Researching Yiddish penny songs (tenement song broadsides of theater and variety show songs, 1895-1925)
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With today's enthusiasm about Jewish genealogy, local history, and Yiddish ephemera, I thought the ads from the Penny Songs might be of interest to some. (Click for a larger view)

Here's a whole page of ads, at the top it says: "Patronayzt undzer advertayzer" (Patronize Our Advertizers) - see how in the early 1900s English was making inroads into the Yiddish speakers' vocabulary.

First we Have A. Goldman & Company at 78 Suffolk Street, in rhyme: "Where you can get the best beer, free all-you-can-eat lunch (?!), cheap shnaps, it's a great place, come drink, take pleasure in it, you get everything cheap." In big letters: "Extra Cheap for Peddlers!" and, "We've laid in the best stock for Passover!"

Next we have the "Grend Ameriken Hall," Ch. Hirsh proprietor. Balls, weddings, "reshepshensen end partis," located at 195 Chrystie Street

Then there is "Little Roumania" at 52 Rivington Street and 193 Eldridge Street, Jacob Josephson proprietor. In rhyme: "Come just once to my place and try a glass of my beer, then I can be sure you will come again. I have imported shnaps, come try them and amuse yourself with a drink, something to eat, don't forget my address."

Then comes M. Rabinowitz, Notary Public, Fire and Life Insurance - in Yiddish that was rendered notari publik, fayer end layf inshuring." 259 Henry Street, New York.

Squeezed in at the bottom of the page: Avram Perlman, kosher private restaurant and also our best homemade wine. 94-96 Rivington Street New York.

Labels: advertisements, history, New York, nostalgia