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Martin Boris
interviews....
SEYMOUR RECHTZEIT
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In the 1980s, writer Martin Boris set out to
write a book1 about Yiddish acting great Maurice
Schwartz. In order to gather information for this book, Boris set
out to interview a number of Yiddish theatre people to gather
information about Schwartz and his Yiddish Art Theatre troupe.
One interviewee was the great Seymour Rechtzeit
(husband to another Yiddish acting great Miriam Kressyn and past
president of the Yiddish Theatrical Alliance.)
Martin Boris conducted and recorded seven
interviews with him over a twenty-one month period between February
1998 and November 1999. The Museum of Family History, of which the
Museum of the Yiddish Theatre is part of, has acquired these
recordings from his gracious widow and is making available to you
sound clips and/or texts or transcripts of these interviews in a
piecemeal fashion, as they are being created.
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The sound clips are being presented to you here
as an mp3 file. Hopefully you will be able to play this file on your
computer. If you have any questions, please contact the museum at
yiddishtheatre@museumoffamilyhistory.com.
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How Seymour Came to America and Got Started in the Business
(4 mins, 28 secs)
The interview starts off with Seymour telling Martin how he and
his family first performed in Europe before he and his father
immigrated to the United States. Then he describes his
experience aboard ship and at Ellis Island, then how he started
to give concerts in America, how he sang duets with Cantor
Rosenblatt and signed contracts with Victor and Columbia
Records, and finally how he started (then sold) his Banner
Records Company. He even sings a few lines here and there!!
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How Seymour
Came to Record "Belz" (2 mins, 45 secs)
This clip deals with how Seymour came to record one of Seymour
Rechtzeit's greatest hits, "Belz." Here he talks about how he
came to sing on stage and record this famous Yiddish song for
Victor records. For Jan Peerce fans, you should listen to this
too!
1 -- Martin Boris
passed away before he could publish his biography of Schwartz, "Once
a Kingdom." However, the Museum of Family history has published
it online, and it is available for you to read in its entirety. He
has written other articles about the Yiddish theatre, and they too
can be read on the Museum's website. Just search the website under
his name, "Martin Boris." |
