Molly Picon
Molly Picon | |
|---|---|
| File:Molly picon car 54 1962.JPG Picon, as Mrs. Bronson, in Car 54, Where Are You? episode, Occupancy, August 1st (1962) | |
| Born | Mollie Picon[1] February 28, 1898 Manhattan, New York, New York |
| Died | April 5, 1992 (aged 94) |
| Resting place | Mount Hebron Cemetery, New York City |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1904–1984 |
| Spouse |
Jacob Kalich
(m. 1919; died 1975) |
Molly Picon (Yiddish: מאָלי פּיקאָן; Malka Opiekun; February 28, 1898[2] – April 5, 1992) was an American actress of stage, screen, radio and television, as well as a lyricist and dramatic storyteller.[3]
She began her career in Yiddish theatre and film, rising to a star, before transitioning into character roles in English-language productions. She is most widely known for her role as Yente the Matchmaker in the 1971 musical film Fiddler on the Roof.
Early life
[edit | edit source]Picon was born in New York City to Jewish emigrants Louis (Opiekun) Picon and Clara (Ostrovsky) Picon.[1] Her father was from Warsaw and her mother from near Kyiv. The family began living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, when she was three years old.[4]
Career
[edit | edit source]Picon became a star of the Yiddish Theatre District, performing in plays in the District for seven years.[5][6] Picon was so popular in the 1920s, many shows had her adopted name, Molly, in their title. In 1931, she opened the Molly Picon Theatre.[citation needed]
Picon appeared in many films, beginning with silent movies. Her early films were made in Europe; among the first, and earliest to survive, was the Yiddish language East and West, a film adaptation of the 1921 play Mezrach und Maarev produced in Vienna in 1923.[7][4] The film depicts a clash of New and Old World Jewish cultures. She plays a US-born daughter who travels with her father back to Galicia in East Central Europe.[7]
In 1934, Picon had a musical comedy radio show, The Molly Picon Program, broadcast on WMCA in New York City. In 1938, she starred another radio program on WMCA, I Give You My Life. That program "combined music and dramatic episodes that purported to be the story of her life." Two years later, she starred in Molly Picon's Parade, a variety show on WMCA.[8]
Picon made her English language debut on stage in 1940. On Broadway, she starred in the Jerry Herman musical Milk and Honey in 1961. In 1966, she dropped out of the disastrous Chu Chem during previews in Philadelphia; the show closed before it reached Broadway.
Picon had a bit part in the 1948 film The Naked City as the woman running a news-stand and soda fountain towards the climax of the film. Her first major Anglophonic role in the movies was in the film version of Come Blow Your Horn (1963), with Frank Sinatra. One of her best-known film roles was as Yente the Matchmaker in the 1971 film adaptation of the Broadway hit Fiddler on the Roof.
Picon appeared as Molly Gordon in an episode of CBS's Gomer Pyle, USMC and had a recurring role as Mrs. Bronson in the NBC police comedy Car 54, Where Are You?. In the comedy For Pete's Sake (1974), she appeared as an elderly madam ("Mrs. Cherry") who arranges a disastrous stint for Barbra Streisand on a job as a call girl.[citation needed] She later had television roles as Mother Mishkin in the third episode of Vega$, a role on the soap opera Somerset and appeared in a few episodes of The Facts of Life as Natalie's grandmother. Picon's final role was as Roger Moore's mother in the comedies Cannonball Run and its sequel Cannonball Run II in 1981 and 1984, respectively.
Books
[edit | edit source]Picon wrote So Laugh a Little (1962), a biography about her family. In 1980, she published her autobiography, Molly!.[9]
Personal life
[edit | edit source]Picon was married to actor and playwright Yankel (Jacob) Kalich from 1919[4] until his death from cancer in 1975. They had a stillborn child, "Baby Girl Kalich", 13 August 1920.
Legacy
[edit | edit source]- An entire room was filled with her memorabilia at the Second Avenue Deli in New York City (whose Second Avenue location is now closed), and is now at 162 E. 33rd St., where the Picon memorabilia adorns the walls.[10]
- The New Century Theatre, a former legitimate Broadway theatre at 932 Seventh Avenue and West 58th Street in Midtown Manhattan (since closed and demolished), was briefly known as the Molly Picon Theatre in 1943.[11]
- She was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1981.[12]
- Picon Pie, a biographical play, ran off-Broadway from 2004 to 2005.[13]
- In 2007, she was featured in the film Making Trouble, a tribute to female Jewish comedians, produced by the Jewish Women's Archive.[14]
- Costumes she wore in various theater productions are displayed at the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia.[citation needed]
Filmography
[edit | edit source]| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1922 | Look After Your Daughters | ||
| 1923 | East and West | Mollie | [15] |
| 1936 | Yiddle with His Fiddle | Itke aka Judel | |
| 1937 | Let's Make a Night of It | Specialty Act | Uncredited |
| 1938 | Mamele | Khavtshi Samet aka Mamele | |
| 1948 | The Naked City | Soda-Selling Shopkeeper | Uncredited |
| 1959 | Startime | Sarah Rabinowitz | Episode: "The Jazz Singer", a TV production starring Jerry Lewis |
| 1961-1963 | Car 54, Where Are You? | Mrs. Rachel Bronson | 3 episodes |
| 1968 | Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. | Molly Gordon | 1 episode |
| 1963 | Come Blow Your Horn | Mrs. Sophie Baker | |
| 1971 | Fiddler on the Roof | Yente | |
| 1974 | For Pete's Sake | Mrs. Cherry | |
| 1975 | Murder on Flight 502 | Ida Goldman | |
| 1979 | That's Life | ||
| 1981 | The Cannonball Run | Mom Goldfarb | |
| 1984 | Cannonball Run II |
- ^ a b New York, New York, U.S., Birth Index, 1866–1909
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- ^ Sies, Luther F. (2014). Encyclopedia of American Radio, 1920-1960, 2nd Edition, Volume 1. McFarland & Company, Inc. Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).. Pp. 523, 337, 455.
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- ^ Simonson, Robert (March 19, 2006). "Where Have You Gone, Molly Picon?". The New York Times.
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- ^ Picon Pie at the Internet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
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- ^ "East and West" [film catalog entry]. National Center for Jewish Film. jewishfilm.org. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
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Sources
[edit | edit source]- Eth Clifford. Molly Picon – So Laugh a Little, Messner, 1962 (see [1]).
- Lila Perl, Donna Ruff. Molly Picon: A Gift of Laughter, Jewish Publication Society, 1990, Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value)..
External links
[edit | edit source]
- Molly Picon at IMDbLua error in Module:EditAtWikidata at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
- Molly Picon at the TCM Movie DatabaseLua error in Module:EditAtWikidata at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
- Molly Picon at the Internet Broadway DatabaseLua error in Module:EditAtWikidata at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
- Guide to the Papers of Molly Picon (1898-1992) at the American Jewish Historical Society, New York.
- Pages from a Performing Life: The Scrapbooks of Molly Picon Archived March 12, 2013, at the Wayback Machine at American Jewish Historical Society
- Women of Valor exhibit on Molly Picon at the Jewish Women's Archive
- Molly Picon at Find a GraveLua error in Module:EditAtWikidata at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
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- 1898 births
- 1992 deaths
- 20th-century American actresses
- Actresses from New York City
- American child actresses
- American autobiographers
- 20th-century American memoirists
- American film actresses
- American silent film actresses
- American stage actresses
- American television actresses
- American people of Polish-Jewish descent
- American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent
- Burials at Mount Hebron Cemetery (New York City)
- Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in Pennsylvania
- Jewish American comedians
- Jewish American actresses
- American vaudeville performers
- Yiddish theatre performers
- Yiddish film actors
- Jewish women comedians
- 20th-century American Jews
- Comedians from New York City
- Comedians from Philadelphia
- American women comedians