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Old Yiddish Classic Film
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4
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1992
MICHAEL ELKIN
Special to The Jewish News
M
iracle of miracles,
Miriam Riselle
Orloff is a movie
star once again — more than
50 years since her last movie
was released.
"Life can be funny — and
exciting," says Ms. Orloff,
star of the 1939 Yiddish
classic Tevye, offered now in
videotape with English sub-
titles by Ergo Media Inc. of
Teaneck, N.J., its sole au-
thorized distributor.
This tale of the tape is a
matter of fortuitous timing:
Tevye has just been chosen
by the Library of Congress
for inclusion in the National
Film Registry, the first Jew-
ish-oriented movie to be so
honored.
Ms. Orloff registers little
surprise at the selection.
After all, she says, the film
is a classic.
With her classicial good
looks, Ms. Orloff looks the
part of star but acts more the
role of host, serving up souf-
fle and stories for a couple of
visitors to her home in
Valley Forge.
This is no Anatevka. Set
back in the rustic, rolling
hills of Valley Forge Na-
tional Park, Pa., the Orloff
residence — home to
Miriam, husband Mickey
and their dog, Fergie —
houses a treasure trove of
anecdotes and memories.
But neither the home nor
the actress is a museum
piece. Still active in her 70s
as a prominent sculptor, Ms.
Orloff helps give shape to
idyllic tales about being a
screen idol.
In 1939, she co-starred
with legendary actor
Maurice Schwartz — who
also happened to be her
uncle — in the film that
predated Broadway's
Fiddler on the Roof by 25
years.
Ms. Orloff's Tevye, also
directed by Mr. Schwartz,
was a traditional tale of
father and daughter not see-
ing oy to oy: The youthful
Chava's love for Feyde, a
Russian gentile, set the
stage for a confrontation
over traditions and inter-
marriage.
Unlike the dancing
dairyman who raised the
roof in Fiddler,Mr.
Schwartz's Tevye is less
Michael Elkin is entertain-
ment editor of the Jewish Ex-
ponent in Philadelphia.
A scene from the 1939 movie Tevye.
forgiving, more orthodox in
adhering to his opposition to
the mixed marriage.
Tevye proved quite a mat-
chmaker of talent: As
Chava, Orloff —then known
as Miriam Riselle — was a
strong-willed counterpart in
her conflicts with the unflin-
ching Tevye portrayed by
Mr. Schwartz.
While she defied his
character on screen, Ms.
Orloff deified her uncle off-
screen.
"He was a superman, a
dynamo, a John Barryrnore
look alike," she says of the
stage star whose Yiddish Art
Theater was a vibrant force
until its closing in New York
in 1950.
Ms. Orloff remembers the
filming on Long Island, not
far from the home she loved
in Brooklyn and New York.
Make that homes. "We
moved every three months,"
she remembers, "because in
New York, you could get the
first three months of rent
free. So we moved all the
time during the Depression;
it was cheaper that way."
Ms. Orloff's memories are
rich with names of the best
in the business —people who
entered and exited her
famous uncle's life, as well
as hers, leaving an impact in
the actress' appreciation for
technique and talent: Paul
Muni, Ben Hecht, Charlie
Chaplin, Joseph
Schildkraut, John Car-
radine.
All were products of a time
of artistic growth but finan-
cial depression around the
country — as well as an era
of disturbing news about
burgeoning atrocities
against Jews in Nazi Ger-
many.
Now, 53 years after its
filming, Tevye seems
timeless, far from dated in
its message of mutual
understanding and the need
to maintain strong spiritual
and ethnic ties in the face of
assimilation.
Indeed, there are no mixed
signals about the destruc-
tiveness of mixed marriages
in the 1939 film. On the one
hand, Tevye loves his
daughter; on the other hand,
when it comes to marrying
outside the faith . . . there is
no other hand.
Ms. Orloff give lavish
credit to her uncle, who, she
Ms. Orloff helps
give shape to
idyllic tales,
says, combined message and
entertainment in a movie
made even more marvelous
by the fact that it was silent-
screen star Mr. Schwartz's
first attempt at a talkie as
actor/director.
While it has elicited ef-
fusive praise from many
critics — the New York
Times has called Tevye
"more authentic than the
latter-day stage and screen
versions of this durable folk
tale" -- the film did not
translate into a major career
move for Ms. Orloff.
"I discovered, disturbing-
ly," says Ms. Orloff, "that
Hollywood didn't think I
could speak English."
More than anything, she
spoke the language of
theater, having studied at
New York's Neighborhood
Playhouse with such stars as
Eli Wallach and Lorne
Green.
"I was preparing for a ca-