Knish: In Search of the Jewish Soul Food

Mrs. Goldberg to Gangsta Rap: The Knish in Culture

Borscht Belt nightclubs, Yiddish theaters, and prime-time television are no strangers to the knish. The hunk of stuffed dough has graced stages and screens with its multifaceted roles: comic foil, naughty lady, and trusted sidekick. It has touched the guts of audience members with humor and, yes, dyspepsia . From mobster comedy films to the New York Times crossword puzzle, the knish goes from lowbrow to high.1 It has seized Mrs. Goldberg to Gangsta Rap ‰ ‰ ‰ The Knish in Culture 137 Silver_Knish_Book.indb 137 1/31/2014 11:51:44 AM Knish 138 the zeitgeist of more than one era and more than one place. It has become synonymous with New York, Jewishness, and the intersection thereof, but as a cultural icon, it has also spiraled outward to Pittsburgh, London, and Winnipeg. Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Knish Maker In one 1950s sitcom, the squat pastry was an outgrowth of ethnic identity that doubled as a gauge of personality. The Goldbergs invited viewers into the home of housewife, cook, and Jewish immigrant mother (or balebosteh) extraordinaire, Molly Goldberg. Gertrude Berg, who wrote the show and acted in it, portrayed Molly as a selfless matriarch whose Yiddish-inflected speech was laced with malapropisms and not-so-hidden truths. In a preface to recipes for knishes (cheese and potato) in The Molly Goldberg Jewish Cookbook, the lady of the house lauded the pastry as a divining rod for kindness and a salve for less-thanperfect familial relations. Who is Sylvia? She’s Tante Elka’s middle boy Georgie’s wife. When she and Georgie got married it looked like she was going to be a regular daughter-in-law. But she turned out fine. How? Knishes. That was the turning point. Elka thought Sylvia was stuck-up and she was very worried that it would be contagious to Georgie, but one afternoon Elka fell into Sylvia’s apartment and found her making knishes, so everything was all right from that moment on. Like Elka says: “You couldn’t be stuck-up and make knishes too.” And that’s the truth. Show me someone who can make knishes and Silver_Knish_Book.indb 138 1/31/2014 11:51:44 AM Mrs. Goldberg to Gangsta Rap 139 I’ll show you a person. No matter what they call them or how they serve them, a knish is a knish and that’s all.2 A day spent measuring, mixing, rolling, stuffing, and coaxing dough into knishes could be interpreted as only one thing: an act of devotion to family and heritage. Puppetry of the Pastry The knish would continue to serve itself up in prime-time sitcoms of the 1970s and ’80s. But long before then, its Jewish-sounding name resounded on the set of a children’s television show and in homes throughout Pittsburgh. In 1952, the host of a popular kids’ program invited a former World War II navy pilot turned television personality for a tryout. Hank Stohl (no relation to Mrs. Stahl of Brooklyn) arrived at the interview sans puppets (his flock was back in Ohio). Forced to improvise, Stohl cobbled together a character from a decapitated floor mop and a darning egg. “The puppet was named Clarence,” he remembered, “but Mitzi [the show’s host] said, ‘He looks like a knish.’”3 Perhaps the character’s unkempt tresses made Mitzi think of a bunch of rebellious shoestring fries that would be better off inside a skin of dough. Or maybe she found herself captivated by Clarence’s homemade quality, his down-home vibe, or his Semitic profile. Whatever it was, in that puppet she saw a knish. And so that’s what he was called. Mitzi McCall (née Steiner), from a Jewish family in Pittsburgh, Silver_Knish_Book.indb 139 1/31/2014 11:51:44 AM Knish 140 was not “brought up particularly religious,” but “latke” and “brisket ” were second nature, as foods and phrases. Ditto “knish.”4 “It’s a funny word,” said McCall from Studio City, California, where she moved soon after she christened ‘Knish.’ “It just came out. It’s just one of those crazy things.” At the time Stohl thought, “Anything you want, lady.”5 It stuck. Stohl and Knish starred on Mitzi’s Kiddie Castle and went on to host their own daily program. Knish took on an adviser, Rodney Nugent Buster Hackenflash III, a hand puppet inspired by W. C. Fields. They introduced cartoons and...