Beatrice Bernfeld puppet play scripts and stories
Call Number
Date
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
Puppet play scripts and story texts, in English with some examples of Yiddish, assembled by Beatrice Bernfeld (1906–1997), a New York City children's librarian who performed them using eight figures she constructed of papier-mâché (now held by the New-York Historical Society Museum). Most plays are adaptions of traditional European folk and fairy tales, while the stories are drawn from well-known writers like Washington Irving, Lewis Carroll, and the Yiddish language authors I. L. Peretz and Sholem Aleichem.
Biographical note
Beatrice Bernfeld (1906–1997)—apparently called "Aunt BeBe" by her family—was a New York-born librarian who began her career as early as 1925: the New York State census taken then lists her in that profession, age 18, living in the Brooklyn household of her parents, Philip and Jennie. By 1930, according to the U.S. federal census taken that year, Beatrice had moved to the Bronx with her parents, Austrian immigrants whose native language was Yiddish. The 1940 census shows her still living in the Bronx and working as a librarian. Family history states Beatrice was employed at the Hamilton Fish Park Branch of the New York Public Library, on Manhattan's Lower East Side. During her many years as a children's librarian, Beatrice performed a number of puppet shows with scripts drawn from traditional European folk and fairy tales, using eight puppets she constructed of cloth and papier-mâché, which are now held by the New-York Historical Society Museum.
[Some information in this note was supplied by the donors of the collection. The box which originally housed the collection was labeled "Aunt BeBe's scripts."]
Arrangement
The collection is organized alphabetically by genre:
Plays (folders 1-15)
Play synopses (folder 16)
Poems/lyrics (folder 17)
Stories (folders 18-28)
Miscellaneous materials (folders 29-34)
Items are filed alphabetically within each genre. Most are undated.
Scope and Contents
The collection contains the scripts for fifteen puppet show plays performed by Bronx-based children's librarian Beatrice Bernfeld (1906–1997) during the middle years of the 20th century, and possibly later. Some scripts are handwritten, some are typed, and five are mounted on stiff card with cord loops for hanging behind the puppet stage to prompt the actors. All the scripts are in English except for one, "Der Purim Ber" ("The Purim Bear"), which is in Yiddish. Most plots appear to be adaptions from traditional European folk and fairy tales, such as "Clever Gretel," after the Brothers Grimm, and "The Wonderful Pot," from a Danish source. One folder contains the texts of three poems or lyrics on the theme of Hanukkah. The miracle of Hanukkah is also the focus of "The dish of oil," a story in the collection which, along with ten others, Bernfeld must have read to children at the library. The other stories draw on more secular sources: again, from the Brothers Grimm, as well as from Lewis Carroll, Washington Irving, and the Yiddish language writers I. L. Peretz (1852–1915) and Sholem Aleichem (1859–1916) in English translation. One story, "Die Zwei Brider" ("The Two Brothers") is in Yiddish. Miscellaneous items round out the collection. Most seem unrelated to Bernfeld's puppet show and storytelling activities except for two: an invitation to the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Hamilton Fish Park Branch of the New York Public Library (the 1929 program lists a marionette theater performance; perhaps it inspired Bernfeld's later hand puppet shows?), and a photograph, presumably showing Bernfeld in later life, reading to a young boy (dated Thanksgiving, 1995).
Subjects
Genres
People
Access Restrictions
Open to qualified researchers.
Use Restrictions
Taking images of documents from the library collections for reference purposes by using hand-held cameras and in accordance with the library's photography guidelines is encouraged. As an alternative, patrons may request up to 20 images per day from staff. Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282.
Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: https://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions
Preferred Citation
The collection should be cited as: Beatrice Bernfeld Puppet Play Scripts and Stories, MS 3202, New-York Historical Society.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of William A. and Paula Frosch, 2019. Beatrice Bernfeld was the aunt of William Frosch.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Archivist Joseph Ditta arranged and described this collection in July 2021.
Repository
View Inventory
Play: Blue Willow, undated, inclusive
Play: Budulinek, undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
After a Czech fairy tale.
Play: Cinderella, undated, inclusive
Play: Clever Gretel, undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
After the Brothers Grimm.
Play: [The Elves and the Shoemaker], undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
After the Brothers Grimm.
Play: Der Purim Ber [The Purim Bear] (Yiddish), undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
As indicated in the synopsis in folder 16, "The Purim Bear" is by Nekhamkin.
Play: Signora Lupa and the Figtree [sic], undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
After the story of the same title in The Truce of the Wolf and Other Tales of Old Italy by Mary Gould Davis (1931).
Play: The Singing Tree, undated, inclusive
Play: The Straw Ox, undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
After a Ukrainian folktale.
Play: The Talking Tree, undated, inclusive
Play: A Tramp and a Night's Lodging, undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Written and published by Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy and described in Kate Oglebay's Plays for Children: A Selected List (1922).
Play: Vodnik, undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
After a Czech fairy tale.
Play: The Wonderful Pot, undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
After a Danish fairy tale.
Play: Untitled (1 of 2), undated, inclusive
Play: Untitled (2 of 2), undated, inclusive
Play synopses, undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Outlines of "Purim Play" by L. Hoffman and "The Purim Bear" by Nekhamkin.
Poems / lyrics, undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Three poems / lyrics in Yiddish (one untitled; one "Khanukah likght" by Morris Rosenfeld; one "Khanukah" by Abraham Reisen), and the lyrics with 10-bar musical notation for "Meister singer -- Night Watchman."
Story: The Devil and Tom Walker, undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Typescript of Washington Irving's 1824 short story, "The Devil and Tom Walker."
Story: The dish of oil (a.k.a. A dish of oil), undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
A telling of the miracle of Hanukkah.
Story: The Fat of the Cat, undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
From The Fat of the Cat and Other Stories by Gottfried Keller, adapted by Louis Untermeyer (1925).
Story: The Hare and the Hedgehog, undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
After the Brothers Grimm.
Story: Molly Whuppie, undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
An English fairy tale set in Scotland and collected by Joseph Jacobs.
Story: Sarah-Bath-Tovin, undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Typescript in English of a story by Yiddish languague author I. L. Peretz (1852-1915).
Story: The Tabernacle, undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Typescript in English of a story by Yiddish language author Sholem Aleichem (1859-1916).
Story: Tweedles, undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
From Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass (1871).
Story: Why Jan Pendogget changed his mind, undated, inclusive
Story: Die Zwei Brider [The Two Brothers] (Yiddish), undated, inclusive
Story: Untitled, undated, inclusive
Miscellaneous: Illustrations (4), undated, inclusive
Miscellaneous: Invitation, Hamilton Fish Park Branch, New York Public Library, 20th anniversary, 1929 February 26
Miscellaneous: Japanese dish gardens, undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Better Homes & Gardens leaflet no. B-A-7.
Miscellaneous: Letter copied from a newspaper, [1945 October 4], inclusive
Miscellaneous: Photographs (2), 1989, 1995, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Two color photographs, one showing four elderly women—one of whom is presumably Beatrice Bernfeld—at a gathering (dated 1989), the other presumably showing Bernfeld reading to a young boy (dated Thanksgiving, 23 November 1995).
Miscellaneous: Ribbon, "S.S. Bergensfjord", circa 1913-1946, inclusive
Scope and Contents
The SS Bergensfjord was a Norwegian ocean liner that sailed for the Norwegian America Line to the United States between 1913 and 1946.