Re: A QUERY

[Owen Davidson <owend...>]

Man, Wolf!

I feel like I will have to address you from my scabby little knees, but I'm not 
going
to do that, quite.

Todd Browning's "Freaks" is an ikon on my shelf, but nobody wants to watch it 
with me.
My film teacher Ken Jacobs kept a special place all dusted off for Browning's 
work. I
sat through "Dracula" three times in one evening, the third showing telescoped 
by
running both reels at the same time, one above the other on the screen.

And you ran away with a carnival show, and you travelled with the Gypsies?  
Wolf, share
this stuff!

Owen

Kame'a Media wrote:

> Dear Owen:
>
> When I was a kid  I left home with the carnival
> (Conklin and Garret Shows) and travelled with them.
> (Romantic, eh?)
> This was back in the day of the sideshow that included
> freaks, knife-throwers, fire-eaters and hoochie dancers.
>
> I shared close quarters with Schlitzie (b. Simon Metz),
> billed as the "Missing Link" and the man who had the legal papers
> to exhibit him.  (Schlitzie,   appeared in
> Tod Brownings film "Freaks" (c.1927) and some other films).
>  He was microcephalic; that is, a "pinhead".
>
> The man who had the legal right to exhibit him was a
> Gypsy lion-tamer and sword-swallower.  My knowledge of,
> and experience withthe Roma began with him.
>
> (As far a "going there",  political correctness and family values have done 
> away
> with the sideshow in the USA and Canada, replaced by sanitzed, corporate
> entertainments).
>
> See the book - "Bury Me Standing" by Isabel Fonseca.
> There is another one about the "Devouring" (translation of the Rom for
> "Holocaust"),
>  "And The Violins Stopped Playing".  Can't recall the author.
>
> Wolf
>
> Owen Davidson wrote:
>
> > Dear Wolf,
> >
> > As much as I hate the imperial call which makes us trot out our sources, our
> > sorcerous horses: where did you read/hear/learn this?  I would go there.
> >
> > Owen
> >
> > Kame'a Media wrote:
> >
> > > Dear Trudi:
> > >
> > > One could not be both a Jew and a Gypsy (Roma or Sinti)  in a social 
> > > context.
> > > They are two distinct peoples with entirely different origins, belief
> > > systems, languages and cultures.  The Roma have no books;  theirs is 
> > > entirely
> > > an oral tradition.
> > >
> > > True, both shared marginal social status and second-class "citizenship".
> > >
> > > Perhaps your informant meant that some Jews lived a "Gypsy-like" 
> > > existence;
> > > that is,  --attempting to survive by music, horse-trading, prostitution,
> > > smuggling contraband and other various criminal/underground activities.
> > >
> > > There was certainly some intermarriage;  Gypsy women with Jewish men 
> > > being more
> > > likely than the opposite, although both combinations would have been rare,
> > > given the cultural differences,
> > > not to mention the harsh opprobrium a mixed couple would have faced in 
> > > their
> > > respective
> > > families and communities.
> > >
> > > In more recent history, some European Gypsies have adapted Christian 
> > > beliefs
> > > and practices,
> > > but continue to maintain their traditions, especially those regarding
> > > "uncleaness"
> > > and contempt for =gadjos= (everybody else).
> > >
> > > Wolf
> > >
> > > Trudi Goodman wrote:
> > >
> > > >     6/13/2000
> > > >
> > > >    Hi, Trudi Goodman, here, I am doing research on Jews and Gypsies
> > > > especially in Eastern Europe.  Does anyone know if there were in fact 
> > > > Jewish
> > > > Gypsies in  the Odessa Region...one person I've spoken to "thinks" that 
> > > > he
> > > > "remembers" that there were.
> > > >    If no one knows...all you folklorists out there can you point me in 
> > > > the
> > > > right direction???
> > > >
> > > >     Thanks,
> > > >
> > > >     Trudi the G
> > > > ________________________________________________________________________
> > > > Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com
> > > >
> > >
> >
> > --
> > Owen Davidson
> > Amherst  Mass
> > The Wholesale Klezmer Band
> >
> > The Angel that presided oer my birth
> > Said Little creature formd of Joy & Mirth
> > Go Love without the help of any King on Earth
> >
> > Wm. Blake
> >
>

--
Owen Davidson
Amherst  Mass
The Wholesale Klezmer Band

The Angel that presided oer my birth
Said Little creature formd of Joy & Mirth
Go Love without the help of any King on Earth

Wm. Blake


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