Jewniverse Articles Archive - Page 57 of 174

The Utopian Jewish Chicken Farmers of Petaluma, CA

Which came first, the chicken or the leftist Jews? Today, Petaluma, California, is known as a sleepy suburb steps away from Sonoma County’s wineries. But in the 1920s and ’30s, it was alive with the sound of squawking chickens — and their Jewish farmers. Coming from New York, Chicago, and other centers of East […]

By Leah Falk

He Insulted John and Yoko, and Started a Feminist Tradition

He Insulted John & Yoko and Started a (Sorta) Feminist Tradition

On November 15, 1937, a cartoon strip gave birth to an American holiday. Named Sadie Hawkins Day after “the homeliest gal in all them hills,” the fictional holiday created by famously acerbic Jewish humorist Al Capp almost instantaneously sprang off the page into a proto-feminist tradition in high schools across the country. Poor imaginary Ms. […]

Meet Red Buttons, the 8-Year-Old Vaudeville Star

Legend has it, famed Ukrainian cantor and composer Yossele Rosenblatt discovered the boy who would become the vibrant vaudeville star known as Red Buttons. As the story goes, Rosenblatt recruited then 8-year-old Aaron Chwatt, son of Jewish immigrants—into his famous Cooperman’s Choir after the cantor heard the boy sing at a Lower East Side pickle stand. […]