weissman/dora

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

Dora Weissman

She was born in Odessa, Ukraine.

Her father was a prompter and playwright Reuben Weissman.

As a two-year-old child she immigrated with her family to America and a year later went onto the stage, because a child fell in the play "Moshe rabeinu", and she then had to play "Moshe".

Since that point she acted in children's roles at the Roumania Opera House with Adler and Feinman, with Blank, Mogulesko, Adler and his wife; at the Thalia with Kessler, Moshkovitsh, Tornberg and later Kalich; and at the Windsor with Lipzin. Being that roles for the children-actor type was rare, she was accustomed to in one evening acting in various acts in several theatres. Because of the tragedy with Emma Finkel, they "made her" into a soubrette, and her first specialty role was at the Windsor Theatre in "Ben hador".

Broke for a year, she went back over to her stage activity and later worked again around as a soubrette at the Thalia, where she acted together with Adler, Mogulesko and Moshkovitsh. Then she wrote for Anshel Schorr the operetta "Dos meydl fun der vest (The Girl of the West)" ("Amerikanerin"), "Shir hashirim (Song of Songs)", "Born mire rmyn vayb" "Vos mener zaynen", "Mayn zise meydl", "Vayber" and "A moyd mit sekhel".
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For a certain time, she acted Adler's repertoire in the theatre, but when Adler also staged Miller's "Msur", W. acted for the first time in a dramatic role, and since then she has gone into dramatic roles and to serious repertoire, participating in the productions of Peretz, Pinski, Hirshbein and Kobrin's plays.

From 1918-25 she acted at the Arch Street Theatre in Philadelphia, when she began to perform in melodramatic repertory.

In 1922 she participated in Schwartz's productions of Bimko's "Dembes (Oaks)" with the Yiddish Art Theatre.

In 1925 she guest-starred in London.

In 1927-8 she acted at the Liberty Theatre in Brooklyn.

In 1928-9 she guest-starred in Poland and later in Rumania.

W. is the wife of the playwright and theatre director Anshel Schorr.

M. E.

Sh. E. from Anshel Schorr.

Adapted from the original Yiddish text found within the "Lexicon of the Yiddish Theatre" by Zalmen Zylbercweig, Volume 1, page 700.