European Tour

Molly Picon, 1898 – 1992

"Yiddish was our center, our link, and I never felt like a complete stranger in Europe because I was always in the midst of a familiar language and heritage—the Yiddish world."

After their baby's death, Kalich took Picon to Europe to expose her to the European stage and enhance her reputation in America. "The Yiddish I spoke was completely bastardized, and part of our plan was for me to learn correct Yiddish with its soft, guttural European accent." She performed across the continent—in Vienna, Kishnev, Lemberg, Jassy, Bucharest, London and Paris—to rave reviews in original acts she and Kalich had written. The relationship that she formed with these audiences and her new understanding of Yiddish culture laid the foundation for the rest of her career. Those theatergoers and their American relatives, children and grandchildren would return again and again to see Picon perform. By the time she returned to the United States two years later, her fame had already preceded her.