Lives in the Yiddish Theatre
SHORT BIOGRAPHIES OF THOSE INVOLVED IN THE Yiddish THEATRE
aS DESCRIBED IN zALMEN zYLBERCWEIG'S "lEKSIKON FUN YIDISHN TEATER"

1931-1969
 

[?] Pshigoda


A Lodzer. Profession - a hairdresser.

According to Solomon Krause, in his troupe in Vilna, P. was for around three months in the chorus and also provided wigs for the theatre.

According to M. Myodovnik's memoirs, there were in Lodz (in 1897-1898) "amateurs" who also had a director, and and one of those directors was P., who had the profession of a wigmaker. The "amateurs" often used to arrange productions, and on holidays perform across the province around Lodz, as well as Brzeziny, Pabienice, Zgierz et al. When he returned from the province, the "amateurs" again would find employment with their prior profession.

Provincial actors in Lodz sometimes used to farforn oder tsu milikhn [see "Lexicon", p. 1315] or to P., who used to put out money for the troupes, create the permissions, by himself act and often by himself he also put together troupes, which later had acquired a name on the Yiddish stage in Russia.

Michael Gelbart recalls in his memoirs, that when he was a choir boy with a cantor in Lentshitz, there came there two "Germans", who had persuaded several choir boys with a cantor's daughter to travel with them to Kutno, in order to become Yiddish actors there. In Kutno two people, Pshigoda and Zilbering, they received pnis with written posters, in which it was with large letters announced their performances in the following way:

"Welcome
To the great wonder theatre from Warsaw is here
They are performing the historical play
BAR KOCHBA
With heavenly singing
Large and small
May you come to give
S'vird zeyn vonder shehn
Men hot nokh gimals azons gethon zehn".

Apparently, P. was a co-director for the "troupe", the actor Moshe Feder recalls, as a theatre director in Lodz in the years 1908-10. With black walls, dressed in a black hat, a cane in hand and a cigar in his mouth. P. used to hold "khshub'dik", speaking with a "laboring" voice, and begin to act in all the main roles, especially his pet role of "Der Vinder Mentsh (The Wild Man)" by Gordin. P. used to organize troupes, at first with amateurs, later with professional actors, and acted in Lodz and in its environs, especially during the summer in Lodz's Gertner "Paradis" and "Leshnitshavka".
 

M. E. from Moshe Feder and Solomon Krause.

  • M. Myodovinik  Meyne teaterzikhroyges, "Der stern", Minsk, Num' 23, 1926.

  • Michael Gelbart -- "Fun mshurrim-leben", New York 1942, p. 91-95.


 

 

 

 


 

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Adapted from the original Yiddish text found within the  "Lexicon of the Yiddish Theatre" by Zalmen Zylbercweig, Volume 3, page 1756.
 

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