 9) kleynkunst-teater (Amanda Seigel) 10) kleynkunst, mir/wir, polish (Moshe Taube) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: February 4, 2007 Subject: "Yidl mitn fidl" "Yidl mitn Fidl" is from a 1936 movie of the same name starring the adorable Molly Picon, and as far as I know, was the last Yiddish movie made in Poland before the war, giving us a rare view of shtetl life of pre-war Poland. The exteriors were filmed in Kazimierz Dolny, a town on the Wistula River, and the interiors in a Warsaw studio. The majority of the cast are locals and, aside from Molly, Polish-born. The story features Molly Picon as Yidl, a young fiddle player, and Simkce Fostel as her father Arye, a bass player, as in the refrain from the song "Tsen brider" on which it appears to be based. As they travel, trying to make some kind of living, Yidl pretends to be a boy, as her father says she will be safer that way (and, historically speaking, a not uncommon way for females to travel). They successfully join up with two competing musicians, clarinetist Isaac (Max Bozyk), and the handsome young Froim (Leon Liebgold), another fiddle player. Yidl, of course, falls in love with him (I suppose there have always been groupies). The plot takes all kinds of Shakespearean twists due to misunderstandings. It all ends happily, naturally. In her autobiography "Molly!", Picon said about the town: "I had never seen such poverty---outdoor plumbing, rickety wooden houses bent into fantastic shapes, and the people unbelievably threadbare. The skeletal children, with their long peyes and little yarmulkes, wore trousers that were in shreds and shoes tied on their feet with rope. My heart went out to every one of them. We gave them coins (they wouldn't accept food--it wasn't kosher), and with the coins they bought grapes and came back to share them with me." Describing the wedding scene in the movie she said: "The food had to be truly kosher, because we hired the Orthodox Jewish men, women and children of Kazimierz to be the guests. As we filmed, they ate, and for the successive shots of the table, the food had to be replenished, over and over again. Our poverty-stricken guests couldn't figure out what was happening. They thought they had been invited to a real wedding, and when one of the woman asked why so much food, we explained to her it wasn't a real wedding, we were just making a film. I don't think she had ever seen a film, but she said, "Why didn't you tell me that before? With so much food, I could have brought my daughter to get married for real. She has a khosn, but we have no money for a dowry to make a proper wedding." It is sad to think of what must have happened just a few years later to most of the people appearing in the film, but it is an invaluable resource to be able to view this slice of Yiddishland. (The original sheet music has the word tsop, rather than tsig, as is commonly sung). Yidl Mitn Fidl Words: Itsik Manger (1902-1969), Music: Abraham Ellstein (1907-1964) Iber felder, vegn, Af a vogn hey, Mit zun un vint un regn, Forn klezmer tsvey. A khidish, oy, a khidish, Zogt, ver zenen zey? Yidl mitn fidl, Arye mitn bas, Dos lebn iz a lidl, To vozhe zayn in kas? Hey, Yidl, fidl, shmidl, hey, Dos lebn iz a shpas! A tsig (tsop) shteyt af der lonke Un meket troyrik: Me! Hey, du tsig (tsop), du shoyte, Troyrik zayn iz fe! Shoklt er dos berdl: Take, take, fe! Yidl mitn fidl, Arye mitn bas, Dos lebn iz a lidl, To vozhe zayn in kas? Hey, Yidl, fidl, shmidl, hey, Dos lebn iz a shpas! A foygl flit: --gut morgn, Gut-morgn, a gut-yor! Der troyer un di zorgn Tsu alde shvartse yor! Dem vint a lakh in ponem, Un Yidl, Yidl, for! Yidl mitn fidl, Arye mitn bas, Dos lebn iz a lidl, To vozhe zayn in kas? Hey, Yidl, fidl, shmidl, hey, Dos lebn iz a shpas! Lori Cahan-Simon [Moderator's note: the words can also be found at http://www.starkman.com/aviva/yiddish/yidl.html. Similar responses were sent by Irwin Mortman, Gershon Freidlin, Maurice Wolfthal, Joel Maxman, and Miles Tepper.] 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: February 4, 2007 Subject: "Ana Karenina" Dray meglekhe entfers tsu Perele Shifers frage vegn der iberzetsung fun "Ana Karenina" oyf yidish: Di Medem-biblyotek in Pariz (katalog: http://www.rachelnet.net/F/?func=file&file_name=find- b&local_base=reb01 ) farmogt tsvey farsheydene iberzetsungen oyf yidish fun dem verk, vu es vern ongegebn di vayterdike iberzetsers: 1. Moyshe Kats (farlag Varhayt, Nyu-York, [1911]) 2. Shloyme Sheynberg (farlag B.A. Kletskin, Vilne, 1929) Di natsyonale biblyotek in Yerusholaim (katalog: http://aleph500.huji.ac.il/F/?func=file&file_name=find- b&local_base=nnlall&con_lng=eng) hot nokh a dritn nusekh: 3. Ber Slutski (Melukhe-farlag, Kiev, 1939) Loyt der ortografye inem band, vos di khaverte Perele halt in di hent, volt men gedarft derkenen vos far an oysgabe dos iz. Mit di beste grusn alemen, un Perelen - a refue-shleyme. Eliezer Niborski 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: February 5, 2007 Subject: polish I have seen the word frequently in the Holocaust Memorial Books I translate, and I bet on Slavic [origins for the word], based on the following entries in my Polish slownik: pulap -- a ceiling pulapka -- a trap That's not a "l," but a Polish "l" with a line through it, making it soundlike a "w." It strikes me that this "pulish" or "polish" was a somewhat tight space, which leads me to suspect this root as the origin. Lacking hubris, I am also copying two fluent Polish speakers of my acquaintance for a further view. Regards, Jack Berger 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: February 5, 2007 Subject: na dir akht un akhtsik A possible clue toward explaining the phrase: almost every modern piano has 88 keys (seven octaves plus a minor third, from A0 to C8). Jack Berger 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: February 5, 2007 Subject: kleynkunst-teater Kleynkunst-teater is something between "caf-teatre" and "cabaret" (sorry I don't know the English equivalents), a small place where artists of several specialties (actors, singers, musicians, dancers) play short artistic forms. The most famous Yiddish "kleynkunst-teaters" were Azazel, created in Warsaw in 1926 by director Dovid Herman, painter Henrik Berlevi, and actress Tea Artshishevska; and Ararat, created in Lodz by Moyshe Broderzon, who became famous in all of Europe and remained active until WWII. The comedians Shimen Dzigan and Yisroel Szumacher became famous thanks to Ararat. Their famous sketches are typical of the Yiddish kleynkunst-teater, but more serious or "artistic" works were also played, such as works from famous Yiddish writers (Y. L. Peretz, Moyshe-Leyb Halpern or Moyshe Kulbak). Gilles Rozier [Moderator's note: Zulema Seligsohn gave a similar response.] 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: February 5, 2007 Subject: kleynkunst-teater At their zenith, the Artef, the Vilna Troupe, the Moscow Yiddish State Theater, and the Yiddish Art Theater of New York were among the finest drama groups in the world. Kleynkunst-teater featured a Shwartz, Ben-ami, Turkov, Gersten... The production would have been a classic such as "The Dybbuk," "Yankl der shmid," "Grine felder." Kleykunst is "beser teater in a kleyn form." It is also in some circles called revi teater (with music). A full, high quality show yet a smaller format, not a full blown production of a classic (from world literature). Dzigan & Szumacher, The Boyziks, and many others played kleynkunst-teater. (On a personal note, it is something that I strive to do with my programs as an actor, singer and director.) Hy Wolfe 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: February 5, 2007 Subject: kleynkunst-teater The Niborski-Vaisbrot dictionary defines "kleynkunst" as "varits," which means popular music. In German "Kleinkunst" means cabaret (in other words, popular music and theatrical or comedic sketches performed in clubs). In the years between the two World Wars there was a thriving Yiddish cabaret scene in Warsaw. Dzigan and Szumacher were part of this scene. Martin Jacobs 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: February 6, 2007 Subject: kleynkunst-teater Kleynkunst usually means a genre of music or theater, which is performed by a small number of performers with limited props etc - small forms. In terms of theater, it can include pantomime, comedy, cabaret, puppet theater, and recitals. Regarding the Yiddish theater, this term can be found in reference to the end of 19th/beginning of 20th century Yiddish kleinkunst-teaters, which developed alongside with serious classical and avant-garde theaters in Easter Europe. Regards, Lyuba Dukker 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: February 7, 2007 Subject: kleynkunst-teater Nahma Sandrow describes kleynkunst revues on page 323-328 in her book, "Vagabond Stars: A World History of Yiddish Theater" (New York: Harper and Row, 1977). Here is a quote from pages 323-324: "Beginning in the 1920s, kleynkunst became a voguish genre among Polish Yiddish sophisticates. Kleynkunst was a sort of cabaret revuew, witty, gay and irreverent, rapidly winging from music to dance to monologue to sketch...The cabaret revue had been part of Yiddish theater since the Broder Singers, who combined songs, skits, personal comments, and topical jokes. Concerts made up of readings and monologues together with musical interludes had been an established genre of Yiddish theater ever since." Tayere Berta, zayt azoy gut un shikt mir a blitsbriv, mir zoln vayter redn. Amanda (Miryem-Khaye) Seigel 10)---------------------------------------------------- Date: February 13, 2007 Subject: kleynkunst, mir/wir, polish 1. kleinkunst is of course a daytshmerizm, since in Yiddish proper the first element is kunts, not kunst. In German, kleinkunstbhne is the term for an intimate theater or a cabaret. 2. mir is not a Yiddish invention, It is found in many German dialects, mainly southern, instead of the standard wir. One of the accounts of mir sees it as a phonetic development due to assimilation of w- to preceding nasal -n in frequently used sequences of the type sagen wir, kommen wir, etc. 3. Indeed, all the proposals to explain the etymology of polish made so far remain unsatisfactory, and unless someone makes an unexpected discovery in an unknown text, things will remain as they are. But, then, this is also the situation regarding davenen. So don't be too optimistic. Moshe Taube ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 16.021