Episode 70: Fagin!

Political Junkie Podcast · Mar 18, 2025 · 38m

A 1903 illustration in London’s Daily Graphic of actor Ivan Berlyn as Fagin, one of the “weird and eccentric parts” he was said to specialize in. Descended from German Jewish immigrants, Berlyn (born Isaac Berlin) played Fagin on stage and in silent films. He seems to have made some effort to obscure his ethnicity and religion, but the artist did not: in this drawing, Berlyn has a pronounced, hooked nose and a threatening expression, in contrast to the depiction of the other actors’ more delicate and Anglicized features. Image credit: S A H Robinson/Wikimedia Commons.

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