Molly Picon in the spotlight at Temple Emanu-El: A concert retrospective

If you think you know about Jewish entertainers, try this little quiz:

Which Jewish entertainer had a hugely successful 80-year career in every entertainment genre – theater, film, television, and radio? (a) Gertrude Berg (aka: Mrs. Goldberg) (b) Fanny Brice  (c) Molly Picon

Which American film and theater star, despite being born and raised in the U.S., had a career based in the Yiddish theater and whose first big-hit films in America were made in Poland in Yiddish? (a) Sophie Tucker  (b) Sarah Berhardt (c) Molly Picon

Which film star was the first to play a young woman who disguises herself as a Hasidic boy and is betrothed to a Talmudic scholar?  (a) Barbara Streisand  (b) Hermione Gingold  (c) Molly Picon

Which entertainment star had an entire room at the Second Avenue Deli, in New York City,   dedicated to his/her career and filled with his/her memorabilia? (a) Sid Caesar  (b) Groucho Marx  (c) Molly Picon

Which award-winning singer-dancer comedienne was also a librettist, scriptwriter, translator, producer, and philanthropist?  (a) Lillian Roth  (b) Theda Bara  (c) Molly Picon

As you may have guessed, or known, the answer to each question is Molly Picon, the remarkable singer-dancer-comedienne whose career spanned 80 years and who was a star in every entertainment genre. Picon was so popular in the 1920s that many shows had her name, Molly, in their title.

Her long film career started in the 1920s in silent films, then continued in Yiddish films and Hollywood films, both comic and dramatic, into the 1990s.  One of her last film roles was as Yente the Matchmaker in “Fiddler on the Roof.”

 Picon was also proudly Jewish and a delightful portrayer of Yiddish culture throughout her career.

At 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 10, at Temple Emanu-El, in Providence, Molly Picon’s songs, scenes and inimitable spirit will light up the stage once again. Cantor Lynn Torgove, mezzo-soprano, and award-winning pianist Judith Lynn Stillman, along with klezmer clarinetist Cantor Becky Khitrik, klezmer violinist Yaeko Miranda, and baritone David Kravitz, will perform “The Inimitable Molly Picon! A Concert Retrospective of a Remarkable Jewish Life.”  With live music, costumes, and clips from Picon’s films, this group will present Picon favorites. 

Cantor Torgove, who is head of Vocal Arts and an instructor of Jewish Music at Hebrew College, in Boston, is a favorite guest artist at Temple Emanu-El, beloved for her beautiful voice and engaging stage presence.

Torgove has an international career in classical music, opera and stage production, and is a fan of Picon’s songs and performance style. She wrote the script for the Dec. 10 concert retrospective, as well as serving as producer, director, and singer.

Stillman, an internationally renowned pianist, composer, and choral conductor, and a professor of music at Rhode Island College, is another favorite guest artist at Temple Emanu-El. In May, Stillman performed at Emanu-El’s Holocaust remembrance program, where she presented “Phoenix from the Ashes: Terezin in Words and Music,” a multimedia tribute and original song cycle that she created, composed, produced and performs.

Molly Picon was sometimes called “the Helen Hayes of Jewish theater.” When Hayes heard this, she is reported to have said, “I would be proud to be called the Molly Picon of the American theater!” 

Picon routinely portrayed characters who exhibited, according to historian Joann Green, “naïve gumption, or a charming display of tears, or laughter, along with somersaults, songs, and musical instruments ….” Theater historian Michael Feldberg has written, “Her athleticism, charm, looks and humor made Picon an All-American maydl [girl], packing in both Yiddish and non-Yiddish speaking audiences …. Her small stature notwithstanding, she was a superstar of Yiddish stage and film.” 

It should be quite an evening.

The Dec. 10 presentation of “The Inimitable Molly Picon! A Concert Retrospective of a Remarkable Jewish Life” is underwritten by the Benton and Elaine Odessa Concert Fund. It is the second of five events being presented this season by Arts Emanu-El.

The next events are two art exhibits in March, and a final, family-friendly event is planned for April 30: A joyous 69th birthday celebration of Israel’s independence, with live music, Israeli dancing and a screening of the film “Above and Beyond.”

Details of all Arts Emanu-El presentations are available at the Temple Emanu-El website, www.teprov.org, under the What’s Happening tab.  

Tickets for “The Inimitable Molly Picon! A Concert Retrospective of a Remarkable Jewish Life” are $20 in advance and $30 at the door. To buy tickets, go to www.teprov.org, or send a check to: Temple Emanu-El, 99 Taft Ave., Providence, RI  02906. The ticket price includes the concert and a dessert reception. 

LINDA SHAMOON is co-chair of Arts Emanu-El at Temple Emanu-El.