Molly Picon

Molly Picon (Yiddish: מאָלי פּיקאָן‎; February 28, 1898[1] – April 5, 1992) was an American actress of stage, screen, radio and television, as well as a lyricist and dramatic storyteller.[2]

Molly Picon
Picon in the 1920s
Born
Małka Opiekun

(1898-02-28)February 28, 1898
New York City, US
DiedApril 5, 1992(1992-04-05) (aged 94)
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, US
Resting placeMount Hebron Cemetery, New York City
OccupationActress
Years active1904–1984
Spouse(s)
Jacob Kalich
​
​
(m. 1919; died 1975)​
Molly Picon's husband was Jacob Kalich, second from left, seen in 1921

She was first and foremost a star in Yiddish theatre and film, but in time, she turned to English-language productions.

Early life

Born Malka Opiekun[lower-alpha 1] in New York City, she was a daughter of Polish-Jewish immigrants Clara (née Ostrow), a wardrobe mistress, and Louis Opiekun, a shirtmaker.[4] Opiekun is a Polish language name meaning "guardian" or "caretaker". Her surname was later changed to Picon. The family relocated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, when she was three years old.[5]

Career

Her career began as a child actor in the Yiddish Theatre at age six. In 1912, she debuted at the Arch Street Theatre in Philadelphia and became a star of the Yiddish Theatre District, performing in plays in the District for seven years.[6][7] Picon was so popular in the 1920s, many shows had her adopted name, Molly, in their title. In 1931, she opened the Molly Picon Theatre.

Picon appeared in many films, beginning with silent movies. Her early films were made in Europe; among the first was the Yiddish language East and West, filmed in Vienna in 1923, which is the earliest of her movies that survives.[8][5] The film depicts a clash of New and Old World Jewish cultures. She plays a US-born daughter who travels with her father back to Galicia in East Central Europe.[8] Her husband Jacob Kalich played one of her close relatives.

Picon as Mrs. Bronson, 1962.

Picon's most famous picture, Yidl Mitn Fidl (1936), was filmed on location in Poland and shows her wearing male clothing throughout most of the movie. The story concerns a girl and her father who are forced by poverty to set out on the road as traveling musicians. For her safety, she disguises herself as a boy, which becomes inconvenient when she falls in love with one of the other musicians in the troupe. Another of her films, Mamele, was also shot in Poland.

In 1934, Picon had a musical comedy radio show, The Molly Picon Program, broadcast on WMCA in New York City. In 1938, she starred another radio program on WMCA, I Give You My Life. That program "combined music and dramatic episodes that purported to be the story of her life." Two years later, she starred in Molly Picon's Parade, a variety show on WMCA.[9]

Picon made her English language debut on stage in 1940. On Broadway, she starred in the Jerry Herman musical Milk and Honey in 1961. In 1966, she dropped out of the disastrous Chu Chem during previews in Philadelphia; the show closed before it reached Broadway.

Picon had a bit part in the 1948 film The Naked City as the woman running a news-stand and soda fountain towards the climax of the film. Her first major Anglophonic role in the movies was in the film version of Come Blow Your Horn (1963), with Frank Sinatra. One of her best-known film roles was as Yente the Matchmaker in the 1971 film adaptation of the Broadway hit Fiddler on the Roof.

Picon appeared as Molly Gordon in an episode of CBS's Gomer Pyle, USMC and had a recurring role as Mrs. Bronson in the NBC police comedy Car 54, Where Are You?. In the comedy For Pete's Sake (1974), she appeared as an elderly madam ("Mrs. Cherry") who arranges a disastrous stint for Barbra Streisand on a job as a call girl. She later had television roles on the soap opera Somerset and appeared in a few episodes of The Facts of Life as Natalie's grandmother. Picon's final role was as Roger Moore's mother in cameo appearances in the comedies Cannonball Run and its sequel Cannonball Run II in 1981 and 1984, respectively.

Books

Picon wrote So Laugh a Little (1962), a biography about her family. In 1980, she published her autobiography, Molly!.[10]

Legacy

Personal life and demise

Picon was married to actor and playwright Yankel (Jacob) Kalich from 1919[5] until his death from cancer in 1975. They had no children.

Picon died on April 6, 1992, aged 94, from Alzheimer's disease in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She and her husband are interred in the Yiddish Theater section of the Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, Queens, New York City.

Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
1922Look After Your Daughters
1923East and WestMollie[13]
1936Yiddle with His FiddleItke aka Judel
1937Let's Make a Night of ItSpecialty ActUncredited
1938MameleKhavtshi Samet aka Mamele
1948The Naked CitySoda-Selling ShopkeeperUncredited
1959StartimeSarah RabinowitzEpisode: "The Jazz Singer", a TV production starring Jerry Lewis
1961-1963Car 54, Where Are You?Mrs. Rachel Bronson3 episodes
1963Come Blow Your HornMrs. Sophie Baker
1971Fiddler on the RoofYente
1974For Pete's SakeMrs. Cherry
1975Murder on Flight 502Ida Goldman
1979That's Life
1981The Cannonball RunMom Goldfarb
1984Cannonball Run II

Notes
  1. Sources differ as to her original name: Malka Opiekun[3] or Margaret Pyekoon.[1]

References
  1. "The Papers of Molly Picon (1898-1992)". JewishTheatre.com. Archived from the original on November 10, 2007.
  2. "Unknown Title". Tucson Daily Citizen. Tucson, Arizona. August 29, 1952. p. 16.
  3. McCarthy, Dan (May 7, 2010). "Molly Picon: the first lady of yiddish theater". Medium.com. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  4. "Molly Picon Biography ((?)-1992)". filmreference.com. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
  5. "This Week in History: Award for Yiddish actress, Molly Picon, June 28, 1980". jwa.org. Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved March 29, 2017.
  6. Pennsylvania Biographical Dictionary. North American Book Dist LLC. Retrieved March 10, 2013.
  7. Plesur, Milton (1982). Jewish life in twentieth-century America: challenge and accommodation. Nelson-Hall. Retrieved March 10, 2013.
  8. Shandler, Jeffrey (2014). Shtetl: A Vernacular Intellectual History. Rutgers, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. p. 41.
  9. Sies, Luther F. (2014). Encyclopedia of American Radio, 1920-1960, 2nd Edition, Volume 1. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-5149-4. Pp. 523, 337, 455.
  10. Picon, Molly; Bergantini Grillo, Jean (1980). Molly! An Autobiography. New York: Simon and Schuster.
  11. "26 Elected to the Theater Hall of Fame". The New York Times. March 3, 1981.
  12. Deming, Mark. "Making Trouble: Three Generations of Funny Jewish Women". The New York Times. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
  13. "East and West" [film catalog entry]. National Center for Jewish Film. jewishfilm.org. Retrieved 29 March 2017.

Sources
  • Eth Clifford. Molly Picon – So Laugh a Little, Messner, 1962 (see ).
  • Lila Perl, Donna Ruff. Molly Picon: A Gift of Laughter, Jewish Publication Society, 1990, ISBN 0-8276-0336-3.
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