"In the beginning of the century on Ulica Królewska
(Krolewska Street) in Warsaw, not far from Zaksish
Garden, there was a
Polish summer theatre under the name of 'Teater Novi'.
The theatre belonged to the Countess, and [during the]
summer, would play there with a Polish-formed troupe. In
1908, after the summer season when the theatre may be
dormant for the winter, both the building as well
as the stage, not having been adopted for winter-time
productions. The Yiddish theatre entrepreneur Moshe Weisfeld, fueled
by the undertakings of the theatre, that one during the
span of the winter be permitted to play in Yiddish, d'h 'German'
theatre.
Weisfeld brought over the
actor Sam Adler, who organized the following troupe: Sam
Adler, Mark Meyerson, Leyzer Zhelazo, Boris Rosenthal,
Adolf Berman, Jacob Shtshirin (latr the famous actor
Ben-Ami), Gustav Schwartzbard, M. Kh. Titelman, Nadia
Neroslavska, Schwartz (sister-in-law of Avraham
Goldfaden), Mrs. Schwartzbard et al.
After preparing the stage
and the hall for the winter productions, the theatre opened
with Jacob Gordin's 'Der vilder mentsh (The Wild Man)';
later there was played Lateiner's 'Blimele' and Gordin's
'Brider luria', in which Zhelazo became very popular.
The theatre was known by the Yiddish theatre world under
the name 'Dos teater oyf Krulevsko (The Theatre on
Krulevsko)'. It had, however, existed only for several
months. The business was northing superior. The director
was not a force to stop competition frp, another
Yiddish theatre ('Jardin D'Hiver'), which played at the
same time. The director had to scrimp expenses in
staging plays and generally as such gringeshetst
the audience, that they employed the repertoire,
the sets of the governmental theatre, which was always
within the authority of the theatre. They employed settings
that were foreign to specific Yiddish repertoire (as from
'Carmen' to 'Blimele'), had more than once led with
courage (?), and when the actors alerted the director
that we must provide sets that fit the repertoire, and
that we cannot make such fun of the theatre visitors,
the half-assimilated director answered: 'They know to
come anyway'. The audience, however, was nothing. A
conflict broke out among the troupe and the director and
among the members of the troupe itself, and the theatre,
after several months, went dormant and again began
functioning afterwards as a Polish farce theatre."
-
[--] -- -- History of Yiddish
Theatre in Warsaw, "Teater-tsaytung", Warsaw, 1928,
N' 5.
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