The World of Sholom Aleichem
In his will Sholom Aleichem wrote:
There are to be no discussions
or debates among my friends
about the perpetuation of my
name or the erection of a mon
ument or the like. I should not
be able to rest in my grave if my
friends were to play the fool...The best
monument will be selecting one of my stories
-the most hilarious-and reading it aloud in
whatever language people understand best."
We present an evening that will be, we think, such a "monument".
We will remember not only Sholom Aleichem (at his most
hilarious), but also Isaae Loeb Peretz, the other great
master, and Yiddish humor as a whole. The World
of Sholom Aleichem will try to bridge the two
cultures, Jewish and English, to relieve in some
measure, the irritant in peoples' lives when they
hear a friend say: Oh, you don't understand
Yiddish? Then I can't explain the joke.
The evening is a slice of Jewish culture
in English, presented warmly, richly, without
loss, we hope, of its special taste and with
its full flavor of wit, humanity and com
passion. We have long felt that a culture
of such vitality and contemporary mean-
ing should be the possession of all.
Three one-act plays will be given:
-The first, a dramatization of
certain occurrences among a
Melamed, his wife, a Rabbi
and a Goat-in the famous Jewish town of Chelm.
-The second, a one-act version of Peretz' greatest
short story, Bontche Scheeig
-The third is Sholom
Aleichem's Gymnasium,
or The High School.
The whole evening is unified
by a narrative character and by music,
and will present a picture of Jewish life
in the latter part of the 19th century, the
of Eastern Europe
world of Sholom Aleichem.
Howard Da Silva is the director. Arnold Perl wrote the seript.
The cast ineludes Morris Carnovsky,
Howard Da Silva, Jack Gilford, Gil Green,
Will Lee, Marjorie Nelson. Costumes by
Aline Bernstein. Musie by Serge Hovey
Tickets: $3.60, $3.00, $2.40, $1.80
available at the box office.
The theatre is air-conditioned.
For reservations and theatre
parties, call Susquehanna 7-1682
or Circle 7-7000, or write
Rachel Productions, 39 West
67 St., New York 23.
Mail orders promptly filled.
