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"I arrived in Mexico on
June 12, 1927, as an envoy of the theatre company for which I worked
in Havana, Cuba. This company was composed of Morris Gelber, Rosa
Braun, Genia Gelber, Leon and Zila (Celia) Zuckerberg, Nathan and
Sarah Guinter, besides Aaron Alexandrof.
In 1925 we had left
Argentina on a tour of Latin America, arriving finally in Havana,
where we learned that in Mexico there was developing a nice
community. The theatre company sent me to probe the ground in order
to present plays in Yiddish on Mexican soil.
Mr. Kapulsky
introduced me to Mr. Barukh and Mr. Katz -- the latter was once a
stage actor -- who accepted care of the travel expenses of my
colleagues. Both Mr. Barukh and Mr. Katz contributed, each with 100
dollars. Mr. Goldman, who ran a steamship agency, was ready to
[supply] the tickets. On Sunday, July 3, 1927, the theatre season
began in Mexico City. The first play, 'The Wedding Dress', was
a success, exceeding all expectations.
Each week, we worked in
the Teatro 'Abreu'. One fateful day, with the arrival of another
company, we ran out of a forum. Lacking local [support], we moved to
the "Jewish Association Young Men" [building] on Tacuba 15. During
the following years, we had guest stars such as Joseph Shoengold,
the Goldsteins and Clara Young. Unfortunately, with the decreasing
interest in Yiddish theatre, the actors began to disperse.
When 'der weg'
appeared, the Yiddish theatre was revived thanks to the support of
this Jewish newspaper, which took care of contacting the Yiddish
authors who, little by little, we were encountering.
When our colleague Leon
Zuckerberg died in 1935, it left a deep hole in our theatre. Braun
and a servant built our own theatre, so that we would not have to
rent one....We were all well-received. At the inauguration there
were Zigmund Turkoff and Esther Perelman. Unfortunately we could not
meet our expenditures, though we felt the need to deliver a theatre.
Messrs. The Brauns, my wife and I are looking for other occupations.
Now that we have returned to Mexico, we are thinking again of
establishing a Yiddish theatre.
Included here are the
names of the first actors who worked with us: Sh. Kapulsky, I.
Unikel, L. Lubinsky and I. Zweiman. Among the invited artists were
Ostro and Wallerstein, Kroner, Psakevich, Ludwig, Zack, Zanger,
Fishman, Goldstein, Aisman, Gertler, Abraham Lax, Baratz, A.
Teitelbaum, Ethel and Abe Dorf, Betty Komapeneyets and Leon
Rabinovich."
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