1. + Loneliness and Pairing Lamed Shapiro’s “New Yorkish” and Edgar G. Ulmer’s American Matchmaker

2. + Lamed (Levi Yehoshua) Shapiro (1878- 1948) Born in Ukraine, died in Los Angeles. Yiddish short-story writer. In his youth, supported by I.L.Peretz. Lived through a pogrom, which informed his writings with violence and gloom. Psychological writer.

3. + “New Yorkish” (1931) by Lamed Shapiro Loneliness in a big city; both characters have no family. Separation between one’s body and self (“I am a golem”). Separation from one’s culture (the character’s names = anonymity). Cultural barrier leads to interpersonal barrier. A sexual encounter as an attempt to counteract human solitude (“Love that is bought is still love”).

4. + American Matchmaker (1940) Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer. Starring: Leo Fuchs (“The Yiddish Fred Astaire ”) and Judith Abarbanel. Fred Astaire Ulmer’s last Yiddish film. Original script, not based on a literary source. Theatrical quality rather than cinematic. Prototype for Woody Allen’s films.

5. + American Matchmaker Presents secular, wealthy New York Jews turning to the old-world matchmaking tradition to overcome loneliness. Crisis of identity and ironic reversal: an American businessman turned a shtetl shadkhn “Family characteristics know no boundaries” ?