YIDDISH CINEMA LIFE IN A BIG CITY LOVE

YIDDISH CINEMA • LIFE IN A BIG CITY • LOVE AND ROMANCE

Yiddle With His Fiddle (1936) Polish-American production. Directed by Joseph Green and Jan Nowina-Przybylski. Starring Molly Picon and Leon Liebgold. Green found a role specifically for Picon. Music by Abraham Ellstein: from film to life. Filmed in Kazimierz and Warsaw. Real shtetl people as extras.

Yiddle With His Fiddle (1936) Musical comedy; melodrama; elements of slapstick comedy. From near-documentary to a Cinderella tale. Typical Yiddish “laughter through tears. ” Hollywood happy-ending. Metapoetic scenes: director and producer looking for a new star.

Life in a Big City vs Shtetl in Yiddle Shtetl (Kazimierz) Semi-rural market town; Horses as means of transportation; Men with beards and covered women; Archaic way of dressing; Submissive women; Arranged marriage. Big City (Warsaw) Grand urban space; Motor transport; Modern fashion for men and women; A possibility of a career for women; Independent women; Marriage for love.

Family Values, Love, and Romance Good daughter and a doting father. Cross-dressing without provocation, for a defensive purpose. Reinforcement of traditional morality. “Desexualized” love scenes. Comedic and comic approach. Four different love stories in the film, all leading to marriage.