Once upon a time there was a Jew called Bagelman. With the surname coming from the nature of his, he lived in Podol neighbourhood in Kiev. Our Jew  indeed ran the same business as his ancestors had been running for centuries.  He was a “bublichnik” which means in case you would have liked to taste the best bagel in the city, you had not choice but to visit Bagelman’s bakery.

At the same place and also once upon a time, there was another Jew –  Jacob Petrovich Davidov. He also lived somewhere in Podol neighbourhood and was the master of all the journalistic genres: from political and satirical reviews  to jokes and songs . In 1926 he wrote the  song “bublichki”, which at once rolled up to America. There it was translated into Yiddish and suddenly acquired entirely  different sense and sentimental character.

Meanwhile, searching for the best life one of Bagelman’ s sons  ran away from politically concerned Kiev . He found his “corner” and  a wife  in the Jewish quarter of Manhattan where the  prevailing population were native Russians.  After a while our Bagelman became a grandfather of two sweet girls – Clara and Minnie Bagelman.

In the family spoke only in Yiddish. Other languages were simply not required in East-side neighbourhood. Once, on the Jewish radio,  little Klara heard an easy-to-remember song, called “Bejgelah” (or “bublichki”). It was executed by children. Klara’s mother heard it too and thought in a manner of all the good Jewish mothers do: “Is it that my girls are less talented?” She grabbed Klara and dragged her off to the Jewish radio.

The debut of little Klara Bejgelman with “Papirossen” was just a first step of the world-famous Jazz duet beginning. There was a long story in between, but their mother always was the tireless engine, who was inspiring, encouraging and supporting us, –  recalls 88-years old Claire.

Later on, the sisters changed their names into more “American” ones. Clara became Clare, Minnie changed into Merna. The famous “Barry” was created by Minnie.

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