Re: African-American musicians and Yiddish

[Owen Davidson <owend...>]

Willie the Lion Smith actually boasted some Jewish ancestry.  And Slim
Gaillard recorded a song about Jewish food titled, I think, "Dunkin'
Bagels (in the Coffee)."  Somewhere, there's a film short of his combo
performing that and tossing bagels into a coffeepot.

Owen

robert wiener wrote:
> 
> I have heard from a reliable source that several African-American
> musicians (other than Cab Calloway) who grew up in neighborhoods where
> Yiddish was often spoken spoke some Yiddish themselves.  I supoose
> that this shouldn't be too surprising -- remember our thread on Jimmy
> Cagney speaking Yiddish in movies?  He mentioned Willie the Lion
> Smith, Dinah Washington, and Slim Gaillard.  Does anyone know of
> recordings of these (or other) African-American musicians that reflect
> this cross-cultural phenomenon?
> 
> Bob
> 

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