May 7, 1925 – Brooklyn

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[Note: This postcard is the ninth note Papa wrote to my grandmother while she was vacationing at her cousin’s farm in Connecticut. It’s also the last surviving bit of Papa’s correspondence from the year 1925. To see a full-sized scan of the card, click the thumbnail image on the right of this page.]

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N.Y. Thursday May 7th, 1925
12 noon

My dear Jeanie:

I showed them the pictures, and they were all
glad to see them.1

There was a portly girl I just don’t remember
her name but she seems to be very much in love
with Bob.2 She played the piano and Bob the violin
but father refused to sing his famous song
A Yingele fon Poilen.3 Yes you ought to see Honey
with his new boyish haircut, He recognized on the
pictures, Symie, the dog Barney and almost everybody.4

Please write me exactly the time when you’re leaving
With kindest regards to all I am yours faithfully

Harry

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Matt’s Notes

1 – In his last letter, Papa mentioned his intention to visit my grandmother’s family and show them pictures he’d taken while visiting her for the weekend at her cousin’s farm in Connecticut. Even though they didn’t seem especially anxious to have her back — her sister Sally certainly wasn’t sorry to see her go and her mother had suggested that she stay in the country an extra week — Papa obviously thought her family shared his inability to live without a glimpse of her a moment longer.

2 – As we’ve mentioned before, my grandmother’s brother, Bob, was a bit of a rake and his family was probably quite familiar with him bringing home women who seemed “very much in love” with him.

3 – The Yiddish song “A Yingele fon Poilen (A Little One from Poland)”, also known as “Di Mame iz Gegangen in Mark Arayn” (Mother Went to Market)”, tells the story of a young man whose mother introduces him to several lovely young women, one of whom he eventually falls in love with. Dozens of artists from Itzak Perlman to the Klezmatics have made recordings of this song, including this one by the Kharkof Klezmer Band (via Last.fm):

There are a couple of translations of this song floating around the Internets, but the most authoritative seems to be this one from the 2000 San Francisco Jewish Film Festival Web site:

“Di Mame iz Gegangen in Mark Arayn”

Oy di Mameh iz gegangen in mark arayn noch kayln.
Oy hot zi mir tzurichgebracht a maydeleh fun Payln.
Ay ay iz dos a maydeleh, a shayns un a feins,
Oy mit di shvartzeh aygelech, oy ketzeleh du meins.

Oy di Mameh iz gegangen in mark arayn noch krayt.
Oy hot zi mir tzurichgebracht a maydeleh fun bayd.
Ay ay iz dos a maydeleh, a shayns un a feins,
Oy mit di shvartzeh aygelech, oy ketzeleh du meins

Oy di mameh is gegangen in mark noch a katchkeh.
Oy hot zi mir tzurichgebracht a maydeleh, a tzatzkeh.
Ay ay iz dos a maydeleh, a shayns un a feins,
Oy mit di viseh tzayndelech, oy ketzeleh du meins.

Ich hob gegessen mandlen; Ich hob getrunken vein;
Ich hob geleibt a maydeleh; Ich ken ohn ir nit zein.
Ay ay iz dos a maydeleh, a shayns un a feins,
Oy mit di rayteh bekelech, oy ketzeleh du meins.

Translation

“Mother Went to Market”

Oh, Mother went to market to buy coal.
She brought me back a girl from Poland.
Oh, what a girl, beautiful and fine,
With those black eyes, little kitten you’re mine

Oh, Mother went to market to buy cabbage.
She brought me back a girl, just off the carriage.
Oh, what a girl, beautiful and fine,
With those black eyes, little kitten you’re mine.

Oh, Mother went to market to get a duck.
She brought me back a girl, a treasure.
Oh, what a girl, beautiful and fine,
With those white teeth, little kitten you’re mine.

I’ve eaten almonds; I’ve drunk wine;
I’ve loved a girl; I can’t live without her.
Oh, what a girl, beautiful and fine;
With those rosy cheeks, little kitten you’re mine.

“A Yingele fon Poilen” was well-known in the Yiddish-speaking community at large, and my grandmother’s father must have sung it a lot if Papa called it “his famous song.” So why was my great-grandfather reluctant to sing it on this occasion, especially since his violin-playing son, Bob, and Bob’s piano-playing girlfriend could have accompanied him? We can’t know, of course, but I tend to think he didn’t approve of Bob’s new girlfriend and didn’t want to give her a tacit endorsement by joining her in a song about a Jewish boy in love.

This may seem like a lot to infer from a short line in a postcard, but it wouldn’t be out of character for my grandmother’s parents to disapprove of a potential child-in-law so overtly. As you may recall, they originally wanted Papa to marry my grandmother’s relatively undesirable sister, Sally; Papa may have been a poor factory worker, but they figured he was better than nothing. When he fell in love with my young, beautiful grandmother instead, they tried for years to cool his ardor. My great-grandfather directly asked Papa to forget about her and pay attention to Sally, and when that didn’t work the family tried to turn Papa off to my grandmother by messing up her hair and dressing her in unflattering clothes and glasses when he would come around. Eventually they became plain unfriendly to Papa, according to my mother. Did my great-grandfather stop singing “A Yingele fon Poilen” in front of him, too?

4 – As mentioned previously, “Honey” was the nickname of my great-aunt Rose’s son, Harold. We don’t know who “Symie” was, but he certainly had a good nickname.

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References:

Other recordings of “A Yingele fon Poilen”, a.k.a. “Di Mame iz Gegangen in Mark Arayn”, available on the Web include:

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