Archer Street

In my book I have explained how the sons of immigrants became some of the best known bandleaders in the Golden Age of Dance Bands.

 Growing up in tight knit communities, those who took up a musical instrument would have had the opportunity laid out in front of them to form small bands with their co-religionists, and even earn good money accompanying silent films at their local cinema. It is likely that their contacts within the communities would have helped them make their first steps beyond the environs of Bethnal Green and similar ‘shtetls’.

 For those living in London, especially East London, there was a further route that many could go down. Ronnie Scott (Ronald Schatt) said that Jews who wanted to play music travelled from the East End to the West End, and for many of them, Jew and non-Jew the place they gravitated to was Archer Street.

The Time of My LIfe (Eamonn Andrews)

Introduction

From my book Kosher Foxtrot

I was giving old Punch magazines a scan before throwing them into the paper waste, when I came across this article written by Eamonn Andrews in April 1975.

He was a well-loved TV presenter, sports commentator, and an A-List celebrity from the 1950s - 1980s who pioneered the talk show host format in the UK, and was noted for two shows: What’s My Line, and This is Your Life, a British biographical show, both of which had top rating.

It is a snapshot of an era, of his life and of dance bands on the road. For those who remember Jewish Restaurants as they used to be, it has an extra thrill. So, as they say, over to Eamonn:

Mrs Elswood's little secret

This is a story of two imaginary women. Mrs Adler and Mrs Elswood. 

 Mrs Adler is from the U.S, and supposedly Mrs Elswood from the UK. The picture on the front of the Mrs Adler jar shows a sour-faced woman with the slightest of smiles – more a sneer.

She has just been to the hairdresser’s, put on her pearl necklace and horn-rimmed glasses, and it is difficult to see her as the type of person who would be, as my mother was, arm deep in fish, egg, onion, and matzo meal as she wielded her hackmesser to create “chopped and boiled” or “chopped and fried” – or in other words – home-made gefilte fish.

J-Streets:Newcastle:Jewgate

From the book "Definitive Guide to Jewish Miscellany and Trivia, which looks at town and cities which have Jewish 

Everyone (?)  knows that there is  a location in London called Old Jewry, so I wondered how many other street/road/way etc names had a Jewish flavour to them. Here's one - Newcastle.

Strange how things change. There is an interesting little area in Newcastle, bounded upon one side by the A167(M). At one time it was clearly bustling with commerce, for it was near the quayside on the River Tyne.

When Harry met Gracie

Occasionally a piece of trivia just falls into your lap. This one came completely from left field, and shows if nothing else that there were Jewish songsmiths in Britain in the 1930s who operated at the very top level. Two of them co-wrote one of the most iconic songs in British musical history.

My story began when I was researching a tune called Mazeltov which had been played by the Joe Loss Band in 1939.

Jews playing Italians and Italians playing Jews

One unusual aspect of film and television history is the frequency with which Jews play Italians and Italians play Jews. Also that some of the main Italian film gangsters have been played by Jews.

 Let’s go through them.

Italians portraying Jews:

Alex Rocco – Moe Green – The Godfather

 This was only a small part but memorable. Moe is shot in the eye by Michael Corleone’s hitman after refusing an ‘offer’ made to him for the Corleone Family to take over the Las Vegas hotels.

Mama, we have our son again.

So says Poppa at the end of the Jazz Singer as he hears the strains of Kol Nidre being sung with gusto by Al Jolson. 

Kol Nidre is a prayer that basically ‘kicks off’ a day and an hour of fasting for the most holy day in the Jewish Calendar, Yom Kippur.

It is, however, also our not so secret guilty pleasure,  whether you are a Ashkenazi or a Sephardi Jew. The Ashkenazi melody especially when sung by a half way decent chazzan is simply beautiful, and is known worldwide. The Sephardi, especially Moroccan version also wows the senses. 

There is a lot of controversy over the prayer itself over the years but here are things you may not know about the tune.

Samuel Pallache and the Age of Dissimulation

Dissimulation  

Many Jews went to Fez in Morocco at the time of the expulsion, and one of the families that did so was the Pallache. One of the progeny of that family was one Samuel Pallache, who had a remarkable career, and came to be known as the Pirate Rabbi to the modern generation.
 

To fully understand that career, though we have to understand dissimulation.