Staging the Jew

Fanny Bryce. Al Jolson. The Marx Brothers. All were pioneers of Jewish-American mainstream performance. But these major figures actually represent the third generation of Jews active in American theater and show business. In Staging the Jew, Harley Erdman uncovers the roots of More... Jewish characterization in popular culture by investigating a forgotten era in American show business. His book sheds light on figures such as M.D. Curtis, David Warfield, and other early Jewish performers who were instrumental in creating the image of the Jew on the American stage. -- Takes in the broad scope of the theater and entertainment world of the era, including major figure such as Irving Berlin, Sarah Bernhardt, David Belasco, D.W. Griffith, and Edith Wharton. -- Covers forgotten era in show business

"... a book that brilliantly elucidates the changing nature of Jewish representations on the American ..." -- SUSAN A. GLENN, author of Daughters of the Shtetl: Life and Labor in the Immigrant Generation

"... a strikingly different kind of theater history..." -- ELLEN DONKIN, Hampshire College

"A compelling application of Butler's notion of performance to changing constructions of the Jew' on the mainstream American stage." -- BRUCE McCONACHIE, University of Pittsburgh