{"id":2028,"date":"2021-06-29T08:33:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-29T13:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/yiddish-stage\/?p=2028"},"modified":"2023-06-16T09:17:23","modified_gmt":"2023-06-16T14:17:23","slug":"a-timeline-of-yiddish-drag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/yiddish-stage\/a-timeline-of-yiddish-drag\/","title":{"rendered":"A Timeline of Yiddish Drag"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Yiddish drah is\u00a0suddenly a thing. It\u2019s not hard to figure out why. The\u00a0mainstreaming of drag<\/a>\u00a0on the one hand and the rise of\u00a0gender-conscious Yiddish<\/a>\u00a0on the other dovetailed perfectly to create a new outlet for Yiddish creativity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in some ways, Yiddish drag is nothing new at all. Some of that might depend on your definition of drag: Does simple cross-dressing make something drag? Or is drag an art form that arises specifically from LGBTQ culture? Does it have to involve the heightening of gender markers? Is it always funny? We have no idea. But we knew we wanted to find some forebears to the current crop of Yiddish drag performers, to start situating the current outpouring of imagination into some kind of historical context. What we\u2019ve found has been frankly astonishing. Yes, we knew about Yidl mitn fidl<\/em>. We knew about Bobe Yakhne; we knew about Yentl. We just had no idea there has been so much gender flipping and so many different ways that drag has presented itself in Yiddish culture. We knew on some level that Yiddish theatre, emerging from Purim shpils in which women did not traditionally take part, has always been a drag medium, even after women actors were the norm on European stages, and that even the earliest Yiddish theatre embraced women performers. We just couldn\u2019t have predicted how many times and ways this manifested. As far as we can tell, there has never been an era without drag performance in Yiddish theatre history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Equally amazing were the family stories we started hearing. The photo of a great-grandmother dressed as a dapper 1920s dandy\u2014suit and tie, straw boater, coolly cradling a cigarette\u2014in a family album with absolutely no explanation. The mock-weddings at Catskills resorts that featured men as both bride and groom. The certain uncle who always, always showed up as a woman for Purim. We started remembering our own drag adventures. My wife, a butch dyke, in a tight dress as a singer in a girl group, and me in a borrowed wide-shoulder suit as her skinny boyfriend, for a lesbian party sometime late in the 1980s (we were both in drag).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What has become clear that drag is a regular and normal feature of Yiddish cultural life. We can\u2019t yet process what it means, why this form is so enduring, or what need it fills, but we know it lives here with us and it feels like liberation. We will continue building this timeline for a few years as we turn up more data. Feel free to send contributions our way. Meanwhile, we at the Digital Yiddish Theatre Project wish our Yiddish family a happy Pride and all the genders you want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faith Jones, for the DYTP<\/p>\n\n\n

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Shloyme Ettinger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

1860s<\/strong> In Shloyme Ettinger\u2019s \u201cSerkele\u201d the title character is typically played by a man (starting with Goldfaden).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1875<\/strong> Nine-year-old Mendl Teplitski plays \u201cdos eynikl\u201d with a group of visiting Broder Singers in Nikolaev; teenage Yankev Katzman plays \u201cdi bobe\u201d in Di bobe mitn eynikl<\/em>, attributed to Avrom Goldfaden. Both are female roles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1879<\/strong>\u00a0In Goldfaden\u2019s\u00a0Di kishefmakherin<\/a><\/em>\u00a0(The sorceress) the role of Di Bobe Yakhne is traditionally played by a man.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Thomashefsky fills in for an actress<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

1881<\/strong>\u00a0Thirteen-year-old Boris Thomashefky is pressed into service to fill in for an actress (either ill or faking an illness at the behest of uptown Jews opposed to popular entertainments) at one of the earliest performances of Yiddish theatre in New York.<\/p>\n\n\n

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From left: Yoyne Raysman in the role of Goldfaden\u2019s\u00a0Shmendrik\u00a0<\/em>in 1884. From right: Herman Weinberg as \u201cBrayne\u201d (the then-18-year-old Weinberg played the \u201cfemale roles\u201d in Goldfaden\u2019s repertoire).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

1884<\/strong>\u00a0Herman Weinberg<\/a>, who had a high voice, played \u201cBrayne\u201d in Goldfaden\u2019s\u00a0Shmendrik<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Fayvl and Saltshe Vayzenfraynd: Isaac declares his love for Taybele.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

1893<\/strong>\u00a0Saltshe Vayznfraynd plays a tailor, dressed in pants and a jacket with a cap and tape measure around her neck, in a Z\u0142oczew tavern with the Broder Singers.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Bessie Thomashefsky in Rakov\u2019s\u00a0Der griner bokher\u00a0<\/em>(The Green Boy), People\u2019s Theatre, New York City, 1905.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

1905<\/strong>\u00a0Bessie Thomashefsky stars in a \u201ctrouser\u201d role as\u00a0Der griner bokher<\/em>\u00a0at the People\u2019s Theatre.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Molly Picon as a\u00a0yeshive bokher.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Molly Picon<\/a> had a long history of trouser roles: starting at least as early as 1918 (in Yankele<\/em>, a part she played many times). Film appearances in trouser roles were Yidl mitn fidl<\/a><\/em> (1936) and East and West<\/em><\/a> (1923).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1922<\/strong>\u00a0Miriam Elias plays Khonen in a\u00a0Habima<\/a>\u00a0production of\u00a0The Dybbuk<\/em><\/a>, directed by Evgenii Vakhtangov.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Channah Spector<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

November 1925<\/strong>\u00a0A production of\u00a0The Dybbuk<\/em>\u00a0at the Amphion Theatre, in Williamsburg, featured Chana Spector as Khonen.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Caption reads: Rivkele (Roza Brin): \u201cItsikl, have a good one\u201d (or \u201cSee ya later\u201d). Itsikl (Pepi Littman): \u201cWhy are you leaving me in the middle?\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

1905<\/strong> Bessie Thomashefsky stars in a \u201ctrouser\u201d role as Der griner bokher at the People\u2019s Theater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1905-1930<\/strong>\u00a0Pepi Litman<\/a>\u00a0was well-known for her extensive repertoire of trouser roles, at times considered scandalous.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Freydele Oysher<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

1930s<\/strong> Freydele Oysher<\/a> sang or performed in trouser roles. According to her New York Times obituary, \u201cShe also specialized in one of the Yiddish theater\u2019s staple roles: the Yeshiva boy who \u2014 it is revealed in the final, showstopping number \u2014 is really a girl. \u2018I was cute, I was flat and I was a terrific piece of work,\u2019 she explained in a 1996 interview with The Daily News.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1983\u00a0<\/strong>The release of Barbra Streisand\u2019s English-language movie adaptation of Issac Bashevis Singer\u2019s story \u201cYentl.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Eleanor Reissa as Yentl in the Folksbeine production of\u00a0Yentl<\/em>\u00a0in Yiddish. Photo: Richie Fahey.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

2002<\/strong>\u00a0The Folksbiene produced\u00a0Yentl\u00a0<\/em>in Yiddish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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