The Making of Broadway

1. The Making of Broadway The Jewish Influence on Modern Theater

2. Jews and Theater – A History • The Purim Shpiel– a reenactment of the story of the Book of Esther • The Talmud mentions celebrations accompanying the readings • “…and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness.” - Esther 9:22 • By the 15th Century CE serious readings were alternating with burlesque. This contrast becomes a theme. • In 1598 there is a recorded reference to The Play of Deaf Yeklayn being performed every Purim.

3. Brody Singers • Dating back to the 1850s groups male singers toured Eastern Europe performing in Yiddish. The first of these performers was Berl “Broder” whose name comes from the town of Brody in Galicia. • Most of the performers had started as badḥanimwho entertained at festivals, weddings in particular and meshorerim, singers in cantor’s choirs. • The Brody singers drew on folk poetry, secular material. Solos soon turned to duets, with dialog, costumes, and dance.

4. Goldfaden and the Modern Age • Abraham (Avrom) Goldfaden is widely regarded as the Father of Yiddish Theater. • Born in Russia in 1840, he was a poet, playwright, stage director, and actor. • In 1866, Goldfaden wrote the poem “Progress” described as “a plea for Zionism years before that movement developed.” • In 1876, Goldfaden was paid to perform a public recital of his poem “The Green Fruit Tree Garden.” He turned it into a performance.

5. Goldfaden Gets Serious Soon Goldfaden put together a troupe and was touring Eastern Europe. Goldfaden was not just a performer, he was inventing the medium as he went. While the audience was initially resistant, Goldfaden insisted on performing plays with serious themes. In 1878, Goldfaden would produce Di Kishefmakhern, known in English as The Witch. Yiddish theater was maturing. Yiddish theater would be banned in Russian and the performers, fleeing the pogroms, fled to London and New York.

6. The Actors Jacob Adler was arguably the greatest actor of this time. His portrayals of King Lear in Der Yiddisher King Learand of Shakespeare’s Shylock gave him the nickname of “the Great Eagle.” His family followed in his footsteps and transformed the NY theater scene for generations to come. A star from his days as a Brody Singer, Israel Grodner played the female lead in The Witch. Boris Thomashefsky started in the Yiddish theater as a teenager playing female roles. Soon he moved on to lead roles, favoring serious works. Coming to New York, he would have his own troupe.

7. The Yiddish Folks Theater • Built in 1925 by Louis N. Jaffe, for whom it was originally named, it became the Yiddish Art Theater, the Yiddish Folks Theater, the Entermedia Theater. • In Lower Manhattan, it was convenient to the Jewish neighborhood on the East Side. • Home to Maurice Schwartz’s Yiddish Theater Group.

8. “Remember me to Herald Square.” • In 1892, producer Charles Frohman would acquire the Eltinge 42nd Street Theatre and rename it the Empire Theater. • Initially working for newspapers, Frohman’s theater career began with a night job selling tickets at Hooley’s Theater in Brooklyn. • The first play produced at the Empire in 1893 was The Girl I Left Behind Me by David Belasco, the son of Sephardic Jewish parents.

9. The Schubert Bros. In 1882, Sam, Jacob, and Lee Schubart arrived in America from Poland. Schubart became Schubert. Settling in upstate New York they soon managed theaters in Syracuse, Buffalo, Rochester, and Utica. In 1900 they came to NYC and leased the Herald Square Theater. Sam would die in 1905, but the remaining brothers would build an empire. By 1924, they owned or managed 86 theaters. By 1930 that had grown to 1000 theaters in the US.

10. Oscar Hammerstein (the first) Born in Prussia in 1846, his mother died when he was 15 and he fled a brutal father. Coming to America, he worked sweeping floors in a cigar factory. He would found the US Tobacco Journal and would hold 52 patents, 44 of which related to cigars. But his passion was for opera. In 1889 he built the Harlem Opera House on 125th St. In 1893, he built the Manhattan Opera House on 34th St. In 1896, he opened the Olympia Theater on Longacre Square, soon renamed to Times Square.

11. Vaudeville Comes to New York • Vaudeville’s origins are murky, although the term was certainly French. • Martin Beck was the most successful promoter and responsible for the success of many Jewish performers: Ed Wynn, Sophie Tucker, Fannie Brice and an aspiring stage magician who changed his name from Erik Weisz to Harry Houdini.

12. Molly Picon • One of the first stars to make it big from the Yiddish Vaudeville scene, Molly was born Margaret Pyekoon on Broome Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan on February 28, 1898. • At only 4’10” she began by playing boy’s roles. • She would go on to roles as the “All-American girl,” an ironic twist for the daughter of Russian immigrants.

13. Eddie Cantor & Al Jolson • Eddie Cantor was born Israel Iskowitz and orphaned at an early age. Broke into show business as a singing waiter, accompanied by Jimmy Durante. Made it big with his expressive eyes playing the “nebbish” with sensitivity. • Al Jolson was born AsaYoelson in Russia. In 1904 he appeared for the first time wearing blackface. By 1911 he starred in his first musical and by the 1920s he was the biggest and most highly paid star in America.

14. Blackface and Jewface

15. The Four Marx Bros. Plus One • Beginning as The Nightingales singing group their talents for improvisation came out when Groucho started exchanging insults with a heckler. • Leonard = Chico; Adolph (Arthur) = Harpo; Julius Henry = Groucho; Milton = Gummo; Herbert Manfred = Zeppo. • The Cocoanuts was the most successful of the Marx Brothers three Broadway plays, with a run of 276 performances 1925-1926. • The script was written by George S. Kaufman, music by Irving Berlin.

16. Irving Berlin: God Bless America • Born Israel IsidoreBaline, his father was a cantor. • The family fled Russia to the Lower East Side, a "cold-water basement flat with no windows” on Cherry Street. • Beginning by singing songs written by his friend George M. Cohan, he wanted to write his own. • In 1911, his breakthrough came with Alexander’s Ragtime Band. • The version of God Bless America known today was a rewrite done in 1938.

17. The Gershwin Bros. • Born in Brooklyn, Israel and Jacob Gershowitz became Ira and George Gershwin. • Together they collaborated to write the music for a dozen Broadway shows including Porgy and Bess. • In 1924, George would write his best known work, Rhapsody in Blue.

18. Oscar Hammerstein II • The grandson of the impresario, his father opposed his going into theater. After his death, Oscar became a writer, producer and director. • In 1927 he partners with Jerome Kern to create Show Boat, hailed as the first musical play. • Hammerstein partners with Richard Rogers to author Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, Flower Drum Song, The Sound of Music and many more.

19. The Serious Actors • Edward G. Robinson, born Emanuel Goldenberg, is most famous for his film roles, but he was first a Broadway star appearing in Under Fire (1915), Under Sentence (1916), The Deluge (1917), The Pawn (1917) and many others. • Paul Muni, born Meshilem Meier Weisenfreund, grew up in the Yiddish theater. He did his own makeup, playing an 82-year old man while only a teenager.

20. All In The Family • Stella Adler was the daughter of Jacob Adler and Yiddish actress Sara Adler. The only American to have studied with Konstantin Stanislavski, she would help bring The Method style of acting to Broadway. • Lee Strasberg, born Israel Lee Strasberg, is considered by many “the father of method acting in America. Along with wife Anna and daughter Susan he influenced a generation of actors.

21. The Politics of Theater In the 1930s, many Jews took a stand against the rising tide of Nazism. Stella Adler joined the Committee for Jewish Army of Stateless and Palestinian Jews. Other members included: Eddie Cantor, Kurt Weill, Milton Berle, Carl Reiner and Groucho and Chico Marx. Non-Jews joining the group included: Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Vincent Price and Count Basie. After WWII many Jewish theater and film actors were targeted by the HUAC: Leonard Bernstein, John Garfield, Zero Mostel, Edward G. Robinson, Stella and Luther Adler, Clifford Odets, Elia Kazan, Lillian Hellman and Arthur Miller are among the 300 show business figures blacklisted.

22. Death of a Salesman • Arthur Miller was born October 17th, 1915 in the Harlem section of NYC. • Both parents were Jewish, his father (Isidore) from Galicia, his mother (Augusta) 1st generation American. • Death of a Salesman won the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama & the Tony Award for Best Play; widely regarded as the first truly American Tragedy and one of the greatest plays of the Twentieth Century.

23. The Fabulous Fifties • 1950 George S. Kaufman directs Guys and Dolls • 1951Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick “Fritz” Loewe Paint Your Wagon • 1951 Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I • 1955 Richard Adler and Jerry Moss Damn Yankees • 1956 Lerner and Loewe My Fair Lady, followed by Camelot (1960) • 1957 Script by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim West Side Story **** 1955 also saw the opening of the Diary of Anne Frank by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, featuring Susan Strasberg (17 yrs. old)

24. Neil Simon – America’s Greatest Playwright • Born in the Bronx in 1927, he began writing while in the Air Force Reserve. He would receive almost 30 major awards, including Emmys, Tony awards, Golden Globes, Writers Guild and New York Drama Critics Circle awards. • 1961 Come Blow Your Horn • 1963 Barefoot in the Park • 1965 The Odd Couple • 1966 Sweet Charity • …and many more.

25. The Producers – 1967 Film • Not a play, but a movie about a play The Producers starred Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, Dick Shawn (born Richard Schulefand), and Kenneth Mars. • The film marked the directorial debut of Mel Brooks and was the first of his films to mock Nazism. • Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, National Film Registry selection.

26. Joseph Papp and the Public Theater • Started staging plays in the Navy during WWII. • Fired from his job as a stage manager at CBS. • Launched the Shakespeare in the Park Festival in 1956, Taming of the Shrew starring Colleen Dewhurst. • Opened the Public Theater in Greenwich Village. • Produced Hair, A Normal Heart (Larry Kramer’s play about AIDS), The Basic Training of PavloHummel (Vietnam) and others.

27. Modern Era • Tony Kushner Angels in America • Jonathan Larsen Rent • Wendy Wasserstein The Heidi Chronicles Since the Tony Awards begin in 1947: • 69% of composers receiving Tony Awards have been Jewish. • 70% of lyricists receiving Tony Awards have been Jewish. • 56% of Tony Award winning librettists have been Jewish.

28. Summary and Conclusions • The Jewish affinity for theater originates from the tradition of Purim Shpiels. • Beginning with the Broder Singers and continuing through Goldfaden it grew to include music, dance and comedy. • Coming to America, Adler and others helped expand Yiddish theater to include drama. • Jews built the theaters, then wrote, acted in and directed the plays. • This tradition continues on today.