A Slice of Picon Pie

When i recount my childhood days of yore, one of the warmest memories that I travel back to is of a Catskills New York summer, somewhere in time, (aka the early 1970s) and how each respective Friday evening, my grandmother, and her BBF (Best Bungalow Friend) a vivacious soul that went by the name Bertha, and Iittle I, would take a quick sojourn up the road to an upstate Shangri-La, known in some circles as The Tamarack Hotel (which presently, due to neglect and a few fires, has been abandoned some years now). And as with most of the Catskills, where many a bungalow colony still remains, lest the summer lodgers that would occupy, a sadly lost tradition that began for a people Metropolitan, who sought summer refuge, a three month respite, away from the urban madness.

I was oh so very young, but I do remember this one such gala evening, because not only were we on route to the hotel to be wowed by some wondrous weekend entertainer, but as we were ascending, I witnessed for the first time in my life, this fantastic burst of light in the seven o'clock sky - my first shooting star, and on the way to another one, because to Grandma Fay, Margaret Piekoon who her audience knew as  Molly Picon was a living legend personified.

She was a light leading, a stalwart of Yiddish theater, and although born in America to Russian immigrant parents, her songs of whimsy sung  traditionally Jewish, also the fact that Picon was as seemingly all-American whilst every bit a yiddishe mamale, while on the other hand my Grandmother a holocaust survivor born in Lodz, Poland, only emigrating to America in the early 1950's was a generation apart in a sense. Picon's was a voice that would speak to my grandmother and would indeed become a sister kindred for her.

My one regret is that I cannot recall the songs that Picon regaled us with, I only remember that it was an electric experience.  I don't remember ever seeing my grandmother more ecstatic than she was that very evening. After her set, Molly passed by the table we were sat at and stopped to speak to my grandmother, who was in euphoria at this point, and she then proceeded to pinch my cheek and give me a kiss. At the time I didn't realize her importance or what she represented for my people and that I now, would feel the same spiritual connection with her that Grandma felt.



A diminutive dazzler who stood but 4 feet 11 inches, was giant in the talent department, she could shimmy, she could write, and oh boy could she make beautiful music, and quite so, as she was a multi-instrumentalist and virtuoso. And as the Fates would decree, Molly was both exposed and inspired to the theater industry, when it was her mother Clara, also a woman of many talents; who would job as a seamstress for a local Philadelphia Yiddish theater company. Her feet first touched the stage at the age of five and would shuffle her off to villa vaudeville, where she'd soon be a sensation, and in moneymaker fashion, for she was a hybrid of two worlds, one of old Yiddish theater and then again, she could yankee doodle dandy it, with the best of them. 

                       Und Sie ist ein  Tanzen Queen


In another fateful event, Picon, in Boston during the 1918 pandemic of influenza, found the only company that still had their lights on at that time. The producer, Jacob Kalich, a Polish emigre who specialized in Yiddish theater, was immediately smitten with the young Picon, both as a performer and a gal he'd love having on his arm, and Presto Chango; the two would become an item. The following year, they married and embarked on a performance spree in Europe, one that would have them dancing and singing their way into foreign hearts. The duet, with their effortless genius, and inexhaustible showstopping antics, were well received on that continent, and they would return to America as established international stars replete with many a rave write-up and would repeat the same such phenomenon now in their home sweet home country.

Picon was undoubtedly gamine, and her tomboyish ambiguity would be one of her performance devices and there were occasions that Picon, in her early twenties was dressing as a boy and did so for the character Yonkele - a Jewish equivalent of Peter Pan, who lived a life aggrandized and was adamant about turning the world into a veritable Utopia. In fact it was this character Yonkele that Picon identified most with and she insisted that there was a verisimilitude, a truth in character's jest.

                              I'm a Yonkele Doodle Dandy!


In Sidney M Goldin's 1923 silent Yiddish film, Ost und West (East and West) Molly would cash in once again on the ambiguity, and in a controversial role about a girl who is torn between secular and religious life. Picon can be seen here partaking in a boxing match and lifting heavy weights, activities that were at the time, seemingly unheard of - especially given she was a girl, and one of elfin stature.

                          A tomboy incarnate.

In 1940, Molly would finally make her way to the Great White Way - in a rare all English language production called Morning Star, a successful play in which 63 performances would ensue for the petite powerhouse, but despite this turn, her public would yen for her yiddishisms and not only would they get what they asked for, but she historically would go on to perform her own original songs, all in the Yiddish tongue and on Broadway to boot with  Oy is dus a Leben!

                         The little lady was a giant.

Picon, an absolute altruist, would soon sing for the soldiers morale as she toured the USO rounds for troops training in the states, and for Canadians in refugee camps. When the war was over, it was Picon that was the first entertainer to perform for the displaced persons camp of holocaust survivors in Poland. Picon was an unsung healer she would often administer performance as medicine and was one of the most charitable and humble entertainers of her time.

              And she did radio too, when did she have time to schluff?


Broadway would be calling again in 1961, where Molly would star in one of her most celebrated roles, one in which she would nearly take home a Tony award for her staggering acting in; Milk and Honey. She
would have a nod again - but this time it would be the Oscars giving the honors, for her portrayal of Sophie Baker, in 1963's Come Blow Your Horn, a role that showcased the actress's range, as she would play the gentile mother of Frank Sinatra. In the same year, Picon would star in several guest roles in noted televisual series as Car 54, Where are You and Dr. Kildare, to name a few and films. And in 1971, she could not be forgotten as matchmaker magnifique 'Yente,' in Norman Jewison's  wildly popular film adaptation of the musical Fiddler on the Roof.

                    Mama Mia! Molly as ol Mother Blue Eyes here!

In 1980, she penned her biography, with the apt title Molly! and in this same year she would receive a lifetime creative achievement award for all her contributions to Jewish theater and beyond. Miss Picon left our world in 1992, just 94 years young; from complications due to Alzheimer's disease that she was afflicted with during the last few years of her life. Picon would leave an indelible mark on Jewish culture.

                      A bi gezunt mamale.

I'd like to dedicate this piece to another Yiddish star -my grandma Fay. (1917-1994).