Tevya

Sholem Aleichem's stories about the Russian-Jewish milkman Tevya are probably best known for the musical FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. However, Tevya's story had been adapted for stage and film once before. This version had been a popular vehicle in the Yiddish Theater in New York City and its star, Schwartz, had made the role his own long before Zero Mostel or Topol. Schwartz also adapted the play for the screen and directed a charming film. The story involves a crisis within Schwartz's family when his daughter, Riselle, falls under the charms of the goy next door (Liebgold). It's bad enough that Liebgold's a Gentile, but he also reads secular writers like Gorky. Riselle n...