The Wedding (and Bar Mitzvah) Singer

When you think of singers who come from Philadelphia, lots of major figures come to mind: Marian Anderson, Pearl Bailey, Eddie Fisher, Kitty Callen, Frankie Avalon, Jeannette McDonald, Teddy Pendergrass, and even Andrea McArdle, the original Annie. But if you want to make a list of the city's legendary Jewish wedding and Bar Mitzvah singers, the name at the top would almost certainly be Gerri Dean.

Gerri Dean with Kol Katz orchestra, Coronet Restaurant, Broad and Spruce Sts., Philadalphia, March, 1951

Listen to Gerri Dean sing with Jules Helzner, circa 1970. (2:02 minutes, MP3, 1.87 MB) Listen to Gerri Dean sing selections for a 1950s-1960s bar mitzvah ceremony.

Born Geraldine Shmiegel, Gerri got into the business when Jerry Adler, a neighbor of hers who happened to be a bandleader, heard her sing. “I used to wash the dishes in the evening, and he used to hear me through the window as I washed the dishes," she recalls. "I was about fourteen years old and he comes knocking at my door and says 'I need someone to sing a wedding ceremony,' and I said, 'I don’t sing that; I only sing blues.'”

That wasn’t entirely true. Gerri’s father was a cantor from Eastern Europe, renowned for his compositions and choral arrangements (stay tuned for an article on him!). Her sister knew the entire Yiddish Theatre repertoire on the piano, and her brother played the violin. As a child in the 1930s, Gerri had wanted to join her father’s choir, but he would only allow men to sing in it. Now was her chance – all she had to do was learn “Oh, Promise Me,” “Because," and “I Love You Truly,” and she’d be good to go.

Soon enough, she had mastered the Yiddish repertoire of the time: Oy mama, bin ikh farlibt ("Oh Mother, Am I in Love"), Ikh vil zikh shpiln ("I Wanna Play"), Vus du vilst, dos vil ikh oykh ("What You Want, That’s What I Want"), Sheyn vi di l’vone ("Beautiful As the Moon"), and lots of other classics. When the musicians needed a break during a twenty-five minute Russian sher, she’d sing Der nayer sher ("The New Sher"). Meanwhile, she took on the entirety of the of the American party repertoire, rock, Latin, rhythm and blues, and every classic from the Great American Songbook, and when the Israeli Hebrew repertoire came in, that became her new specialty - she sang it like a Sabra (native born Israeli), and earned herself a spot in Philly's #1 Jewish party band, the Jules Helzner Orchestra!

In the 1960s, Philadelphia’s Conservative rabbis passed an edict banning live music at Saturday afternoon bar mitzvahs, leaving a loophole that was very good for her business – you could still hire a singer, as long as he or she performed solo. Gerri learned to teach games, run a candlelighting ceremony, lead dances (including Israeli dances, the Bunny Hop, and the Alley Cat, while singing), “as if I were a full orchestra!”

Gerri performed regularly through the early 1990s, then took a breather, and has recently returned to singing on a more limited basis. Her memory for words is prodigious but, just in case, she keeps all of her lyrics on neatly organized 3X5 cards. One of her musical specialties was the “Bar Mitzvah Ceremony,” a slice of Jewish cultural history that fell out of favor some time around thirty-five years ago… but, until then, you couldn't have a party without it. It had nothing to do with the actual religious ritual of the Bar or Bas Mitzvah, but usually took place just before the Bar Mitzvah dinner was served - it was a chance for the photographer to get a photo of each family member - and a good shot of the Bar Mitzvah boy in a tallis (ritual prayer shawl). For the musicians, it was an opportunity to play a bit of classic Yiddish theatre and folk repertoire. Here's how Gerri's version of the ceremony worked:

First, the ushers walked in to the tune of Bar mitzvah kinder ("Bar Mitzvah Children") - the boys carried pretend Torahs (made by Gerri's mother), and the girls carried candles. Next, the parents would walk in, accompanied by the Yiddish theatre tune Koved es avikha ("Honor thy Father"). Then the siblings would enter carrying the yarmulke and tallis, to the tune of Dos talesl ("The Tallis"), a theatre song made popular by Boris Tomashevsky. Then the grandparents would come in and the band would play Ver hot azoy eynikl? ("Who Has Such a Grandson"), based on the folksong "Ver hot azoy yingele?, ("Who Has Such a Boy"). Then the boy himself would walk down the aisle to Der nayer yid ("The New Jew"), and Gerri would conclude her ceremony with a song for the mother ("Mother Love") composed by Abe Alemar, a popular local Yiddish emcee. Quite a production, and not a dry eye in the house!

So click on the links, and take a trip back in time. Experience a 1950s American Bar Mitzvah Ceremony, Yiddish style - the way it was, courtesy of the Discovery Project - and Wedding/Bar Mitzvah singer par-excellence, Gerri Dean!

- by Hankus Netsky