“side splitting,” “uproarious,” “marvelously funny” Howard Taubman review of Enter Laughing, New York Times, March 1, 1963.
“three snappy numbers” “New Bil and Cora Baird Puppet Show, ‘Man in the Moon,’ offered at Biltmore Theater.” New York Times, April 12, 1963, 29.
“Also, have you read Another Country Robbins to Bernstein, July 25, 1963, JRPP72:14.
On August 15, Bock and Harnick came Robbins 1963 appointment book, JRPP567:3.
On the twentieth, his lawyer called message from Bill Fitelson, Robbins phone log, JRPP567:5.
“something I feel deeply related to” Robbins to Rodgers and Leland Hayward, August 27, 1963, JRP510:25.
The next day he heard back August 28, 1963, JRPP113:6.
“I’m going to do a musical” Robbins cable to Ruth Mitchell, August 23, 1963, displayed in “New York Story: Jerome Robbins and His World” exhibit at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, curated by Lynn Garafola, March 25 to June 28, 2008.
“a musical which should really star my father” Robbins letter to Nancy Keith, August 27, 1963, JRPP97:12.
“He becomes obsessed by his demons” Harnick-1 interview.
“nought about the religion” Robbins notes, JRPP23:5.
books Robbins bought inventory, JRP5:1.
Robbins had already put in some calls phone logs, JRPP567:5.
Hebrew Lesson appears in the background of a portrait of Robbins at his desk, taken by Henri Cartier-Bresson for a Queen magazine photo essay feature, August 2, 1961, Robbins clipping file, JRP4:12.
“old wizened, decrepit” Robbins notes for the “Poppa piece,” January 1975, JRPP107:12.
“The play must celebrate” JRP13:10.
“our guide and our Bible” Robbins quoted by Jerry Tallmer, “Tokyo-Bound Robbins Bones Up on Far East,” New York Post, December 13, 1964.
purchased at least six copies Robbins’s assistant placed orders with the Forward for copies on February 3, 6, and 11, 1964, JRP16:1.
“falsifying the world of Sholem Aleichem” Brustein, Seasons of Discontent, 169.
“being in love with the material” Robbins notes, September 4, 1963, JRP13:10.
“keep the guts” JRP13:10.
As “wonderful” Robbins correspondence with Stravinsky quoted in Vaill, Somewhere, 363.
Chagall had talked Marc Chagall, “Mayn ershte bagegenish mit shloyme mikhoels,” Yidish kultur, January 1, 1944; also Waife-Goldberg, My Father, 157–58.
“fantasy & poetry” Robbins draft letter to Harold Clurman, n.d., JRP16:43.
“In his fantasy atmosphere, particulars” JRP13:10.
“We would be very honored” … “MERCI VOTRE” JRP5:4.
The painter was not simply making an excuse … his annoyance See letters from Chagall to Bernard and Becky Rels, October 12, 1963, describing his disappointment that he could not accept Robbins’s invitation and his irked amazement that Robbins would use Chagall’s drawings against his will, in Harshav, Marc Chagall and His Times, 894–95.
The fiddler sawing out a sound track Boris Aronson notes from conversation with Robbins, October 16, 1963, BAP37:5.
Prince kept his word contract dated October 15, 1963, HPP105:4.
Boris Aronson was waiting interview with Lisa Aronson.
The call came Robbins phone message log, JRP:567:3.
Aronson was born first draft of “A Designer’s Notebook,” n.d., BAP9:1. See also Rich and Aronson, Theater Art of Boris Aronson, 3–30.
designers “must be reborn with each show” “Notes on Designing Musicals,” typescript, August 16, 1974, BAP9:14.
“By the time I was fourteen” quoted in Rich and Aronson, Theater Art, 5; also BAP9:1.
“home-sweet-home calendar art” quoted in Rich and Aronson, Theater Art of Boris Aronson, 8.
“contemporary Jewish graphic art” “Imaginary Interview of Aronson by Aronson,” typescript, BAP9:13.
“tonal juiciness” typescript translation of Aronson’s monograph on Chagall, BAP9:6.
Aronson named his son Marc, after the artist Marc Aronson interview.
“with awkward baggage, crowded emotions” BAP9:10.
When he met the big, solemn man Robbins appointment calendar, JRPP567:3.
Prince was unsure Lisa Aronson interview; Harnick-3 interview.
the Storm King Art Center the trip was described in interviews with Lisa Aronson, Hal Prince, and Frank Rich.
“a traveling circus” Aronson notes on J.B., n.d., BAP9:5.
Marxist parable at the ARTEF (Arbeter Teatr Farband), Jim Kooperkop See Edna Nahshon, Yiddish Proletarian Theatre.
But it was his design Lisa Aronson interview. She and others remembered this set piece from Stempenyu, but it was a house Aronson had made for another Schwartz production, Tenth Commandment (1926), that had a house that opened up more like the one in Fiddler. Neither is listed on the Storm King program for the exhibit, which showed work from 1930 forward, but perhaps some were there or the team saw these designs at Aronson’s studio and conflated that display with the exhibit.
“to become men and women” Manumit School early brochure, n.d. http://manumitschool.com/ManumitDocs/Brochures/pagebrochure.htm.
“was how to walk into a chicken house” Rosenthal, Magic of Light, 12.
“used courtesy” ibid., 34.
“Dancers live in light” ibid., 117.
“the play—the playwright’s play” ibid., 59.
Aronson, who resented her at first ibid., 34, and Lisa Aronson interview.
“technician and dreamer” Boris Aronson quoted in Rosenthal, Magic of Light, 72.
“Bring six to half, darling” Winthrop Sargeant profile of Rosenthal, “Please, Darling, Bring Three to Seven,” New Yorker, February 4, 1956, 33–59.
lined her up on September 12 Robbins phone log message: “Jean Rosenthal is set—she’s delighted to do the show,” JRPP567:3.
“all black and my hair in a bun” Ellen Lampert-Gréaux, “Patricia Zipprodt: One of Our Greatest Costume Designers, Reflects on an Astonishingly Varied Career,” Entertainment Design, March 1994, 30–35.
“I saw them as pure painting with fabric” Laurel Graeber, “Stage Presence: A Costume Designer for 30 Years, Patricia Zipprodt has Moved Aggressively from One Stage to the Next. Now She has Broadway All Sewn Up,” DNR the Magazine, May 1986, 20.
“It wasn’t like I was seeing yellow” quoted in Lampert-Gréaux, “Patricia Zipprodt,” 31.
The effect “swept me away” quoted in Graeber, 20.
“how to create the structure for anything” quoted in Lampert-Gréaux, “Patricia Zipprodt,” 31.
“gone over eight thousand reds” quoted in Lawrence, Dance with Demons, 304.
“shook him until his hat fell off” ibid.
She was to read the Sholem-Aleichem stories Zipprodt notes, PZP10:6.
Rothbort had traveled For Rothbort’s background with work samples and news clips, see www.samuelrothbort.com; Cabon (Rothbort granddaughter) interview.
“Don’t romanticize the characters” Robbins’s notes to Zipprodt, JR13:11.
“the guts and toughness of the people” Robbins’s “notes on the score,” JRP5:4.
“a rural unsophisticated area” JRP13:11.
“combine elements of fantasy and reality” BAP35:5.
together they made up less than 10 percent There are no direct figures for 1963. Estimates range from 4 percent (Charles Liebman, “Orthodoxy in American Jewish Life,” in The American Jewish Yearbook, 1965) to 11 percent by 1970 after a resurgence, according to The American Jewish Yearbook of 1971.
Hasidism represented a radical challenge This idea is argued by Samuel C. Heilman in Defenders of the Faith and his Foreword to Beclove-Shalin, New World Hasidim, xi–xv. See also Jack Kugelmass, “Jewish Icons: Envisioning the Self in Images of the Other,” in Jews and Other Differences: The New Jewish Cultural Studies, ed. D. Boyarin and J. Boyarin (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997
), 30–53.
Lapson took Zipprodt Lapson expenses list, July 13, 1964, HPP113:7.
“with best wishes” Lapson offprints, JPR13:2.
Robbins headed across town Robbins phone message and appointment books, JRP567:2,3.
Their dancing came as a revelation Harnick-1 interview.
Robbins sent Lapson a big bouquet of flowers Lapson thank-you message, phone log, JRP567:3.
“I am a friend of the Rabbinical families” Lapson letter to Rabbi Tennenbaum, October 21, 1963, JRP5:3.
“virile ferocity” Robbins draft letter to Clurman, JRP16:43.
she’d call with reminders Robbins phone message log, JRP567:3.
For a fee of $500 Lapson expenses list, HPP113:7.
“My great wonder” Robbins draft letter to Clurman, JRP16:43.
“the man balances a bottle” Lapson, “Jewish Dances of Eastern and Central Europe,” International Folk Music Journal (n.d.): 59; offprint in JRP13:1.
“Mr. Redbeard” Lapson phone message, Robbins log, JRP568:1.
“intense research” Robbins letter to Mary Hunter Wolf, October 22, 1963, JRPP122:6.
Stein felt his own family background Stein interview.
“Money is the world’s curse” Samuel, World, 172.
“You want some Jewish customs” letters to Harnick from his mother and from his aunt Chone, n.d., SHP3:5.
“feel more Jewish” Harnick-3 interview.
“I knew who I was” quoted in Altman and Kaufman, Making of a Musical, 25.
“feel my father’s feelings so strongly” Robbins notes, JRPP19:4.
“juggling and bending” Robbins notes, JRPP2:18.
“both awed and scornful” Robbins notes, JRPP19:5.
“laid open for me” Robbins notes, JRPP19:6.
Stein had restored This draft can be found in JSP-W26:6.
Robbins had complaints Harnick-2 interview.
“a race with time” Zborowski and Herzog, Life is with People, 39.
“We’ve Never Missed a Sabbath Yet” unused lyrics folder generously provided by Sheldon Harnick; and bonus track on London cast recording.
“darts from broom to oven” Life is with People, 39.
“What is this show about?” … like a district attorney Harnick-1 interview.
“That’s ‘The Previous Adventures’” Harnick, Stein interviews.
“a pair of comfortable old shoes” “The Goldbergs March On,” Life, April 25, 1949, 59.
“about the dissolution of a way of life” Harnick interview; Bock tells this story on the Fresh Air interview and the authors repeated it on many occasions.
“quiet, growling presence” Prince interview.
Right away, an image took shape … “I’ll begin it with” Harnick-2 interview.
“Shtetl means my community” JRP13:10.
CHAPTER 4: IT TAKES A SHTETL
Pendleton auditioned seven times Pendleton interview.
October to January, Robbins saw hundreds of actors audition sheets, SHP2:8, JRP13:3, 4, 5.
“Golde: wife of Tevye” “cast breakdowns,” n.d., HP108:1.
he might attend a voice lesson Merlin, Aberdeen interviews.
Stuart Damon Altman and Kaufman, Making of a Musical, 79.
a Baptist who had gone to a Catholic boarding school Tanya Everett interview.
“Marvelous. Sings well” SHP2:8.
audition on Friday, November 22 Merlin interview; audition sheets, JRP13:3.
Jackie Kennedy … told Life’s Theodore H. White “For President Kennedy: An Epilogue,” Life, December 6, 1963, 158–59.
Plymouth Rock to Ellis Island Jacobson, Roots Too.
the Anti-Defamation League “Kennedy Will Get Award by League,” New York Times, October 21, 1962.
auditions resumed on November 26 Robbins calendar, JRP567:3.
Jackie Kennedy came to see Fiddler message from her theater companion, Kitty Hart; Robbins phone message log, November 25, 1964, JR568:1. See also an item about Kennedy’s attendance in Leonard Lyons’s column, “The Lyons Den,” New York Post, November 24, 1964.
“ordinary” quality Harnick-2 interview; Robbins quoted in Robert Kotlowitz, “Corsets, Corned Beef and Choreography,” Show, December 1964.
arrangement with the Hebrew Actors’ Union phone message log, JRP567; audition sheets, JRP5:2.
“lovable schnooks” annotated script, JRP10:1.
since “the part is written very Jewish” Stein letter to Prince, HPP101:6.
jottings on audition sheets SHP2:8, JRP5:2.
“Don’t use your conscious past” Stella Adler quoted in New York Times obit, December 22, 1992.
Robbins’s undated notes from the Adler sessions JRPP1:10.
combine the blustery certitude See Altman and Kaufman, Making of a Musical, 78.
scores of eager young men audition schedules, JRP567:3.
Fielding had decided Prince message to Robbins, March 9, 1964, JRP368:1.
“insisted on examining” Stein interview.
Bock and Harnick had also seen him in The World of Sholom Aleichem Harnick-2 interview.
Da Silva’s “natural voice” Harnick-3 interview.
the actor never auditioned for Robbins audition sheets and Harnick-3 interview.
The actor’s family recounts The Mostel biographies (citing the same or no source) all say Stein brought Mostel the script while he was in Forum; his sons Josh and Tobias Mostel affirmed this in interviews; Stein denied it in an interview.
“roar with laughter” quoted in Brown, Zero Mostel, 7.
“Would somebody tell Zero that this show will be good for him?” Pendleton, Aberdeen interviews.
authors played the score for Mostel Harnick-3 interview; Bock, interviewed by Nancy Hamburger Sureck, videotape.
by the sixteenth Robbins phone log, JRP567:3.
the mink coat Tobias Mostel interview.
Friends, though, remember Mostel’s excitement Debuskey interview.
“greatest Yiddish character” Mostel quoted in Richard Christiansen, “Mostel in Excelsis Enlivens a Blossoming Hit,” Chicago Daily News, August 7, 1964, 4.
$4,000 a week against 10 percent Tevye prospectus, JRP15:1; in Contradictions, Prince says the payroll for the cast, including Mostel, was $15,000 per week; 107.
“I’m sorry that it hasn’t worked out” HPP108:5.
might object to his number one fix-it man Mostel and Gilford, 170 Years, 9; Prince, Contradictions, 94–95; Prince interview.
“Naming names … is not Jewish” quoted in Brown, Zero Mostel, 126.
“crude, vulgar, but healthy and satisfied” Robbins notes, October 8, 1976, JRPP2:18.
roguishly buttered a roll legendary incident referred to in Dora Jane Hamblin, “Zero,” Life, December 4, 1964, 108–18.
“Could you imagine my father” quoted in Brown, Zero Mostel, 4.
Harvard lecture transcript of “The Art of Comedy,” delivered May 21, 1962, Z&KMP9:10.
one Broadway reporter The story appeared in an article by Ernio Hernandez in Playbill (February 26, 2004) on the occasion of the 2004 Broadway revival of Fiddler; it quotes Playbill archivist Louis Botto saying Robbins practically had to drag Mostel into the theater. The story was picked up from there and retold in Jim Brochu’s one-man show, Zero Hour. In interviews, Josh Mostel, Harnick, and Prince expressed enormous doubt about the plausibility of this story. In a phone interview, Botto did not remember his source for it; he simply said it had been “in all the papers.” A search of New York dailies and Variety did not produce any trace of it.
“He has a mother?” Josh Mostel interview.
Mostel sustained a lifelong grudge Josh Mostel interview.
his father praying privately Tobias Mostel interview; Josh Mostel said he never saw this.
his name derived from Tevye Tobias Mostel interview.
Fred Coe had neglected to raise Harnick-1, Prince interviews; Krampner, The Man in the Shadows.
cut back to 12 perce
nt contract, June 23, 1964, HPP105:4.
“preliminary prospectus” copies in JRP15:1; HPP106:4.
“opera, play & ballet” Robbins notes, September 14, 1963, JRP13:10.
the prospectus was completed JRP15:1, HP106:4.
nearly 150 investors JRP15:1, HPP106:4.
“The resolution is the decision … move on to the new world” April 16, 1964, prospectus, 6; see Wolitz, “The Americanization of Tevye.”
Robbins met Aronson and Zipprodt frequently—often several times a week—and separately phone message and appointment books for 1964, JRP568:1, 2, 3; Lisa Aronson interview.
She called Aronson … “intuitively related in style” Lisa Aronson interview.
“Colors bump into one another” Zipprodt quoted in Tom Topor, “Confessions of a Costume Designer,” New York Post, October 15, 1978.
the evocation of the master’s painterly style Aronson, “Notes on Designing Musicals,” BAP9:14; Lisa Aronson interview.
Robbins couldn’t decide … “height of the house isn’t right” Lisa Aronson, Prince interviews.
more weddings, more reading, more poring over pictures … Vishniac’s book Robbins phone message logs and appointment books for 1964, JRP568:1.
leaving messages every day or two Robbins phone message logs, JRP568.
“mess around with” Robbins letter to Nancy Keith, January 15, 1964, JRPP97:12.
return flight was due in New York at 1:55 Friday, January 31, 1964, in appointment book, JRP568:2, 3.
“The drama of the play” JRP13:10.
“Underlying all his actions” JRP13:10.
“Her performances astound” “Barbra: Some Notes,” December 22, 1965, JRPP24:14.
March 18 read-through of Tevye at the Hellinger Theater Robbins appointment calendar, JRP568:2, 3.
“not written within the time and tempo” Robbins letter to Stein, April 3, 1964, JRP13:11.
About twenty actors memo from Hal Prince office, March 16, 1964, HPP105:7.
“Good evening. My name is Tevye” script dated November 17, 1963, in JSP-W27 and n.d. in JBP21:5. (There is no dated script in the archives between this one and the rehearsal script.)
writers felt pleased. Robbins said little Harnick-3 interview.
“treasure of the season” Robbins, “Production Notes on Fiddler on the Roof and Letters to Friends and Associates,” audio recording, *MGZTL 4-3119 JRP, NYPL-PA. Transcript, amended by Robbins, in JRP13:11.
Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof Page 46