In 1918 he arrived in America, and at the start
of 1919 toured with "Zimro" across America,
and in that span of time he wrote the
composition for Sholem Aleichem's "I Don't
Want to Go to Cheder," the text of which was adapted and sung
by Ludwig Satz.
Returning from the
tour, Ch. performed in New York in concerts,
performing for records, was engaged by Maurice
Schwartz as a composer and conductor for his
(Yiddish) Art Theatre, where on 8 April 1920 he
performed in Sh.'s "Moishe the Fiddler, a picture of
klezmer life in one act, staged by Maurice
Schwartz." Here Ch. arranged the music for Anski's "Der
dybuk" (1 September 1921), from
which there was issued and published "The
Beggar's Dance" and "The
Saint's Singer."
On 3 Nov,ember 1922
he directed Boris Thomashefsky in the National
Theatre's H. Kalmanowitz's operetta "Dance,
Song and Wine" with music by Ch.
On 18 January 1923
in the Irving Place Theatre he staged through
Ludwig Satz Kalmanowitz's comedy "The
Bandit,"
with music by Ch.
For the 1923-24
season Ch. was engaged by Thomashefsky for his
Broadway Theatre as a composer and conductor,
and here on 3 September 1923 he directed A. Kartojinski's
[Oscar M. Carter's] comedy, "The Three
Little Business Men"
with music by Ch., and on 30 September 1923
Thomashefsky's musical play, "You and I"
with combined music, including that from Ch.,
and on 2 November 1923 Thomashefsky's revival of his
operetta "The Jolly Tailors" with music by
Ch.
In February 1924 he
directed at the Irving Place Theatre N. Braker's
(Stutchkoff) comedy "Mazl tsu froyn," music by
Ch., and on 28 March 1924 in the Hopkinson
Theatre Meyer Schwartz's tragi-comedy in 3 acts,
"A Game With Fire [?] [later called "A
Bridegroom for a Joke."]
On 11 March 1925 in
the Yiddish Art Theatre he directed through
Maurice Schwartz his free adaptation of
Goldfaden's "The Witch," music arranged
by Ch.
For the 1925-26
season Ch. was engaged by the Lenox Theatre,
where he wrote musical numbers for the
then-played melodramas (among them: on 17
September 1925 William Siegel's "Evil
Companions,"
and on 6 November 1925 H. Kalmanowitz's "Wives'
Powers [?]."
In the 1926-27
season Ch. was engaged as a composer and
conductor at the Public Theatre where he
appeared, but only to arrange and conduct the
production of Kalman's "Parisian Love, or,
"Bajadre," and he then retired from the theatre.
For a long time Ch.
performed as a cellist at the great Roxy
[vaudeville] Theatre and other vaudeville
theatres, and since 1928 has been associated
with the motion picture industry in Hollywood.
A special
achievement has been noted for Ch., as the
founder and leader of the "Chasidic Band,"
with whom he attempted "jazzy" Chasidic
melodies.
M. E. and M. E. from Jacob Mestel.
