{"id":1869,"date":"2020-11-11T16:30:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-11T22:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/yiddish-stage\/?p=1869"},"modified":"2023-06-06T16:14:27","modified_gmt":"2023-06-06T21:14:27","slug":"ven-moysh-iz-geforn-maurice-schwartz-on-the-yiddish-theatre-in-argentina-in-1930-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/yiddish-stage\/ven-moysh-iz-geforn-maurice-schwartz-on-the-yiddish-theatre-in-argentina-in-1930-part-i\/","title":{"rendered":"Ven Moysh iz geforn: Maurice Schwartz on the Yiddish Theatre in Argentina in 1930 (Part I)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

THE YIDDISH THEATRE occupied an important position in the transnational cultural system of Yiddishland<\/a>.1<\/a><\/sup> Yiddish actors and troupes wandered from city to city and across boundaries and oceans. The major stars brought along scripts of original and translated plays, stage instructions, costumes, sets, and sometimes even stage equipment.2<\/a><\/sup> Argentina<\/a> was a node in an international network comprising locally based theatre owners, impresarios, actors, musicians, and crews, plus the guest stars and directors from abroad. At the same time, the Argentine Yiddish theatre<\/a> functioned within the diverse and multilingual theatrical ecosystem of Buenos Aires.3<\/a><\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the second half of May 1930, Maurice Schwartz (1889-1960)\u2014Yiddish actor, director, impresario\u2014embarked upon a seventeen-day sea voyage that took him from New York to Buenos Aires, Argentina. This was his first trip to South America and also the first time that he traveled abroad as an individual guest star on the international Yiddish theatre circuit.4<\/a><\/sup> Schwartz was accompanied by his wife Anna; when they reached Argentina, they met up with Joseph Schwartzberg, a New York actor who served as advance man and stage manager for Schwartz\u2019s tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having led New York\u2019s Yiddish Art Theatre since its founding in 1918, Schwartz enjoyed a worldwide reputation as one of the leading exponents of the \u201cbetter\u201d theatrical repertory. At no point during its more than thirty years of existence was the Yiddish Art Theatre ever on secure financial grounding\u2014not even after the company had built its own theatre on Second Avenue in the mid-1920s. Following the Wall Street crash of October 1929, it was in notably dire straits, so the invitation to perform in Argentina thus came at an opportune time for Schwartz, since it would enable him to pay off some of his company\u2019s debts. As the Buenos Aires-based actor-impresario Leon Brest put it, \u201cThe chief purpose of your tour is to make money\u2014and that will be an absolute, 100 percent certainty.\u201d5<\/a><\/sup> During the course of his ten-week stay in Buenos Aires, Schwartz mounted over a dozen plays at two centrally located theatres, the Teatro Nuevo and the Teatro Argentino, following which he took his act to several Jewish communities in the Argentine provinces (including the agricultural colony Mois\u00e9s Ville), and then, as he wended his way home, Montevideo, S\u00e3o Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro. Though many of the plays that Schwartz staged in Buenos Aires had been produced there before, by other actors\u2014some of them multiple times\u2014critics greeted his tour as a \u201csensation.\u201d6<\/a><\/sup> Subsequently, Schwartz would frequently return to South America, up until his death in 1960.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along with his stage performances, the South American tour offered Schwartz another way to augment his income. The New York Yiddish daily Forverts<\/em> commissioned him to write a series of ten travelogues, which were published in that newspaper between June 28 and October 11, 1930. And after he had spent a few weeks in Buenos Aires, his journalistic horizons expanded to include both of that city\u2019s Yiddish dailies, Di prese<\/a><\/em> and Di idishe tsaytung<\/a><\/em>, and the weekly magazine Der shpigl<\/em>.7<\/a><\/sup> His articles were conversational in tone and punctuated with amusing anecdotes. Schwartz\u2019s observations were informed by his extensive involvement with the Yiddish theatres of New York City during his nearly three decades of life in the United States, since his arrival there in 1901 at the age of twelve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll the World\u2019s a Stage\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The travelogues were calculated to convey Schwartz\u2019s sense of wonder at the sights and sounds of South America, while also holding up a mirror to his readers\u2014Yiddish-speaking immigrants living under rather different conditions in New York and other large North American cities. Most of them would have experienced an ocean voyage when they emigrated from Europe to the Americas. However, their trips were one-way, from east to west, across the Atlantic, usually in the cramped quarters of steerage. By contrast, Maurice and Anna Schwartz were joined in first class on the SS Southern Cross<\/em> by just forty-eight other passengers. The liner made several calls along the way, to pick up and drop off cargo and passengers.8<\/a><\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schwartz populated his South American travelogue with theatrical allusions. Take, for example, his depiction of the scene aboard the boat at the New York pier just before its departure. Hollywood movies of the era convey some of the excitement surrounding a ship\u2019s departure from its home port. Friends and relatives mingled with passengers during the frenzied moments before the ship\u2019s whistle signaled non-passengers to come ashore. Schwartz captured the festive mood of this moment by likening it to \u201cthe most powerful and theatrical crowd scenes,\u201d such as those in the German director Max Reinhardt\u2019s production of Romain Rolland<\/a>\u2019s play Danton<\/em>. As the ship passed from the \u201cfamiliar [heymisher<\/em>] sea\u201d to the open ocean and the lights of Coney Island receded into the distance, Schwartz thought about the many times that he bathed there and recited lines together with his fellow actors in nearby Seagate.9<\/a><\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brazil and Uruguay<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Schwartz depicted the breathtaking approach to Rio de Janeiro at sunrise as \u201cthe gate of Paradise,\u201d likening the clouds to \u201cthe production of a heavenly spectacle, and the performers are the amazing colors [that] change so quickly.\u201d The mountains surrounding the city\u2019s harbor, among them the famous P\u00e3o de A\u00e7\u00facar <\/a><\/a>(Sugar Loaf), augmented the theatrical impression of arrival in the Brazilian capital. Schwartz was encouraged by his encounters with local Yiddish journalists and by the committee of young men and women \u201cwith pioneering spirit\u201d who came to meet him at the pier, and he promised to give a few performances in Brazil on his return voyage.10<\/a><\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From there, the ship proceeded to Montevideo, the penultimate port of call, where Argentine Yiddish impresarios often met their guest artists and escorted them to Buenos Aires. Schwartz was greeted at the pier by the editors of a local Yiddish newspaper and magazine, and also by a few actors visiting from Buenos Aires who hoped to set up a permanent Yiddish theatre troupe in the Uruguayan capital. Schwartz expressed the hope that he, too, would perform there on his return trip to New York. Overall, Uruguay\u2019s talent pool was not sufficient to sustain full-time theatre companies, Schwartz was informed. Instead, companies visited from abroad to perform \u201cthe best dramas, operas, and operettas\u201d in Spanish, German, and Italian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schwartz passed by the government\u2019s main office building, at the Plaza de la Independencia, commenting that it was a little smaller than Cooper Union (i.e., not particularly large) and guarded by three armed soldiers who reminded him of theatrical extras. The soldiers yawned as they impatiently anticipated lunchtime. Indeed, the entire city practically shut down during the two-hour lunch break. A restaurant in Montevideo was a \u201cfactory,\u201d Schwartz wrote, where the \u201clabor\u201d consisted of consuming liquor, appetizer (\u201csufficient for the Erev Yom Kippur meal\u201d), soup, meats accompanied by wine and beer, and Brazilian coffee, in that order.11<\/a><\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arrival in Buenos Aires: Impressions of the City<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Schwartz\u2019s accounts of his brief visits to Rio and Montevideo were but a prelude to the main event, Argentina, where he would remain for three months. In Buenos Aires, he was ferried around town, wined and dined, and feted by cultural organizations. His comings and goings were accorded blanket coverage by the Yiddish press, and he catered to this outpouring by graciously making himself readily available for interviews and generously consenting to publicize his presence further through the articles that he contributed to local journalistic outlets. Schwartz\u2019s theatrical productions were reviewed by the two Yiddish newspapers and a few of them also by Spanish- and German-language newspapers in the Argentine capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the moment that he stepped off the boat he was dazzled by the sounds, gesticulations, speech, restaurants, caf\u00e9s, and clothing of this \u201cworld metropolis\u201d\u2014the \u201cParis of America.\u201d Schwartz shared his impressions of the Argentine voice: The Argentine \u201cr\u201d is strongly trilled; the name of one popular newspaper (\u201ca cousin to our New York American<\/em>,\u201d a Hearst paper) was pronounced \u201cLa crrrr\u00edtica<\/em>\u201d by locals. He was captivated by the singing newsboys, chanting newspaper headlines and the plot summaries of pulp novels: \u201c[Joseph] Rumshinsky could definitely compose an interesting song number for Molly Picon<\/a> from them.\u201d The newsboys all sang the same tune, \u201cjust as all Jews sing a single Kol Nidre<\/a> melody.\u201d The city\u2019s many newspapers, he noted, blared headlines and featured large photos like the New York Daily News<\/em>. Some printed four to six editions each day, \u201cjust as in New York.\u201d In these papers \u201cthey read about football, horse races, prize fights, [and] theatre.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jewish immigrants quickly picked up the ubiquitous expression \u201cs\u00ed-s\u00ed<\/em>.\u201d When Schwartz\u2019s \u201cstill green\u201d uncle met him at the ship, \u201che kisses me and weeps and shouts [in Yiddish], \u2018My Moyshele, s\u00ed-s\u00ed<\/em>, I\u2019ve missed you for so long, s\u00ed-s\u00ed<\/em>! How\u2019s your father? s\u00ed-s\u00ed<\/em>! What\u2019s doing in North America? You make a better living there, s\u00ed-s\u00ed<\/em>!\u201d This verbal tic even infiltrated the speech of Yiddish actors at rehearsals:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m going over a scene in [Sholem Aleichem\u2019s] Tevye <\/em>with an actress. As she recites [the prayer] \u201cGot fun Avrom\u201d I ask her to convey the words with greater emotion, so that it doesn\u2019t sound like she\u2019s shouting. The actress stands still, looks [at me], her eyes filled with tears, and responds, \u201cS\u00ed-s\u00ed<\/em>, Se\u00f1or Schwartz; you\u2019re right! S\u00ed-s\u00ed<\/em>, it\u2019ll be boyne <\/em>[i.e., bueno<\/em>].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were more theatres in Buenos Aires, per capita, than in New York City, Schwartz reported. \u201cThey go to the theatre because they need the theatre, because the theatre is a part of their life\u2019s routine.\u201d One element of culture shock was that evening performances began as late as 10:00 p.m., and often wound up after 1:00 in the morning.12<\/sup><\/a> Then, following the evening\u2019s entertainment, \u201cgoing to a caf\u00e9 is practically a law here, and you snack on a couple of meaty sandwiches with caf\u00e9 negro<\/em>.\u201d Street life in Buenos Aires was cheerful, like \u201cbefore a wedding.\u201d With the hours that they kept, people in Buenos Aires didn\u2019t get much sleep: \u201cCan you possibly sleep, then, when you\u2019re getting ready for a wedding?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Movies were just as popular as the theatre, if not more so, and tickets were almost as expensive. At the time of Schwartz\u2019s visit, Maurice Chevalier<\/a>\u2019s movie \u201cMy Love Parade\u201d (1929; directed by Ernst Lubitsch) had been playing for four months to full houses. Dozens of cinemas showed talkies that were produced in Hollywood and screened in Buenos Aires without dubbing or subtitles \u2013 instead, they were accompanied by program booklets in Spanish. Among the prominent locals whom he met was Max Gl\u00fccksmann, \u201cthe William Fox<\/a> of South America\u201d and a devoted Jewish philanthropist. \u201cHe is a very original and strong personality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The narrowness of the streets and sidewalks of central Buenos Aires caused pedestrians to bump against one another, reminding Schwartz of scenes in the Abraham Goldfaden play Di kishef-makherin<\/a><\/em> (The Sorceress<\/em>).13<\/a><\/sup> The majority of houses \u2013 and also \u201cmany hospitals, restaurants, and theatres lack \u2018steam\u2019 [central heating] and must make do with electrical and oil [space] heaters,\u201d Schwartz observed, an observation that became a leitmotif <\/em>of his travelogue.14<\/a><\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the course of his first three weeks in Buenos Aires, Schwartz calculated that he had consumed more liqueurs than during the three previous decades. Everyone drank there, if only to stay warm; otherwise, the chill crept into the bones. Each day, the actors rehearsed in their winter coats, their teeth chattering, and they warmed themselves up with spirits. \u201cThe poor actors need a little \u2018steam\u2019!\u2026 Steam is a theatrical attraction. You read a newspaper advertisement: \u2018Attention! Our theatre is heated with calefacci\u00f3n<\/em> (steam).\u2019\u201d But calefacci\u00f3n<\/em> alone was not enough; during intermissions theatre concessionaires offered hot coffee, Ocho Hermanos (a liqueur), and Benedictine.15<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
The seating plan of the Teatro Argentino. Source: Penemer un penem\u2019lakh \/ Caras y caritas<\/em>,no. 227 (Buenos Aires), January 11, 1929.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The Theatre Scene in Buenos Aires<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In his travelogue, Schwartz naturally devoted a considerable amount of attention to theatre in general and the Yiddish theatre in particular: actors, repertory, productions, audiences, and finances. The comparisons between North and South American practices began at the box office and continued through the hall onto the stage and, from there, into the wings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publicity<\/strong>. Upon arriving in Buenos Aires, Schwartz noticed the lithographed posters announcing his forthcoming performances. The posters showed him in full, bewigged, eighteenth-century regalia as Joseph S\u00fcss Oppenheimer<\/a> in the play Jud S\u00fc\u00df<\/em> (based on Lion Feuchtwanger<\/a>\u2019s novel about the eighteenth-century Court Jew<\/a>), which he had first staged in New York the preceding October and put on in Buenos Aires in mid-June 1930.16<\/a><\/sup> Later, when he asked the impresario Adolf Mide why the posters remained up after he had moved on to other plays, he was told that his costume and makeup lent him a commanding appearance. \u201cJews have respect for generals, ministers, and presidents\u201d; thus, the actor acquired the temporary nickname of \u201cGeneral Schwartz.\u201d17<\/a><\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The box office<\/strong>. The box office cashiers hoarded the best tickets, he commented, and to get a good seat in the orchestra (platea<\/em>, in Spanish) or the boxes (palcos<\/em>) theatregoers needed to tipthe cashiers. Close and reciprocal relationships prevailed between audience members and the cashiers, \u201cbut friendship is friendship and tips are tips.\u201d At one of the theatres where Schwartz was performing, \u201cthe cashiers have grown gray while taking tips. Their grandchildren often visit their grandfathers at the box office.\u201d And from there, the grandfathers were \u201ctransferred to their final resting place[s].\u201d (The cashiers would have been Spanish-speaking Argentines, as the theatres were owned by Christians and rented out on a seasonal basis to the Yiddish impresarios.18<\/a><\/sup>) This depiction of box-office operations in Buenos Aires would have struck New York newspaper readers as odd because, by contrast, that city\u2019s Yiddish theatres were heavily unionized at all levels. Ticket sales for Schwartz\u2019s productions were brisk; he compared the scenes around the box offices to the pandemonium on the trading floor at the Stock Exchange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The audience<\/strong>. Buenos Aires Yiddish audiences were easily \u201cignited\u201d; a few of Schwartz\u2019s productions, such as Got fun nekome<\/a><\/em> (God of Vengeance<\/em>), by Sholem Asch, and Bloody Laughter <\/em>(Hinkemann<\/em>), by Ernst Toller, elicited some of the strongest applause that he had ever received. A powerful and climactic end to an act catalyzed this level of enthusiasm. Such hyper-enthusiasm was a mixed blessing, he felt. It evoked the theatrical climate of New York during the Jacob Gordin era, when Kenny Liptzin and Jacob P. Adler were the top stars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schwartz claimed that Buenos Aires audiences were befuddled by practices that he had instated at the Yiddish Art Theatre and followed in Argentina, such as raising the curtain and taking bows only at the conclusion of the final act (rather than at the end of each act), and not singing encores of songs. \u201cEnsemble performance\u2026 is unknown here,\u201d he wrote. \u201cPeople come to see the star\u201d (of which he was one). And for that reason, Schwartz encountered complaints when he played secondary roles \u2013 rather than starring \u2013 in The Blacksmith\u2019s Daughters<\/em>, by Peretz Hirschbein, and Kidush-hashem<\/em>, by Sholem Asch. \u201cThe audience didn\u2019t know what to do when an act ended with a different actor, and not with me.\u201d He explained this as follows: \u201cThe Yiddish audience here is inclined more toward melodrama or operetta, because that is what it\u2019s been fed, year-in and year-out.\u201d (\u201cAnd is it any better in New York?\u201d Schwartz was asked.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, the Buenos Aires audiences didn\u2019t laugh as loudly or heartily at the comedies by Sholem Aleichem and Peretz Hirschbein, as in other cities where he had put them on, including London, Paris, and Vienna. Comedy wasn\u2019t often performed here, he claimed by way of explanation.19<\/a><\/sup> Rather, \u201cthe audience is accustomed to the silly joke in an operetta or melodrama.\u201d On balance, though, Schwartz considered his performances to have met with an extremely appreciative reception. \u201cHere, in Buenos Aires, the audience hungers after theatre. They run to the theatre and love theatre.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The auditorium<\/strong>. Schwartz\u2019s performances took place in two different theatres in the center of the Buenos Aires theatre district: Teatro Argentino and Teatro Nuevo. The impresario Adolf Mide had been able to negotiate only very short-term leases with the theatres, necessitating an abrupt change in venue in the middle of the ten-week tour. Schwartz commented at length on the layouts of the theatre auditoriums, homing in on the number, size, and function of the boxes\u2014palcos<\/em> in Spanish and palkes<\/em> in Argentine Yiddish. Each theatre had from forty to eighty of them, in that respect resembling the old Metropolitan Opera House (which was demolished in the 1960s), he wrote. The city\u2019s newspapers, Spanish- and foreign-language alike, were allocated a palco<\/em>, regardless of who owned or was renting the theatre. The newspapers\u2019 critics offered their palcos<\/em> to guests and friends as well. If they didn\u2019t show up for a performance, their palcos<\/em> remained unoccupied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At benefit performances, organizations renting the theatres needed to request permission from the \u201cowners\u201d of the palcos<\/em>, to occupy their boxes.20<\/a><\/sup> Ordinary audience members also rented palcos<\/em> and packed in as many friends as they could fit, at a cost of one peso, or about thirty-five US cents per person. Many women who rented palcos<\/em> brought along their children \u201cand even infants\u201d because it was cold inside at home \u2013 and warm at the theatre. It was even warmer in the boxes than in the orchestra seats, because people were tightly packed and they \u201ccreate[d] their own calefacci\u00f3n<\/em>,\u201d Schwartz remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Distractions in the house<\/strong>. <\/strong>There were some negative aspects to performing in Buenos Aires, however. \u201cIn the strongest dramatic scenes, crying can suddenly burst out in the theatre,\u201d Schwartz remarked. Sometimes this bawling reverberated between \u201cdueling\u201d palcos<\/em>. During one performance of Bloody Laughter<\/em>, Schwartz had to lower the curtain and \u201cwait until the children had cried themselves out.\u201d Such distractions were \u201cnot unique to the Yiddish theatre, but [take place] in the Spanish theatre and also at [Aleksandr] Tairov\u2019s Russian performances, [where] the children help to create a \u2018theatrical\u2019 mood.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nor were the aural distractions limited to the youngest members of the audience. The stagehands, actors, extras, and musicians all \u201ctalk and talk,\u201d Schwartz reported, \u201cand they don\u2019t permit the show to go on.\u201d People in Buenos Aires had a natural tendency speak especially loudly in public places such as restaurants, but it became insufferable during key moments of plays like Tevye<\/em> and Shabetai Zvi<\/a><\/em>, when it was impossible to stop the action on stage\u2014because if you did, you\u2019d hear the stagehands chattering about their lottery tickets or about football. Schwartz didn\u2019t find the daylong rehearsals to be wearying; however, \u201cmy nerves simply become frayed by the noise that is emitted by the children in the theatre\u2014and the big children on stage.\u201d The Argentine government ought to decree that they wear locks around their mouths during performances, he grumbled.21<\/a><\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stars and the actors<\/strong>. \u201cAmerican stars are the cat\u2019s meow here,\u201d Schwartz wrote. \u201cI was proclaimed the \u2018Conqueror of the World,\u2019 \u2018the Genius of the Twentieth Century,\u2019 the \u2018Most Famous,\u2019 the \u2018Greatest.\u2019 Napoleon is a blade of straw in comparison.\u201d But this level of hyperbole was precisely what the local audience had come to expect. \u201cIt must swallow everything that is sold.\u201d Each theatre season, half a dozen or so guest stars from overseas visited Argentina. The most popular attractions of the previous (1929) season were the comedian Menashe Skulnik<\/a> and the operetta star Nellie Casman<\/a>. \u201cEveryone talks about Menashe Skulnik,\u201d Schwartz remarked. \u201cSkulnik is a dream, a legend here. And Nellie Casman! The walls, the houses, the streets weep and long for her. In the hospitals and orphanages, at every celebration, you hear one big song, \u2018Yosl, Yosl\u2019!\u201d22<\/a><\/sup> This led Schwartz to ruminate on the situation in New York, where actors were valued according to the wages that they received ($600 to $700 a week, for the stars)\u2014and managers for the profits that they generated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Yiddish actors of Buenos Aires were hard workers, Schwartz wrote, but they struggled with Sholem Aleichem\u2019s rich language because they had become inured to the flat prose of the shund<\/a><\/em> plays. In the absence of Jewish drama schools the local Yiddish actors lacked formal training.23<\/a><\/sup> Thus, Schwartz encountered a situation where \u201ceveryone was on his own, with all sorts of dialects\u2014Lithuanian, Polish, Romanian, Belorussian\u2014a mix of gay <\/em>(go; Polish Yiddish pronunciation) and shtay <\/em>(stand, remain; Polish Yiddish pronunciation), tote <\/em>(father; northwestern Ukrainian Yiddish pronunciation), mome <\/em>(mother; northwestern Ukrainian Yiddish pronunciation), shvyester <\/em>(sister; Russian-inflected Yiddish), futyer <\/em>(fur; Russian-inflected Yiddish), etc.\u201d Schwartz toiled for long hours to iron out the actors\u2019 accents and improve their stage technique. \u201cI led rehearsals with them for twelve to fourteen hours a day. Their eagerness to learn did not tire me out.\u201d And \u201clo and behold, it was discovered that some of them have talent; with their new voices they\u2019ve begun to speak<\/em>. They don\u2019t shout or babble or wave their hands around\u201d anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Yiddish repertory<\/strong>. <\/strong>Schwartz complained that scripts for plays then being produced in New York were incorporating a \u201cmutilated English\u201d in the vain hope of retaining younger audiences. (Quite often, the plays that other guest stars produced in Argentina included words, phrases, and even dialogue in English, a language that was largely unintelligible to local audiences.) He conceded that operettas and melodramas were welcome, so long as they were tastefully written and produced, as with plays on Broadway (though not so much on Second Avenue). \u201cIt\u2019s like a good wine: It makes you happy but doesn\u2019t get you drunk.\u201d But the theatre needed to be respected and loved as an art form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plays that Schwartz put on in Buenos Aires were staples of the Yiddish Art Theatre\u2019s repertory: literary works by classic and modern Yiddish and European authors. \u201cI wanted to mount complete productions,\u201d he wrote. But, at the rate of one play (or even more) each week, each production was granted only eight rehearsals (two per day), so he recognized that his ambitions were unrealistic. Nevertheless, Schwartz felt that the local actors gained a lot through his guidance; they \u201cspeak Yiddish for hours on end and are serious about applying their makeup for even the smallest roles.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What will happen after I leave? Schwartz wondered. Will the actors revert to their old habits? His advice: \u201cThe critics and actors ought to convene a conference and secure the existence of a better Yiddish theatre in Buenos Aires.\u201d The local Yiddish press needed to encourage such a development by publishing Yiddish literature and world literature in translation\u2014and the global Yiddish theatre should follow suit and unite against the \u201cMenakhem Mendl impresarios\u201d who were ruining the Yiddish theatre. Conditions in Argentina were favorable to such a development. \u201cThe immigration wave\u2026 will continue and Buenos Aires will in the future become a second United States,\u201d he predicted. Sadly, his next prediction would turn out to be even less accurate: \u201cThe current [economic] crisis is just a light breeze that will blow over.\u201d24<\/a><\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paper decorations and fire hazards<\/strong>. During the 1930s, several of the North American guest stars commented on the deployment, in Argentina\u2019s theatres, of paper decorations as backdrops and screens depicting palaces, forests, seas, stables, and other stage scenery. Schwartz was fascinated by this practice, which he attributed to the theatrical traditions of Spain and Italy. Canvas backdrops and sets constructed from wood were unheard of in Buenos Aires, he contended. The head set designer at an opera house (probably the Teatro Col\u00f3n) showed him forty-year-old paper decorations that the theatre used and reused for several productions (he mentioned Aida<\/em>, Carmen<\/em>, and Otello<\/em>), which looked as good as new. Troupes touring the Argentine provinces brought along crates containing paper decorations for twenty to thirty different plays, which were unfurled on stage, fresh and unwrinkled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The colors were more vivid on these paper decorations than on canvas, Schwartz noted, and a stage production in Argentina cost \u201cexactly ninety percent less\u201d than in the US. \u201cThe two productions of Shabetai Zvi<\/em> and Kidush-hashem <\/em>together didn\u2019t cost as much as a week\u2019s salary for one of our stagehands\u201d at the Yiddish Art Theatre. Set designers were paid a monthly fee by the impresarios. In a flourish of hyperbole, Schwartz remarked that with these kinds of savings, the Yiddish Art Theatre could have bought up several theatres in Buenos Aires.25<\/a><\/sup> (Of course, the powerful theatre unions of New York would never have tolerated such an arrangement back home.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accidents sometimes happened on stage, Schwartz wrote, when absent-minded or nervous actors sometimes poked through the paper screens. This occurred during one performance of Tevye<\/em>, when the dairyman\u2019s grandchildren burst through a wall. However, the Buenos Aires public was accustomed to such incidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reliance on paper sets was obviously a fire hazard, so the city of Buenos Aires enforced strict fire regulations inside the theatres. Hoses were suspended over the stages and there was an iron screen (ostensibly fireproof) at the front of the stage. Candles and \u201cBengal fire\u201d26<\/a><\/sup> were permitted on stage, notwithstanding the paper decorations. Fire-fighters were stationed in the theatre at each performance\u2014and during the show they too chatted audibly with the manager and the ushers. Two fire-fighters were stationed by the entrance to the stage and kept watch through small windows. They occasionally stuck their heads through the windows and could be seen by the actors and the audience. The fire-fighters \u201csmile when the audience laughs\u2014and often wipe their eyes.\u201d This actually happened during a scene of Asch\u2019s play Kidush-hashem<\/em>.27<\/a><\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continue reading Part II<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Notes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  1. A fairly extensive literature has arisen concerning the concept and concrete manifestations of Yiddishland. A good starting point is Jeffrey Shandler\u2019s book Adventures in Yiddishland: Postvernacular Language & Culture<\/em> (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006). Debra Caplan\u2019s book Yiddish Empire: The Vilna Troupe, Jewish Theater, and the Art of Itinerancy<\/em> (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2018) provides a case study of the ways in which transnationalism was baked into the Yiddish theatrical endeavor.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. For example, in 1930 the Argentine Yiddish actor-impresario Leon Brest advised Maurice Schwartz to bring along his costumes and a few \u201cspots\u201d (spotlights). Brest to Schwartz, March 18, 1930, folder 55, box 6, Maurice Schwartz Papers RG 498, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research Archives, New York (henceforth YIVO). In 1939, Herman Yablokoff brought along \u201clarge crates with costumes for my productions, microphones, amplifiers, a record player, crates with projectors, reflectors, dimmer-boards, \u2018gelatin\u2019 (colored reflector paper), special curtains, and painted canvas decorations. I had been informed that these things were not available in Buenos Aires.\u201d See Herman Yablokoff, Arum der velt mit idish teater <\/em>(Around the World with Yiddish Theatre<\/em>), vol. 2 (New York: 1962), 368, 386\u2013387, 399\u2013400.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. For an overview of the theater in Argentina from its beginnings to 1956, see Beatriz Seibel, Historia del teatro argentino<\/em> (Buenos Aires: Corregidor, 2002-2010; 2 vols.). Its chronological, annotated arrangement covers \u201cnational\u201d (Argentine) companies, troupes specializing in peninsular Spanish repertory (e.g., zarzuela), French- and Italian-language companies, variety and cabaret troupes, and even circuses. The Yiddish theater and its connections to the \u201cnational\u201d theatre of Argentina are also mentioned.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. In the mid-1920s, Schwartz toured Western Europe together with his company, the Yiddish Art Theatre.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Brest to Schwartz, March 18, 1930, folder 55, box 6, Maurice Schwartz Papers RG 498, YIVO.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Samuel Rollansky (Shmuel Rozhanski), \u201cDer idisher teater inm yohr 1930,\u201d Di idishe tsaytung<\/em> (Buenos Aires), January 1, 1931.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Three of his Forverts<\/em> travelogues were picked up by Di prese<\/em> and in Der shpigl<\/em> he published a couple of travel pieces to supplement those that were appearing in the New York paper. In addition, Schwartz wrote articles on other theater-related topics for these publications.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. A fair number of middle-class North American Jews would re-cross the Atlantic during the interwar decades, both on business and to visit relatives in Europe. \u201cGoing Home\u201d is the theme of volume 21 of the YIVO Annual<\/em>, edited by Jack Kugelmass (Evanston: Northwestern University Press; New York: YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, 1993).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. Maurice Schwartz, \u201cMoris Shvarts bashraybt zayn rayze keyn Argentine,\u201d Forverts<\/em>, June 28, 1930.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  10. Maurice Schwartz, \u201cMoris Shvarts bashraybt di vunder-shehne shtodt Rio de zhaneyro fun Brazil,\u201d Forverts<\/em>, July 5, 1930.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  11. Maurice Schwartz, \u201cMoris Shvarts bashraybt di kleyne zid-amerikanishe land Urugvay,\u201d Forverts<\/em>, July 12, 1930.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  12. According to Herman Yablokoff, evening performances in Buenos Aires ran from 10:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. (versus 8:30 to 11:30, in New York); and matin\u00e9es (vermut<\/em>) from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. (versus 2:30 to 5:30, in New York). This meant that on weekends, when there were two performances each day, actors had only an hour of down time between 6:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. See Herman Yablokoff, Arum der velt mit idish teater<\/em>,vol. 2, 392.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  13. Maurice Schwartz, \u201cOyf di gasen un in di teaters fun Buenos Ayres,\u201d Forverts<\/em>, August 28, 1930.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  14. Maurice Schwartz, \u201cMoris Shvarts shildert Buenos Ayres, di \u2018Pariz\u2019 fun Amerike,\u201d Forverts<\/em>, July 19, 1930.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  15. Maurice Schwartz, \u201cStsenes un bilder fun idishen leben in Buenos Ayres,\u201d Forverts<\/em>, August 2, 1930.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  16. Samuel Goldenberg, who had co-starred with Schwartz in the New York production of Jud S\u00fcss<\/em>, put on the same play in Buenos Aires about a week later. At the Yiddish Art Theatre, the two actors switched off the two leading roles, S\u00fcss and the Duke of W\u00fcrttemberg.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  17. Maurice Schwartz, \u201cMoris Shvarts shildert stsenes un bilder in di shtetlach fun Argentine,\u201d Forverts<\/em>, September 27, 1930.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  18. In New York, many of the Yiddish theaters were owned and operated by fellow Jews. According to the Yiddish actor Herman Yablokoff, the cashiers in Buenos Aires were tipped in lieu of receiving salaries. See Herman Yablokoff, Arum der velt mit idish teater<\/em>, vol. 2 (New York: 1962), 389\u2013391.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  19. Here, Schwartz was ignoring his own comments regarding the enthusiastic reception that the comic actor par excellence<\/em>, Menashe Skulnik, had received during the previous two seasons in Buenos Aires.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  20. Theater benefits were special events that were held to honor a guest actor, a member of the troupe, or a charitable cause, with proceeds flowing to that individual or institution.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  21. When the young primadonna Miriam Kressyn visited Buenos Aires in 1931, she published an article in the weekly magazine Der shpigl<\/em>, in which she implored theatergoers to show up at the theater punctually, maintain better decorum, and\u2014especially\u2014keep their small children under control. See \u201cMeynungen vegn hign teater bazukher,\u201d Der shpigl<\/em>, September 11, 1931. Herman Yablokoff noted that his theatre\u2019s crews were Spanish-speaking Argentines (except for the electrician, who spoke only Portuguese). See Herman Yablokoff, Arum der velt mit idish teater<\/em>, vol. 2 (New York: 1962), 387.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  22. Casman met with a wild reception on the part of audiences\u2014and nearly unanimous condemnation by the critics, who considered her risqu\u00e9 songs and performances to be pornographic.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  23. In 1930, many of the better trained, veteran Yiddish actors in Buenos Aires performed at the Teatro Excelsior, including Sarah Sylvia, Zina Rapel, Samuel Iris, and Leo Halpern. The Excelsior\u2019s orchestra was led by the noted Argentine composer Jacobo Ficher, and the company was directed for over half of its eight-month season by Samuel Goldenberg. All of this was ignored by Schwartz.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  24. Maurice Schwartz, \u201cMoris Shvarts vegen idishen teater in Nyu York un in Buenos Ayres,\u201d Forverts<\/em>, August 21, 1930.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  25. The director and writer Jacob Mestel, who visited Buenos Aires together with Jacob Ben-Ami in 1931, took a more jaundiced view of the paper sets and predicted that, \u201cwith the rise of the modern theater in Argentina\u2026the paper decorations will have to disappear.\u201d See \u201cA shmues mit beyde Yankevs,\u201d Der shpigl<\/em>, September 18, 1931. Herman Yablokoff also discussed the paper decorations in his memoir, Arum der velt mit idish teater<\/em>, vol. 2 (New York: 1962), 387\u2013388: \u201cIt\u2019s utterly impossible to recognize that the rooms; palaces; landscapes showing sky, water, mountains, valleys, fields, and forests; [and] streets and houses are actually made of paper. The paper decorations on stage create the illusion of massiveness and reality. The paper decorations do have one defect: as the saying goes, \u2018Look, but don\u2019t touch!\u2019\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  26. Bengal fire is defined as \u201cflare candles\u2026used to achieve indirect pyrotechnic lighting of surfaces or buildings.\u201d See \u201cBengal fire,\u201d PyroData: Pyrotechnics Data for Your Hobby<\/em> (https:\/\/pyrodata.com\/definitions\/Bengal-fire<\/a>).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  27. Maurice Schwartz, \u201cOyf di gasen un in di teaters fun Buenos Ayres,\u201d Forverts<\/em>, August 28, 1930.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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