The World Of Sholom Aleichem And Blacklist Era Oppression

The World of Sholom Aleichem is a play based on three Yiddish folktales written initially by Sholom Aleichem and I. L. Peretz, two of the most influential Russian-Jewish writers of the early 20th century. Adapted for the stage by Arnold Perl in 1953, just eight years after the end of World War II, the play honors and preserves the heartwarming stories of Eastern European Jewish life, many of which had been lost during the Holocaust. Perlʼs 1953 adaptation of The World of Sholom Aleichem wasnʼt just noteworthy because of its cultural significance but because of who was telling the story and when: almost every member of the predominantly Jewish cast and crew had been blacklisted during the Second Red Scare, an era in which government officials such as Senator Joseph McCarthy witch-hunted accused Communists living in the United States. So, how is The World of Sholom Aleichem a memento of the second Red Scare, the personal histories of ostracized actors, and New Yorkʼs vibrant Jewish culture? How did blacklisted artists continue to express themselves despite rampant anti-communism, antisemitism, and racism in the 1950s? How did the cast use art activism to make their mark on American society? To answer these questions, we need to take a deeper look into the play itself and its surrounding history.

The World of Sholom Aleichem chronicles Jewish life in the small towns of Eastern Europe at the turn of the century under the iron-fisted rule of the Tsarist Russian Empire. Arnold Perl's adaptation sheds light on Judaism, not only as a faith but also as a way of life, a culture, and a community that endured immense hardship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Facing state-sanctioned antisemitism, poverty, and waves of violent pogroms, many Jewish families fled overseas from Eastern Europe to havens like New York City. As such, many immigrants found this play to be a source of comfort, since it spoke to their feelings of displacement and desire for acceptance as they struggled to navigate the assimilation pressures of a post-Holocaust world. Film critic J. Hoberman from The Guardian remarked, “Sholem Aleichem gave the Jews…a collective identity…his characters personified the pintele yid, a Yiddish idiom meaning the ‘irreducible, indestructible essence of Jewishness.’” The World of Sholom Aleichem preserves the memory of the once-blossoming Eastern European Jewish world and the people who lived in it. 

Like in many of his other works, Sholom Aleichem uses humor to show the many ways oppressed communities have held onto their cultural identity. Through radical hope and everyday acts of resistance, the Jewish people were able to thrive in spite of centuries of hate and adversity. Through humor and resilience, these stories challenged Jewish stereotypes while offering 1950s theatergoers a nostalgic sense of folk simplicity.

In the 1950s, in the unrest following the Second World War, government officials seized the political moment. During the Second Red Scare, government officials oppressed, harassed, and spied on community organizers, entertainers, activists, and members of marginalized groups, all under the guise of “cracking down on communism.” The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was a congressional committee created to investigate “un-American” activity. During interrogations, the HUAC officials would ask the infamous phrase, “Are you now, or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?” During interrogations, the HUAC also pressured people to disclose the names of people supposedly associated with the Communist Party. If you were deemed a Communist, the HUAC would place you on the blacklist, you would be barred from employment, and you could be stripped of your passport. But the HUAC’s attack on communism was notoriously broad, often targeting those whom they suspected of other activities and affiliations that the group deemed “un-American.” The HUAC's attacks were often veiled attempts to discriminate against people of different ethnicities, races, or genders. 

The relationship between Communism and antisemitism was glaring. HUAC weaponized the blacklists to ostracize Jewish artists and minority races and bar them from employment in the entertainment industry. In the Hollywood film scene, HUAC disproportionately targeted and blacklisted Jewish individuals and dozens of black creators, who comprised less than 0.1% of Hollywood employees at the time. For this reason, many members of the 1953 cast of The World of Sholom Aleichem were the victims of these accusations. Shunned from the television and radio industries because of their political beliefs, Jewish heritage, and association with leftist causes, creatives like Carnovsky, Brand, Perl, and Da Silva turned to New York theater for refuge. The World of Sholom Aleichem was a project not only for Jewish artists but also for blacklisted ones. As Dr. Adi Mahalel wrote, they “found escape in the theater. In a system run on an older capitalist model, theater producers—unlike their Hollywood counterparts—were independent from corporations and thus free to hire blacklisted talents.”

In the end, the play was a success, running for more than 300 performances and airing on public television in 1959. Much of the time, the audience was unaware that they were applauding blacklisted actors. It’s important to acknowledge that the play’s life did not end in the 1950s or 1960s. The World of Sholom Aleichem remains a living story as artists continue to adapt the playʼs plot, characters, and themes to appeal to contemporary audiences. As was the case during the Red Scare, it is essential to recognize the history of both the Jewish people and other previously oppressed minorities—a history of hardship, hope, and communities that refuse to be silenced.