A tummler is an M.C or entertainer, as at a Borscht-Belt resort.  The word means noisemaker.  Leo Rosten efines a tummler as "The paid social director and entertainer in those Catskills resorts that constitute "the Borcht Belt."  The word is pronounced TOOM-ler.

Grab a #2 pencil and let's see how well you do on this quiz.

1.  Who said, "A tummler wakes up the Jews when they fall asleep around the pool after lunch.  He goes by and excites them and tells them jokes and stories.  Instead of them drifting off, he keeps them happy and alert and that's his job?"

A) Mel Brooks
B) Moss Hart
C) Danny Kaye
D) Jan Peerce
E) Tony Curtis

2.  Who said, "The ideal tummler (if "ideal" is quite the right word) would be a cross between Milton Berle and Jerry Lewis?"

A) Henny Youngman
B) Leo Rosten
C) Jack Carter

3.  Which tummler frequently depicted his wife as the supreme Jewish American Princess (JAP)--a woman who likes to lie in bed, signalling ships with her jewelry?

A) Joey Adams
B) Don Rickles
C) Phil Silvers
D) Jerry Lewis

4.  In which cookbook will you find a recipe for "Tuh Mel Fried Rice with Mushrooms"? The author (s) define "Tuh Mel" as the family reunion to celebrate when Grandma got her "citizen's papers."

A) "New American Table" by Marcus Samuelsson
B) "The Molly Goldberg Jewish Cookbook"
by Gertrude Berg
C) "New Classic Family Dinners"
by Mark Peel
D) "The Chinese-Kosher Cookbook"
by Ruth and Bob Grossman

5.  Which of the original names of these tummlers is incorrect?

A) Henny Youngman was Henry Youngman
B) Tony Curtis was Bernie Schwartz
C) Rodney Dangerfield was Jacob Cohen
D) They are all correct

6.  Which tummler, who frequently performs in Florida, sees a sign which says, "Direct from Kutsher's the Raleigh and the Nevele"?  He says about Florida: "The malls don't have video games, they have blood-pressure machines.  Working Century Village was like appearing in Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum."

A) Mal Z. Lawrence
B) Jerry Lewis
C) Jackie Mason

7.  Where did tummlers swap or barter jokes and routines?

A) Kellogg's Cafeteria (Forty-ninth St. & Seventh Ave., NYC)
B) the Theatrical Drugstore on Forty-sixth
C) the Palace Cafeteria, west of Sixth Ave
D) Lindy's

8.  Which tummler once looked at the audience in the Sands Hotel in Atlantic City and said, "Hello, sir.  Is that you wife?"  (He paused), "Oh, well.  Keep your chin up."  "Jesus Christ!" he exclaimed, stopping short in front of a fat man, "How much d'you weigh?  Two hundred and seventy-four pounds?  Yea...on the left side of your _____, you do!  He smiled sweetly at an old lady--"Hello, deaer"--and leaned down to shake her hand.  "Oof, what did you     have for dinner tonight?  Fish?"  "Don't call me sir," he bellowed at a young man in the audience.  "King Jew will do fine."  "You," --he pointed to a woman--you're Italian, right?  I knew it.  None of your clothes match.  Nah, but really, we like the Italians."

A) Don Rickles (AKA "the father of insult comedy")
B) Jack Leonard (AKA "Fat Jack Leonard")
C) Mal Z. Lawrence
D) Red Buttons

9.  Who defines a tummler as "A noisemaker; if Buddy Hackett is at your party, you've definitely got one"?

A) Jackie Mason
B) Leon H. Gildin
C) Michael Wex

10. On rainy days the tummler was an especially crucial part of the hotel scene, enlivening lobbies and rec. rooms and otherwise distracting guests from the thought of how much they were spending to breathe the fresh mountain air that the weather had conspired to deny them.

A) True
B) False
C) Ask me another question
D) Who knows?  I vacation in Miami Beach!

11.  For the Catskills hoteliers, the tummler was a kind of insurance policy against any guest's ever voicing a note of boredom.

A) True
B) False

12.  What complaints did tummlers have to listen to at most hotels in the Catskills?

A) "My room's so small it has a three-cent stamp for a rug."
B) "My room's so small, the mice are hunchbacked."
C) "You should see my room.  I put a key in the door and it breaks the window.  When I complained, they gave me a room without a window."
D) All of the above

13.  Which tummler would carry two rock-laden cardboard suitcases and go to the edge of the diving board and say, "Business is no good!" and jump off. (laughs)  Of course, his suitcase would take him right to the bottom and his derby would float on the surface.  He would look up at the blond, gentile lifeguard who would mercy and dive down to save him. (laughs)

A) Mel Brooks
B) Sam Levenson
C) Henny Youngman

14.  Henny Youngman wrote that "At the Swan Lake Inn, doing whatever was necessary meant a tummler also had to be an emcee, scenic designer, electrician, and sometimes a busboy.  After shows he had to hang around and schmooze up the guests. He had to laugh at the jokes of unfunny men, and dance and flirt with unattractive women.  Then there was our most scared duty--trying to fix up unattached men and women."  Today (2009), matchmaking is done by

A) "JDate"
B) "Chai Expectations"
C) "Frumster"
D) "Speed Dating"/"Hurry Date"
E) "Matchmaking Moms"
F) "Shoshanna's Matches"
G) All of the above

15.  At what hotel would you find Lou Goldstein, kindly called "Uncle Lou," but better known in the trade as the tummler?

A) The Nevele
B) Grossinger's
C) The Concord
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ANSWERS:
1.  A
2.  B
3.  B
4.  D
5.  D
6.  A
7.  A, B, & C
8.  A
9.  B
10. A
11. A
12. D
13. A
14. G
15. B

Sources:
"Take My Life, Please," by Henny Youngman and Neal Karlin
"King of Comedy - The Life and Art of Jerry Lewis" by Shawn Levy
"The New Joys of Yiddish" by Leo Rosten
"Remembering the Catskills" by Esterita ("Cissie") Blumberg
"You Can't Do Business (Or Most Anything Else) Without Yiddish" by Leon H. Gildin