Motel the Operator (1940)

Motel the Operator (1940)

1940-01-15 United States of America 88 Min. PG-13
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Overview

Motel, 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.

Cast

Chaim Tauber is Motel Friedman
Motel Friedman
Malvina Rappel is Esther Friedman
Esther Friedman
Maurice Kroner is Benjamin Rosenwald
Benjamin Rosenwald
Berthe Hart is Rebecca Rosenwald
Rebecca Rosenwald
Seymour Rechtzeit is Jack Rosenwald
Jack Rosenwald
Jacob Zanger is Jacob 'Joseph' Frumkin
Jacob 'Joseph' Frumkin
Yetta Zwerling is Chane Belle 'Annabella' Frumkin
Chane Belle 'Annabella' Frumkin
Gertrude Krause is Ruth Frumkin
Ruth Frumkin
Herman Rosen is Doctor
Seymour Rechzeit is Jacob 'Jack' Rosenwald
Jacob 'Jack' Rosenwald
Maurice Krohner is Benjamin Rosenwald
Benjamin Rosenwald