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Pesach Burstein
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Born on 15 April 1896, in
Pultusk, Poland.
In 1901
his father moved to Berdyansk, where he had
a store selling finished
clothing. In Berdyansk
Pesach finished his
education in the local
synagogue, then sang
baritone with Cantor
Bialik in the synagogue.
He also performed in the
beloved play "Shulamit"
written by Goldfaden.
The Cantor's choirmaster
Naom Podlovny encouraged
him to perform at the
bimah, and in 1913
Burstein founded a
miniature theatre in Konstantanovka.
The first
performance
was a
failure, and
as a result
Burstein
ended up in
a difficult
financial
situation.
His father
sent him
money to
return home,
but Pesach
spent the
money on
travel
expenses so
he could play
in the theatre in
Poltava.
With the outbreak of the
first World War,
Burstein together with
the lady
artist Kostin, began
performing
in the
miniature
theatre of
Lodz. Later
they
performed in
Vilna and in
Kovno,
Lithuania.
At that
time, he
composed
some lyrics
for songs
for
which he later composed
the
melodies.
Some of
those
lyrics, like
"A Klotz in a
Hat", "The
Small Belt", and "The
Seven Daughters" were
popular for a very long
time.
After performing for a
number of years in
various miniature
theatres, in 1924
Burstein was invited by
Thomashefsky to come to
America to perform.
Burstein came to America
and performed in the "Freilekhe
shneiderlekh" ("Happy
Tailors") in which
Schildkraut played the
lead role. |
In 1925 Burstein
performed at the
Hopkinson Theatre in
Brownsville (Brooklyn,
ed.), in 1926 at
the Liberty Theatre (also
in Brownsville); later
at the
McKinley [Square, ed.]
Theatre in the Bronx; in
1928-9 he played at the
Prospect Theatre in the
Bronx, and in 1929-30 he
performed at Philadelphia's Arch Street
Theatre.
In January 1927 Burstein
was accepted into the
Jewish Actors Union.
Specialty: "fat"
(slapstick?) comic.
M. E.
Editor's note: This
short biography that is
included in the
Lexicon's first volume
was published in New
York in 1931. Mr.
Burstein had much more
of an illustrious career
after this volume was
published, until his
ultimate passing in
1986. |