Gimpel Beynish the Matchmaker
(Gimpl Beynish der Shadkhn)
Yiddish Comics of the early 20th century

Abie was a rebuttal of some of the Jewish stereotypes of caricatures, and represented a moderately successful (though very stingy) middle-class immigrant. While Abie and his friends had many typical Jewish characteristics, such as their names or their use of Yiddish words and accents, they also lacked many of the negative or malicious elements, such as exaggerated physical traits, found in the depictions of Jews from this time... he was a prime example of the belief in the integration of German Jews into U.S. society. During 1917, the character enlisted in the Army to help the USA win World War I.

1. GB: Hello, Abie! What are you doing in our neighborhood? You're really a guest from guestland.
   
2. GB: Say, really, how long can one just shlep around unmarried? Come, I have a bride for you, a real princess.
   
3. GB: Mr. Lemelzon lives right here, he has a daughter, you don't see any like her uptown.
   
4. Lemelzon: You want to convince my daughter to leave her fiance? I'll soon show you what I think of that.
   
5. Abie: Say, mister, it's not a bridegroom you need for your daughter, better you should buy her an automobile.

Labels: lower east side, modernity