Jewish Roots of the Stooges
gre...@alumni.ksg.harvard.edu
history of my own family when Joan Maurer went into detail on her
family's Jewish roots: their immigration to America; the cultural milieu
in which they found themselves. They maintained kosher homes (as did my
parents and grandparents), and much of their humor was a reworking of
old Jewish folk tales (stories about "Schlemiel and Schlemazel" for
example). Jules White (originally named Julius Weiss from Budapest,
Yiddish & German speaking), added his twist on the genre. Of course,
there were other significant non-Jewish influences, not least of which
was Ted Healy himself, and some of their early directors, like Del
Lord. But the fact is that Moishe Horwitz, Louis Feinberg, Schmuel
Horwitz and Jerome Horwitz did a lot of "inside" Jewish stuff in the
act.
I always wondered how people related to that. When I was a kid and
heard them soeak Yiddish, I was proud, because it was the same language
my mom spoke. Anyway, I'd like to know if people realize that the old
Jewish entertainment traditions have a great deal to do with Stooges
comedy, and if this changes their view of the Stooges in any way.
Thanks,
Gregg Stevens
THarri3779
them funny even if you don't know half the things they're taling about.
Of course, it gets even better when you DO understand some of the references,
like when Moe yells "Geval!!!t" while making a distress call.
MDec500157
>From: tharr...@aol.com (THarri3779)
>Date: Thu, Jun 3, 1999 19:39 EDT
>Message-id: <19990603193944...@ng-ch1.aol.com>
>
>It's like with Monty Python. A lot of the humor is in the "gist", so you find
>them funny even if you don't know half the things they're taling about.
Righto. The first time I heard the line "Shut your bloody gob (mouth), you
tit!", I thought it was "Shut your bloody gobutit", and wondered what the hell
a "gobutit" was. Obviosuly, since then I learned alot about Brit slang.
>Of course, it gets even better when you DO understand some of the references,
>like when Moe yells "Geval!!!t" while making a distress call.
Oy! This I'm also agreeing with! And I'm strictly from goyem!
I'll even admit to laughing at Jerry Lewis (Joe Levitch) when he did a
Japanese schtick. That goes back to the above "PC " discussion re the term
"babe". Oy oy oy!
Pete The Polack
JimNeibr
recalling Larry's Yiddish diatribe when being questioned by a cop in Pop Goes
The Easel. But my "goyischer kopf" cannot recall the exact phrase.
Many of the great comedians from that era were Jewish --
Bud Abbott, The Marx Brothers, Jack Benny, Milton Berle, Jerry Lewis, The Ritz
Brothers, Sid Caesar, Eddie Cantor, etc. Interestingly enough, Charlie Chaplin
ws even thought of by the Nazis to be Jewish (he was not, but never denied it).
Traditions in humor run very deep in Jewish lore
JN
"The most contagious thing in the world is enthusiasm."
G.S.
JimNeibr wrote:
> Once in a while a Yiddishism pops up in the Stooges two-reelers. I am vaguely
> recalling Larry's Yiddish diatribe when being questioned by a cop in Pop Goes
> The Easel. But my "goyischer kopf" cannot recall the exact phrase.
>
There's all kinds of yiddish in MANY of the Stooge comedies. But the one I think
you're thining of is "Mutts To You," when a cop questions Moe and Larry (who are
disguised as Chinese laundry workers) and Larry says, in pure Yiddish with a bit of
English thrown in at the end:
"Ich bin a China boychik von Minskya-Pinsk(?), khuck mir nicht a chinek und I don't
mean efsher."
Which means:
"I'm just a Chinese kid from Minsk (this is an ironic phrase right out of the
Yiddish theater), so get off my back and I don't mean maybe."
In "Pardon My Scotch" the toast they use is: "Veg Ihr Haget," which means, loosely
and colloquially, "break a leg" or "drop dead." They're always calling places
names like "Tzimmes," and Curly, when dressed as an Indian squaw (whoops -- I mean
native American) expresses his lack of comprehension by saying "No Fishtay" (no
verstehe). Shemp asks Moe in a couple of films (I forget which) "Gut gesagt?"
(meaning "did I say that well?"), for which he gets slapped, of course. In "Half
Shot SHooters," hearing that the first world war war is over, the Stooges
congratulate each other by saying "Mazel Tov" and "L'chaim" (the Dutch censorship
board banned this film along with "Hoi Polloi," because they felt that the Stooges
were portraying Jews as sub-human, thus giving credence to Hitler's theories which
were then being trumpeted from Germany).
There's a lot more that I'm too lazy to document right now. A lot of this had to
do with Curly, who spoke Yiddish with his mother -- apparently more than his
brothers did, although they all were fluent in Yiddish -- and with Jules White,
who spoke German/Yiddish, but Larry has the best "real Yiddish" accent of all of
them when he wants to use it.
Gregg Stevens
JimNeibr
There's all kinds of yiddish in MANY of the Stooge comedies. But the one I
think
you're thining of is "Mutts To You," when a cop questions Moe and Larry (who
are
disguised as Chinese laundry workers) and Larry says, in pure Yiddish with a
bit of
English thrown in at the end:
"Ich bin a China boychik von Minskya-Pinsk(?), khuck mir nicht a chinek und I
don't
mean efsher."
----
I do recall the scene you mention, but Larry also used the "khuck mir nicht a
chinek" phrase in Pop Goes The Easel.
Interesting footnote: James Cagney was also fluent in Yiddish and speaks it
often in his films (most notably Taxi). Cagney was goyem, but picked up
Yiddish on the New York streets as a boy.
G.S.
THarri3779 wrote:
> >Interestingly enough, Charlie Chaplin
> >ws even thought of by the Nazis to be Jewish (he was not, but never denied
> >it).
>
> Chaplin admired a lot of Jewish people, and so was not offended by them.
His brother Sidney's father was Jewish.
Gregg Stevens