Document text
Forms to be Filled out for Each Interview
FORM A
Circumstances of Interview
KATE New York
NAME OF WORKER Arnold Manoff
ADDRESS 27 Hamilton Terrace
DATE Oct. a 1938
SUBJECT Yiddish anecdotes, tales, etc.
1. Date and time of interview
2. Place of interview
0,4,44.1
FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
Oct. 11A 1938 irn-4he—se-berseen'
2096 Creston Ave. Bronx, New York
3. Name and address of informant
Gussie Simon, 2096 Creston Ave.
4. Name and address of person, if any, who put you in
toucn with informant.
5. Name and address of person, if any, accompanying you
6. Description of room, house, surroundings, etc. See previous interview
with same informant.
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, for any of the forms, each
bearing the proper heading and the number to which the material refers.)
FORM ci
Personal History of Informant
STATE New York
NAME OF WORKEP. Arnold Nanoff
ADDDESS 27 Hamilton Terrace
DATE Oct. 1V, 1938
SUBJECT Yiddish anecdotes, tales, etc.
FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
1. Ancestry See previous interview with same informant for
information on this form
2. Place and date of birth
3. Family
4. Places lived in, with dates
5. Education, with dates
6. Occupations and accomplishments, with dates
7. Special skills and interests
8. Community and religious activities
9. Description of informant
10. Other Points gained in interview
sluaE New York
NAME OF WORKER
FORM C
Text of Interview (Unedited)
Arnold /falloff
ADDRESS 27 Hamilten Terrace
DATE Oct. 1=44,1-a_
a
SUBJECT Yiddishls_tales eta.a_71J-4.4-4-4"'
FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
In speaking, the informant spoke both Yiddish and
English. I have tried to take down both languages. In
the Yiddish portions of the interview there will occur first
the Yiddish and then after each sentence or paragraph, as the
case may be, I will follow with a literal rather than a literary
translation in parenthesis. I have made no attempt to denote
the informant% pronounciation as it was only slightly foreign.
Where my mother lives, so there is a pantry there, be-
cause it is an old private house. So they are holding all kinds
of things that shouldntt be in the house like wine for Passover
and a little schnappes. They have to keep it in the pantry be-
cause it is cooler. All kinds of things, wines and jams. She
has the pantry locked for strangers not to take out things. So
my father had to go to get there something he asked her for the
key. Se he says to her, *V5j4C/47 M 7V7 /*ire
Wive me the key for the dispensary) Pantry, dispensary, it's all
the same to him. You know where my mother lives the woman who
ownes the house she is poor and she hangs on to the home because
it si her living. A couple, a blind woman and her husband that
comes once in a while there. She is one of the tenants there in
that house. Her husband, they say it is her sweetheart, what
difference does it make? And while the woman who is the landlady
went away to shul, it was Yon Kippur so the husband watched where
she put the rent money and he took it. So they blamed him and he said
he didn't do it and he ran away. So the woman who is blind she
pleaded with him they should not make a fuss over it and she would
pay them three dollars a week. ?r9e ttrit
(You need this all to write?) All the lousy things?
/14? Pte* 671Utfett? rajtj&
0 ‘c i/
(What one Jew stole from another one money Yom Kippur at night?)
It puts us in a bad light. I'll give you a nice story about us,
no I won't make it up. They tell a story, an old one, maybe my
great grandmother even from her grandmother. You have to call
this story Cij )10 eilf ittv.p Pc, 16. )0 en Pr? ,x.
(The Rabbi from the little town, Yon Kippur at night) You could
make a real nice story out of it.
07(474- .XC -1)1 ta 7714,0 r i pre iv v_i riis
‘1, 7 ,til I a illird 10",5
pc 1 te Ctejo /1/Cpill re44 p'4 pi o) ifi.4 .1.3 „tic; itp,iive4w i ,1
(Everybody had come earlier from the work. All the stores were
closed. Everybody had washed themselves and put on thett Saturday
clothes.) You don't have to know which town. That story could
happen in any town. So al.jhe e after they had a day's
hard work preparing for the holiday) they were tired out;
they had to go to shul that night too because it was the holiest
night in the year. If a woman had a baby the oldest children used
to watch the baby because she had to go to shul. If there was no
other children she had to call in from the neighbor and sometimes
they even left the baby alone. So everybody went to shul and
while they were in shul they were all waiting for the Rabbi. The
wmen were in the women's department of the gbul on the gallery and
the men were downstairs. They were all waiting for the Rabbi to
begin ityko (praying) and of course that night was very holy
lotto pe rioN tiejtee /511,f_f )cio
and
/.6; pi pp) die r1124,e47 474 Ce3 31c
(they all went with trepidation, with fear in heart that God
should forgive them and everybody wished each other well.) Oh
you could make a beautiful story from this.
orriww, •Ot,?yijn? cc Iftt o1 /..)ipap iAor 7Y,
(The night before Yom Kippurl This is a wonderful experience)
And so everybody gathered and there is this feeling. They are
all together and "ey are waiting for the Rabbi.
yip, 7 n oric r/c t pc'
r.,/
(And they wait and they wait and it becomes late and tile Rabbi is
not here) Gc.) 00# FrOrdi9V0e 4C;tc re 49 p?)
pixy 4-0 )re.pe lyj ,cf pr,vipee yie
iTc., 717 re dir tic plivi 6-C;t9e siic Sseo '7 n
41 69Tiva
4 tri:14,c 14) Jit CI -Ott e 4c)) .esifvoi
00 711 ip int PM ,-.-(‘Cit1,711e 49C )es
/tie piel fit NW& I vt) 7Lc I re (pi /c zpo i4' j"e
la 7019e (v itco to/we I!? MU" ertock-e
tep)f e¢ -2k, picsoe
(It was decided to send a young boy to find out what had happened
to the Rabbi. And the young boy found nobody in the house. The
Rabbits wife was also in the Synagogue and the young boy came back
and said that the Rabbi is not in the house. Became the people
frightened and let themselves out over the town to look for the
Rabbi and in the meantime it had become late and it was necessary
to begin praying the efening prayer. And in the synagogue there
became a restlessness. The Rabbi is not yet here! One of the
searchers passed by a poor courtyard.), You know they had court
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(VI) )6-i- Pal la Yell 11'1
(They called him by a Yiddish name. They calVed him Ch 1. And
when it began the unrest in Russia and it began the pogroms. And it
began the revolutionary movement. It was an industrial town. They
werked leather there.. You can name the up06. Who cares. -It was in
Smargen. Smargoner, if they will read this, will they recognize the
story. And as in Russia was not allowed any gatherings, any meetings,
they used to employ the agitation at a circumcision or at a wedding.
6.
There would they get together and there would they talk about the
forbidden things. Well Chemel had this smelled out and he started
to make raids on the circumcisions and weddings and he began to
disrupt. He used to come and bring more police with him and scatter
the whole wedding. He made arrests too. And in town were strong
ones, you know herois what held the town with strength.) You know
controlled the town with their strength. Should I give you the right
names. yric ,fi pc; irfi I 17 Ii -c; gip ?/'J?/'J)14/ pri? 3
09 re Au
(They can me sometimes come to complain. Who knows. Everybody knows
them.) Allright.
3'119 "TT (,rig(' re
rThe Vera'? 7 a'"7
(There was Chyam the Porter, and Smulke the Tsei-ip..) His great
grandfather maybe had small pox so it left marks on the face so they
gave him the name Tserip. So all the children after that were called
tseripis. So if anything happened
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(If they someone an because he Wa a stool pigeon,
did they say it stems from Smulke the Tserip and Chyam the Porter,
their gang. And one night did they take Chemel the Policeman and
did dress him a sack on the head and did they pull him away in river.
It was a winter night and the river was frozen and) they made a hole
X-4.0
in the ice and atp 'at it" ,y(joic, 0
(They did let him down with the sack on the head) And then somebody
passed by and they heard him screen and he was taken out. And when
they tollk him out he did not want to stay in that town any more.
They sent another one and they sent also Cossacks to watbh them. And
that town was plenty tortured. They didn't let them alene. I knew
Smulke the Tserip as a young boy. His family was well known.
1Y 13 )(c...) "o,c rw Ix uoss !J1'7 to 7 ita
)19t,o h ithge ?Ye' Its kc»
(from generation to generation were they reknewn for heroes. Like
you say. You could not spit in their soup.) They had a lot of
nerve. When I was a young girl OTivo 76;42)1r69 (2,/,-,etzo
Yitc /44tvwsie .ote,i6/pe iva) .47'7)11 24'3
"Jt 4) pc 7'/ 6, v)).1 /lie O'd rP) pt./I l'AP
(used I to shiver before Smulke the Tserip. He used to stand in the
middle of the street and mimic all the girls. This one has crooked
feet and this one wiggles kith her ass and this one like this) It
Impressed on me se much. I was afraid of him like from a pest. Once
we went to the park so Smulke and his gang were sitting up a tree
17. ic xot rte.- e
there and
(he was singing a little song) I dirty song. I know the song
sure but I'm not going to give it to you. Well it went like this,
all right it's not as bad.
r-)
ILO a 14 1; 3 ri) r?{,c(-9
1tific?
,,fir iv /c "N y /crCl
7°,6 I le lei ji ;fie
(The granny Rivele, she wants a man
And makes herself nothing ashamed.
She gives the story in dowry
And nobody wants to take)
3
241
8.
Like a bird he was sitting on the tree and as soon as he saw us
44 act 7dt .41 Cr cif S c 1iST7r3 7 t
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t re is g 097 jP/Ve-lveNi)g
,‘”irtg /rep ficfr,,(40 7 "P")&17/eet
(did he give a sing off. He had a knocked out little tooth in
the front and he used to go around with sparkling eyes and whoso-
ever passed by used he to mimic and sing a little song.)
0
FORM D
Extra Comment
STATE New York
Nmix OF WINULTR Arnold Maneff
ADDRESS 27 Hamilton Terrace
DATE Ar. 17, 193
SUBJECT Yiddish tales etc. --6A4/24/;./
ticr0
FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
The neighborhood in this part of the Bronx is one of the
typical interlocking communities described in the interview with
Bertha Dlugateh. It's shopping and cultural center is Burnside
Ave. Two movie houses, a Woolwerthts and the usual number If
dress shops, shoe stores, iffil millinery shoppes, one lamp shade
and drapery store. As this section is further North and has not
as yet suffered the infiltration of many reliefers and WPA workers,
there is a noticeable air of respectability only secasionally marred
by some struggling ground floor apartment business. The recent
building boom filled such vacant lots as there were on and off the
Grand Concourse with modern aprtment buildings rents from 45 bucks
for three rooms to 65 for the same and up. These houses are all
in light tan brick with corner casement windows and some shrubbery
planted around them on the sidewalk. The lobbies and the facades
however are leaded with all the artistic inhibitions and frustrations
of the architects or perhaps the landlords. Such lobbies! They
are usually adorned with multi -colored mirrors, bright rugs, ultra
modern lighting designs. Each one looks like the entrance to a
movie house, specifically the arty little movie houses that are
being built throughout the city. The Grand Concourse is the great
promenade. Before and after the movies for romance, pick ups, idle
walks, bicycle riding. There is the usual pool room on Jerome
Ave, which parellels the Concourse four blocks West el' it and which
houses all the more apparent vices of the Concourse comunities by
the fact that the West Side Subway runs overhead on Jerome Ave. and
on this street rental values are lower stores, fewer, cafeterias
cheaperl#A6WWW/#000/#11fialg On Jerome Ave are to be
found the garages and bars and coffee joints where the hackies
congregate. Burnside Ave has its elegant cafeteria for tired house-
wives. There are of course the poker and pinochle games but the
desperation with which card playing is attended in the poorer neighbor-
hoods is not too much in evidence here although occasionally you
will find a jittery housewife who can not pay her grocer because she
lost last night. The language is still pronouncedly Yiddish American,
Galician, Lithuanian and Polish accents mingling over the counters
in the markets, butcher shops etc. More fur coats and pince nez to
be seen and chubbier sleeker kids. There are quite a number of young
married houswwives who occupy the new Concourse Apartments. The
difference from the Southernmost community to the Northernmost Community
along the Concourse is altogether not very great, perhaps 1000 bucks
a year annual income for each family. This neighborhood.is in
between the two. If politics can be considered an index; here
the Democratic Party is first, American Labor second, and the
others away down. The neighborhood has recently become slightly
conscious politically and you can bank on one street meeting a
week excluding election campaigns.
Unfortunately, Mrs Simon is not a typical resident of this
neighborhood, living there by necessity rather than choice. She
and her husband own a grocery store on the corner of Creston Ave.
and 181st Street and they eccupy a ground floor three room apt.
for which they pay 38 dollars a month. The material given by
Mrs. Simon will probably be familiar ti people who know Yiddish folk
lore. The story about the Rabbi is one of the many old tales told
by Religious Jews. The story about Smulke der Tserip is one like
many, authentic of course, to be garnered from all Jews who fled the
Czar's terror ximq around 1902-7 and who were in one way another
connected with the Bund or similar revolutionary movements of that
time. In every Jewish community of old Russia there is to be found
a story of one or more Jewish heroes who dumped the teen policeman
and in general belied the impression of complete passivity and
breast beating to Heaven for succor. Mrs Simon herself has had no
schooling but in her early days in America she associated with the
Yiddish intellectuals of the day. Ibsen and Chekov and Kropotkin
were the rage then. Apparently she has been on the fringe of the
socialist movement for some time since the war. She votes for
the American Labor Party and remembers fondly when the now Judge
Pankin was a wild haired orator on the East Side. She derives from
peasant stock, worked in the needle trades before the warp has a
smattering knowledge of music and literature. She is a good example
of an imaginative, uneducated working class woman (despite the grocery
"(kw store) who has never fully accepted American ideas and customs
and never fully digested the ideas which surrounded her youth. She
is an active member in a Ladies Auxiliary of The Workman's Circle, a
large fraternal organization with slight socialist leanings.