Yosl Cutler ( yi, יאסל קאטלער, 1896 – June 11, 1935) was a Yiddish-American cartoonist, poet, satirist and founder of the first Yiddish puppet theatre in the United States.

Biography

Yosl Cutler, an orphaned son of a butcher, was born in Troyanov (today Troyaniv,

Zhytomyr Raion Zhytomyr Raion ( uk, Житомирський район) is a raion (district) of Zhytomyr Oblast, northern Ukraine. Its administrative centre is located at Zhytomyr Zhytomyr ( uk, Жито́мир, translit=Zhytomyr ; russian: Жито́ ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

, and came to the United States in 1911 with an older brother. Cutler first worked as a house and sign painter.

Career

A chance encounter with

Moyshe Nadir Yitzchak Rayz (1885, Narayiv – 1943, Woodstock), better known by his pen name Moyshe Nadir (Yiddish: משה נאדיר ; also transliterated "Moishe") was an American Yiddish language writer and satirist. Rayz was born in the town of Narayiv, in ...

turned Cutler into a writer, Nadir bringing Cutler into the Yiddish literary world. In 1922 Cutler began writing absurdist and spoofing vignettes which he illustrated himself and worked as a cartoonist for the Yiddish press. In 1923, along with friends

Zuni Maud Zuni Maud (born Yitzhok Moyed; 1891 – 1956) was a Yiddish-American cartoonist, satirist, calligrapher and co-founder of the first Yiddish-language puppet theatre in the United States. Early life and education Zuni Maud (זוני מאוד) was b ...

and

Jack Tworkov Jack Tworkov (15 August 1900 – 4 September 1982) was an American abstract expressionist painter. Biography Yakov Tworkovsky, more commonly known as Jack Tworkov, was born in Biała Podlaska on the border between Poland and the Russian Empi ...

, he was hired as a stage and costume designer for the

Yiddish Art Theatre The Yiddish Art Theatre was a New York Yiddish theatre company of the 20th century. History The organization was founded in 1918 by actor and impresario Maurice Schwartz, to present serious Yiddish drama and works from world literature in Yidd ...

Maurice Schwartz Maurice Schwartz, born Avram Moishe Schwartz (June 18, 1890 – May 10, 1960),puppeteering A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object, called a puppet, to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from ...

. Cutler was first exposed to puppets in the

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...

, where he grew up; the shows were frequently

anti-Semitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

, "but he loved the puppets." The trio expanded their early work during a summer spent in the

Catskills The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined as those areas ...

, at a summer home of left wing painters and writers, who offered opinions. In 1925 the trio opened the Modjacot (a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words but "born in the Catskills". When Tworkov left in 1926, unhappy with the socialist spin of the plays, the amalgam name was shortened to Modicot. Modicot was the first

Yiddish language Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

puppet theatre in America. The "semi-creepy Yiddish speaking puppets" were grotesque and sets tended to the surreal. Plays were delivered with an artful and sharp satire of Yiddish life, with a left-wing political outlook, but maintaining a comic edge. Collaborating with Maud, their work was always infused with social commentary,

surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...

cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

and cynical humor. The plays articulated "the clash between tradition and modernity marking Yiddish life in New York," and "skewered everything from contemporary politics to Jewish life." A noteworthy aspect of their work was to re-appropriate puppetry. The history of Slavic anti-Semitic puppet shows combined with the Jewish injunction against creating graven images made puppetry "a thoroughly un-Jewish art form." Their work has been noted to be unlike anything previously experienced in the

Yiddish theatre Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Central European Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satiric or nostalgic ...

. The works at the theatre were diverse, and included Nadir and

Avrom Reyzen Avrom Reyzen (Yiddish: אַבֿרהם רייזען; April 8, 1876 – April 2, 1953), known as Abraham Reisen, was a Yiddish writer, poet and editor, and the elder brother of the Yiddishist Zalman Reisen. Reyzen was born in Koidanov (Minsk, ea ...

plays, and Maud and Cutler adaptations of Purim plays and original satires and parodies dealing with old world Yiddish foibles and hypocrisies; plays frequently included sexual liberation and, by the 1930s, pro-communist themes. The struggles of the working class were portrayed, with Franklin Roosevelt and William Randolph Hearst turned into comic rabbits. Maud and Cutler were popular with general audiences, intellectuals and "won critical acclaim from all precincts of the

Yiddish press Yiddish periodicals Jewish newspapers Newspapers by language ru:Категория:Газеты на идише ...

." Given their left-wing associations, this was an unprecedented agreement in the usually contentious Yiddish press. In 1929 Modicot toured for three years, first in America, then Europe, with visits to London, Paris, Vilna, Warsaw, Amsterdam and finishing in the Soviet Union. The European tours were well received. In Vilna they played to 75 sold-out performances in one month. In Warsaw the Yiddish press had unmitigated praise for Modicot, recommending it to "all Jewish workers," and noting:

The entire program is full of extraordinary folk humor, wonderful ideas, and splendid technique. We have truly Jewish wrinkles and gestures, words and mumbles, signs and groans, which came about from Jewish sources and a Jewish way of life.

Upon returning to the U.S. Cutler and Maud split. Cutler continued working in multiple mediums for Jewish publications and outlets. He participated in puppetry, writing and performing, at the Worker's Laboratory; and, writing a daily column for the communist Yiddish daily,

Morgen Freiheit Morgen Freiheit (original title: ; English: ''Morning Freedom'') was a New York City-based daily Yiddish language newspaper affiliated with the Communist Party, USA, founded by Moissaye Olgin in 1922. After the end of World War II the paper's pro-I ...

, as well as being the newspaper's cartoonist.

Emanuel Levy Emanuel Levy is an American film critic and professor who has taught at Columbia University, New School for Social Research, Wellesley College, Arizona State University and UCLA Film School. Levy currently teaches in the department of cinema ...

considers Cutler to have been a "Jack of all trades", a puppetteer, craftsman, cartoonist, set designer and poet.

Cutler was a master of the stylized grotesque. He was also an extraordinarily accomplished draftsman, able to stretch, shrink and contort a line into an endless kaleidoscope of forms.

Cutler's early writing showed a thorough contempt for the rich, exploiters and philistines. As he matured his writing began to impart revolutionary meaning to his satire.

He turned communist, and began writing in prose and verse amazingly clever political satire retaining the sunny cheer and infectious impishness of his early writings.

Later work

Cutler spent the last years of his life working on a grand project, which he called ''Crisis Dybbuk''. He wished to create a marionette show to fill an evening. He chose the

Dybbuk In Jewish mythology, a (; yi, דיבוק, from the Hebrew verb meaning 'adhere' or 'cling') is a malicious possessing spirit believed to be the dislocated soul of a dead person. It supposedly leaves the host body once it has accomplished ...

to do a parody of virtues and to reveal their true worth. It was also a political satire showing that the "snake oil" used to treat the economic crisis of the 1930s was meant to mislead the people. He died in 1935 in an automobile accident in Iowa Falls before being able to perform the show. Approximately 10,000 people attended the funeral; he was buried in the cemetery of the

International Workers Order The International Workers Order (IWO) was an insurance, mutual benefit and fraternal organization founded in 1930 and disbanded in 1954 as the result of legal action undertaken by the state of New York in 1951 on the grounds that the organization ...

. In 2015 the theatre collective

Great Small Works Great Small Works is a performance collective founded in New York City in 1995. Its six founding members— John Bell, Trudi Cohen, Stephen Kaplin, Jenny Romaine, Roberto Rossi, and Mark Sussman—draw on avant-garde, folk, and popular theater ...

performed ''Muttergang and Other Cheerful Downfalls'', a bilingual Yiddish-English revisiting of Maud and Cutler's artistic works, re-working original scripts and using puppets and actors. Cutler's work has recently been considered to be a model for changing power relationships.

References

External links

Yosel Cutler books
in the

Yiddish Book Center The Yiddish Book Center (formerly the National Yiddish Book Center), located on the campus of Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States, is a cultural institution dedicated to the preservation of books in the Yiddish language, a ...

digital library (in Yiddish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Cutler, Yosi 1896 births 1935 deaths American communists of the Stalin era American people of Ukrainian descent American puppeteers American satirists American theatre managers and producers American cartoonists Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States Jewish American poets Jewish anti-fascists Jewish American journalists Jewish male actors Journalists from New York City People from Zhytomyr Oblast American set designers Social critics Ukrainian Jews Yiddish theatre performers Yiddish-language journalists Yiddish-language playwrights Yiddish-language poets Yiddish-language satirists Road incident deaths in Iowa