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A History of The Folksbiene

 

The Bronx Express, 1968
by Osip Dymow

1968-1969 Season

Folksbiene Playhouse
175 East Broadway
New York, NY


 

 

Zypora Spaisman, Joshua Zeldis et al
Courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York
 

Joshua Zeldis et al
Courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York

 

Avi Hoffman (Avremele), who played "Yossele Hungershtoltz" in "Bronx Express, 1968," tells his audience during his one-man performance of "Still Jewish, After All These Years," about his experience in this role. You can listen to him speak about it by clicking here. (Thanks to Avi for permitting this part of his performance to appear here.)

 
 

Cast of "Bronx Express, 1968"
Courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York

 
The Cast of Characters:   A review from the New York Times, November 16, 1968

First Subway Passenger
Second Subway Passenger
Third Subway Passenger
Khatzkel Hungershtoltz
Jack Flame
Sarah Hungershtoltz
Yossele Hungershtoltz
Gabriel Dobzhansky
David
Reizele Hungershtoltz
Miss Subway 1968
Mr. Marlboro
Miss Clairol
Mr. Chock Full of Nuts
Miss Anacin
Subway Conductor

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Sonia Zomina
Ben Feivelowitz
Max Pollack
Joshua Zeldis
Jack Rechtzeit
Zypora Spaisman
Avremele (Avi) Hoffman
Morris Adler
Nathan Lieblich
Irene Dunkel
Dina Schwartzman
Max Pollack
Sonia Zomina
Ben Feivelowitz
Sarah Stabin
Bard Wechsler

Subway passengers, men and women

Time: Present

Place: Prologue -A subway train
          Act 1 -- Khatzkel's home in the Bronx
          Act 2 -- Flame's advertising company as Madison Avenue

Epilogue -- A subway train and station

 

Folksbiene Yiddish Troupe Opens New Season With an Updated Comedy
by Richard F. Shepard

The venerable and usually sober-sided Folksbiene Yiddish Theatre opened its new season on Friday in a light-hearted vein, its first comedy in many years, "Bronx Express, 1968."

The original "Bronx Express" was written by Osip Dymow and was first performed in the 1920s, when the immigrant was still running full-tilt into America and Mammon. The theme is kept in Abraham Schulman's new version, directed by David Licht, with a dramatically effective subway car set, the work of Harry Baum.

The story still has the flavor of those original years, despite the modernization. Khatzkel, a humble Bronx button-factory worker with a penchant for sleeping in the subway on the way hoe to the Bronx, meets a landsman, Jack Flame (formerly Yankele Flames), on the train.

The Bronx? Flame is shocked. That's not America. America is Madison avenue, Wall Street. Flame is an advertising man. "Those who bluff make millions, those who are bluffed make buttons."

Khatzkel is seduced by the promise of millions and goes into advertising to make it big, big, big. He chucks home and hearth and wheels and deals with Mr. Marlboro, Miss Anacin, Miss Clairol, Miss Subways. He becomes rich and miserable. But he's lucky. It's a dream and he wakes up in the comfortable Bronx.

Joshua Zeldis, one of the Folksbiene's yeoman troupers, has a knowing air of bewilderment and bedazzlement. Jack Rechtzeit has a wonderful evening as the flashy, loud-mouthed allrightnik. Flame, who leers, emotes and gesticulates throughout for an amusing performance. Others in the cast measure up, including a little boy, Avremele Hoffman, who plays the young son and displays a sense of humor.

Although "Bronx Express, 1968" is somewhat dated and overlong, it has an appeal for anyone who can think back to the clash of values that the immigrant, whether religious or politically idealistic, faced then and ponder on the conflict the grandchildren are having today.





 

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