fiddler on the roof took place in imperial russia.
fiddler on the roof took place in imperial russia.
fiddler on the roof when did it take place?
imperial russia
tevye, a poor jewish milkman with five daughters, explains the customs of the jews in the russian shtetl of anatevka in 1905, where their lives are as precarious as the perch of a fiddler on a roof ("tradition"). at tevye's home, everyone is busy preparing for the sabbath meal. his sharp-tongued wife, golde, orders their daughters, tzeitel, hodel, chava, shprintze and bielke, about their tasks. yente, the village matchmaker, arrives to tell golde that lazar wolf, the wealthy butcher, a widower older than tevye, wants to wed tzeitel, the eldest daughter. the next two daughters, hodel and chava, are excited about yente's visit, but tzeitel illustrates how it could have bad results ("matchmaker, matchmaker"). a girl from a poor family must take whatever husband yente brings, but tzeitel wants to marry her childhood friend, motel the tailor.
fiddler on the roof
returning to america, the fiddler, as he called himself, made his first stop at keystone city. while the fiddler managed to humiliate the flash (jay garrick) the first time they met, flash was able to foil his plan, which involved replacing maestro bowin, a violin virtuoso, who was actually the fiddler's twin brother. the physical similarity between the brothers (who had been separated at birth) also led to bowin briefly being suspected of the fiddler's crimes. the fiddler captured his brother and flash, but they escaped and the fiddler apparently committed suicide by diving into a river. as is the case more often than not, the fiddler survived his plunge into the river and returned to battle the flash again a few months later. the villain refined his appearance, shaving his dark locks and donning the powered white wig that became his trademark for the remainder of his life. after the flash thwarts a petty theft and arrests most of his gang, the fiddler followed the hero at a distance but was in time to piece together a quarrel between flash and joan williams. the exchange, with joan annoyed at the time flash's life took him away from home, inspired the fiddler to undermine the hero. using local criminals, the fiddler arranged for "common citizens" (really members of his gang) to demonstrate that the flash was not needed. as the flash arrived always just in time to see the "citizens" route the criminals, he was advised to rest, relax or take a vacation. eventually, the tricks took their toll and the flash announced his retirement. as soon as he had supposedly departed, the fiddler instigated a reign of terror across keystone, staging almost daily robberies. one evening, joan was particularly regretful of her admonition of the flash and took it upon herself to resolve the situation. using mirrors to blur her form and give her the illusion of speed, she donned a spare uniform and took up pursuit of the fiddler. while the athletic joan was quite capable of dealing with ordinary thugs, she was no match for a master criminal such as the fiddler. to the criminal's astonishment, the flash appeared to be a woman. nonetheless, the fiddler resolved to dispose of her and tied her to the trellis of a nearby train track. as the train bore down on her bound form, the genuine flash quickly rescued her and bore down on the fiddler. not to be easily taken, the fiddler dove between the ties, falling to his presumed death (flash comics #93).
fiddler (comics)