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Podcast: New Books in Performing Arts
Episode: Jewface: “Yiddish” Dialect Songs of Tin Pan Alley
Description: With his fake beard, putty nose, and thick Yiddish accent, the “stage Jew” was once a common character in vaudeville, part of a genre that mocked immigrants and minorities. Essentially a variant of blackface minstrelsy, the music that accompanied these “Jewface” performances was not only performed on stage, but also published as colorfully illustrated sheet music so fans could play them at home. Outrageous and offensive by today’s standards, these “Yiddish” dialect songs exploited a variety of unpleasant stereotypes about Jews.
Based in part on the sheet music collection of The New York Times’ Sunday Magazine Critic-at-large Jody...