Gimpel Beynish der shadchen versus the Pigeon Post, a daily Yiddish personals column in Warheit
Morris Rund set several of his parodies to his own tune Dayenu, which I haven't been able to find. Gimpl Beynish der shadkhn (Gimpl Beynish the matchmaker) is one of those songs, and it refers continuously to toybn-post.
Toybn-Post means Pigeon Post (as in carrier pigeons); toybn in Yiddish also means dove, the bird of love. There's a Yiddish theater piece or operetta called Toybn Post, but I can't get my hands on it.
I found the Gimpl Beynish cartoons on line (see the digitized Yiddish newspaper Warheit) and decided to start downloading them, cleaning them up, and translating them, because I think they'll make a nice book and the guy who drew them, Sam Zagat, is quite wonderful.
This morning I came across a Gimpl Beynish cartoon on the subject of how Gimpl the matchmaker can't compete with the Toybn Post, and suddenly I realized Toybn Post was a personals column that ran in the Warheit on the last page, right next to the Gimpl Beynish cartoon! So now that's something else to look into. Here's the logo:
And here's the Gimpl Beynish cartoon that references the personals. This must have been pretty revolutionary, unmarried people finding each other through newspaper ads! Click on the comic for a larger, clearer view.
Top: Nevertheless one should not be offended that he's no wild devotee of the "pigeon post."
1) Jake: Hello, Mister Matchmaker, I haven't seen you in a million years.
2) Gimpl Beynish: Where are you running off to already? I have a bride for you who...
3) Jake: Sorry, Mr. Matchmaker. I'm looking for a bride through the "Pigeon Post."
4) GB: A plague on that paper with its swinish "Pigeon Post."
5) GB: That's a bird for you - all it wants is to take away your livelihood.
After the jump, the text of the Morris Rund song "Gimpl Beynish" with translation below (I've got my doubts about some of my translation). Notice that, as always, when young people sit alone in a dark corner, bad things happen. So beware!
Gimpel Beynish der shadkhn
Tsu zingen mit der melodiye Dayenu
Singel layt, almones, grushes, alte moydn oykh
Oyb ir kent nit ton keyn shidekh, dart zikh nit dem moyekh
Ir darft nit klern vos zol vern tsum Vorheyt ales lozt:
Klert keyn sakh un shikt nor glaykh, a brif in toybn post
Un ven es vert opgedrikt, krigt ir bald tsugeshikt
A moyd, a yung - mit ales ding fun toybn post
A mol tsum mazl, a shlimazl fun toybn post
A mol a vayb a 'poison' a mol a daytsh on hoyzn
Nit lang gevart, un shikt a kard in toybn post
2.
Verther Herr Redaktor! Shraybt a moyd a brif arayn
Ikh bin a meydl nit keyn mise, un hob fil nodn
Ikh bin a bsule, bimkhile, geshtiplt, dar un hoykh
Esn, kokhn, bakn, ken ikh az es geyt a roykh
Nor mayn khesorn iz, ikh loym tsu op a fis
Dokh toyert nit fil, ruft zikh op Shmuel fun toybn post
Zindl Shtumer, Mordkhe Krumer fun toybn post
Zey kukn nit af ir loymen, abi zi hot mezumen
Un nit fil geklert, a shidekh vert fun toybn post
3.
Az Gimpl Beynish iz a shadkhn veysn ale gut
Nor durkh dem toybn post zogt er makht er keyn biznes nit
Muft er aroys, tsebrekht zayn hoyz, un avek in kontri nor
Shadkhones gelt vet er dort makhn, denkt er shoyn 'for sure'
Ober a shoyder blaybt er shteyn, ven er hot dort derzen
In yedns hent zayn konkurent, dem toybn post
Podlog draysik, lezn fleysik, dem toybn post
Er heybt on tsu kern veltn, tsu shrayen un tsu sheltn
Okh Got getrayer, shik a fayer afn toybn post
Oyb ir zent in densign skul nokh keyn mol nit geven
Hot ir nokh in ayer lebn keyn shum zakh gezen
Di 'myuzik' skripet, yeder tupet, dort tsu mit di fis,
Far boyes, moydn, iz a ganeydn, a vorer paradis
Ver shmuest nokh in a vinkl, vi es iz a bisl tunkl,
Zitst dort 'Charlie' un halt Molly's toybn post
Zi shvaygt un lakht, vayl er nor gloybt in toybn post
Ober fun zeyer 'story' shpilen, heybt zi on tsu derfiln
Az Charlie's gletn, makht ir a fetn toybn post
Gimpl Beynish the matchmaker
To sing with the melody "Dayenu"
1.
Single people, windows, divorced women, old maids too
If you can't make a match, don't worry
You shouldn't think about what might happen, go to the Warheit
Don't ponder it, just go send a letter to the Pigeon Post
When when it's published you'll soon be sent
A girl, a boy - with everything, by Pigeon Post
Sometimes luckily an unlucky person from the Pigeon Post
Sometimes a poisonous wife, sometimes a modern fellow without trousers
Don't wait too long, send a card to the Pigeon Post
2.
Worthy Mr. Editor! An unmarried woman writes in,
I am not an ugly girl and I have lots of dowry
I'm a maiden, begging your pardon, freckled, thin and tall
I can eat, cook, and bake like crazy
But my defect is, I'm lame in one leg
So don't wait too long, call up Shmuel from the Pigeon Post
Mute Zindl, Crooked Mordkhe from the Pigeon Post
They won't notice limping, as long as she has cash
And there won't be much pondering, there'll be a match made by pigeon post.
3. As Gimpl Beynish the matchmaker well knows,
He can't make any business through the Pigeon Post
He moves out, smashes up his house, and is away into the country
He thinks for sure he'll be able to earn his matchmaker's fee there
But he stands shuddering when he sees there
In every hand his competition, the Pigeon Post
Thirty little couples diligently reading the Pigeon Post
He begins to go nuts, to shout and curse,
"Oh, dear God, set the Pigeon Post on fire."
4.
If you've never been in dancing school
If you've never seen anything in your life
The music playing, everybody is tapping their toes
It's a Garden of Eden for boys and girls, a true paradise,
Not to mention, in a corner, where it's a bit dark,
Charlie is sitting, holding Molly's Pigeon Post.
She's quiet, and laughs, because he likes her Pigeon Post
But from their steady playing, they began to feel
That Charlie's caresses will make her a fat Pigeon Post
Tsu zingen mit der melodiye Dayenu
Singel layt, almones, grushes, alte moydn oykh
Oyb ir kent nit ton keyn shidekh, dart zikh nit dem moyekh
Ir darft nit klern vos zol vern tsum Vorheyt ales lozt:
Klert keyn sakh un shikt nor glaykh, a brif in toybn post
Un ven es vert opgedrikt, krigt ir bald tsugeshikt
A moyd, a yung - mit ales ding fun toybn post
A mol tsum mazl, a shlimazl fun toybn post
A mol a vayb a 'poison' a mol a daytsh on hoyzn
Nit lang gevart, un shikt a kard in toybn post
2.
Verther Herr Redaktor! Shraybt a moyd a brif arayn
Ikh bin a meydl nit keyn mise, un hob fil nodn
Ikh bin a bsule, bimkhile, geshtiplt, dar un hoykh
Esn, kokhn, bakn, ken ikh az es geyt a roykh
Nor mayn khesorn iz, ikh loym tsu op a fis
Dokh toyert nit fil, ruft zikh op Shmuel fun toybn post
Zindl Shtumer, Mordkhe Krumer fun toybn post
Zey kukn nit af ir loymen, abi zi hot mezumen
Un nit fil geklert, a shidekh vert fun toybn post
3.
Az Gimpl Beynish iz a shadkhn veysn ale gut
Nor durkh dem toybn post zogt er makht er keyn biznes nit
Muft er aroys, tsebrekht zayn hoyz, un avek in kontri nor
Shadkhones gelt vet er dort makhn, denkt er shoyn 'for sure'
Ober a shoyder blaybt er shteyn, ven er hot dort derzen
In yedns hent zayn konkurent, dem toybn post
Podlog draysik, lezn fleysik, dem toybn post
Er heybt on tsu kern veltn, tsu shrayen un tsu sheltn
Okh Got getrayer, shik a fayer afn toybn post
Oyb ir zent in densign skul nokh keyn mol nit geven
Hot ir nokh in ayer lebn keyn shum zakh gezen
Di 'myuzik' skripet, yeder tupet, dort tsu mit di fis,
Far boyes, moydn, iz a ganeydn, a vorer paradis
Ver shmuest nokh in a vinkl, vi es iz a bisl tunkl,
Zitst dort 'Charlie' un halt Molly's toybn post
Zi shvaygt un lakht, vayl er nor gloybt in toybn post
Ober fun zeyer 'story' shpilen, heybt zi on tsu derfiln
Az Charlie's gletn, makht ir a fetn toybn post
Gimpl Beynish the matchmaker
To sing with the melody "Dayenu"
1.
Single people, windows, divorced women, old maids too
If you can't make a match, don't worry
You shouldn't think about what might happen, go to the Warheit
Don't ponder it, just go send a letter to the Pigeon Post
When when it's published you'll soon be sent
A girl, a boy - with everything, by Pigeon Post
Sometimes luckily an unlucky person from the Pigeon Post
Sometimes a poisonous wife, sometimes a modern fellow without trousers
Don't wait too long, send a card to the Pigeon Post
2.
Worthy Mr. Editor! An unmarried woman writes in,
I am not an ugly girl and I have lots of dowry
I'm a maiden, begging your pardon, freckled, thin and tall
I can eat, cook, and bake like crazy
But my defect is, I'm lame in one leg
So don't wait too long, call up Shmuel from the Pigeon Post
Mute Zindl, Crooked Mordkhe from the Pigeon Post
They won't notice limping, as long as she has cash
And there won't be much pondering, there'll be a match made by pigeon post.
3. As Gimpl Beynish the matchmaker well knows,
He can't make any business through the Pigeon Post
He moves out, smashes up his house, and is away into the country
He thinks for sure he'll be able to earn his matchmaker's fee there
But he stands shuddering when he sees there
In every hand his competition, the Pigeon Post
Thirty little couples diligently reading the Pigeon Post
He begins to go nuts, to shout and curse,
"Oh, dear God, set the Pigeon Post on fire."
4.
If you've never been in dancing school
If you've never seen anything in your life
The music playing, everybody is tapping their toes
It's a Garden of Eden for boys and girls, a true paradise,
Not to mention, in a corner, where it's a bit dark,
Charlie is sitting, holding Molly's Pigeon Post.
She's quiet, and laughs, because he likes her Pigeon Post
But from their steady playing, they began to feel
That Charlie's caresses will make her a fat Pigeon Post
For sheet music and/or performances contact me: jane@mappamundi.com
Labels: advertisements, battle between the sexes, history, humor, love, mores, nostalgia
by melinama @ 12:34 PM
Yiddish Ragtime
Ikh bin busy
Opgenarte velt
Vos hot men tsu mir
Der East Side fun amol
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