Clara Young (Yiddish theater)

Clara Young (Yiddish theater)
Clara Young and her mother
First row: Lachman, Wolkenstain, Winkler, Bankoff; second row: A. Chelif, A. Oberberg, Clara Young, Boaz Youngwitz, Ilia Trilling
Clara Young and members of her theater troup in Russia

Clara Young (born Khaya-Risye Shpikolitser c. 1882 in Zlotshev, Galitsia) was a Yiddish theatrical actor. Born to parents who loved the stage she spent her early years in a home that housed rehearsals of traveling Yiddish theater troups. After her father's death the family went to America, where she soon joined the Tantsman company and went to Boston, there to Zolotarevski's troup in Montreal, thence to Toronto and to Morris Finkel's theater in Philadelphia.[1]

In 1903 she played in the People's Music Hall where she made a name with songs like Di dame fun Broadvey and Libe mayne. In 1909 she went over to the Thalia Theater where her husband Boaz Young was part owner, and there played serious roles for the first time, Tsipeniu and Got, mentsh un tayvl (God, man and devil) and Kreutzer Sonata and in Dos yidishe harts singing the couplet Sigmund Mogulesko wrote for her, Ikh hob es punkt vi in der heym. She played in Di bigamistin (zayn vayb's man) which, along with Avrom Shomer's Alrightnikes, she and her husband took to London in 1911 and then to the Lodz Groys teater and Warsaw's Elyseum Theater. Her success encouraged the couple to return to Warsaw, where in 1912 she starred in Anshel Shor and Joseph Rumshinsky's Dos meydl fun der vest (Di Amerikanerin) and later Khantshe in Amerike and Alma, vu voynstu? (Alma, where do you live?) and the German operetta Puptshik.[1]

"She was the most beloved Yiddish actress in Poland and Russia during the 1910s... Not only the Yiddish-speaking operetta audience adored her, so did Poles and Russians ... Even the Yiddish intellectuals and literati in Warsaw were smitten with Clara--no small feat for a soubrette performing American Yiddish operettas ... critics like Mukdoyni, Prilutski, Dovid Frishman, and Peretz appreciated her elegance, language, and nuanced acting, and they were also clearly attracted by her beauty. Her appeal lay in her feminine charm, mixed with a hint of eroticism... Although not all of her repertoire was set in America, she clearly capitalized on being an American and impersonating American characters on stage."[2]

Her husband Boaz wrote in Mayn Lebn:

"Masses of Poles came to see Di amerikanerin; Warsaw assimilators were not embarrassed to come to the Yiddish theater ... young Hasidim would sneak into the theater ... [and] Jewish literati saw in Clara Young's performances a revival of the Yiddish language. ... Rumshinsky's music to Di amerikanerin was so successful that not only Jews but also Poles sang it. It could be heard in all cabarets."[2]

Her popularity grew when she starred in her husband's Jeykele the bluffer In 1922 she starred in the premiere of Tomashevsky's Di grine kuzine. In 1923, at the Prospect Theater, she played the title role in Der yeshiva bokher (The schoolboy), soon after traveling in Poland and the Soviet Union for several years, then Argentina and Brazil in 1928, then back to Lodz, Warsaw, Riga and Vilna in the 1930s, then Paris, Berlin, and London, Belgium, Mexico and Cuba.

Subsequently Clara returned alone to the Soviet Union, became a Soviet citizen, and spent the rest of her life there.[2] Ida Kaminska, the Polish born actress wrote of meeting up with Young in 1941 when all were temporarily stuck in Tashkent.[3] Clara died in Moscow in 1952.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b Zalmen Zylbercweig, Leksikon fun Yidishn teater, Book two, 917-919
  2. ^ a b c d http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb6389/is_1_92/ai_n29151012/pg_16/ Nina Warnke, Going East: the impact of American Yiddish plays and players on the Yiddish stage in Czarist Russia, 1890-1914 (American Jewish History, March, 2004)
  3. ^ Wandering Stars

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • THEATER — origins post biblical period FROM 1600 TO THE 20TH CENTURY england france germany italy holland russia united states jews in the musical the jew as entertainer yiddish theater premodern performance in yiddish haskalah drama broder singers the… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • UNITED STATES OF AMERICA — UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, country in N. America. This article is arranged according to the following outline: introduction Colonial Era, 1654–1776 Early National Period, 1776–1820 German Jewish Period, 1820–1880 East European Jewish Period,… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • NEW YORK CITY — NEW YORK CITY, foremost city of the Western Hemisphere and largest urban Jewish community in history; pop. 7,771,730 (1970), est. Jewish pop. 1,836,000 (1968); metropolitan area 11,448,480 (1970), metropolitan area Jewish (1968), 2,381,000… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Abraham Goldfaden — Infobox musical artist Name = Abraham Goldfaden Img capt = Abraham Goldfaden Img size = Landscape = Background = group or band Alias = Origin = Starokonstantinov, Russia Genre = Yiddish theatre, operetta Years active = 1876 ndash;1908 Label =… …   Wikipedia

  • Jacob Pavlovitch Adler — Infobox actor name = Jacob Pavlovitch Adler caption = Adler in 1920 birthname = birthdate = February 12, 1855 birthplace = Odessa, Russia deathdate = death date and age|1926|04|1|1855|02|12 deathplace = New York, New York, U.S. restingplace =… …   Wikipedia

  • ARGENTINA — ARGENTINA, South American Federal Republic, general population (2004) 39,150,000; Jewish population 190,000. This entry is arranged according to the following outline: colonial period modern period legal basis for jewish life history EARLY JEWISH …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Tara Strong — Tara Charendoff Strong Charendoff Strong in July 2009 at the San Diego Comic Con International Born Toronto, Ontario, Canada Other name …   Wikipedia

  • BRAZIL — BRAZIL, South American federal republic; general population (est.) 183 million (2005); Jewish population 97,000. Jewish history in Brazil is divided into four distinct periods with a specific interval: (a) The presence of new christians and the… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • DUTCH LITERATURE — Influence of the Bible The arrival, on October 27, 2004, of the Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling, a completely new translation into Dutch of the Bible and the Christian Apocrypha, initiated a fierce debate in Dutch literary circles. At the core was the… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • literature — /lit euhr euh cheuhr, choor , li treuh /, n. 1. writings in which expression and form, in connection with ideas of permanent and universal interest, are characteristic or essential features, as poetry, novels, history, biography, and essays. 2.… …   Universalium

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”