Mamale

Molly Picon, 1898 – 1992

"Poland had begun to feel like Germany, hatred of Jews everywhere..."

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Mamale, Poland

Picon and Kalich returned to Poland in 1938 to film Mamale (Mommy). This musical comedy was the last Jewish film made in Poland before the Nazi onslaught. At forty, Picon plays a young girl of twelve whose mother dies and leaves her to take care of her large and unappreciative family; a role she had created on stage ten years earlier. The film took on special poignancy as she and Kalich struggled to capture the endangered shtetl culture on the eve of WWII.

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Mamale, Poland
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Mamale, Poland
Notes: 
  1. "Poland had begun..." Picon, Molly & Bergantini Grillo, Jean, Molly! (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1980) 77.

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How to cite this page

Jewish Women's Archive. "History Makers - Molly Picon - Mamale." <http://jwa.org/historymakers/picon/mamale> (March 18, 2010).