Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- Jewish Identities in German Popular Entertainment, 1890–1933
- Introduction: Past and Present
- I “PONIM ET CIRCENSES”: JEWISH IDENTITIES IN CIRCUS ENTERTAINMENT, 1870–1933
- II COMIC RELIEF: JEWISH IDENTITIES IN JARGON THEATER, 1890 TO THE 1920S
- Introduction: Different Varieties
- 5 Tongue in Cheek
- 6 All in the Family
- 7 A Limited Engagement
- 8 The Gravity of Laughter
- Conclusion to Part II
- III THE LONELINESS OF THE LIMELIGHT: JEWISH IDENTITIES IN REVUE THEATER, 1898–1933
- Conclusion
- Appendix
- Bibliography
- Index
6 - All in the Family
from II - COMIC RELIEF: JEWISH IDENTITIES IN JARGON THEATER, 1890 TO THE 1920S
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- Jewish Identities in German Popular Entertainment, 1890–1933
- Introduction: Past and Present
- I “PONIM ET CIRCENSES”: JEWISH IDENTITIES IN CIRCUS ENTERTAINMENT, 1870–1933
- II COMIC RELIEF: JEWISH IDENTITIES IN JARGON THEATER, 1890 TO THE 1920S
- Introduction: Different Varieties
- 5 Tongue in Cheek
- 6 All in the Family
- 7 A Limited Engagement
- 8 The Gravity of Laughter
- Conclusion to Part II
- III THE LONELINESS OF THE LIMELIGHT: JEWISH IDENTITIES IN REVUE THEATER, 1898–1933
- Conclusion
- Appendix
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Rosenstock (to his son): Davidchen, what happy people we would be, if I hadn't married your Mama!
Jargon theaters were, in more ways than one, very typical of popular theaters at the time. Appreciated as a welcome distraction for many Gentile and Jewish middle-class families, they nevertheless were subjected to the common bürgerlichen biases. Jargon theaters could never deny their burlesque roots in variety theater. Their celebration of the grotesque and their open irreverence for bourgeois proprieties drew large crowds but also fueled the acid commentary of critics. As folk theaters, they underwent a considerable transformation and embourgeoisement; on stage, protagonists muted their shrill tones in the hope that Jargon theater could be included within more “honorable” theater circles. Despite their “ordinary” flair, and their obsession with the treacherous pitfalls of middle-class sociability, these theaters were also original and daring in their inscription of Jewish life into the domesticity of the German middle classes, the self-proclaimed pillars of civic society.
Given the great contemporary demand for light entertainment, choosing to stage one-act comedies might not appear all that exceptional; choosing to use German-Jewish family life as a setting, however, was extraordinary. This choice cannot be fully explained by the commercial or aesthetic considerations of the main actors. Folkloric comedy did cater most effectively to the interpretative talents of the performers in Jargon theaters, to be true, but it was the combination of the performers' individual aspirations as actors and as German-speaking Jews that allowed them to find their own niche in Berlin's theater world.
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- Jewish Identities in German Popular Entertainment, 1890–1933 , pp. 145 - 159Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006