Motel the Operator
1940 · 88 min
Drama
★ 10.0Motel, a poor laborer, loving husband and new father, leads cloakmakers in a strike for better working conditions. When he is severely injured by strikebreakers, his wife, Esther, and infant son are left destitute. Desperate to save her starving child, Esther gives him up for adoption to a wealthy couple, and then commits suicide. The richly-rendered beautiful Yiddish songs by Sholem Secunda featuring Cantor Leibele Waldman and Joel Feig's famous choir are a good example of the bittersweet melodrama in the finest tradition of the Yiddish theater.
Crew
- Director Joseph Seiden
- Director of Photography Charles Levine
- Director of Photography Don Malkames
Cast
- C
Chaim Tauber
Motel Friedman
- M
Malvina Rappel
Esther Friedman
- M
Maurice Kroner
Benjamin Rosenwald
- B
Berthe Hart
Rebecca Rosenwald
- S
Seymour Rechtzeit
Jack Rosenwald
- J
Jacob Zanger
Jacob 'Joseph' Frumkin
- Y
Yetta Zwerling
Chane Belle 'Annabella' Frumkin
- G
Gertrude Krause
Ruth Frumkin
- H
Herman Rosen
Doctor
- I
Izidor Frankel
Boss
- S
Seymour Rechzeit
Jacob 'Jack' Rosenwald
- M
Maurice Krohner
Benjamin Rosenwald
Crew
- Director — Joseph Seiden
- Director of Photography — Charles Levine
- Director of Photography — Don Malkames
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🔥 Hot takes
warming up the wall…
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