PESACHKE BURSTEIN of the Yiddish Stage, an early biography, through 1931, from my translation; the Lexicon of the Yiddish Theatre, V. 1 Pesachke, as well as his wife, Lillian Lux and son (who is still very active, performing) Mike Burstyn, all have graced our Yiddish stage. Within the Lexicon, only Pesachke and Lillian have been biographied: Pesachke in V. 1, which was published in 1931 and thus only has an early biography of him, and Lillian, whose bio was published in V. 6 and is thus fuller in scope and content. I hope Mike, at some point, will update these bios (and write up his own), so I can include them in my new, online V. 8 of the Lexicon. Meanwhile, here is Pesachkes V. 1 biography: Pesachke was born on 15 April 1896, in Pultusk, Poland. In 1901 his father moved to Berdyansk, where he had a store selling finished clothing. In Berdyansk Pesach finished his education in the local synagogue, then sang baritone with Cantor Bialik in the synagogue. He also performed in the beloved play Shulamis written by Goldfaden. The Cantors choirmaster Naom Podlovny encouraged him to perform at the bimah, and in 1913 Burstein founded a miniature theatre in Konstantanovka. The first performance was a failure, and as a result Burstein ended up in a difficult financial situation. His father sent him money to return home, but Pesach spent the money on travel expenses so he could play in the theatre in Poltava. With the outbreak of the first World War, Burstein together with the lady artist Kostin, began performing in the miniature theatre of Lodz. Later they performed in Vilna and in Kovno, Lithuania. At that time, he composed some lyrics for songs for which he later composed the melodies. Some of those lyrics, like A Klotz in a Hat, The Small Belt, and The Seven Daughters were popular for a very long time. After performing for a number of years in various miniature theatres, in 1924 Burstein was invited by Thomashefsky to come to America to perform. Burstein came to America and performed in the Freilekhe shneiderlekh (Happy Tailors) in which Schildkraut played the lead role. In 1925 Burstein performed at the Hopkinson Theatre in Brownsville (Brooklyn, ed.), in 1926 at the Liberty Theatre (also in Brownsville); later at the McKinley [Square, ed.] Theatre in the Bronx; in 1928-9 he played at the Prospect Theatre in the Bronx, and in 1929-30 he performed at Philadelphias Arch Street Theatre. In January 1927 Burstein was accepted into the Yiddish Actors Union. Specialty: fat comic. --------------- Here is a partial stageography for Pesachke, which covers most of his illustrious career; a nice resume, indeed :) : 1923-1924 Di dray kleyne bizneslayt (The Three Little Business Men) 1923-1924 Fraylekhe shneyderlekh (The Jolly Tailors) 1923-1924 Auction Pinochle 1928-1929 Sanin 1928-1929 A Bridegroom Wanted 1929-1930 Zayn mames geliebter (His Mothers Lover) 1929-1930 Fargesene mame (Forgotten Mother) 1929-1930 In di hoykhe fenster 1929-1930 Yedens gelibte (Everybodys Sweetheart) 1929-1930 Di idishe shtunde, oder, Mazl in liebe (The Jewish Hour, or, Lucky in Love) 1929-1930 Nakhn shturm (After the Storm?) 1929-1930 Der skhkur 1930-1931 A meydel fun amol (The Girl of Yesterday) 1930-1931 The Love Thief 1934-1935 The Gypsy Singer 1934-1935 The Jolly Gypsy 1935-1936 Fishel der gerotener (The Perfect/Lucky Fishel) 1935-1936 Bobe yachne (The Witch) (as Babbe Yachne) 1936-1937 Pini fin pinchev (Pini from Pinchev) 1936-1937 A Night in Budapest 1936-1937 Zayn yidish meydl (His Jewish Girl) 1936-1937 Lomir khasene hoben (Lets Get Married) 1936-1937 Der gasn-zinger (The Street Singer) 1939-1940 A Village Wedding 1939-1940 I Would If I Could 1941-1942 The Warsaw Canary 1942-1943 Who Needs a Mother? 1942-1943 The Sacred Dance 1943-1944 Siomkas Wedding 1944-1945 Ver iz shuldik? (Who is Guilty?) 1944-1945 Liovke maladyets 1944-1945 Motke in America 1944-1945 Ehrlikh iz shverlikh (Hard to be Honest) 1945-1946 My Golden Bride 1945-1946 Dem rebins nigun (The Rabbis Melody) 1945-1946 The Little Red Soldier 1945-1946 The Singing Waiter 1946-1947 Di fraylekhe shusterlakh (The Jolly Shoemakers) 1946-1947 Motke in America 1946-1947 Lomir khasene hoben (Lets Get Married) 1946-1947 Ehrlikh iz shverlikh (Hard to be Honest) 1946-1947 A fraylikher geburtstag (A Happy Birthday) 1947-1948 Street Singers 1947-1948 Good Luck Motke 1947-1948 Der gedungener khosn (The Hired Bridegroom) 1947-1948 Mayn kales hany-mun (My Brides Honeymoon) 1947-1948 Di neshome fun a froy (The Soul of a Woman) 1947-1948 The Big Show of 1948 1949-1950 Double Trouble 1949-1950 A Village Wedding 1949-1950 The Lucky Guy 1949-1950 Sing Israel 1949-1950 Motke Becomes a Yankee 1949-1950 Sing Israel 1950-1951 Stepmothers 1950-1951 Yenta kozak 1956-1957 Lomir fraylikh zayn (Lets Be Happy) 1958-1959 A khasene in shtetl (A Wedding in Town) 1958-1959 A Hole in the Head 1958-1959 Shmates (Rags) 1968-1969 The Megilla of Itzik Manger 1971-1973 Mayn rebetsn fun yisroel (The Rebbetzin from Israel) 1973-1974 Mayn mame der general (My Mama the General) Photo below courtesy of the Archives of the Yiddish Theatrical Alliance.
Posted on: Fri, 18 Jul 2014 02:16:31 +0000
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