Doing her part to keep Yiddish culture alive, Phyllis Feldman is producing a live performance of the Jewish Radio Hour, a Yiddish radio show that entertained Jewish Canadian immigrants from the 1930s to the 1950s.
Feldman said when she was growing up, the Jewish Radio Hour was a Sunday morning staple in her home.
“When I was a little girl, I remember my parents listening to this radio hour. I would catch snippets of it and it was something that was just part of our history and the Jewish experience,” said Feldman, who is presenting the event at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts on June 17.
“Whether you came in the wave in 1924 from Russia, or you came as Holocaust survivors in the late ’40s, Jews were always looking to connect,” she said.
“Jewish Radio Hour gave them a way to connect to their new community and they knew that Jews were being accepted because there was something for them. There was a Jewish Radio Hour. There was no Internet, there was no TV. That was really their beacon of information and connectivity.”
She said the program provided information about life cycle events in the community, featured interviews with prominent Jews such as members of Parliament, and after the establishment of Israel in 1948, the program provided news and updates.
“There was also wonderful Yiddish entertainment. That was a big part of it. There would be a performer who would be in town and would be performing at the Strand Theatre … They would come on the radio and perform live,” Feldman said.
Feldman, a former board member of Ashkenaz Foundation, the Jewish Film Society and the Medina Theatre Ensemble, said she was inspired to produce the show when she saw a similar performance as part of the Ashkenaz Festival 12 years ago.
“It was a smaller performance of the Jewish Radio Hour. I have always been into entertainment and Yiddish culture and slice of life stuff… I’ve been working on it for the past year and a half. It’s in a much bigger venue, different show, expanded script,” she said.
“People are hungry for this.”
She said, the show, presented through her production company, Red Line Communications, will be in English and in Yiddish.
“You don’t need to understand Yiddish to get the gist,” she said.
“It’s really a collage of a Jewish radio program, but there is a story in there about one of the announcers, a beloved announcer named Harry Harris. Back in the day, people loved him.”
Harry Harris will be played by David Gale, an award-winning performer, writer, singer, comedian, and director who currently leads Yiddish theatre classes for UJA Federation of Greater Toronto and the Committee for Yiddish.
Other performers of the show, written and directed by actor, writer and singer Theresa Tova, and featuring musical direction by Toronto pianist, singer, arranger, and composer Fern Lindzon, include actor Harvey Atkin, most famous for his role as the voice of Leon’s Furniture for more than two decades; Aviva Chernick, the lead singer of the Juno Award-nominated world music ensemble Jaffa Road; and Moish Kanatkin, a children’s storytelling performer, actor and author.
She said the show at the Richmond Hill theatre, which can accommodate 600 people, is nearly sold out.
“There has been a huge resurgence in Yiddish culture. If you look at the 1970s on, the revival of Yiddish as a language… there has been a huge revival,” she said.
“I think it’s really important to preserve what we have and let people know that this really is a golden nugget that I wanted to bring back so people could enjoy.”
To purchase tickets, visit rhcentre.ca or call the box office at 905-787-8811.
