“Slowly, as immigration diminished, the ethnic
theaters petered out, but the Yiddish theater outlasted them all,
in spite of the fact that the younger, American-born generation no
longer could speak, or even understand, mama-loshen, the mother tongue
(so called, I suppose, because mama did all the talking). Since Mama was
so anxious to see her children become Americans, not remain greenhorns,
she urged them on to learn English, to be able to go to college, to
become a Somebody. Unfortunately, she didn’t realize then what a
wonderful heritage and what a vivid, juicy language they were losing
and would never be able to recapture.”
|
source | full image
source | full image
|
Despite
the decline of Yiddish—speaking audiences,
Picon’s career continued to flourish. In 1942,
Kalich responded to the demographic change and wrote
his new musical, Oy Is Dus a Leben! (What a Hard Life!),
in both Yiddish and English. A biographical piece that
chronicled Picon’s childhood and romance with Kalich,
the play was a huge success and became the first Yiddish
play ever to reach Broadway. Picon considered
it her “biggest
moral and financial success.” |
