The Americanization of Tevye or Boarding the Jewish "Mayflower"

Abstract

WHEN THE MUSICAL, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, OPENED ON BROADWAY IN 1964, Zero Mostel in the character of Tevye introduced a new archetype into American cultural history: the old country immigrant. The success of the musical and its film sequel (1971) startled the producers and creators of the musical as much as it delighted audiences of Broadway, the United States, and later the world. Tevye encapsulated the world of tradition coming to terms with modernization, and in particular Americanization. Tevye was not a new figure for Jewish-American audiences. He was remembered somewhat distantly as a beloved figure in the Yiddish stories of Sholem Aleykhem, the most popular and perhaps the greatest Yiddish writer of the immigrant generation. At least four of his Tevye stories provided the characters and plot material for the musical. Sholem Aleykhem (1859-1916), the pen name of Sholem Rabinowitz, projected the image of a warm comic writer who captured the bittersweet lives and tribulations of his generation torn out of the traditional world of Eastern Europe and forced in many cases to distant emigrations.' The stormy life of Sholem Rabinowitz, the man, in fact, parallels that of his readers. Although quite famous by 1900, the writer was not successful in his financial dealings. In the vain hope of improving his economic lot he immigrated to the United States and arrived in New York in 1906. He produced two plays which failed. Exploited by the local Yiddish press, he returned to Europe in 1907, sorely disappointed. When World War I broke out, rather than return to Tsarist Russia, he ventured across the Atlantic again and was given a splendid reception at Carnegie Hall.