PLAY OF THE WEEK, THE: THE WORLD OF SHOLOM ALEICHEM (TV)
Summary
One in this series of dramas. This program dramatizes three Jewish folk tales, each one introduced by Sam Levene, posing as a bookseller. The first one, Sholom Aleichem's "A Tale of Chelm," takes place in Chelm, a town populated with a disproportionate amount of foolish souls. The story concentrates on a teacher who goes to a neighboring village to buy a goat for milking. His friend, however, plays a joke on him and switches the female goat with a male, thus rendering milking useless. Each time the teacher returns the goat for a new one, his friend pulls the same practical joke. In order to solve this dilemma to the satisfaction of his wife, Rifkele, he calls in the local rabbi, who pronounces that he has solved the mystery: every time a female goat is brought to Chelm it changes its sex. The second story, I.L. Peretz's fantasy, "Bontche Schweig," concerns a man, Bontche the Silent, who dies and goes to heaven. Throughout his life he was a model of patience and fortitude despite the tremendous amount of unhappiness and misfortune he suffered. The angels and Abraham reward him for his stoic acceptance of his life on earth by allowing him to ask for anything he wants. Not surprisingly, his one request astounds them all. The final segment, "The High School," tells the story of a Jewish boy who wants to go to high school, and his parents who sacrifice everything to help him achieve his goal. Since many of the neighboring villages allow only a small percentage of Jews to receive an advanced degree, he travels extensively to find a school that will accept him. Finally, he is enrolled in a school, but soon afterwards the students stage a strike to abolish the quota system limiting the number of Jews the school will admit. Commercials deleted.
In the book "Zero," it says that six of the stars of this program were all blacklisted previous to their work on this program. The book says that this program "ended the blacklist."
Details
- NETWORK: WNTA-TV (New York, NY) / PBS forerunner
- DATE: December 14, 1959 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:40:31
- COLOR/B&W: B&W
- CATALOG ID: T90:0065
- GENRE: Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama; Folk tales; Jews
- SERIES RUN: WNTA (Newark, NJ) - TV series, 1959-1961
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Henry T. Weinstein … Producer
- Lewis Freedman … Producer
- Richardson, Donald (See also: Richardson, Don) … Director
- Ed Waglin … Direction (Misc.), Associate Director
- Arnold Perl … Writer, Adapted by
- Ellida Geyra … Choreographer
- Serge Hovey … Music by
- Robert de Cormier … Music by
- Sam Levene … Cast, Mendele the Bookseller
- For "A Tale of Chelm":
- Sholom Aleichem … Writer, Based on the story by
- Zero Mostel … Cast, the Teacher
- Morris Carnovsky … Cast, the Rabbi
- Lee Grant … Cast, the Vendor
- Nancy Walker … Cast, Rifkele
- Charlotte Rae … Cast, an Angel
- For "Bontche Schweig":
- I.L. Peretz … Writer, Based on the story by
- Zero Mostel … Cast, an Angel
- Morris Carnovsky … Cast, an Angel
- Lee Grant … Cast, the Defending Angel
- Jack Gilford … Cast, Bontche Schweig
- Henry Lascoe … Cast, Abraham
- Conrad Josephs … Cast, an Angel
- Frederick Rolf … Cast, the Prosecuting Angel
- Elsa Freed … Cast, an Angel
- Dora Weissman … Cast, an Angel
- For "The High School"
- Sholom Aleichem … Writer, Based on the story by
- Gertrude Berg … Cast, Hannah Katz
- Zero Mostel … Cast, Uncle Maxl
- Morris Carnovsky … Cast, Aaron Katz
- Charlotte Rae … Cast, Aunt Reba
- Henry Lascoe … Cast, the Principal
- Conrad Josephs … Cast, Moishe Katz