Harry Jordan

 

My father, Harry Jordan, passed away when I was fourteen years old. Never did I ask questions about his origins when he was alive. Most everything I learned about him came through research and stories my mother told me. The stories that resonated were from his years in Yiddish Theatre. Pictures were collected from photo albums. A few playbills were discovered. Advertisements for dramas were found in the archives of Yiddish newspapers. The collection I started needed to be shared and I found the perfect place: Steven Lasky’s virtual Museum of Family History where he expertly displayed my photos, stories and even an audio piece I recorded.

I could not be happier with the results. What a way to honor my father’s Yiddish Theatre career! Family members and friends have visited this online museum and have reported their positive comments to me.

Steven Lasky, the founder and director of the Museum, expertly handled my photos and rough drafts and turned them into museum pieces. I highly recommend his services to anyone who wants to preserve the memory of a family member.

-- Leah Jordan Bisel

 

Esta Salzman

Steve Lasky did a wonderful job when he created an addition for my parents and aunts to his online exhibition,  "Lives in the Yiddish Theatre: Tributes to a Bygone Era."

Each time I go there, it brings back nice memories of the past.

Steve was able to record my audios over the phone and make them part of the exhibition.

He also included in the exhibition photographs that I supplied; these were added to those that Steve already had in his vast collection.

Steve's knowledge of both Yiddish film and stage is invaluable. His dedication and meticulousness in regard to these subjects made it a great experience to collaborate with him.

I'm glad that this exhibition will memorialize the contributions of my parents & aunts to Yiddish film & stage. In this manner, future generations of theatre goers and students of Yiddish history will have a place to go to satisfy their thirst for knowledge. And the history of Yiddish film and theatre will live on!

-- Jamie Lubin (son of Dave Lubritsky and Esta Salzman)

Liza Barska Fisher

 

It was a serendipitous meeting. I literally bumped into Steve Lasky rounding a corner at the 2006 IAJGS Conference in New York as he was talking to a few people about an idea he had. That idea was to create a virtual Museum of Family History. Part of that museum would be a wing documenting ancestors in the Yiddish Theatre, which my grandparents and aunts had been part of in Warsaw. He wondered if I could help him with information about my Fisher Family. Sadly, my father was the only Holocaust survivor from his family and I didn’t have much information for Steve.

However, I sent him what I had and he got to work, diligently over time finding more and more information to add to the little I had. And eventually, when he shared this “wing” dedicated to my family, I was overwhelmed. To know their memory is honored and preserved in the museum is a legacy for my family and my Jewish family worldwide.

That was fifteen years ago. Steve still stays in touch. Every now and then he’ll send a tidbit that he’s found about the Fisher family. If it’s in Yiddish, he’s already translated it for me, as I have no translation skills.

I’m honored and privileged to have this legacy, and it was all due to Steve Lasky’s hard work and diligence. 

I would love to share his creation with you. I am filled with gratitude and pride every time I enter the museum. You can visit my family at The Fisher Family (museumoffamilyhistory.com)

I am so blessed to have bumped into Steve that day in New York. He has left us a beautiful legacy.

-- Connie Fisher Newhan

Richard Tucker


 

Please accept my congratulations, and also my thanks, for the Museum's exemplary online exhibit and tribute to Richard Tucker as the music world celebrates the centennial of his birth this month. As Richard Tucker's authorized biographer, I am especially pleased to see that the majority of the contents of the exhibit were drawn from my book, which you acknowledged very graciously as the exhibit's primary source.

During the time I was researching and writing the biography and was working closely with the Tucker family, none of us could have foreseen the Internet, the Web, and the Digital Age in which we now live. What we felt certain about, however, was that the voice and artistry of Richard Tucker as a singer, and the principles and values he stood for as a man, would be timeless.

Please accept this message as an expression of my gratitude for your exhibit, and for the innumerable contributions of the Museum to our collective history.

-- James A. Drake, author of "Richard Tucker: A Biography"