Lives in the Yiddish Theatre
SHORT BIOGRAPHIES OF THOSE INVOLVED IN THE Yiddish THEATRE
aS DESCRIBED IN zALMEN zYLBERCWEIG'S "lEKSIKON FUN YIDISHN TEATER"

1931-1969
 

Di gildene pave
(The Golden Peacock)
 

The "Gildene pave (Golden Peacock)" (small art stage) was founded at the end of August 1924 in Vienna under the leadership of Leon Halpern. The first production (Peretz Hirshbein's "Navala") was also performed in Hebrew.

A month later the group also might have caught the ear of more than one district, and after a short time they performed its first official program that was lead by "Khelmer Rev" (a dramatization by Hertzberg), "Bantseshveyg" (by I. L. Peretz), and the dramatic folk song "Mhka mshme ln", "Baym rabin", "Der magid", and "Avrahamele melamed".

The second program (performed on 7 January 1925) was led by: "Bat sheba", a one-acter by David Pinski, "Kasrilevke" (dramatization of Sholem Aleichem by Hertzberg), and the dramatic folk song "Oyfn pripetshik", "Shabat tsu nakht", and "Di dray neytorins". (Director Leon Halpern, playwright Yitzhak Hertzberg, scenery and costumes by Tuvye Gedule and Anna Leshnoy).

The third program was a repeat of the previous performance and the one-act farce "A retsept kegn shvigers" by Max Hartwig (translation by Z. Zylbercweig).

Each program were up on posters for a long time. The productions used to begin at 7:30 in the evening. The public was accustomed to keeping the theatre in great [drkh-arts]. On the stage there was heard an serious reception. Almost as [a sign of] sympathy. Brrb (Sh. Ashkenazi), Bneuni [Dr. Nathan Brind], Ben-Levi, Eliezer Geller, Leon Halpern, Arthur Hoff, Menasha Khdry, Max Katz, M. Schreiber, Esther Halpern, Miriam Schnabel-Heflich and G. Rechter, were not professionals, nor were they Viennese, but Yiddish students from Poland and Russia, a part composed of graduates, a part composed of visitors from the dramatic-academic school in Vienna.

The causes of its downfall were the poor physical condition [of the troupe], due to great expenditures that each program had required, and personal envy and hatred among its members.


Sh. E. from Eliezer Geller.


 

 

 

 


 

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Adapted from the original Yiddish text found within the  "Lexicon of the Yiddish Theatre" by Zalmen Zylbercweig, Volume 1, page 553.
 

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