Monty Hall On Speaking Yiddish in Hollywood

[@faolanliath6687]

Cagney spoke Yiddish, and I'm guessing some Italian as us Irish were bread check and jowel next to each other with Italian and Jewish kids in NY. I'm very privileged to have had that as a kid.

[@xfhghe]

While I don't speak the language, the sound of Yiddish is the most human of languages. Humor, irony, joy, pathos, it's all there.

[@billmitchell3329]

It’s nice to see people take pride in their heritage. This is how it should be!

[@jubalcalif9100]

I have a notion to second that emotion !!

[@FlavourlessLife]

Yes. It’s a shame white people don’t take more pride in their heritage.

[@arturwiebe7482]

Memories. Memories from childhood. Nice to have. From time to time. But. Don't stay there too long. Heritage is a waste of time.

[@seththomas9105]

The KZbin algorithm brought me here. As a guy of Anglo/Celtic decent, raised in a rural Iowa town of Low German speakers I have been amazed at the amount of Yiddish I can glean and understand. This is fun.

[@ktkat1949]

Monty Hall is a Canadian who was born in Winnipeg. Winnipeg has a huge Jewish population due to immigration from Russia. They were fleeing the Russian Pogroms. My father grew up a the same time as Hall and in the same area. He had forgotten most of his Yiddish until we went back to Winnipeg for an army reunion. It all came back to him. Amazingly he also could converse in Ukrainian. He told me there were so many immigrants in his neighbourhood all the kids learned to speak each others' language and usually the swear words as well. And this is why in Canada we believe that immigration is a good thing and strengthens our society.

[@lasbagman1]

kate baxter My Parents went to school with him. They were from Winnipeg's North End. I grew up hearing stories of those days.

[@chadwaldron6329]

That's a wonderful story.

[@johnburt7935]

I'm reminded of the day my Ethiopia-born daughter was saying goodbye to her Somalian friend and called out, "Bye-bye, *_shermuta!"_* I looked up and said, "Shame on you!" She was so shocked that I knew she was calling her friend "ho" (it's the same word in Amharic and Somali).

[@mammashane]

My father also grew up in Winnipeg with Monty Hall and they were fraternity brother at the University of Manitoba. My father is gone many years now but was born in 1919. If your father is still alive, ask him if he remembers a child protege called Norman Serkin who was a concert violinist.

[@action55jackson]

Canadian immigration is merit based, exactly what Trump is trying to do.

[@jeffgoesrandom4217]

James Cagney spoke fluent Yiddish, Monty confirms. There is a film where Cagney speaks Yiddish also. He says in the film that he learned to speak Yiddish on Delancy Street. When Cagney was in the film, "Ragtime," interviews with him mention his love for Yiddish poetry and the language.

[@harrylangdon491]

Cagney also speaks Yiddish in Taxi (1932) -- right here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bKO9m6Csdrp_fLc

[@elliotskydel641]

The movie was Taxi.

[@sharonthompson7557]

He also spoke Yiddish in “The Fighting 69th”. It’s only a line or two, but it’s there.

[@ryankelly369]

I am far from fluent in Yiddish, but there are Yiddish words I absolutely love. God bless you, Monty. You were quite a mensch. ;)

[@jim7297]

I concur!Yiddish makes me laugh. It seems to be the just perfect words to get the feel for what you want to say.

[@brianthomas2434]

@Kathrin Kleinknecht Sorry. Sent my bit before finishing yours. Disregard!

[@Chrisoula17]

I used to watch "Let's Make a Deal". Monty was a great host.

[@jubalcalif9100]

You speak the truth, Kemo Sabe ! One of the BEST TV hosts ever !

[@Nataloff]

A great and amazing man. Miss him.

[@randywoodworth5990]

The Three Stooges used a lot of Yiddish in their film shorts.

[@5610winston]

I spent a bit of time with a roommate whose parents spoke Yiddish, and there are some concepts that no other language can express as succinctly as a well-chosen Yiddish word. I believe it was Leo Rosten (of fond memory) who said "'Oy' isn't a word, it's a vocabulary."

[@SharonStern]

My parents spoke Yiddish when they didn't want me to know what they were saying

[@jubalcalif9100]

What a wonderfully heartwarming clip ! THANK YOU so much for sharing ! Funny thing...just today I watched a Bowery Boys movie on TCM and in one scene "Louie" (played by Bernard Gorcey, father of head Bower Boy Leo Gorcey) got upset & uttered some Yiddish (Oy vey ist mir) !! :-)

[@AgathaLOutahere]

Fiorello LaGuardia spoke Yiddish (mother's side of the family). Always a plus in the NYC of that era.

[@RasberryTwist]

I really enjoyed "Let's make a deal". & Loved to watch a cheerful Monty Hall !😀

[@brianthomas2434]

One of favorite books, which I read about fifty years ago, is Leo Rosten's "The Joy of Yiddish ".He made the language and the culture of its speakers, come. Still in print, check it out.

[@mariocisneros911]

I will thank you

[@I_Heart_Hader]

I recommend the Idiots Guide to Yiddidh, Rabbi Benjamin Blech

[@StukInBuf]

Shalom, Monty!

[@saykhelrachmones8668]

Monty Hall would be 100 today. Baruch HaShem.

[@YiddishBookCenter]

koved zayn ondenk!

[@saykhelrachmones8668]

@@YiddishBookCenter true

[@matthewronsson]

Born Monte Halparin August 25, 1921 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada Died September 30, 2017 (aged 96) Beverly Hills, California, U.S.

[@SuperHartline]

Halparin and its several derivatives Halpern etc. come from the German town of Heilbronn.

[@gloriahanes6490]

Rest in Peace ... so many we knew from the tv screen are leaving us.

[@wynnejs]

He brought up Burt Lancaster. Mr. Lancaster worked for my great grandfather when he was a young man, I bet he picked up a lot of the Yiddish being around him and the other workers.

[@Cha-y412]

My Grandfather at age 5 came to the United States in 1891 from Sicily, living for 20 years on Mott St in lower Manhattan . When Grandpa was in his mid 80s my Cousin started dating a Jewish boy while a High School teenager. The boy came to the house for the first time and much to everyones shock Grandpa once he found out the boy was Jewish broke out into fluent Yiddish. The boy was suburban raise American born and in a timid voice said Im sorry Sir I dont speak Yiddish. My Grandfathers resonse was shame on you for not speaking your own language. I chimed in and said Grandpa where did you learn how to speak Yiddish? Answer -- Mott Street New York City New York. Much like Jimmy Cagney Grandpa learned from the other children in the surrounding community. My Cousin and that boy are going on 43 years of marriage.

[@charleswinokoor6023]

Excellent clip!

[@miltzaft9687]

My Father in Law was born in Winnipeg Manitoba.

[@josealicea3103]

James Cagney spoke Yiddish in the movie Taxi! 1932, I do not speak Yiddish myself but I grew up around my Jewish friends and their grandparents and I was floored how well he spoke!! What a MENSCH!!!! 🇮🇱 🇮🇪✡️✝️!!!!😂 RIP Jimmy, God bless the chosen people!!

[@kl.1993]

He's from a bygone era, when entertainment was actually good. I find it very sad, to see what has been done to the entertainment industry (and others). Btw, I love listening to Cagney speak Yiddish even though I don't understand more than a few words. I'd like to learn Yiddish. I speak/read/write Hebrew, but not Yiddish. If anyone reading this, is aware of a good online resource for learning Yiddish, please let me know. Thank you.

[@YiddishBookCenter]

You can start out by learning the alphabet here: www.yiddishbookcenter.org/language-literature-culture/learn-yiddish-alphabet and there are many great books: shop.yiddishbookcenter.org/collections/yiddish-textbooks/yiddish-learning

[@zaashtill1542]

We’re currently working on a Yiddish course for Duolingo, which should be released by the end of 2020.

[@DCFunBud]

Such a nice man.

[@Orange9098ItsOrangewithContent]

NOTE: RIP Monty Hall 1921-2017 He died in his house in California.

[@mammashane]

He was a mensch.

[@voraciousreader3341]

Hall died just 3 months after his wife, to whom he was married for 70 years!

[@sirrykr1679]

I remember when watching the film "The Man Who Cried" (Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci and Cate Blanchett) how surprised I was when the Yiddish language was spoken and I could understand so much of it. I´ve never learned Yiddish but did 3 1/2 years of German in highschool/college. I had always thought that Yiddish was more slavic language but it has a lot of German in it.

[@suchanhachan]

It's the same for me. I studied German in high school and college also, and when I hear Yiddish I can often understand part of it, and even when I can't understand the rhythm of it seems very familiar to me. Of course it's written in the Hebrew alphabet so I can't read it, but when I hear it it seems a lot of the vocabulary and grammar are based in the German language...

[@shlogoff]

@Kathrin Kleinknecht better to speak this language of small time thieves, and not the "cultured" German of professional genocidal mass murderers! All of that correct grammar apparently did nothing for the german character.

[@MikJFr]

@Kathrin Kleinknecht Your claim that a language or dialect dies out because some of its speakers are not 100% respectable citizens, is strange. I doubt very much if linguists would support it. Re non-Ashkenazi Jews in Israel, they (collectively speaking) are very much on the up-and-up - not to mention a huge percentage of 'mixed marriages' - and will obviously not be discriminating against themselves.

[@bufnyfan1]

Mr. Hall was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He was an excellent student and had aspirations to go to medical school. He was refused entry into the University of Manitoba because at that time there was a "quota" on Jewish students who could attend. Nevertheless, he was able to move on to a very successful career in first radio then television. Despite his experience with anti-semitism, he was able to overcome this and become successful

[@davidkermes393]

What IS it about Yiddish? It's such a pleasant, homey sounding language! I don't speak it, but when I hear it I feel I'm THIS CLOSE to understanding it.

[@MikJFr]

@Kathrin Kleinknecht Re "poor grammar": Why, by implication, would you expect Yiddish grammar to follow modern German grammar? Other modern germanic languages too have vastly simplified grammar, English being a prime example.

[@mathbrown9099]

Monte Hall was my TV hero.

[@wejcynp8943]

wow love this interview

[@rachelehrenberg9231]

True story from my first years in television in Los Angeles. My senior technician at the station I worked at warned me to play down any Jewishness at work. He more or less said, although people think this is a "Jewish friendly business" it is filled with anti-semitic types. This proved very true. The things I heard behind the scenes were horrid. One technical person complained that he was overlooked because he was not Jewish.

[@bobapbob5812]

My grandfather was the first of our family (from England) born in the US. He could speak fluent yiddish as he was a wholesale shoe salesman in Brooklyn. I speak German and Yiddish can be frustatingly close.

[@bobapbob5812]

@Kathrin Kleinknecht Danke. Leider habe ich wenige Gelegenheiten mein deutsch zu üben. Wohnte ich in München für vier Jahren. Merci aussi. Je peux parler un peu en francais. Я тоже понимаю русски. Ac rwy'n siarad Cymraeg.

[@megaswenson]

One WORD in Yiddish is like a paragraph.

[@argonwheatbelly637]

אמת

[@argonwheatbelly637]

@@Rolando_Cueva : emes : truth

[@Rolando_Cueva]

@@argonwheatbelly637 Ok but why are you using Hebrew spelling. In Yiddish it's עמעס

[@claudiacotner1638]

We spoke it in our home , as my father was from Warsaw. Living in Notthern California I don’t get too many opportunities to hear it or speak it...Maurice H Bank

[@clivegoodman16]

@@Rolando_Cueva . I believe that only in the Soviet Union were words of Hebrew origin were spelt in the Yiddish way. Every where else, words of Hebrew origin are spelt as in Hebrew. Thus אמת and not עמעס - even in Yiddish.

[@hellolater4181]

Knew all of these beautiful people! Aliyah to all!!

[@tjcassidy2694]

Shalom, Monty. :(

[@arthouston7361]

This past week I had to stop at a warehouse to pick up some parts for a job I was doing, and the person behind the counter handed me the paperwork and said I needed to take my truck over to “door number one.” I said “thanks Monty, I’ll take whatever is behind door number one”…..and they looked at me like I was Meshuggah.

[@marksheiman1538]

That's funny 🤣. The only thing is this person is too young to know that reference.

[@allybally0021]

Yiddish banter is funny but has a lot of real world wisdom built-in.

[@jamestheotherone742]

Ancient language modern context.

[@Alcohen2006]

Yiddish banter is real-world, Al. The outsiders laugh at it.

[@allybally0021]

@@Alcohen2006 I'm an outsider buddy.....but I don't laugh at it.......with it on ocassion.

[@nmilin]

So interesting

[@neilnachum1]

My mother won a trip to Florida on Let's Make a Deal. I don't think she knew Monty Hall spoke Yiddish.

[@rwboa22]

In the past, actors and television performers with very "ethnic-sounding" names will "Anglicanize" (or "Americanize") them so that they can be able to get work in the industry or in the case of someone of Jewish ancestry, not have to worry about discrimination. (Recording artists like Frankie Valli [born Francis Castellaucio; his stage name is an "Italianized" variant of "Valley"], Neil Sedaka, and Barbra Steisand usually didn't do this.) Nowadays you won't see that, although in SAG-AFTRA, an actor or actress must have a name registered to them that is unique to them (actor Michael Keaton, born Michael John Douglas, being an excellent example).

[@wdh47211]

He is still alive at 96

[@nadyarossi5102]

No other language is as wonderfully expressive as Yiddish.

[@nadyarossi5102]

@GodIsLove What does that mean???

[@YorkyOne]

@GodIsLove I take it you are complementing Nadya Rossi?

[@gubernatorial1723]

Agree, but why is it considered so when it's near relative, German, is not at all? I also want to put in a good word for Scots, 'For auld lang syne' etc.

[@gloriahanes6490]

James Cagney grew up with friends who were Jewish and spoke Yiddish, he spoke Yiddish in a movie he starred in with an Irish cop looking dumbfounded because he couldn't understand a word he was saying. I grew up in a neighborhood with Jewish classmates who spoke Yiddish, and I picked up a few words here and there. My half sister is Jewish and she helps me with some of the words as well, and helps me to understand her faith.

[@MFPhoto1]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/bKO9m6Csdrp_fLc

[@SaltyTubers]

Very interesting history! I wonder why you chose to show Frank Sinatra and John Wayne with Monty when he was speaking of James Cagney?

[@gloriahanes6490]

It just happens to be a photo with Monty, Frank Sinatra and John Wayne, I don't believe Monty and James Cagney were ever photographed together.

[@noahhunter3184]

One of the first theings a Jewish kids learns is what potch en tugus is.

[@harrylangdon491]

Potch en tuchus

[@stevenginsberg8471]

If you were really unlucky it would be a potch in punim. That's worse.

[@אברהםשרייגר]

My parents spoke Yiddish and then translated so i would what they said!

[@warchela]

“It’s such a juicy language” No pun intended

[@geniusmchaggis]

i like his last sentence...makes me think of the word "schmutz"...it can mean many things depending upon the context.

[@JK-hq4vi]

When your Jewish camp bunk is being inspected and they find schmutz in your bed, you could always count on having to shake the schmutz out, remake the bed and re-sweep the floor. That's my schmutzy recollectionam

[@wookinooki9023]

Monte Hall 1921-2017

[@33Donner77]

How do you say "Door number 1, 2, or 3" in Yiddish?

[@YiddishBookCenter]

"Tir numer eyns, tsvey, oder dray" :)

[@johnburns818]

Yiddish Book Center on

[@SuperHartline]

My maternal grandfather had a Jewish proverb always at his lips. "besser in gehenem mit a klugen eyder in ganeyden mit a nar.' Better to be in hell with a wise man than in paradise with an asshole..

[@sammyvh11]

Such a mensch.....rip

[@daleandrews3552]

I didn't know Monte Hall was Jewish. He may have been one of those celebs that "Anglicized" his name to better fit in and not be ostracized in any way.

[@claudiacotner1638]

Hungarian Jews usually spoke Hungarian as opposed to Polish or Russian Jews.. MHB

[@gisawslonim9716]

But not John Wayne (in one of the photos) although I believe Frank Sinatra must have known enough Yiddish to get around. James Cagney came over on the boat from Ireland and started out on the Lower East side of New York where his neighbors were Jews so he picked up the language there. I knew he spoke Yiddish.

[@TubenIt83]

Cagney was born in New York.

[@gloriahanes6490]

I truly miss James Cagney, he was so genuine and an amazing actor.

[@howiesmith1504]

@ Gisa W. Slonim. Cagney was physically born on Manhattan's Lower East Side in 1899 but grew up in Yorkville on the Upper East Side, in those days a working class neighborhood with a lot of different immigrant groups. He had Jewish kids among his friends. He went to Stuyvesant High School, then and now a top NYC academic high school for gifted kids, where he took German as his foreign language and studied it with Jewish friends from Yiddish-speaking immigrant homes. Since Yiddish is a dialect of German with Hebrew and Slavic influences mixed in, he was able to pick it up easily. He said he always enjoyed it, especially the funny insults.

[@ArletteNL]

Hi, can anyone out there help me translate a hand-written Yiddish letter from my grandfather into English? I can help you in exchange with English, French or Dutch!

[@gloriahanes6490]

Google can help with translation just type in the a word in the search area and ask for the meaning. It may take longer, but it will be worth it.

[@movingpicutres99]

Please can we hear some examples?!

[@YiddishBookCenter]

Here's a favorite example of Cagney speaking Yiddish from Taxi!: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bKO9m6Csdrp_fLc

[@scot60]

I never knew Monty Hall was Jewish or gay.

[@---tx9xx]

In this case I believe “partner” was used in the traditional sense of his business partner who was editing his scripts with him and certainly not in the new age sense of a romantic partner

[@cbalducc]

I read that Monty was denied entrance to medical school because of an anti-Jewish quota.

[@brianthomas2434]

At the time it was standard operating procedure. NOW it's a crime.

[@joeberger5730]

What an interesting and insightful piece. Perhaps the most surprising thing I learned was that Monty Hall was gay. Never knew. Rest in peace Monty.

[@jaybloomfield5082]

Not gay...married for 70 years to Marilyn Plottel and they had 3 kids together. Why would you think that he was gay?

[@MFPhoto1]

@@jaybloomfield5082 He mentioned his partner. Obviously he meant his business partner. Joe misunderstood.

[@---tx9xx]

In this case I believe “partner” was used in the traditional sense of his business partner who was editing his scripts with him and certainly not in the new age sense of a romantic partner. He was a straight man with a wife and kids.

[@LindysRuffians]

He makes reference to his Hungarian partner. Was Monty gay? I hadn't heard that before. I know he had a wife and kids.

[@YiddishBookCenter]

partner in business

[@LindysRuffians]

@@YiddishBookCenter Thanks!

[@rrss5497]

Only an idiot would have been surprised to have heard Yiddish in Hollywood, since all the studios were founded by Jews from New York and most of the best writers and many actors were Jews who fled from Europe to escape the Republicans--I mean, the Nazis--in the 1930s and 1940s; and many of these folks remained there and brought along fellow travelers even in Monty's time.

[@johnburt7935]

Immigration enriches a nation.

[@panjandrum.conundrum]

@Kathrin Kleinknecht The German university system still hasn't recovered from the Holocaust. It may never.

[@esterherschkovich6499]

😊😉funny...

[@oldmanfromscenetwentyfour8164]

Monty Hall was gay??

[@leonardcaplan2022]

I don't think so. Mr. Hall comes from an era when "Partner" just mean business partner or something. Here's what Wikipedia says: "On September 28, 1947, Hall married Marilyn Doreen Plottel (May 17, 1927 - June 5, 2017); the two had been introduced by a mutual cousin, Norman Shnier, the previous year.[22] They later became United States citizens.[1] They had three children: Tony Award-winning actress Joanna Gleason; Sharon Hall Kessler, president of Endemol Shine Studios; and Richard Hall, an Emmy Award-winning television producer. Monty and Marilyn lived in Beverly Hills, California, from 1962 until their deaths; Marilyn died four months before her husband."

[@---tx9xx]

No it just means business partner. The word used to describe a romantic partner is a new and recent usage and was not in use in his times

[@offrampt]

Couldn't you find pics of James Cagney and Burt Lancaster?