The Yiddish Fred Astaire

Before 1939, the Yiddish movie industry was alive and well, both in Eastern Europe and in the US. Bess Horowitz, one of three heroines of my Detroit trilogy, is a Yiddish speaker, and in the first chapter of Motor City at War, her family goes to see a Yiddish film. It’s The American Matchmaker, which starred Leo Fuchs, a dapper actor who was a talented singer as well as a graceful dancer, hence the comparison.

The Museum of the Yiddish Theater offers a full review (including the original movie poster in Yiddish), and and if you’d like to see Fuchs in action, you can watch a clip (don’t worry, there are subtitles!).