NCJW Storytelling Programs
For many years, Helene Levy Baginsky (1910-2004), Marjorie Isaacson Bissinger, and others dressed as good fairies and served in other ways as storytellers for hundreds of New Orleans children. For this work, the National Council of Jewish Women first sponsored Magic Tree in 1950, with its volunteer storytellers in the city’s public libraries. From 1955 through 1962, NCJW’s program was televised as Let’s Tell a Story on WDSU, produced by another NCJW member, Harriet Stern Rosenthal, who also authored children’s books and worked on other programs for the station. Stern is pictured in the exhibition as well in the information on Newcomb Nursery School. Terry Flettrich Rohe and Linda Mintz became storytellers as well.
Later, Marjorie Bissinger came to the lead in Let’s Tell a Story. She also was a beloved nursery school teacher at the New Orleans Jewish Community Center, which opened its doors to both Jewish and non-Jewish students.
Children with Helene Levy Baginsky (1910-2004) dressed as good fairy. National Council of Jewish Women, Greater New Orleans Section records, Collection 667, Louisiana Research Collection, Tulane University.
Marjorie Bissinger, ca. 1955, Greater New Orleans Section records, Collection 667, Louisiana Research Collection, Tulane University.
Marjorie Bissinger in costume, ca. 1960, National Council of Jewish Women, Greater New Orleans Section records, Collection 667, Louisiana Research Collection, Tulane University.
Marjorie Bissinger: Let’s Tell a Story
Marjorie Bissinger and Sylvia Sterne on Mentorship
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