Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Fiddler sickies?

So this morning as I was showering, I was humming "Matchmaker" from Fiddler on the Roof. I love Fiddler on the Roof, I really do. Shelly and I used to watch it over and over when we were 14-ish. As you can imagine, I've seen it many times. However, today something occurred to me that never had before.

That was this: When the sisters sing Matchmaker, Tzeitel is getting all huffy with both Hodel and Chava. She says to Hodel, "I thought you had your eye on the rabbi's son," to which Hodel replies, "We only have one rabbi, and he only has one son. Why shouldn't I want the best?" This never bothered me until today, but it should have, and this is why:

This is the rabbi. (And if you want to get nitpicky, no, this is not a picture from Fiddler. Goggle images has a shocking lack of pictures from that movie, if anyone wanted to know. But it is the same actor, and he looks about the same as the rabbi.) You'll notice he is quite old. Which would also make his SON quite old, no? So Hodel, who looks like this:

is keeping her eye on a man who is 50, 60 ish? The rabbi can't be younger than 70. I'd guess more like 80, really.

The other option here is that the rabbi's son actually IS around Hodel's age, in which case the rabbi is a sicky and not Hodel. But you must agree that either way, someone in this story is a sicky.

Thank goodness we'll never know, since Hodel ends up with dreamy, idealistic Perchik, the teacher from Kiev in the end anyway.

Oh, and for you poor unfortunate souls who have never seen this fine film, you can see Matchmaker here.

And the rabbi makes an appearance about halfway through Tradition, which is quite long, but just so wonderful.

8 comments:

Cierra said...

oh erin, i love the way your mind works and the fact that all that went through your noggin while in the shower.

and just so you know, i fully participated in "Tradition" in our Stake's musical production. Fantastic? I think so.

Cierra said...

I wish I had access to those photos! They must be buried somewhere in my parent's storage back home. I believe there is also a video of it. Traditionnnnnnnnn, tradition....Tradition!

Tay said...

there were some major sickies accepted into that culture...

Holly-O said...

haha. perhaps the gray hair and beard make the rabbi look much older than he really is.. with a makeover, he could pull off 60ish, don't you think? but i guess even still, if he is 60ish.. you're right.. someone is the sickie. :)

just nikki said...

Wow. I never realized how many possibilities for sickies Fiddler has.

Ana Steinagel said...

Erin, you're sweet. We don't know if we'll do all A names. It wasn't on purpose... Just happened that 'Alex' felt like the right name at the time. and I like it. But our first choice for a girl is an A name so I think the chances are good.
And by the way... you're hilarious. I love this post. My favorite part is that you thought of all of this while in the shower. Not while watching the show. He He. I love ya.

Becca said...

Erin I wish I could say that I share your love for Fiddler on the Roof. As I child, I most certainly did. But that love was ruined in the 8th grade when that was the annual musical that Dixon did. Sarah Sanchez was the mom...and the dad was played but a man I have never been able to think well of: Mr. Young, the band teacher. It was too gross to me to have an adult teacher play the dad and a student be his spouse!!! Thus, no more love.

Indeed. Fiddler sickies.

Joann's Hall of Fame said...

Erin, how do I live without your stories everyday? By the way, Chris was incredible during Quelf.