Molly Picon

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Molly Picon around 1919
Molly Picon performing for the USO on March 21, 1945

Molly Picon , originally Małka Opiekun (born June 1, 1898 in New York City ; died April 5, 1992 in Lancaster , Pennsylvania , Yiddish : מאָלי פּיקאָן), was a popular Jewish actress in the United States. She was known for her roles in Yiddish theater and film , and later in English-language productions.

Life

Early years

Małka was born in 1898 as the daughter of the Jewish-Polish immigrants Clara and Louis (or Denis) Opiekun. Her career began at the age of 6 in a Yiddish theater in New York. She made her debut at the Arch Street Theater in 1912 and soon became a star on the Second Avenue Yiddish stage. In 1919 she married Jacob Kalich.

Molly Picon was so popular in the 1920s that some shows had the name "Molly" in their titles.

Movie

Her film career began in Austria in 1921: She made her debut in Otto Kreisler's film Das Judenmädel and starred in the two Goldin films Hütet eure Töchter (1922) and East and West (1923), the oldest surviving film.

Ost und West deals in a humorous way with the cultural contrasts that existed between assimilated New York Judaism and Orthodox, Eastern European Judaism. Picon plays a US-born daughter who is traveling with her father back to Galicia in Eastern Central Europe. Her real life husband, Jacob Kalich, plays one of her relatives in Galicia. The film was made in Vienna by Listo Film in coproduction with Molly Picon Film in New York.

Picon's most famous film " Yidl mitn Fidl " (1936) was shot on location in Poland . In this film she wears over male clothes for most of the time. In the film, poverty forces a girl and her father to take to the streets as traveling musicians. For fear of violence, she disguises herself as a boy, which leads to problems when she falls in love with another musician in the troupe.

In 1938, after the great success of Yidl mitn Fidl , Joseph Green produced a film especially for her, Mamele . She wrote the lyrics for the songs.

Theater career

In 1931 she opened the "Molly Picon Theater". Picon made her English debut on stage in 1940. In 1961 she appeared in Neil Simon's play "Come Blow Your Horn" and in the musical "Milch und Honig" by Jerry Herman . In 1966 she left the disastrous production of "Chu Chem" during the trial runs in Philadelphia - the show closed before it could be shown on Broadway .

English language films

She had an English-language film role in the film version of "Come Blow Your Horn" ( If My Bedroom Could Talk ) in 1963. In 1971 she played the matchmaker Yente in the film version of the hit Broadway musical " Fiddler On The Roof "

End of life

Molly Picon died of Alzheimer's disease on April 5, 1992 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, at the age of 93 .

Filmography (selection)

Texts (selection)

Molly Picon wrote lyrics for songs in the film Mamele as well as for musicals. They were set to music by Abraham Ellstein .

  • Oygn ( eyes ), 1934, in Eyns un a rekhts , musical
  • Abi Gezun ( As long as you are healthy ), 1938, in Mamele
  • Ikh zing ( I sing for you ), 1938, in Mamele
  • Mazl ( Good Luck ), 1938, in Mamele
  • Ikh Vil Es Hern Nokh Amol ( I want to hear it again ), 1946, in Ikh bin farlibt , musical

literature

  • Nina Warnke: Second Avenue. In: Dan Diner (Ed.): Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture (EJGK). Volume 5: Pr-Sy. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2014, ISBN 978-3-476-02505-0 , pp. 406-412.

Web links

Commons : Molly Picon  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Entry at filmreference.com
personal data
SURNAME Picon, Molly
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Opiekun, Małka (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American theater and film actress
DATE OF BIRTH June 1, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City , New York , United States
DATE OF DEATH April 5, 1992
Place of death Lancaster , Pennsylvania , United States