Theo Bikel (1924–2015)

Abstract

Theodore Meir “Theo” Bikel was a consummate performer and actor, as well as political activist. Born in Vienna, he fled with his family to Palestine in 1938, where he became an actor in Tel Aviv; he moved to London following the war, where he continued as an actor and also budding folk performer. He learned folk songs while involved with Alan Lomax and the American expatriate leftwing community; he appeared on Lomax’s BBC television series Song Hunter. One British police report noted in early 1954, while keeping watch on both Lomax and Ives: “It has recently been learnt that Burl IVES, the well-known broadcaster of hill-billy music, was first given his chance to broadcast on the American radio by LOMAX who also assisted Josh WHITE another American singer to gain public approval.” The Red Scare was alive and well in Great Britain, although much more muted that in the United States. Bikel moved that year to the United States and quickly plunged into the worlds of Broadway theater and commercial folk music. His New York apartment quickly became a gathering spot for folk musicians, including the Clancy Brothers and Cynthia Gooding. For the rest of his life Bikel juggled his acting and singing careers, with great success in both, while always continuing his progressive politics. His Hollywood career began in 1951 with John Houston’s The African Queen, with Bikel playing a World War I German naval officer, soon followed by Moulin Rouge, The Pride and the Passion, The Enemy Below, The Defiant Ones, and My Fair Lady, to name only a few. On Broadway he began with Tonight in Samarkand, then had a string of hits, including The Sound of Music, for which Rodgers and Hammerstein included “Edelweiss” just for him; he appeared as Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof for at least 2,000 performances beginning in 1967. Meanwhile, he appeared in various television productions. He managed to squeeze into this busy schedule dozens of folk-music albums, beginning with An Actor’s Holiday, Folk Songs of Israel, and a Young Man and a Maid with Cynthia Gooding, all for Elektra in 1956. Two years later Songs of a Russian Gypsy appeared, then many more albums for Jac Holzman’s label during the following decade. With his facility for languages, Bikel’s albums added to the numerous international recordings of the 1950s, which deftly countered the Cold War’s suspicion of foreigners. As if his acting and performing careers were not enough, in 1956 Bikel opened two pioneering folk venues in Los Angeles with Herb Cohen. The first, the Unicorn, seating fewer than 100, launched the career of the folk duo Bud and Travis. Soon thereafter Bikel and Cohen opened Cosmo Alley, behind the Ivar Theater in Hollywood, which seated 150 and served beer and wine, and where Maya Angelou