KATHRYN GREENAWAY
The Gazette
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Hanna Tennenhaus looks at family pictures at home. She has 16 grandchildren and 32 great-grandchildren.
Montreal grandmother Hanna Tennenhaus doesn't own a computer and until recently had never heard of the popular everyman video-broadcast website YouTube.
Doesn't matter. In the last 48 hours, Tennenhaus has become the toast of the website thanks to a New Year's greeting she recorded for her family.
It's an impressive family that includes four children, 16 grandchildren and 32 great-grandchildren (with three more on the way.)
"YouTube? Does that have something to do with U-boats?" Tennenhaus, 83, asked with a laugh when reached by telephone yesterday.
Tennenhaus's flash fame is a testament to the unpredictability of cyberspace, where, inexplicably, an otherwise unremarkable one-minute New Year's greeting from Grandma can surf its way to stardom.
Even ABC's television show Good Morning America has called to inquire about the segment.
As of midnight, her greeting was still being featured on the YouTube home page and had been watched 123,984 times.
The segment was listed in the site's Most Viewed and Top Favourites sections.
The video begins with Tennenhaus greeting her grandson at her front door before sitting down and sharing her New Year's wishes for her family and the world.
The clip had received 650 responses.
"Aww. I'd Love It If My Grandma Just Called," wrote Radiancexox in one post.
The clip was taped and posted by Tennenhaus's grandson, Shmuel, over the holidays. The 26-year-old Florida-based Internet-marketing consultant was visiting Montreal and showed up on his grandmother's doorstep with her New York Times in one hand and a mini-video recorder in the other.
"I didn't even have enough time to put on makeup," Tennenhaus said. "I spoke with Shmuel (yesterday) and I'm overwhelmed by the response. I'm quite shy actually and don't really like being in the limelight that much."
Wrapping her mind around the concept of thousands of strangers watching her greeting is tricky for the low-tech octogenarian.
"A while back Shmuel gave me a DVD as a gift and I gave it back," she said. "I don't own a DVD player and I only have an old television set. I'm an avid reader and that's how I pass my time."
Shmuel can only speculate why his grandmother's greeting has captured the fancy of so many.
"YouTube asked people to upload New Year's greetings and the website is always looking for something different," Shmuel said during a telephone interview from Florida. "And the fact her greeting was featured on the home page has helped."
Shmuel received a telephone call from Good Morning America about the greeting, but is still not sure what the morning show plans to do with Tennenhaus's greeting, if anything.
"Bubby never sets foot out of her apartment in the winter months," Shmuel said. "And now everyone is getting to know her."
The last time Tennenhaus was in the limelight was in the early 1960s following the publication of her novel Eva (Aire Publications). The fictionalized version of her very real survival of the Holocaust received a fair amount of attention in the day. The novel is out of print, but is still available at some libraries.
Tennenhaus grew up in a town outside of Nuremburg, Germany - her most-famous classmate was Henry Kissinger - and her memories of Hitler's rise to power run deep.
In November 1998, she wrote a first-person account of her memories of Kristallnacht for the Canadian Jewish News.
Tennenhaus's parents saved her and her siblings from the wrath of the Nazis by sending them to England with a nanny, but were not able to escape themselves. Both died in concentration camps.
Against all odds, Tennenhaus has retained a quick sense of humour which surfaces in her video greeting when she jokes about being over 100 years old.
"It's all too big for me to digest," she said. "But I'm giggling like a schoolgirl about it."
© The Gazette (Montreal) 2007
The Gazette
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Hanna Tennenhaus looks at family pictures at home. She has 16 grandchildren and 32 great-grandchildren.
Montreal grandmother Hanna Tennenhaus doesn't own a computer and until recently had never heard of the popular everyman video-broadcast website YouTube.
Doesn't matter. In the last 48 hours, Tennenhaus has become the toast of the website thanks to a New Year's greeting she recorded for her family.
It's an impressive family that includes four children, 16 grandchildren and 32 great-grandchildren (with three more on the way.)
"YouTube? Does that have something to do with U-boats?" Tennenhaus, 83, asked with a laugh when reached by telephone yesterday.
Tennenhaus's flash fame is a testament to the unpredictability of cyberspace, where, inexplicably, an otherwise unremarkable one-minute New Year's greeting from Grandma can surf its way to stardom.
Even ABC's television show Good Morning America has called to inquire about the segment.
As of midnight, her greeting was still being featured on the YouTube home page and had been watched 123,984 times.
The segment was listed in the site's Most Viewed and Top Favourites sections.
The video begins with Tennenhaus greeting her grandson at her front door before sitting down and sharing her New Year's wishes for her family and the world.
The clip had received 650 responses.
"Aww. I'd Love It If My Grandma Just Called," wrote Radiancexox in one post.
The clip was taped and posted by Tennenhaus's grandson, Shmuel, over the holidays. The 26-year-old Florida-based Internet-marketing consultant was visiting Montreal and showed up on his grandmother's doorstep with her New York Times in one hand and a mini-video recorder in the other.
"I didn't even have enough time to put on makeup," Tennenhaus said. "I spoke with Shmuel (yesterday) and I'm overwhelmed by the response. I'm quite shy actually and don't really like being in the limelight that much."
Wrapping her mind around the concept of thousands of strangers watching her greeting is tricky for the low-tech octogenarian.
"A while back Shmuel gave me a DVD as a gift and I gave it back," she said. "I don't own a DVD player and I only have an old television set. I'm an avid reader and that's how I pass my time."
Shmuel can only speculate why his grandmother's greeting has captured the fancy of so many.
"YouTube asked people to upload New Year's greetings and the website is always looking for something different," Shmuel said during a telephone interview from Florida. "And the fact her greeting was featured on the home page has helped."
Shmuel received a telephone call from Good Morning America about the greeting, but is still not sure what the morning show plans to do with Tennenhaus's greeting, if anything.
"Bubby never sets foot out of her apartment in the winter months," Shmuel said. "And now everyone is getting to know her."
The last time Tennenhaus was in the limelight was in the early 1960s following the publication of her novel Eva (Aire Publications). The fictionalized version of her very real survival of the Holocaust received a fair amount of attention in the day. The novel is out of print, but is still available at some libraries.
Tennenhaus grew up in a town outside of Nuremburg, Germany - her most-famous classmate was Henry Kissinger - and her memories of Hitler's rise to power run deep.
In November 1998, she wrote a first-person account of her memories of Kristallnacht for the Canadian Jewish News.
Tennenhaus's parents saved her and her siblings from the wrath of the Nazis by sending them to England with a nanny, but were not able to escape themselves. Both died in concentration camps.
Against all odds, Tennenhaus has retained a quick sense of humour which surfaces in her video greeting when she jokes about being over 100 years old.
"It's all too big for me to digest," she said. "But I'm giggling like a schoolgirl about it."
© The Gazette (Montreal) 2007
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