מענדעלע

a historishe gesheenish in yidishn forverts! onheybndiq mitn juli 4 numer, iz do a kinder vinkl mit yidishe leyen materyaln (zayt 14). A bisele tzu kleyne oysyes, say far yunge, say far undz zkeynim -- ober a yid git zikh an eytzeh mit a zeroks mashin. 'sher koyekh, forverts.

a historic happening in the yiddish forward! beginning with the july 4th issue, there is a kinder vinkl with yiddish reading materials (page 14). A little too small type-wise, both for young and for old, but a Jew can work miracles with a xerox machine. more power to you, forward.

the bottom line is - subscribe and show support for this effort.

sylvia schildt baltimore, maryland

A friend of mine was telling me about his grandmother, who spoke Yiddish and of a song she used to sing. He does not remember the whole song, just the first line. The song goes: "Friday of the nacht is yay day in lah may-lech". If possible, he would like to know the translation and the whole song. If you could help it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Gerald Behling

The extent to which newspaper typesetters can mangle an author's original copy of a typed document, manuscript or libretto never ceases to amaze me. In this regard, the current (July 11th) edition of the English _Forward_ outdid themselves. In their weekly column _Der Yiddish-Vinkl_ (incidentally, shouldn't that be _yidish-vinkl_?) on page 13 they printed an excerpt from my Yiddish version of "The Pirates of Penzance" which they decided to call _Di Yom Gaslonim_ rather than _Di Yam Gazlonim_ as was in my libretto. But that's not all. They also jumbled up the original English lines by Gilbert to such an extent as to make them almost unintelligible. Finally, they printed eight lines of my Yiddish lyrics with numerous misspellings. To set the record straight for those Mendelyaners who may have seen the piece and concluded that I'm nothing more than an _amorets_ if not an outright fraud - I hereby submit Gilbert's original lines of "When a Felon's Not Engaged in His Employment" exactly as he wrote it followed by my Yiddish version minus the errors. But before proceeding to do so I should like to inform the readers of this list that there is now a link from Iosif Vaisman's superb web site Virtual Shtetl to my own Yiddish "Pirates" web page. The URL for Virtual Shtetl is http://sunsite.unc.edu/yiddish/shtetl.html When Virtual Shtetl appears click on Art Center then choose Theater and finally click on Di Yam Gazlonim - Gilbert & Sullivan. My final remark in this regard is to relay a message from Zalmen Mlotek. He is still seeking investors for a production of Di Yam Gazlonim which he is planning to mount in Boston and in New York. Interested investors, sponsors, "angels" etc. should send him an e-mail message to: 102734.2445@compuserve.com Eugene Marner, a prolific creator of television documentaries for PBS ( e.g., Abba Eban's "Heritage, Civilization and the Jews", "Creativity With Bill Moyers" and 38 others) will shoot a film on every aspect of this production. Those who wish to contact him can do so at genemarner@juno.com

When a Felon's Not Engaged in His Employment by W.S. Gilbert

(1) SERGEANT: When a felon's not engaged in his employment POLICE: His employment SERGEANT: Or maturing his felonious little plansPOLICE: Little plans

[To save space, I'll no longer indicate the POLICE responses of the last 2 or 3 syllables of each of the SERGEANT's lines.]

SERGEANT: His capacity for innocent enjoyment, Is just as great as any other man's. Our feelings we with difficulty smother, When constabulary duty's to be done. Ah, take one consideration with anotherA policeman's lot is not a happy one. ALL: When constabulary duty's to be done, to be done, A policeman's lot is not a happy one, happy one.

(2) SERGEANT: When the enterprising burglar's not a burgling. When the cut-throat isn't occupied in crime. He loves to hear the little brook a-gurgling, And listen to the merry village chime. When the coster's finished jumping on his mother, He loves to lie a-basking in the sun. Ah, take one consideration with anotherThe policeman's lot is not a happy one. ALL: Ah!! When constabulary duty's to be done, to be done, The policeman's lot is not a happy one, happy one!

************************

Ven a ganef rut zikh op fun zayn ganeyves by Al Grand

(1) SERGEANT: Ven a ganef rut zikh op fun zayn ganeyves,

POLITSEY: zayn ganeyves

SERGEANT: Un der gazlen leygt zayn meser shoyn avek,

POLITSEY: Shoyn avek

SERGEANT: Mitzves tuen zey far mentshn - oykhet teyves,

POLITSEY: Oykhet teyves

SERGEANT: Tsedoke gebn zey in groyse zek,

POLITSEY: Groyse zek

SERGEANT: Un ven Purim kumt zey brengen shalakh-mones,

POLITSEY: Shalakh-mones

SERGEANT: Tsu shkheynim un tsu ale guter fraynt,

POLITSEY: Guter fraynt

SERGEANT: Un tsu oreme mentshn brengn zey matones,

POLITSEY: Zey matones

SERGEANT: Fundestvegn mir hobn zey gor faynt,

POLITSEY: A - ah!

SERG.& POLITSEY: Zogn mir tsu undzere ale gute fraynd, guter fraynd,

Di gazlonim hobn mir dokh zeyer faynt, zeyer faynt.

(2)

SERGEANT: Ven der roshe'z fartig (mit) shlogn alte bobes,

POLITSEY: alte bobes

SERGEANT: Un er loyft avek tsum voynung af zayn ferd,

POLITSEY: af zayn ferd

SERGEANT: Geyt un koyft er naye kleyder far a lobes,

POLITSEY: far a lobes

SERGEANT: Dan er valgert zikh mit blumen af der erd.

POLITSEY: af der erd

SERGEANT: Es gefelt undz nit tsu ton kayn shlekhts tsu keynem,

POLITSEY: shlekhts tsu keynem

SERGEANT: Zey ayn tsu zetsn iz nit amuzant,

POLITSEY: amuzant

SERGEANT: Tsu dertseyln es bekitser, alts in eynem,

POLITSTEY: alts in eynem

SERGEANT: Yo, s'iz take shver tsu zayn a politsyant!

POLITSEY: A - ah!

SERG.& POLITSEY: Zogn mir tsu undzere ale gute fraynd, guter fraynd,

Di gazlonim hobn mir dokh zeyer faynt, zeyer faynt !

Dare I hope that one of the Mendelyaners who has a connection with the English forward may have enough influence to have them re-print all of the above correctly?

Al Grand

More than a few Mendele subscribers felt that something was missing in their daily routines and expressed concerns about Mendele's well-being when new issues were not delivered for several days. The good news is that Mendele is alive and well. Somewhat slow traffic is determined by two factors. First, high summer temperatures apparently inhibit linguistic creativity, and the number of submissions to Mendele is low. Second, for the next several weeks this shames will be preparing Mendele digests in Northern California, which is, despite the same initials, far away from his friendly home computer in North Carolina. Although it may cause some delays, Mendele is open and your postings are welcome as always.

Iosif Vaisman