Broadway Rose gained notoriety in the 1940s as a

panhandler Begging (also panhandling) is the practice of imploring others to grant a favor, often a gift of money, with little or no expectation of reciprocation. A person doing such is called a beggar or panhandler. Beggars may operate in public plac ...

in the

Broadway Theater District New York City's Theater District (sometimes spelled Theatre District, and officially zoned as the "Theater Subdistrict") is an area and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan where most Broadway theaters are located, as well as many other theaters, ...

of New York City.

Biography

Anna Dym was born in approximately 1913 in Woodburn,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. Her parents, Sam and Dora Dym, were

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

-speaking Jewish immigrants from the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

. They had five additional children. By 1920, the family had moved to 264 Grafton Street in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Anna attended New York City's Public School 175.

Beginnings

According to the 1941 profile by

Maurice Zolotow Maurice Zolotow (November 23, 1913 - March 14, 1991) was an American show business biographer. He wrote books and magazine articles. His articles appeared in publications including ''Life'', ''Collier's Weekly'', ''Reader's Digest'', '' Look'', '' ...

, Anna began her interest in stage when her uncle took her to the Brooklyn Orpheum to see

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

. Thereafter she became an autograph hunter and collector, and attended vaudeville, memorizing many routines she saw.

From Hound to hunter

According to Zolotow, her transformation occurred when she realized that theater performers were just ordinary people. She learned to tag and hound performers, dispensing well-crafted flattering phrases. After doing this for a week to

Georgie Price George Edwards "Georgie" Price (January 5, 1901 – May 10, 1964) was an American vaudeville singer and comic who performed in Vitaphone shorts in the 1920s and 1930s. Early life, family and education Price was born on the Lower East Side of ...

, he offered to give her five dollars if she would stay away from him. It was the event that would create her reputation, for now she realized that she could get money by being so annoying to people, that they would give her cash to stay away. The coming of sound films led Anna away from vaudeville to Broadway. She started panhandling on Broadway in 1929, first attaching herself to

Jack Benny Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky, February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was an American entertainer who evolved from a modest success playing violin on the vaudeville circuit to one of the leading entertainers of the twentieth century with ...

. With the

repeal of prohibition The repeal of Prohibition in the United States was accomplished with the passage of the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution on December 5, 1933. Background In 1919, the requisite number of state legislatures ratified the Eig ...

in 1934, columnist

Louis Sobol Louis Sobol (August 10, 1896 – February 9, 1986) was a journalist, Broadway gossip columnist, and radio host. Sobol wrote for Hearst newspapers for forty years, and was considered one of the country's most popular columnists. Sobol wrote about ...

renamed Anna "Broadway Rose," after an earlier apple vendor.

Broadway

By the late 1930s, she was to be found patrolling areas of the

(particularly the intersection of Broadway and 50th Street). Dressed in a disheveled manner, she would solicit money from individuals, particularly those with fame. She had become so skilled in her use of language that most performers gave her something. If refused, she would resort to threats (she was familiar with the leading theater and gossip columnists of the day), or use foul language if rebuffed. Apparently some people would tip her just to keep her away. Others considered her a good-luck charm, and looked for the opportunity to see her almost every night. Her schedule was to arrive at Broadway by 3 PM and stay there until about 3 AM, when she would go home to sleep. She woke up at 10 AM, and would read the newspapers for articles on drama or gossip to prepare for work. Notices that were about herself she kept in scrapbooks, which numbered six by 1941. Her panhandling must have paid off. By the time of Zolotow's 1941 article, she had been able to purchase a three-story building to house her family and other tenants in the Brownsville section of

, New York. He disclosed that her panhandling gave her an annual income of between $10,000 to $15,000. Each year she "adopted" a particular show, consistently hanging out by the stage door and becoming familiar with cast and crew. In 1940, the show was '' Hellzapoppin'', and she was a feature of the show's two-year anniversary party.

Brushes with the law

In his profile, Zolotow said how remarkable it was that, despite her occupation, Rose was rarely ever arrested. Apparently Rose's first arrest was in 1937. In October 1941, she was convicted of disorderly conduct in front of Lindy's Restaurant at 1642 Broadway. The arresting officer said "she uses vulgarity that would make a longshoreman red in the face" and she was sentenced to 30 days in jail. On January 25, 1942, Rose was again charged with disorderly conduct. This time, Judge Morris Rothenberg said that because it was the third time she was arrested on the same charge, an institution would be the best place for her.''

New York Herald Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the ''New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...

'', January 28, 1942. Perhaps due to brushes with the law, references to Broadway Rose disappear after 1944.

In popular culture

In the song "Conga" from the musical '' Wonderful Town'', by

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...

, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, there is dialogue regarding Broadway Rose. Among numerous questions, Ruth Sherwood asks a some Brazilian sailors, "What do you think of Broadway Rose?" In the

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on a website or mobile app. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or comic books. Webcomics can be co ...

Girly ''Girly'' is a webcomic created by Jackie Lesnick which follows the romantic relationship between two girls named Otra and Winter, as well as other citizens of the city of Cute-Town. It ran from 2003 until 2010. Plot summary The webcomic is a ...

'', by Jackie Lesnick, a character named Broadway Rose works as a product analyst for the company HappyCo.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Broadway Rose Jews from New Jersey People from Brownsville, Brooklyn Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Place of birth unknown 20th-century American Jews Jews from New York (state) People from Woodbridge Township, New Jersey