The Living Orphan

We proudly present a restored print of prolific director Joseph Seiden’s The Living Orphan. Based on Sholom Secunda’s Yiddish play Der Yusem, this drama of an immigrant showbiz family features rare footage of New York City in the 1930s. Film scholar J. Hoberman writes, "The Living Orphan is both a recording of a vanished landscape--Lower East Side streets, Second Avenue marquees, Romanian-style wine cellars--and a particular sensibility, as well as a two-hankie backstage domestic saga." Muni Berger and Freda Walters (played by Polish Yiddish actors Gustav Berger and Fania Rubina) are married with dual singing careers. Leaving behind Muni and their young son, Freda embarks on a lengthy road tour with a show ironically named Motherly Love. Circumstances and a lack of modern telecommunications lead to Freda’s estrangement from the family. When she finally finds them again, she and Muni compete for the affection and custody of their zundele (little boy), Ben. Bring a hankie; no, bring two! We dedicate the screenings of The Living Orphan to the memory of Mimi Saul Krant, co-founder of the National Center for Jewish Film and its Associate Director for over 30 years.