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Current Exhibitions > The Man and his Music > Sholom Secunda |
Tributes
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In 1971 I was cultural director at Camp
Hemshekh, a Bundist summer camp in the Catskills, which was a bastion of
Yiddish singing and culture. Our musical director was Zalmen Mlotek, who
instilled a love and
passion for Yiddish song in the entire camp community -- ages six to
twenty. Every Friday night was Kultur Nakht (Culture Night) -- when the
camp and staff dressed in white shirts and blouses and dark bottoms, and
gathered in the casino to perform Yiddish songs of various themes --
Gebirtig, summer songs, love songs ... We knew that Sholom Secunda was
the musical director at the Concord Hotel, which was a fifteen-minute
ride from camp. It was Zalmen's idea to create an evening in his honor,
performed by our incredibly talented campers. He and I made an
appointment to see him at the Concord to follow up on a letter of
invitation that Zalmen had written a few weeks earlier, and he was welcoming, gracious
and flattered that we wanted so much to honor him. The concert that we
prepared for him featured his biggest hits, performed by incredibly
talented and exuberant children, who were very aware of the stature of
our guest of honor. He was blown away by the sheer beauty of over one
hundred children singing a medley of Yiddish theatre songs, or a pair of
adorable twins singing and dancing one of his many hit songs. In his
experience, Yiddish was from the generation before and was fading from
the world, and to experience it in full bloom felt like a miracle. He
wrote about this in the Yiddish Forward later that summer, and made a
point of telling his Yiddish theater colleagues -- keep an eye on Zalmen
and Moishe. You'll be hearing more from them in the years to come.
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I knew and loved Sholom. My father, Pesach'ke and he were lifelong friends and colleagues. He composed many of the musicals my father starred in. My father even lent him his own tuxedo to wear at Sholom's wedding to Betty. In 1929 they took a trip, together with another colleague, Abe Sincoff, to California, visiting with their old buddy, Paul Muni and having a great time in Hollywood. I have stayed in touch with Sholom's son, Gene, over the years. |
Mike Burstyn |
From Sam Milstein: For years my family would summer in the Catskills at a bungalow colony. It was all European immigrants and many survivors. Some families would stay for the summer, others would come for a week or two. The nearest village was South Fallsburg, which is close to Mountaindale. At the bungalow colony -- which was very much like camp -- we did the usual things -- swimming, baseball, volleyball, gin rummy etc. But there was a casino, and there was always some version of culture night on the weekend. My grandparents were killed during the war, and I was always jealous of any kid who had at least one. My family knew Secunda and he would visit with us often. I am not sure when I first met him, but at some point I decided that he would be my grandfather. He was very accommodating and extremely warm to me. This was during the 1950’s. My strongest memories were of the two of us walking in the woods near the bungalows. He would talk about the forest and point out some of nature’s wonders. I was awestruck. He showed me how to make a walking stick and how to carve it using a jack knife. He showed me how to make a bow and arrow and how to shoot it. At that point in my life, I was learning to play the accordion and he encouraged me to sing and play on talent night. So I did. We rehearsed "Bei Mir Bist du Shein" until I was confident, and I belted it out for all I was worth. Won the prize that night -- and I remember him laughing and congratulating me. |
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This exhibition had been curated by the Museum Director Steven Lasky.
Copyright @ Museum of the Yiddish Theatre