RIP Chaim Topol

[Tom from Rubicon]

Chaim Topol - Wikipedia

For no other reason than Fiddler on the Roof.

Tom

[Chippie]

Chaim Topol - Wikipedia

For no other reason than Fiddler on the Roof.

Tom

There appears to be lots of reasons for publishing that,or am I reading you wrong Tom?

[CWSmith]

I enjoyed everything I saw him in, which I regret was not enough.

[Durnik]

thanks for the wiki.. I knew him only from Fiddler on.. and that was a most excellent story.

[L.W. Baxter]

There appears to be lots of reasons for publishing that,or am I reading you wrong Tom?

i reckon tom left the "if" off the turn of phrase, "if for no other reason..."

to life! l'chaim!

[Durnik]

a gift from Fiddler on..

Tradition.png

[Tom from Rubicon]

Thanks Lee, you read my mind loud and clear. Just because, Mona and I watched Fiddler on the Roof again last night.
NPR said Topol claimed he played Teyve 3500 times.

Tom

[Gerarddm]

I confess I never 'got' Fiddler on the Roof.

[L.W. Baxter]

i had the soundtrack album as a kid. believe it was a double. i must have spun it hundreds of times.

then my mom ran a local community theater production that impressed the hell out of me. they even had three staircases built.

[L.W. Baxter]

mom played the butchers wife, perched on the shoulders of a big swede, with a sheet over her. incredible stuff for a kinnygartner.

[TomF]

He sure played Tevye well. Helluva role, in helluva musical.

I wonder if Fiddler could be written today, or performed, without controversy about whether it reproduced stereotypes, or was cultural appropriation, or whether the ethnicity and skin tones of prospective cast members should be considered during the auditions.

[WI-Tom]

I confess I never 'got' Fiddler on the Roof.

Try it again. It's worth it. One of the best-written, best-acted (the film version) musicals of the 20th century, I think.

Or is it a "I don't get musicals" kind of thing? That's a different thing.

Tom

[Breakaway]

May his memory be a blessing.

FOTR is a great play, with great music. Its message of a culture threatened by homogenization due to social, economic and political forces is still applicable over 100 years after Shalom Aleichem's original novel.

Kevin

[CWSmith]

He sure played Tevye well.

There is a PBS special about the play and the author. They said that Topol being Israeli brought a very real reinterpretation to the role. The words are the same, but the inflections changed the personality of the character significantly.

[StevenBauer]

[David G]

I loved his dedication to the traditions of his culture. I love our families little traditions. But every time his said the word, I wanted an edit (but be very careful WHICH traditions you cleave to).

[WI-Tom]

There is a PBS special about the play and the author. They said that Topol being Israeli brought a very real reinterpretation to the role. The words are the same, but the inflections changed the personality of the character significantly.

That's very true. Tevye in the musical is a big(ish) slow-moving, slow-talking guy. In the stories he's very very different, much more of a quicker wit, from what I remember. I like the musical version better, but maybe that's because I saw it first.

Tom

[robm]

a culture threatened by homogenization due to social, economic and political forces

I think now we might call it "ethnic cleansing", or something similar. Slow-moving genocide?

[Tom from Rubicon]

mom played the butchers wife, perched on the shoulders of a big swede, with a sheet over her. incredible stuff for a kinnygartner.

You had a charmed life Lee. Is your Ma still kicking? I always wondered whether big Swedes made a better effect than Norwegians.

Tom

[Breakaway]

I think now we might call it "ethnic cleansing", or something similar. Slow-moving genocide?

Yeah, sure. Plus prejudices and bigotry. But also just the march of time. Culture creep.
Very few of us live in ethnic neighborhoods anymore. Food, music, attire, entertainment etc all continues to move towards a central sameness.
Bland ( easier to make, market, ship and sell) beats diverse in a capitalist world. At least, it seems to have been moving that way for over 100 years. And, Fiddler was written ( original novel Teyve the Dairyman) in the 1890s right as industrialism exploded on the world. Fading culture was likely more apparent the. Nowadays, we have been in a mostly slow boil for a century

Kevin


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[WI-Tom]

And, Fiddler was written ( original novel Teyve the Dairyman) in the 1890s right as industrialism exploded on the world. Fading culture was likely more apparent the. Nowadays, we have been in a mostly slow boil for a century

Kevin

It's not a novel if I remember correctly, but a series of short stories.

Tom

[CWSmith]

I've read a collection of IB Singer's stories and while I'm not Jewish there is a certain universal truth to them.

I would like to read the stories that Fiddler is based on and I suspect I would enjoy them, too.

[Breakaway]

It's not a novel if I remember correctly, but a series of short stories.

Tom

You are correct


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[L.W. Baxter]

You had a charmed life Lee. Is your Ma still kicking? I always wondered whether big Swedes made a better effect than Norwegians.

Tom

thanks, yes, mom and dad are alive and well, snowed in on an idaho mountainside.

the wisconsin farming community we lived in had both norwegians and swedes. my impression of those i knew was that the swedes were gregarious, the norwegians reserved. the "norwegian bachelor farmer" is a real thing. or was, back then. they may have, ah, bred themselves out of existence?

[WI-Tom]

thanks, yes, mom and dad are alive and well, snowed in on an idaho mountainside.

the wisconsin farming community we lived in had both norwegians and swedes. my impression of those i knew was that the swedes were gregarious, the norwegians reserved. the "norwegian bachelor farmer" is a real thing. or was, back then. they may have, ah, bred themselves out of existence?

Well, dang, Baxter--I didn't know you had ties to Wisconsin. Whereabouts?

Tom