In 1908 he became a
manager of "Kunds" and at the same time was an
insurance agent. In the span of this time (until
1912), he participated together with the
"Progressive Dramatic Club",and then founded,
together with Louis Weisberg, Yudl Dubinsky and
Meleka Kornstein, the "Progressive Yiddish
Folks-biene", where most of the time there were
performed literary one-acters. After [eeking
out] a scarce
existence, the "Progressive Yiddish Folks-biene"
united with the "Progressive Dramatic Club".
Around 1914 he acted
at the Second Avenue Roof Garden with Sam Schneier and Jennie Goldstein.
In 1916 he was
accepted as a member of the Actors Union (Local
1), and he [subsequently] traveled with Kessler across the
province.
In 1916-17 he acted
in New York's People's Theatre with Bessie
Thomashefsky.
In 1917-18 he was in
the Grand Theatre.
In 1920-21 he acted
for twelve weeks in English with Louie Manne in
New York's Astor Theatre in Sam Shiffman's "The
Unwritten Chapter", and during the same season
he acted at the Yiddish Lyric Theatre, where he
also directed Peretz Hirshbein's plays.
In 1921-22 he was
with Satz in the Irving Place Theatre (manager
Max R. Wilner).
From 1922-25 he was
in Schwartz's Yiddish Art Theatre.
In 1925-26 he acted
at the Amphion Theatre in Brooklyn with Celia
Adler.
In 1926 he was in
Hollywood, where he was known as "Tenen-holtz".
T. acted for three
years in film and then in talkies with the
"Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Company". In the course of
time, T. once performed there in Yiddish in Gordin's "Der umbakanter" and organized for the
"Los Angeles Yiddish Club" a dramatic section,
in which he had American-born Jewish children
learn declamations and recite them for Yiddish
writers.
In 1931 T. was
co-founder of an intimate Yiddish art theatre in
Los Angeles, where he staged Gottesfeld's "Parnusah"
and Hirshbein's "A farvorfen vinkl".
In 1932 he came to
New York and here became the organizer and
co-founder of the Yiddish Ensemble Art
Theatre, which existed only for a short time.
Soon thereafter, T. returned to Los Angeles.
T. was twice the
Vice-President of the Yiddish Actors' Union, and
during the four years was the Executive Protocol
Secretary and helped found the Yiddish library
for the Actors' Union.
In 1925-26 T. became
co-founder and President of the theatre museum
in New York.
In 1911 T. debuted
in "Kunds" under the name "Ulrik Bregdel"
with kibets critiques
across the Yiddish theatre, and afterwards there
often published theatre critiques and
feuilletons under the name "Moyshe Mekarty",
later going over to "Kibetser", and there
publishing biographies of Yiddish theatrical
personalities, written in a humorous form.
T. published under
the name "Shpigelberg" several novels in the
"Morning Journal".
In 1916, T. became a
collaborator in "Di varhayt" and there
collaborated for several years.
In the number? of 6
November 1918 T. published there "Dos fraye
rusland (The Free Russia)", a bloody shpas in one act, fray
after William Prosser, from E. Tenenholtz.
In the span from
1915-16 he published the memoirs of Bessie
Thomashefsky, of whom they would later publish
in a separate issue known as "Mayn lebens
geshikhte", the leyden (sorrow) and
frayden of a Yiddish star actress, from
Bessie Thomashefsky, portrayed from here alone
and issued by E. Tenenholtz. Issued for the
Varhayt Publishing Company, New York, 1916". [p.
304, 16°].
In 1923 T. edited
the collection "Yiddish Theatre", issued for the
Yiddish Actors' Union for the fifty-year
anniversary
of the Yiddish theatre", New York, 21 April 1923
[p. 80, 16°].
M. E.
-
Jacob Mestel --
Ver zeynen di kinstler fun dem noy-yorker
idishen kunst-teater?, "Di tsayt", London, April
1924.
