Jews on Broadway: An Historical Survey of Performers, Playwrights, Composers, Lyricists and Producers

by Stewart F. Lane

  One notable exception, who was not part of the Ziegfeld universe, was arguably the most highly acclaimed performer of the era, Al Jolson.

  In 1908, Jolson left vaudeville to become part of a successful traveling min strel troupe, which drew rave reviews when they hit New York. It was at this point that Ziegfeld asked Jolson to audition for his upcoming Follies. Jolson, however, refused to audition for anyone. This was the beginning and end of his connection with the long-running follies.

  Nonetheless, the Shubert Brothers had other plans for Jolson to make his Broadway debut.

  THE SHUBERTS BRING JOLSON TO BROADWAY

  It was a lavish Broadway production entitled La Belle Paree in 1911

  that brought Jolson to Broadway at the new Winter Garden Theatre.

  After an inauspicious start, the show, trimmed from a painful four hours to a more manageable three, was also rearranged to feature more Jolson, In fact, over time, his comedy and music took center stage. And that was just the beginning. Jolson would go on to star in a number of Broadway shows, including Vera Violetta, The Honeymoon Express, Robinson Crusoe Jr. and perhaps the best known, Sinbad, in 1918. All of the shows, featuring Jolson in blackface, became vehicles to showcase the star’s talent, which continued to grow until the Shuberts began billing Jolson as

  “America’s Greatest Entertainer,” which at the time he had arguably become.

  Jolson would have more than a light hand in each show, rewriting 41

  Jews on Broadway

  scripts and lyrics, while launching into musical numbers that weren’t initially even part of the show. Much to the chagrin of the playwright, librettist or the remaining cast, he would typically ask the audience if they wanted to see more of the show, or hear him sing. They would typically opt for more of Jolson. His command of the stage and the sheer presence and magnetism of Jolson would influence numerous performers for decades, even long after his death in 1950.

  Meanwhile Back on the Vaudeville Stages

  As one generation forged ahead to Broadway and soon to the newer media, such as radio and film, the years following the First World War brought the next breed of Jewish talent to the numerous nationwide stages of vaudeville.

  The format remained much the same, with performers now being booked on well-established circuits while traveling from one city to the next. However, the “shtick” that was once very ethnic was now giving way to a more diverse mix of song and hijinks, much of which focused on the social and political climate of the post–World War I era.

  It was during this time that four of five Jewish brothers would emerge as one of the funniest comedy troupes to ever take the stage. This was largely due to the persistence of their mother, who served as their manager. Minnie Marx, who immigrated to the United States with her family as a teenager in 1888, was part of a show business family. Her brother Al Sheen was a comic, her father a ventriloquist, her mother a harpist and Minnie herself was a singer. Only her husband was not in the business, instead working as a somewhat unsuccessful tailor, one who refused to measure anything or anyone.

  Minnie’s boys, later the name of a Broadway show (in 1970), began as a singing group called The Nightingales. In time, they would take on various configurations and change their stage name, as other performers would come and go (even mom and their aunt would join the act), but most significantly, the Marx Brothers would start to improvise and introduce comedy into the performances.

  Soon, the brothers, all of whom had musical talent, would switch 42

  2. Part of the Melting Pot

  from a musical show to what was primarily a comedy show with some music. By the 1920s the vaudeville shows of the Marx Brothers were second to none. With the help of their uncle Al Sheen, now a vaudeville star, the Four Marx Brothers, as they were billed, created and established their own identities and played off one another with impeccable timing.

  Although Jewish, the Marx Brothers’ on-stage personalities belied their ethnic background. In fact, Chico had such a thick Yiddish accent, that he, like Houdini, opted to go Italian, taking on the character that would forever be his stage persona. In time, thanks to Chico’s Italian accent, Groucho was quoted as saying, when asked about being Jewish performers, “Most people think we’re Italian.”

  In the 1920s the Marx Brothers took their madcap comedy routines to Broadway with three shows, I’ll Say She Is, The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers, the latter two also becoming a couple of their celebrated films.

  With music by Irving Berlin and a book by George S. Kaufman, The Cocoa nuts was probably the most celebrated of the three musicals and ran for nearly 300 performances at the Lyric Theater.

  During their formative years, the Marx Brothers crossed paths, in 1911, with a young violinist, the son of Jewish immigrants from Lithuania.

  He happened to be playing in the same theaters as the “then” singing brothers. The young performer, Jack Kubelsky, would become close friends with Zeppo Marx and in time accompany him to a family Pass -

  over Seder where he would meet, and later marry, the Marx Brothers’

  cousin Sadie. Changing his name to the less ethnic Jack Benny, he would soon enjoy his own vaudeville career, which evolved much in the same manner as the Marx Brothers’, from music to comedy. By the 1920s the fiddle would play second fiddle to his comedy routines. Along with Sadie, who changed her name to Mary Livingston, Benny would go on to vaudeville success that launched his illustrious comedy career.

  At the same time that Benny was taking his mild-mannered approach to success on the vaudeville circuit, another son of a Jewish immigrant was teaming up with an Irish clog dancer to form one of the most prolific comedy teams of all time. George Burns and Gracie Allen met in 1922

  and within five years not only became husband and wife, but the toast of the vaudeville circuit, with Burns as the good-natured straight man and Gracie as the befuddled blonde. Benny and Burns were not only very good friends, but both depicted the Jewish persona in a new light, 43

  Jews on Broadway

  without the shouting or using the thick Yiddish accent that had become so familiar to the earlier vaudevillians.

  While neither Benny nor George Burns made significant strides onto the Broadway stages, both were among the Jewish stars to evolve from vaudeville and go on to legendary status. And there were others, such as George Jessel and Milton Berle who would emerge from this era and make their mark on stage for years to come.

  One of the younger of the Jewish performers to make his way into vaudeville was George Jessel. Born in 1898, in the Bronx, Jessel was earning money for his family, following the death of his father, by the time he was ten. He would soon team up on comedy sketches with Al Jolson, among others, while also building up his solo act. While comedy was his forte, Jessel did a little of everything, which included writing songs, such as the 1920 hit (which he co-wrote) called “Oh! How I Laugh When I Think How I Cried About You.” Jessel also got to step out of the vaudeville circuit and take on significant roles in Broadway musicals, the most successful of which was the lead role in The Jazz Singer, which opened at the Fulton theater in 1925 and ran for 303 performances, before a brief revival in 1927 and a major hit film, remade three times. Jessel was offered the role in the initial film, but declined because Warner Bros.’

  would not meet his salary demands. His career would move primarily to film and television, continuing through the 1960s. It also opened the door for Jolson to star in the film.

  Milton Berle, born Mendel Berlinger in Harlem in 1908, started his career at the age of five by winning a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest. Berle would make his way to silent films and establish himself as a very successful child actor. By 1921, he was ready to make his move into vaudeville and debuted at the prestigious Palace Theatre. For years, Berle was a headliner on the vaudeville circuit. Then, in 1932 he would take part in Earl Carroll Vanities, an ongoing revue that ran in new renditions for most of the 20s and into the early 30s. The risqué revue, featuring sexy
showgirls, was also known for crude humor and some major stars such as W.C. Fields and Sophie Tucker. Berle would also be seen on Broadway in Saluta! in 1934 and as part of New Faces of 1937, at which time he was far from actually being one of the “new faces” in show business. From his child acting days to his years in vaudeville, to film, radio and television, Berle’s career spanned over 80 years!

  44

  2. Part of the Melting Pot

  ABIE’S IRISH ROSE

  While little fuss was ever made publicly about George Burns and Gracie Allen being a real-life interfaith couple, at a time when such pair-ings were far less common than they are today, there was quite an uproar over an Anne Nichols play called Abie’s Irish Rose. The play featured the unlikely romance between an Irish Catholic woman and a Jewish man.

  They would fall in love and get married, but hide the marriage from their fathers who were depicted as the traditional (and somewhat stereotypical) Jewish and Irish patriarchs who would not bless such a union.

  Unable to hide their ethnicities for long, the truth comes out about the interfaith couple, and their insistence on remaining together leads to two more weddings, one by a rabbi and one by a priest, both of whom had learned a great deal about tolerance from serving together in World War I and witnessing the hardships that can unite even the most dissimilar indi viduals. By the end of the play, thanks to the birth of twins, one named for each father, harmony is achieved in this diverse family.

  The significance of Abie’s Irish Rose, however, moved beyond the obvious ethnic controversy. It was, in fact, among the first plays to shift the ethnic tone and portrayals of characters away from the “caricatures”

  and very pronounced stereotypes found in vaudeville and toward a more realistic portrayal of how Jewish and Irish families acted in the real world.

  There was also a message associated with the play, which, in a post war era, was that of tolerance and acceptance. This was presented in a light, whimsical manner.

  Despite the play’s inherently positive message, Nichols could not get the play produced, as she was met with constant resistance over the subject matter. So, she mortgaged her home for $5,000 and produced the show herself. The initial reviews were anything but encouraging, and, in fact, some critics were even offended at the idea of such an ill-con ceived marriage. Nonetheless, audiences showed up to see it. They were intrigued, entertained and even educated about acceptance and tolerance. And, they kept on coming to see the unlikely hit show.

  Abie’s Irish Rose, which opened in May of 1922, would close 2,327

  performances later in October of 1927, having become the longest running Broadway show to date, a record it would hold for more than a decade. Two movies were later made based on the play and a television 45

  Jews on Broadway

  show in the 1970s, Brigit Loves Bernie, was also inspired by Abie’s Irish Rose. Ironically, some 50 years after the opening of the play, the lighthearted sitcom would once again raise the same issues of interfaith marriage and once again spark controversy. Apparently, some things never change. As it turned out, unlike the play, CBS would cave under a mountain of protest letters and cancel the show after just one controversial season.

  Kosher Kitty Kelly (1925) and The Cohens and the Kellys (1926) were among several “copycat” shows that followed Abie’s Irish Rose, focusing on the Jewish-Irish theme. Along with Partners Again (1922) and several other mildly successful shows of the 1920s, the image of the Jewish character on stage matured to illustrate a more well-rounded individual, able to make an audience laugh at his or her foibles without resorting to

  “shtick.” The second- and third-generation Jewish performers were no longer “unkempt” on stage or portraying ghetto life. Instead they were now seen as successful American Jews. They had businesses, fought as U.S. soldiers in a major war, were now part of the American culture and able to appeal to the wider range of theatergoers, while still being seen as “Jewish” on stage. They had succeeded in softening the Jewish stereotype and creating introspective, yet entertaining, characters that would remain an integral part of the Broadway theater for years to come.

  To define the Jewish impact, and transformation, in the vaudeville era, one has to look only as far as The Jazz Singer, circa 1925, starring George Jessel on Broadway, and later Al Jolson in the classic film. The Jazz Singer was symbolic of what had been transpiring throughout the first quarter of the 20th century. In the play, the young Jessel does not wish to follow in the steps of his Orthodox family and become a cantor like his father. Instead he wishes to become a jazz singer, which was exactly the saga played out by many of the second generation of Jewish immigrants as they entered show business instead of family business, or, in many cases, opted to be vaudeville performers (as opposed to jazz singers) rather than cantors.

  In the next chapter, we’ll take a look at some of the musical giants of this same era, many of whom had careers that spanned decades, including the legendary Irving Berlin. These composers and lyricists had an unparalleled impact on musical theater.

  46

  3

  The Music of Broadway:

  Classic Composers,

  Legendary Lyricists

  While vaudeville flourished during the first three decades of the 20th century, so did the Broadway musical, thanks in large part to a hand ful of Jewish composers and lyricists who would later emerge as icons. The son of a cantor, Israel Baline, better know as Irving Berlin, went from dabbling in Yiddish theater to writing for vaudeville. However, it was one breakthrough hit song, “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” written in 1911, that launched a remarkable career. Berlin would go on to establish himself as one of America’s foremost songwriters, while penning the music and lyrics for a dozen Broadway shows and revues beginning with Watch Your Step in 1914. And while much of the focus of American entertainment was on Ziegfeld’s Follies, by the late 1920s, Jerome Kern, the son of a furniture and piano salesman, would also establish himself as one of Broadway’s most prolific composers.

  By the 1930s, American music, and especially that of the Broadway musical, was the beneficiary of this wealth of great Jewish composers and lyricists. In this chapter, we explore and feature the early musical influ -

  ences and the legacies of Berlin, Kern, George and Ira Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, and Lorenz Hart as well as the brilliant writing of humorists and playwrights George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart.

  Yes, these were the children of the first wave of Jewish immigrants who left their indelible stamp on American musical theater forever. The masters of lyric and melody composed hundreds of hit songs over the span of several decades, but the 1930s were particularly intriguing as a time 47

  Jews on Broadway

  in which they were all part of American music at the same time, combining their talents to build a legacy.

  Life During the Depression

  Before focusing on the composers and lyricists themselves, it’s important to take a look at the atmosphere in which they were living and working. The stock market crash of 1929 and subsequent depression years of the 1930s were felt throughout the entire nation. It was, however, particularly hard on the Jewish people.

  In his articles “America was Different. America Is Different,” Jerry Klinger, president of the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation, points out that “the Bank of the United States was a Jewish bank.

  In fact, almost all of its 400,000 depositors were Jews. This meant that the bank held the assets of 1⁄5 of New York City’s Jewish population and 1⁄10 of all American Jews. The failure of the Bank wiped out most of the assets of the Jewish immigrant generation.”1

  Some of the blame for the depression was pinned on the Jewish people, and as a result anti–Semitism rose significantly during the early 1930s. American anti–Semitism was further fueled by the CBS radio broad casts of Father James Coughlin, who had a huge following. He actu ally blamed the Jews for everything from the depression to the Russian Revolution.
His sympathy for the policies of Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini, plus his blatant anti–Semitic messages, were dismissed by many, but still spearheaded the rising wave of anti–Semitism. In fact, when his radio show was cancelled in New York, two thousand of his followers gathered in protest, chanting “Send Jews back where they came from” and “Wait until Hitler comes over here!”2

  Henry Ford was considered to be among the anti–Semitic notables of the time, as were Charles Lindburgh and well-known poet Ezra Pound.

  In fact, during World War I, Ford wrote a series of viciously anti–Semitic articles for The Dearborn Independent. The newspaper proceeded to print such articles for 91 issues, even beyond those written by Ford . In 1942, nearly two decades later, Ford reportedly did apologize in a letter to Sigmund Livingston, then Anti-Defamation League national chairman, writing, “I do not subscribe to or support, directly or indirectly, any agi-48

  3. The Music of Broadway

  tation which would promote antagonism against my Jewish fellow citizens.”3

  Meanwhile, jobs were hard to find, especially for Jewish and African American workers. Even doctors had a hard time finding work. Few Jewish physicians were hired in any hospitals other than the 40 Jewish hospitals in the country. By 1938, an American Jewish Congress report noted that anti–Jewish restrictions in want ads had reached their highest level in history.4

  The theater world, however, was still largely populated by Jews, and the Shuberts had a firm hand on what was taking place on Broadway. In fact, many theater historians claim that if it weren’t for the Shuberts, Broadway would never have made it through the depression years. Depart -

  ing from their usual hard-line business approach, during the early depression years, the Shubert Brothers helped bail out small producers and did what they could to keep their own employees working as long as possible.