"Old Jews Telling Jokes' in New York

Jackie Miles was a sad-faced comedian who used a Yiddish accent to make his points. Back in the '50s, on the night of my high school senior prom at the late, lamented Latin Casino, I heard him relate how he made his first trip to Florida:

"I found a beach. No one was on the beach. So I put my towel down and went into the ocean. When I came out a big man with a Southern accent said to me, "'What are you doing here? Didn't you see the sign? It says Private Beach. No Swimming Allowed.' I said to him, "'Oy. To me, the sign said: Private Beach? No! Swimming Allowed.'"

It's the quintessential Jewish joke. Not only does it use an accent to rekindle old memories, it also trades on the hostility that Jews of a certain age encountered when they tried to enter new places.

Old Jews Telling Jokes presents a quintet of performers delivering material of that genre (although not that particular joke). In between jokes, the performers explain that their purpose is to rekindle Jews' fondness for their forebears, or— in these days of intermarriage— to teach some family members about the background of others.

Frenchman and German

For an hour and a half, one routine follows another, to the audience's great amusement. The styles of each actor vary: from the extroverted Lenny Wolpe, the deadpan Todd Susman, and the sarcastic Marilyn Sokol to two youngsters, Audrey Lynn Weston and Bill Army, who prove that you don't have to be old to dig this stuff.

Some of their stories are presented as stand-up, some as comedy sketches, and many derive from classics told during the heyday of the Borscht Belt in the Catskills. For example:

A Frenchman, a German and a Jew are walking in the desert. The Frenchman says, "I am so tired and thirsty. I must have some French wine." The German says, "I am so tired and thirsty. I must have some German beer." The Jew says, "I am so tired and thirsty. I must have diabetes."

Or this:

A husband suspects that his wife is trying to poison him. He goes to see his rabbi for advice. The rabbi says, "Give me a chance to talk with her, and I'll get back to you." Next day the rabbi calls the husband and says, "I had a long talk with your wife— about three hours." The husband asks, "Yes, so what's your advice?" The rabbi replies: "Take the poison."

Absence of Yiddish

My one caveat is that much of the humor embodies several degrees of separation from what my parents and grandparents enjoyed. Consider the absence of Yiddish, the hybrid German/Hebrew language used commonly in pre-war Europe and by Jewish immigrants to the U.S.

Yiddish expressions once abounded in mainstream Broadway musicals of the 1920s, shows like Eddie Cantor's Whoopee. One of George Gershwin's biggest hits, Girl Crazy, depicted a Manhattan cabbie named Geiber Goldfarb who drove a rich playboy all the way to an Arizona dude ranch. There the men encountered an Indian man who spoke impeccable Yiddish, whereupon Geiber exclaimed, "Oy gevalt, a Yiddishe Indian!" That got big laughs in 1930.

But there's no Yiddish in Old Jews Telling Jokes. No doubt the producers perceived that assimilated 21st-Century audiences, three or four generations removed from Ellis Island, might not understand the words.

Struggling no more

Also missing in action here are jokes that depict immigrant Jews struggling for recognition and engaging in smart-aleck confrontations with non-Jews (presumably not so funny in a world where Jews are no longer perceived as underdogs). Instead, much of the humor revolves around Jewish mothers, ungrateful children, business dealings and sex. Raunchy off-color material abounds, blissfully liberated from the restrictions of the old "Ed Sullivan" show.

Business acumen is celebrated, as in one routine where a merchant opens a store in direct competition with neighboring businesses. His rival on one side has a sign saying Lowest Prices. His rival on the other side has a sign that says Greatest Selection. Weinstein puts a sign over his doorway saying Main Entrance. This joke and others are abetted by clever visual projections designed by Bob Gallo.

Tensions between spouses merge with business rivalry in the familiar joke about Ginsburg, who comes home in the afternoon and finds his wife in bed with his business partner. "Sidney, what are you doing?" he says in astonishment. "I have to! But you?"

Is there an intermission? No. You get out early enough to call your mother.