Woody Guthrie's mother
MordecaiSp
It was suggested that I post my request to this group. Y'all know your
music, I'm told
I'm looking for information on Woody Guthrie's mother, who was a
Jewish/Yiddish songwriter. I believe that she wrote a famous Yiddish song.
What was is her name/what is the song?
You may respond to me directly.
Shalom,
Mordecai Specktor
Staff Writer, The American Jewish World, Minneapolis
MIKE REGENSTREIF
You can find information on Nora Guthrie (Woody's mother) in Joe
Klein's biography WOODY GUTHRIE: A LIFE.
You will discover that she was not a Jewish/Yiddish songwriter, that
she did not write a famous Yiddish song, and that there is no name for the
song she did not write.
Mike Regenstreif
"Folk Foots/Folk Branches" on CKUT in Montreal
mre...@vax2.concordia.ca
Larry Blumenfeld
MordecaiSp wrote:
> I'm looking for information on Woody Guthrie's mother, who was a
> Jewish/Yiddish songwriter. I believe that she wrote a famous Yiddish
>song. What was is her name/what is the song?
According to "The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock 'n Roll," her name
was Marjorie Greenblatt Mazia. Don't know the song, but you can probably
get the answer on alt.music.guthrie - You might even get an answer from
Arlo.
Happy trails,
Larry B.
Larry Blumenfeld
Sorry - I gave you the name of his WIFE, not his mother.
Oops.
Happy trails,
Larry B.
MIKE REGENSTREIF
Marjorie was not Woody Guthrie's mother. She was his second wife
(Arlo's mother). She was a Martha Graham dancer.
Later in life, she was tireless in her efforts to raise money to fund
research in fighting Huntington's Disease.
She was not known as a Yiddish songwriter (nor was Woody's mother).
Mike Regenstreif
"Folk Roots/Folk Branches" on CKUT in Montreal
mre...@vax2.concordia.ca
Christian
In <322291...@mail.bcpl.lib.md.us> Larry Blumenfeld
<jblu...@mail.bcpl.lib.md.us> writes:
>
>MordecaiSp wrote:
>
>> I'm looking for information on Woody Guthrie's mother, who was a
>> Jewish/Yiddish songwriter. I believe that she wrote a famous Yiddish
>>song. What was is her name/what is the song?
>
>According to "The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock 'n Roll," her
name
>was Marjorie Greenblatt Mazia. Don't know the song, but you can
probably
>get the answer on alt.music.guthrie - You might even get an answer
from
>Arlo.
>
>Happy trails,
>Larry B.
Marjorie was Woody's wife, not his mother. She's Arlo's mother!
Although she was involved in some musical projects with Woody (espec.
kids stuff) for the most part she was not a musician or songwriter.
She was a dancer when young, later a dance teacher. She was Jewish.
I doubt very much it was Woody's mom you were looking for. According
to Joe Klein's great book "Woody Guthrie, A Life" his mom was not
particularly musical, not in the sense that Woody was, anyway. She was
a major influence in his life in other ways, though. She had and
finally succumbed to the same tragic disease that killed Woody,
Huntington's (or Hutchington's ?) Chorea.
-chris
==================================================================
CHRISTIAN BAUMAN
cw...@ix.netcom.com sea...@juno.com
http://saturn.med.nyu.edu/~sunshine/bigdork/hoboken/bauman.htm
==================================================================
Mike Goldsman
In article <4vuu6h$8...@dfw-ixnews7.ix.netcom.com>,
I recall that the book by Klein referred to someone of Marjorie's
side who was a famous Yiddish writer. I don't remember the exact
relation. I think it may have been her mother.
-Mike
Stephen L Suffet
On Tue, 27 Aug 1996, MIKE REGENSTREIF wrote:
> In article <322291...@mail.bcpl.lib.md.us>, Larry Blumenfeld <jblu...@mail.bcpl.lib.md.us> writes:
> >MordecaiSp wrote:
> >
> >> I'm looking for information on Woody Guthrie's mother, who was a
> >> Jewish/Yiddish songwriter. I believe that she wrote a famous Yiddish
> >>song. What was is her name/what is the song?
> >
> >According to "The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock 'n Roll," her name
> >was Marjorie Greenblatt Mazia. Don't know the song, but you can probably
> >get the answer on alt.music.guthrie - You might even get an answer from
> >Arlo.
> >
> >Happy trails,
> >Larry B.
>
> Marjorie was not Woody Guthrie's mother. She was his second wife
> (Arlo's mother). She was a Martha Graham dancer.
>
> Later in life, she was tireless in her efforts to raise money to fund
> research in fighting Huntington's Disease.
>
> She was not known as a Yiddish songwriter (nor was Woody's mother).
>
> Mike Regenstreif
> "Folk Roots/Folk Branches" on CKUT in Montreal
> mre...@vax2.concordia.ca
>
>
>
Greetings!
Anyone who would like to find out information about Woody
Guthrie's mother should get a hold of "Woody Guthrie: a Life" by Joe
Klein (lately of "Primary Colors" fame/infamy). The paperback edition is
published by Ballentine Books, and should be available in any of the large
chain bookstores.
A brief summary: Woody's mom was named Nora Belle Sherman at
birth in 1888. Her father died of Huntington's disease (then known as
Huntington's chorea) around 1890. Her mother remarried, and Nora Belle
took her stepfather's name Tanner. Nora Belle Tanner married Charles
Edward Guthrie in 1904. The couple had five children, of which Woody
(Woodrow Wilson Guthrie) was the middle child.
Eventually, Nora Belle Guthrie succumbed to Huntington's disease
herself. She was committed to the state mental hospital at Norman,
Oklahoma, where she died circa 1930. (The Klein book doesn't report the
exact date, but based on events it does report, she must have died some
time after September 1929 and well before September 1931. Woody, who was
born July 14, 1912, must have been around 18 years old at the time of his
mother's death.)
On the other hand, Woody Guthrie's MOTHER-IN-LAW, Aliza Waitzman
Greenblatt, was a Yiddish poet! One of her English language poems, "I Gave
My Son," was set to music by Woody Guthrie, and published by the U.S.
Office of War Information.
While volumes have been written about Woody -- some of it even
trur! -- scarcely a page has been written about Aliza. She was Arlo's
grandmother, and maybe you can find out more information about her by
posting a question to <alt.music.guthrie>. Arlo monitors the postings
quite regularly, so maybe he can provide some additional information.
Another source of information might be Arlo's sister Nora Lee Guthrie. She
works for Woody Guthrie Publications, and can be reached at their office:
250 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10107.
Best of luck.
Sincerely,
Steve Suffet
New York City
MCartsonis
Hey, Woody fans,
Fer cryin' out loud!
All of you have read the freakin' Klein book?
Seven messages and no answer? Geez, Louise! What a waste of friggin'
bandwidth!!
It wasn't Woody's mom who was the poet; it was his mother-in-law, Aliza
Waitzman Greenblatt! It's right there, fer the love of Pete! Page 224!
The chapter where Woody "analyzes" one of her poems is a beautiful example
of how to alienate an inlaw... Please don't try it at home!
Simple question. Simple answer!
ADG01369
Yup.
adg
"We don't sing songs to sell soap! Hell, we don't even use soap!" Bob
Dylan
Colin Bigam
Thusly spake mcart...@aol.com (MCartsonis):
>Hey, Woody fans,
>Fer cryin' out loud!
>All of you have read the freakin' Klein book?
>Seven messages and no answer? Geez, Louise! What a waste of friggin'
>bandwidth!!
>It wasn't Woody's mom who was the poet; it was his mother-in-law, Aliza
>Waitzman Greenblatt! It's right there, fer the love of Pete! Page 224!
No no no, I don't think she even _knew_ Pete (Seeger I assume), let alone
had any feelings towards him!
That was Woody's half-sister's cousin's daughter. :->
Simple answer, confused followup.
Colin
| "Her eyes had small friendly lightning |
| walking across them." (R. Brautigan) |
|-------------------------------------------------------|
| Colin Bigam: *****NOTE NEW EMAIL ADDRESS!!!***** |
| cbi...@cts.com Public Key available |
Stephen L Suffet
Dear ADG---
Ain't it a shonder that your Bubbie Greenblatt now gets more
recognition than she ever did when she was alive and writing poetry? Who
woulda thought about Internets, Schminternets back then? Who knows, but
this could be a mitzvah in disguise, and maybe someone will actually get
to read her poems now? Have any been published?
Take it easy but take it!
Steve Suffet
NYC in the morning
Jim Hori
In article <5009um$m...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>,
MCartsonis <mcart...@aol.com> wrote:
>Hey, Woody fans,
>Fer cryin' out loud!
>All of you have read the freakin' Klein book?
>Seven messages and no answer? Geez, Louise! What a waste of friggin'
>bandwidth!!
I suggest a switch to decaf.
....
jimh
MordecaiSp
I appreciate the responses to my original question about Woody Guthrie's
"mother."
My interest is in the myriad manifestations of Jewish culture, and the
exciting emergence of a new Jewish artistic expressions, especially in
music.
Liz Margoshes
I suggest a little less West and a little less Sun so you can tolerate a
little more affect. :) <-- emoticon, for those west of new jersey
and/or lacking irony.
>....
>jimh
Stephen L Suffet
Greetings!
I hear tell he was also a Yiddish poet. Or was that a Dixie-mafia
hit man? Maybe it was Woody Allen who had the Yiddish poet in his family?
Or was it Woody Woodpecker? I better stop now before this chain of free
association leads me into more trouble than I can handle.
All just mere speculation, of course.
Take it easy but take it!
Steve Suffet
About to start a new job Tuesday after
14 months of idle frivolity and singing
silly folksongs. Better find that old
tie and jacket PDQ.
Jim Hori
Well, I much prefer East Coast hiphop (Nas, Wu-Tang, Native Tongues) to
West Coast (Dr. Dre, Dogg Pound) so I don't think geography had much to
do with my comment, and I still have all the original Sex Pistols 45s
so I guess I don't have a problem with too much affect. All I was saying
was I didn't think the issue itself deserved so much, um, angst, nor so
many exclamation points. I will grant that I'm much mellower than thou,
however.
Ob folk (other than the mention of urban folk music/hiphop): love that
Catie Curtis LP.
....
jimh
tsipora...@gmail.com
> It was suggested that I post my request to this group. Y'all know your
> music, I'm told
>
> Jewish/Yiddish songwriter. I believe that she wrote a famous Yiddish song.
> What was is her name/what is the song?
>
>
> Shalom,
>
> Staff Writer, The American Jewish World, Minneapolis
>
You're probably thinking of his MOTHER-IN-LAW, Aliza Greenblatt, a well-known Yiddish POET. Woody raised his kids Jewish and wrote some Chanukah songs (mostly just the lyrics). When his widow, Nora, found them, she gave many of them to the Klezmatics to record (though you can find Woody singing a couple himself if you look hard enough). The Klezmatics put out an album called "Woody Guthrie's Happy Joyous Chanukah," for which they wrote the music for several Chanukah songs that Woody only wrote lyrics for.
Michael Black
time I got full internet access, though I can't remember exactly when I came to
this newsgroup.
Arlo was still posting here, and in the Guthrie newsgroup.
Woody's wife Marjorie, at least this one, was of course with the Martha
Graham dance company, I don't think it was in Klein's biography but the more
recent one went into detail about their first meetings, Martha going with
a friend to meet him, the friend wanting him to perform live music to some
dance pieces. And it didn't work out, Woody never playing the same song
the same way, so it threw off the dancers.
And of course Nora is one of his daughter's, Arlo's sister, and in more
recent decades she has stepped out and become visible in her own way,
keeper of the archives, going through all those songs Woody wrote but
never set to music, and finding artists to complete the songs and record
them. Started with Wilco.
In other Guthrie news, Arlo has on his website that after touring next
year, there won't be anymore big tours (which sounds like he won't stop
performing, just not doing it as much). Everyone's packing it in, Joan
Baez is either finished or still working on her last tour.
All those songs and artists dredged up in the sixties, out of print and
not performing but then brought back by the newer artists, the newer
mustic kept in print all these decades. Fifty years ago it was 1968,
fifty years before that 1918, which seems so much further back in time.
But instead of disappearing, the artists from fifty years ago stayed in
print, kept performing (unless they died), and were on oldies radio for a
long time, though that seems to have faded. Now they are getting old, and
since they didn't die before they got old, they are slowing down or
retiring, and odd situation after all these decades, for them to seemingly
go silent.
Michael
folks...@gmail.com
> It was suggested that I post my request to this group. Y'all know your
> music, I'm told
>
> I'm looking for information on Woody Guthrie's mother, who was a
> Jewish/Yiddish songwriter. I believe that she wrote a famous Yiddish song.
> What was is her name/what is the song?
>
> You may respond to me directly.
>
> Shalom,
>
> Mordecai Specktor
> Staff Writer, The American Jewish World, Minneapolis
>
> morde...@aol.com
Colin Irvine
--
Colin Irvine