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SYNOPSIS OF "MY MALKELE"
by William Siegel
This play starred Molly Picon and Aaron Lebedeff.
It was first staged on September 15, 1937 in NYC's Public Theatre.
The synopsis below is from the program doled out during
its performance.
The photographs below are sheet music covers and the
cast members.
A new operetta with
music by Abe Ellstein, lyrics by Jacob Jacobs, and staged by Jacob
Kalich.
ACT ONE
SCENE 1
On the road to
Karitchenitz, something goes wrong with the wagon, and
while the Chasidim wait for the "goy" to repair the
damage, the gabbai of the Sosever rabbi tells them that
he is on his way to Karitchenitz to arrange for the
wedding of Malkele, the Karitchenitzer rabbi's
grand-daughter to Yukel Simche, the Sosever rabbi's
grandson. While waiting they greet the new moon, and off
to Karitchenitz they go.
SCENE 2
In Vienna, where Yankele,
the secret sweetheart of Malkele, is studying music
under the patronage of Julia, who has arranged an
audition for Yankele with the leader of the Chicago
Symphony Orchestra, the sweethearts meet only to part
with a promise that he will return to marry her, but
Malkele fears that she will have the same fate as her
mother, who also was torn away from her sweetheart,
Selig, and forced to marry someone else.
SCENE 3
In Flatbush, N.Y., the
home of Selig, the sweetheart of Malkele's mother,
Selig's old-maid sister, Susel, argues with her mother
that Selig still lives with the memories of Leyele, his
old-time sweetheart. Selig comes home, and his mother
tells him that a countryman from Karitchenitz has
arrived with a message from his old home town, but she
keeps from him the sad news that his sweetheart, Leyele,
is dead. The messenger is none other than Yankele, who
now is concert master with the Chicago symphony, and
keeping his promise to Selig's mother not to tell him
that Leyele is dead, he tells Selig that Leyele's
husband is dead, which news prompts Selig to leave for
Karitchenitz, where he arrives on the day of Malkele's
wedding.
SCENE 4
In Karitchenitz, Yukel
Simche, Malkele's bridegroom arrives, later on, Selig
and his brother Sidney, who has been studying in Vienna.
Selig is greeted by Cheye Toize, the faithful servant of
Malkele, and then meets Malkele, whom he at first
mistakes for Leyele, her mother. Malkele confides in him
that, like her mother, she is being forced to marry
against her will and pleads with him to save her from
her mother's fate. Selig, feeling obligated to the
memory of Leyele, takes advantage of a peculiar
situation and saves Malkele from her mother's fate by
marrying her, so that he can take her as his wife to her
sweetheart in America.
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ACT 2
SCENE 1
A few months later, at Selig's summer
home on Long Island, preparations are being made to receive Malkele,
who is to arrive from Europe with Cheye Tolze, after getting her
permit to land in America. Meanwhile, Susel has finally found a
sweetheart, a lawyer by the name of Butch, who is the spokesman for
a delegation who have come to collect funds for his home town, Sosev,
the delegation being Yukel Simche and his guide, Cheiem. Malkele
arrives and immediately begins asking Selig to give her a divorce,
so that she can marry Yankele, who buy this time has become a
composer in Hollywood. But according to Butch, who informs her of
the intricate divorce proceedings in America, she is led to believe
that Selig has tricked her into marrying him. Selig, to prove to her
his sincerity, arranges to bring Yankele, whom Malkele in her
imagination sees in Hollywood amidst all the glamorous still
faithful to her.
SCENE 2
The lawn of Selig's Long
Island home, where Selig, in spite of his own love for
Malkele, has arranged a reception for Yankele, who
finally arrives from Hollywood, only to shatter
Malkele's dreams by telling her that he is already
married, which brings Malkele to the realization that
"what was good enough for her mother, is good enough for
her."
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