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Full-page ad in the "Forverts"
newspaper for "The Witch," 1925.
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INTRODUCTORY
NOTE
The
present play is one of the earliest
written by Abraham Goldfaden. Like
all operettas, it has a slight and
stereotyped plot and, with one
exception, stock characters; its
humor, moreover, is mostly
horseplay. What then has so endeared
it to Jewish theatre goers? The
answer is to be found in the
immensely amusing character of
Hotzmakh--peddler, charming rogue,
man about town, and shrewd fool, a
kind of Jewish Figaro--and in the
lovely, haunting music.
For
the father of the Yiddish stage,
though wholly ignorant of the theory
of music, was a gifted composer of
popular tunes, which have become
genuine folksongs, thanks to their
tunefulness, simplicity, and the
truly Jewish spirit which pervades
them.
This
is particularly true of the songs
interspersed in "The Witch," which
have been favorites with the Jewish
masses of the last two generations.
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Program cover for
"The Witch," 1925. |
The play begins
with an engagement party. Mirele (Anna
Teitelbaum), Avremtsi's "sweet-sixteen," gentle
and refined daughter by his first wife, is
betrothed to the handsome Marcus (Lazar Freed).
All are happy and gay; Mirele alone is sad,
because her mother has not lived to share her
happiness. Marcus, Avremtsi (Jacob Mestel), and
the false Bassye (Anna Appel), Mirele's
stepmother, try to cheer her up, but without
success. Hotzmakh (Munie Weisenfreund) bursts in
on the assembled guests and tries to hawk his
wares. He is persuaded to desist and to regale
them with one of his renowned songs. Hotzmakh
sings, and then they play blind-man's bluff. The
game is interrupted by the arrival of a police
official (Wolf Goldfaden) and two soldiers,
[who] come to arrest Avremtsi. He is led away,
and Mirele is left heartbroken.
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Lazar Freed, as the handsome Marcus. |
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Anna Teitelbaum, as Mirele,
Avremtsi's Daughter. |
We soon learn the
cause of Avremtsi's arrest. Bassye, his second
wife who ingratiated herself with him by
feigning kindness toward Mirele, and her
handsome but wicked uncle Eliakum (Ben Zwi
Baratoff), have upon the advice of Grandma
Yakhne (Maurice Schwartz), the witch,
counterfeited money, "planted" it on Avremtsi,
and then informed the authorities against him,
so as to get rid of him and gain possession of
his estate. She now sends for the witch and asks
for another charm to help her get rid of Mirele
as well. The old hag, who is enamored of Eliakum,
advises her to give money to Mirele for shopping
purposes and then steal it from her, as Mirele
would be afraid to return home without money or
purchases.
Bassye follows her
advice and sends Mirele off to the market place,
not however, without first stripping her of her
shawl and shoes, though it is bitterly cold
outside. The market place swarms with people and
is a hum with all the cries of shopkeepers who
hawk their wares to tuneful numbers. Acrobats,
jugglers, and hurdy-gurdy men entertain the
people, but are soon shorn of their earnings by
the grafting police. The crafty Hotzmakh alone,
who knows the uses of palm grease, is left
unmolested to spread out his goods in the middle
of the square and to fleece his customers.
Mirele comes upon the scene and is about to buy
something when she discovers that her money is
gone. She cries bitterly, but is quieted by
Grandma Yakhne who happens along, assures her
she is a relative of hers and leads her off to
her house.
The witch's den is
filled with girls who give every sign of being
not only Grandma Yakhne's assistants, but also
pliers of the oldest trade in the world.
Hotzmakh enters and asks for a charm that would
enable him to silence his shrewish wife and to
cheat his customers still more. The girls
blindfold him and cut off one of his side burns.
Hotzmakh bewails the loss of the side burn
("hair costs money," he says), and confesses
that he merely came to see whether Mirele was
not there, whereupon he is thrown out.
Grandma Yakhne arrives accompanied by Eliakum,
who at once proceeds to make love to one of the
girls. The jealous with orders the girls out of
the room. When the two are alone, Eliakum
informs her that he has found a buyer for
Mirele, who is kept [as] a prisoner in the
witch's house, and that he intends to ship
Mirele the next day to Constantinople, where the
buyer is located. There is a knock at the door
and Marcus enters. On seeing him, Eliakum slinks
away, not however before he has managed to
inform the witch that Marcus wears a picture of
Mirele encased in a gold medallion Marcus tells
Grandma Yakhne that heretofore he never believed
in fortune tellers, but that now he is driven by
despair to consult her, as to the whereabouts of
his betrothed. Needless to say, the only result
of his visit is the acquisition of the medallion
by the witch, from whom however, it soon passes
into the possession of Eliakum.
In his search for
the lost Mirele, Marcus wanders from city to
city. We now se him seated in a large coffee
house in Constantinople, where the guests are
entertained by dancers, musicians, acrobats, and
jugglers. Hotmakh comes in and sings out his
wares, but finds no purchasers. He soon comes
upon Marcus, who informs him that Avremtai has
been exonerated and released from prison.
Presently an organ grinder enters accompanied by
a girl who sings to the guests. In going from
table to table to collect pennies, she happens
upon Marcus, whose joy knows no bounds. The
organ grinder refuses to give up Mirele unless
he is given ten times the amount he has paid for
her. Marcus gladly gives him the sum asked, and
the lovers are reunited at last. Hotzmakh rushes
off to wire the news to Avremtsi, and to ask him
to meet them at a certain inn not far from their
hometown.
Bassye and Eliakum know the jig is up and taunt
Grandma Yakhne about the worthlessness of her
witchcraft. Eliakum makes a final appeal to her
to save them, promising to marry her if she
does. The witch advises Bassye to accompany
Avremtsi to the inn where he is to meet his
daughter and put a certain potion into the wine
served on the occasion which will cause them to
all asleep. Once asleep, Bassye, aided by
Eliakum and herself (who would also proceed to
the inn), would ascend to the hayloft and set
the inn on fire, following which the three of
them would flee to a foreign country.
The lovers,
chaperoned by Hotzmakh, arrive at the inn late
at night and are presently joined by Avremtsi
and his spouse, who excuses her conduct, by
saying, "We all make mistakes sometimes." To
Hotzmakh's disgust, it turns out there is no
liquor in the house, the innkeeper (Morris
Strassberg)having dispatched his younger brother
to town to fetch a fresh supply. Bassye offers
them a bottle of wine she has brought along, and
all sit down to drink it. All save Bassye are
soon fast asleep. She now signals to Eliakum and
the witch who have been lurking nearby. Eliakum
fastens the door on the outside with a rope
fetches a ladder, and the three ascend to the
hayloft. They are foiled, however, by the timely
arrival of the innkeeper's younger brother (W.
Gold). He becomes suspicious on seeing the
ladder propped up against the wall and removes
it. He then unfastens the door and opens it. At
this moment flames burst out. He arouses the
sleepers, and they rush out. Presently, the
desperate cries of Bassye and her accomplices
are heard coming from the attic, where they are
caught and destroyed in their own trap.
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