Published: 16 September 2022
Last updated: 5 March 2024
When Shane Baker was 25, he fell in love with a 92-year-old Yiddish actress. Now he’s bringing his Yiddish drag show to Melbourne.
When Shane Baker steps onto the stage to perform as a Yiddish drag queen in Melbourne tomorrow night, he will channel one of his first loves.
Mina Bern was a star of Yiddish theatre in pre-war Poland and continued her acclaimed career in the US until she died in New York in 2010, aged 98.
The pair struck up a relationship after Baker saw her perform in 1993 in a “Yiddish Queen Lear” production. “She was the first Yiddish actress I saw and fell in love with. She was 92 and I was 25,” he says. “It was a strictly physical relationship. She liked to see how much herring I could eat.
“I learned to speak Yiddish thanks to her.”
"She was 92 and I was 25; it was a strictly physical relationship. She liked to see how much herring I could eat."
Baker was not long out of college in San Antonio when he properly met Bern in New York at a conference. She is partly responsible for helping Baker, who is not Jewish and was born into an Episcopalian family in Kansas City, become one of the great contemporary proponents of the Yiddish language and theatre in America.
He is now director of the Congress for Jewish Culture - a US-based group that promotes Yiddish arts and literature.
As a high school student, Baker was exposed to some Yiddish through Bernard Malamud’s writing, and he had heard snippets on movies and television.
Later, in college, he asked a professor to help him learn the language and began teaching himself to read and write. “Once I started reading the literature I was fascinated with the modernist poetry and, of course, the humour.”
But when Baker met Bern, she helped him find his Yiddish voice. “I didn’t really have good spoken Yiddish until I connected with Mina.”
From there, he leapt into the world of Yiddish theatre and has since performed in many productions throughout the world.
This weekend he will perform Introducing Mitzi Manna, In Her First Ever, Final Farewell Tour, which combines magic tricks, “filthy songs”, jokes and poetry.
“I have a kitchen sink philosophy for performing: throw in as much as you can. Then there’s something for everyone.”
This will be the first time Baker is bringing Mitzi Manna to Melbourne, although he has performed here once before.
An early version of the character emerged about six years ago at the KlezKanada festival.
“One night I dragged up and had to fill in a bunch of time because some of the performers were late. That was the beginning. I didn’t give her a name yet.”
I have a kitchen sink philosophy for performing: throw in as much as you can. Then there’s something for everyone.
Baker then began compiling material he had been trying to get other actors to perform and put the show together himself. “It was fun and exciting and I haven’t looked back.”
“I’ve taken her to Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Cape Town, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Los Angeles. Played New York, too.”
Baker arrived in Melbourne last week and then went to Sof Vokh Oystralye - a weekend retreat where only Yiddish is spoken.
He says it was encouraging to see young people expressing themselves in Yiddish. “Here there are so many young people who see Yiddish as an extension of their family life, who are brought up with it. It’s an important thing.”
Baker says he is often asked whether Yiddish is undergoing a revival - a theme which he says is “handy for PR” but not really true.
There are communities around the world, like Melbourne, where Yiddish is central to their expression of identity, he says.
“It’s not revival. It’s a lot of really hard work. Fortunately, there’s a lot of creative minds in the world of Yiddish. Hopefully, more people will learn Yiddish so they can learn how great it is.”
Shane Baker performs at Kadimah in Melbourne on Saturday, September 17 at 8pm.
All photos: Jordan P McAfee
