"Yenkel der Shmid" ("Yankel the Smith", 1906) set a new level of frankness in Yiddish-language theater in dealing with sexual passions. Although Yiddish theater was more open to such themes than the English-language theater of the same era, it had mostly entered by way of works translated from miscellaneous European languages. The central couple of the play must balance their passion for each other against their marriages to other people. Ultimately, both return to their marriages, in what Sol Liptzin describes as "an acceptance of family living that neither negated the joy of the flesh nor avoided moral responsibility". 1972, 86 A film based on the play was made in 1938, filmed at a Catholic monastery in New Jersey; it starred Moyshe Oysher, was the film premier of Herschel Bernardi (playing Yankel as a boy), and is also known as "The Singing Blacksmith". It has also been adapted by Caraid O'Brien as the English-language play "Jake the Mechanic".