Yiddish Radio Project Press Preview --> Station Advisory
New York, December 3, 2001
Contact: Yair Reiner, yair@soundportraits.org
Sound Portraits Productions, 212-941-8517
The
Yiddish Radio Project: An Historic Series of Radio Features
Produced by Dave Isay and Henry Sapoznik
Premieres March 19, 2002 on All Things Considered® from NPR News
Yiddish Radio, 1930-1955: All that remains from the golden age of Yiddish radio are 1,000 fragile aluminum discs—one-of-a-kind "air checks" rescued from attics, storerooms, even dumpsters. Since 1985, musician and historian Henry Sapoznik has been on a mission: to locate and preserve every one of these precious surviving recordings before they vanish or decompose. His efforts have unearthed some of the most intimate, emotional, and brilliant radio programs ever broadcast—a one-of-a-kind window on Jewish immigrant culture in the United States from the 1920s-1950s. This spring, Sound Portraits Productions presents the "Yiddish Radio Project," a major NPR series celebrating these recordings and the people who created them.
Ten documentaries and shorter features will be broadcast on All Things Considered on consecutive Tuesdays in March, April and May of 2002. The series will premiere Tuesday March19, 2002 at 4:30 E.S.T. and is produced by MacArthur Fellow David Isay and Yiddish radio rescuer Henry Sapoznik. Translations for the Yiddish language broadcasts (the original programs alternate between Yiddish and English) will be performed by a cast which includes Eli Wallach, Carl Reiner, Isaiah Sheffer, and a cavalcade of Yiddish stars.
Yiddish was the language of the two million Jewish immigrants who flooded into the United States from Eastern Europe at the turn of the last century. In the late 1920s, as the last great wave was arriving at Ellis Island, radio was beginning its meteoric ascendancy in American culture. Jewish immigrants embraced this new technology. By the early 1930s Yiddish radio flourished across the country. More than a dozen stations in New York alone broadcast dramas, advice shows, man-on-the-street interviews, game shows and commercials. All were required to cut single reference recordings of their programs in case theFederal Radio Commission (FRC) received a complaint. The vast majority of these discs were melted down for World War II scrap metal drives or simply disappeared. But the five hundred hours that survive—what a story they tell! Created by a group of dreamers and geniuses (even some charlatans), the programs offer us a chance to travel back to a lost world. They are incalculably precious remnants of a culture all but destroyed in the Holocaust.
"It"s like opening up King Tut"s Tomb," says producer Dave Isay. "These discs allow us to eavesdrop on a people in Renaissance. The shows are mostly in Yiddish, but the voices and spirit captured on them is universal. At a time when New York has lost so much, to be able to bring these long-lost recordings back to life is a profound privilege."
Segments include:
The Radio Dramas of Nahum Stutchkoff: Stutchkoff created some of the most intense, intimate and emotional dramas ever broadcast on radio -- the closest we"ll ever get to experiencing what life was like in the Jewish tenements of New York City. The Yiddish Radio Project profiles a forgotten genius of the Twentieth Century and airs one of his classic episodes for the first time in 60 years. The segment is narrated by Stutchkoff"s son, Misha—who was part of his father"s radio drama acting troupe. English translation of Nahum Stutchkoff by Eli Wallach.
The Jewish Philosopher: Before Dr. Laura, before Dr. Ruth, before Ann Landers, there was C. Israel Lutsky, "The Jewish Philosopher"—the first advice columnist of the air. Despite his lack of credentials, and an abrasive on-air presence, Lutsky quickly became one of the best known and most beloved figures on Jewish radio. English translation of The Jewish Philosopher by Carl Reiner.
Yiddish Melodies in Swing: The show, which ran from 1938 until 1955 on radio station WHN in New York, celebrated a peculiar but wonderful hybrid: the mixture of traditional Yiddish Klezmer music with popular American swing. Forty episodes of the program survive. The segment is narrated by one-time Yiddish singing star Claire Barry, the last surviving member of the show"s cast.
Levine and His Flying Machine: Two weeks after Charles A. Lindbergh"s historic flight across the Atlantic in June 1927, a second plane set out to across the ocean. This one carrying Charles A. Levine, the man destined to become the world"s first transatlantic passenger. Passenger?! Well, to America"s Jewish immigrants, Levine's accomplishment was nothing short of miraculous. His voyage was celebrated in song and story, re-told again and again on Yiddish radio, and then completely forgotten. In this segment, the tale of Levine's spectacular rise, and the unknown account of his terrible fall.
Reunion: Decades before the term "Holocaust" was even part of our vocabulary, this short-lived series featured the voice of a holocaust survivor telling his own story. His name was Seigbert Freiberg and his story was unlike anything ever before heard on the radio. The Yiddish Radio Project presents an extraordinary historical artifact.
Promotional information: A national tour of the Yiddish Radio Project, featuring Henry Sapoznik, Dave Isay, klezmer musicians and Yiddish radio stars is currently being booked. Contact dmiller@soundportraits.org for information about sponsoring an event in your city. (Number of shows is limited.) The series creators will be also be available for interview programs throughout the series" 10-week run.
Ancillary Products: A soundtrack of music from Yiddish Radio Project will be released at the launch of the series. (Promotional sneak previews are available now.) A 2-cd collection of all the Yiddish Radio Project documentaries will be released in June 2002.
Website: YiddishRadioProject.org will launch with the series premier in spring 2002. Visitors will be able to listen to the Yiddish Radio Project documentaries, hear additional Yiddish radio shows with real-time English text translations, and explore other visual and text ephemera. New "wings" of the web site will open each week, corresponding to the segment broadcast.
For further Information: Visit http://YiddishRadioProject.org/stations for details on the radio series, story list, promotional materials, graphics, audio clips and information about our live national barnstorming tour.