When people put on these racist shows such as minstrel shows which exploited racist stereotypes of minorities in America, that were apparently popular before civil rights protests came to be in the 20th century, well, it turned out that the Jewish community wasn’t safe from these theatrical insults either.
In the very early 1900s, a vaudeville act emerged named called “Jewface”, and performers appeared on stage, sporting large putty noses, long, thick, bushy beards, tattered clothing, and speaking with thick and very poor Yiddish accents. The title “Jewface” is a take on the other form of racist makeup called Blackface, which was used to exploit the stereotypes used to insult African-Americans the same way.
The stereotypes performers and writers use to insult the Jewish community include big aquiline noses, long red hair, dark eyes with droopy eyelids, tattered clothing, excessive greed for money, and portrayed Jewish women as spoiled brats, smothering and overbearing mothers, all that to portray the Jewish community only through negative stereotypes.
The use of Jewface was eventually used in songs by songwriters from Tin Pan Alley. The songs such as “I’m a Yiddish Cowboy” and the vaudeville acts were criticized by members of the Jewish community, and a Reform rabbi has since called out the vaudeville acts, declaring them “the cause of greater prejudice against the Jews as a class than all other causes combined,” and that same year the Central Conference of American Rabbis denounced this type of comedy.
For the use of makeup and other things on stage, makeup being used on stage is the use of nose putty, and foundation to blend the putty onto the performer’s skin. For the eyes, they would use wax to make bags for the eyes and to make the eyelids droopy, as well as make obvious wigs to make the red hair look dirty.
Shown below are several pages of makeup designs for stereotypically portrayals of the Jewish community.
It is still sad that people still have the nerve to use these kinds of caricatures to cruelly portray the Jewish community in these matters today.