Of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and 11 Other Facts About Jewish Oklahoma
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: Jewish songsmith Johnny Marks wrote it, and Oklahoma-bred performer Gene Autry made it famous. Image by Thinkstock
1) 4,650 Jews live in Oklahoma.
2) Isaac Lowenstein opened Oklahoma’s first vaudeville house in 1909.
3) Seymour Heyman, who ran The Hub clothing store owned the Oklahoma City Mets, a baseball team that played in the Southwestern League and Western Association in the first decade of the 20th century.
4) The inventor of the shopping cart, Sylvan Nathan Goldman, was born in Ardmore.
5) The Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art in Tulsa boasts the largest collection of Judaica in the southwest.
6) The character of the peddler Ali Hakim in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!” was played in the 1955 film by Eddie Albert.
7) In 1959, Oklahoma-born actress Joan Crawford was honored by the United Jewish Appeal for her commitment to humanitarian causes.
8) Written by Jewish songsmith Johnny Marks, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” was made famous by Oklahoma-bred performer (and later baseball owner) Gene Autry.
9) Professional wrestler Bill Goldberg was born in Tulsa.
10) The paternal grandfather of Kathie Lee Gifford, who studied at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, was a Russian Jew.
11) Temple B’nai Israel in Oklahoma City, is the state’s oldest congregation.
12) In 2013, Oklahoma state representative Dennis Johnson offered a tepid apology for using the term “Jew me down” on the house floor.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
