Israel Shumacher
 | It has been suggested that this article be merged with Shimon Dzigan to Dzigan and Schumacher. (Discuss) Proposed since June 2025. |
Israel Shumacher[a] (1908 – May 21, 1961) was a Jewish comedian who worked together with Shimon Dzigan, thus forming "Dzigan and Shumacher", one of the most famous Yiddish comic duos in the 20th century.
Career
[edit]Shumacher first met Shimon Dzigan at the Yiddish experimental kleynkunst (cabaret) stage of the theater, Ararat, in Łódź, Poland.[2][3] They formed a comic duo, which drew comparisons to Abbott and Costello. According to one writer, "one of their most famous sketches, 'Einstein Weinstein', plays a lot like "Who's on First."[4]
Dzigan and Shumacher made many films and stage shows in Poland and later in Israel. They founded their own cabaret company, the "Nowości Theater", in 1935 in Warsaw.
"The performances of Dzigan and Shumacher typically opened with skits based on items from daily newspapers. Their humor was aimed at antisemites and government functionaries, but also at themselves and their public. Routines based on domestic life would follow. Dzigan’s persona was that of a hyperactive, happy beggar, endlessly complaining about life as he darted about the stage with his signature red handkerchief hanging from his pocket. The bespectacled Shumacher, in fundamental contrast, was phlegmatic and restrained, glossing his Jewish troubles with subtle gestures of the shoulders and hands."[5]
When Germany invaded Poland, Dzigan and Shumacher fled to Soviet-occupied Białystok, where they pulled their company back together and toured Minsk, Moscow, Leningrad, Kyiv, Kharkov, and other Soviet localities.[5] Shaul Berezovsky composed music for their troupe during this period.
Both were incarcerated in Soviet gulag labor camps.[6] The duo escaped and returned to Poland in 1946, and played themselves in the Yiddish language Polish film, Unzere kinder, the first (semi-)documentary about the Holocaust in Poland.[7][8] They emigrated to Israel in 1950 to rebuild the brilliant artistic path they had forged in Europe and the United States. They performed on stage for thirty years, countless times across the globe. Their works were made into a historic Yiddish-language television program, broadcast in Israel in the 1970s, where they presented their own brand of humor.[9] One bit on the show explained Albert Einstein's theory of relativity with one explaining to the other "If you have seven hairs in your soup, it's a lot. If you have seven hairs on your head, it's very little. That's relativity."[1][10] The duo's TV and live performance was Yiddish satire that focused on their experience in the gulag, fleeing Europe, and their experience as new immigrants to Israel.[6]
Shows
[edit]- On the Ship to Eretz Yisrael[6]
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b Philip Jolly (2010). Jewish Wielun - a Polish Shtetl. p. 380. ISBN 9781445287737.
- ^ ""Ararat" Theatre in Łódź"
- ^ Diego Rotman, The Yiddish Stage as a Temporary Home. Dzigan and Shumacher's Satirical Theater (1927-1980) (introduction online)
- ^ "Shimon Dzigan". SaveTheMusic.com. Retrieved 2015-07-05.
- ^ a b Gross, Natan (2010). "Dzigan and Shumacher". YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. yivoencyclopedia.org. Translated from Polish by Inessa Medzhibovskaya; revised by Michael C. Steinlauf. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
- ^ a b c Yael Remen (2009). Sea of Lights. Xlibris Corporation. p. 561. ISBN 9781465318886.
- ^ Tara Zahra (2015). The Lost Children: Reconstructing Europe's Families after World War II. Harvard University Press. p. 104. ISBN 9780674061378.
- ^ Haltof, Marek (2002). Polish National Cinema. Berghahn Books. ISBN 9781571812766.
- ^ Ariel. Cultural and Scientific Relations Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 1972.
- ^ Harry Brod (2016). Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came to Serve Truth, Justice, and the Jewish-American Way. Simon and Schuster. p. 58. ISBN 9781416595311.
- Dzigan & Shumacher (Israel - Poland / 2009), with photograph[permanent dead link] at PennyLane Productions, 2009
- The National Centre for Jewish Film, "Our Children" (Unzere Kinder), Poland, 1948
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