Fascinating find. We’ve got a juicy series going about Picon’s incredible career; read more about her here!
Evening Dress worn by
Molly Picon
Silk
1930s
Collection of Yeshiva University Museum
Gift of Sarah Safford
In the mid-1970s, Sarah Safford, a dancer from New York was driving in Mahopac in Upstate New York when she came upon an abandoned truck in the middle of a field. In the truck was a trove of eccentric clothes that Safford recognized as stage costumes. Safford’s theater-knowledgeable mother identified the clothes’ importance and recognized them as belonging to Molly Picon, the Yiddish theater star. Safford and her mother contacted Picon who said that, as a result of her grief over the death of her husband, had left many mementos and souvenirs in the house that she had shared with him in Mahopac. Picon also encouraged Safford to keep the clothes and use them for shows. Safford did later use the clothes in a show inspired by her find called Molly Picon is Alive and Well and Living in Brooklyn.