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In 1940 they again toured Argentina, Brazil, Chile
and Uruguay, returning to America in 1941. Here they
appeared in the Brighton”Theatre, and during the
1944-46 seasons became partners in the Hopkinson
Theatre. In 1947 they toured Argentina once again
and in 1949 they performed in London and
Paris. During the 1950-51 season, they and Bertha
Gerstin took over the Clinton Theatre. In 1951
they became managers of the Douglas Park Theatre
in Chicago. In 1952 they went on tour once again to
Argentina, including Buenos Aires, as well as
Brazil, Uruguay and Chile. Next they performed in
Paris, and in April 1954 appeared -- in Yiddish --
for two seasons in the state of Israel.
After a short visit to America, they were invited to
play in Johannesburg (South Africa), then returned
to Brazil, performed in Argentina as well, and went
on a tour of Central and South American countries.
With their twins (Motele and Zissele born in 1945)
they returned to America, stayed in Washington for
two years where they created an English-Yiddish
radio program, written by Lux. In 1958 they appeared
in Yiddish theatres in London, Paris and Belgium. At
the end of that year the whole family began to
perform with Maurice Schwartz until they left for
Israel in 1960. In Israel, L. had the opportunity to
act -- in English -- as “Sara” in Sholem Aleichem’s
“It's Hard to be a Jew”, and in I. J. Singer’s
“Yoshe Kalb”. She performed -- in Yiddish -- in
Sholem Aleichem’s “Tuvia the Dairyman”, H. Leivick's
“Shmates” [Rags] and in the translated version of
the comedy “A Hole in the Head”. In the summer of
1961, the whole family performed in Argentina,
toured the South American countries as far as
Venezuela, were invited to play in Israel again
(Impresario - Israel Wohlin). In Israel they
played for three seasons, then went to California
in 1964 and appeared in Los Angeles.
In 1965 L’s daughter got married and left the
stage. L., her husband and their son returned to
Israel where they appeared in a dramatized version
of Itsik Manger's “Megilla lider”. This performance
made history in the course of Yiddish theatre in
Israel. The play was performed for nine months -- a
record for the highest number of performances for a
single Yiddish production in Israel -- elevating the
prestige of Yiddish theatre to its highest
level. The spectators included not only the regular
Yiddish theatre audience, but opponents
of Yiddish as well
those who had been living in Israel for a long time
and Hebrew language purists. The press, i.e. the
newspapers in Hebrew, Yiddish and in other languages,
highly praised the production.
Hebrew actors began to speak and perform in Yiddish.
The praise of the production and its effect spread
out literally throughout the whole Yiddish
world. After that, L. acted in Yiddish in Ephraim
Kishon’s “Di ketubah” (The Marriage Contract), as
well as in a revival of “Di megila”.
During the “Six Day War”, L. and her husband
performed both together and separately for Israeli
soldiers all over the country, singing near the
Front. In 1968, L. and the whole Israeli troupe,
performed “Di megila” in Argentina and later, with
the same play, in New York.
L. appeared in Hebrew on “Kol Israel”, the Israel
radio broadcast. Alone or with her family, she
produced a great number of records with their songs
and theatre pieces.
Sh.E.
Mendel Kohanski -- The Itsik Manger
cult in Israel, ”Yiddisher kultur”, “Jewish
Culture”, N.Y., No. 8, 1968. |
