The Lexicon of the Yiddish
Theatre
1931-1969
Zalmen
Zylbercweig was the editor and main force behind the six-volume "Leksikon
fun yidishn teater (Lexicon of the Yiddish
Theatre)", a compendium of more than 2,800
Yiddish-language biographies and short histories of
those individuals and organizations once involved in some way with the Yiddish
theatre.
At the Museum of Family
History, and with the cooperation of Zylbercweig's
stepdaughter, we have undertaken a project that will
ultimately result in the translation of all six
volumes, as well as the unpublished seventh volume.
This translation project, i.e. the complete
translation of all seven volumes from Yiddish to
English, is ongoing, and to date more than sixty
percent of the biographies have been translated.
The Museum's intent is to keep
the memory alive of those once involved in the
Yiddish theatre, and the translation of these many
biographies and histories goes a long way in
furthering this goal. It is hoped that these
translations will be of interest to you, the museum
visitor, and that it might help you learn more about
the Yiddish theatre, or at least about an individual or organization you
are keen about.
This exhibition is
part of the overall mission that the Museum
of Family History has undertaken, i.e. to keep alive the memory and
enhance the appreciation of Jewish culture, not only as it
once existed but as it exists today. The Museum
also wishes to honor the memory of Lexicon editor
Zalmen Zylbercweig who remarkably had dedicated himself
with all his heart and at great personal cost and sacrifice to the preservation of Jewish culture
and the history of the Yiddish theatre.
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Zalmen
Zylbercweig
1941 |
According to an
April 1931 New York Times article authored by
William Schack, which announced the publication
of Zylbercweig's first volume of his Lexicon:
"This extensive material has been gathered
almost single-handed by Zalman Zilberzweig
(sic), a Polish journalist and translator of
many plays into Yiddish, by means of
questionnaires, interviews and an assiduous
study of the Jewish press of the last thirty
years. In the course of extensive travels he
looked up old-time neighbors of his subjects and
scanned the walls of their homes for
photographs. At Jassy, Rumania, he arrived just
in time to interview the some-time secretary of
Goldfaden before he betook himself to a home for
the aged. Mr. Zilberzweig also ransacked the
library of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
the British Museum, and that rich source, the
Institute for Jewish Culture at Vilna, Poland.
Conceiving the plan
in 1914, Mr. Zilberzweig made his first attempt
to collect data immediately after the war. In
1922, with the aid of a theatrical magazine he
published in Poland, he continued his efforts.
He corresponded with friends in the Argentine
and two years later went to Palestine as
newspaper correspondent, where he found further
sources of information. Coming to this country
in 1926, he interested Abraham Kahn (Cahan--ed.)
editor of Vorwaerts (Forverts/Forward--ed.),
and the latter put him in touch with the Hebrew
Actors' Union, which gave him its hearty
support."
Schack further
writes that "it helped him in gathering data, in
disposing of subscriptions, in encouraging
benefit performances to defray the costs and in
other ways. A committee created to assist him
included Max Gabel, Charles W. Groll, Jacob
Kalich, Joseph Rumshinsky, Maurice Schwartz and
Reuben Guskin. Jacob Mestel of the Jewish
(Yiddish-ed.) Art Theatre is the
assistant editor of the Lexicon."1
At
the end of the article, the author tells the
reader that Zylbercweig is soon off to South
America, where he will be collecting yet more
material for his future volumes.
According to this
article, the original plan was to publish the
Lexicon in three volumes, whereas in the end six
volumes were published, with a seventh remaining
in galley form, unpublished.
Thus, the first volume of
the Lexicon was published in New York in 1931;
the sixth in Mexico City in 1969. Zylbercweig
had completed work on a seventh volume, but due
to his untimely death in Los Angeles, California in 1972,
the final volume was never published. Until this
point it has remained silent, so to speak,
until now sitting idly in galley form within
repositories in the United States and Israel.
Here is the
translation of a Yiddish-language article that
was published in an unnamed newspaper, dated
16 October 1928:
"Lexicon Committee" Established
by the Yiddish Artists Union in
Poland
The
"Lexicon" Should Cost 14,000
Dollars.
According
to the initiative of the
management of the Yiddish
Artists Union in Poland, there
has been founded a committee by
the artists Itzhak Nozyk, Dovid
Lederman, and Zishe Katz, who
may direct the work of the
"Lexicon" for the Yiddish
theatre in Poland.
The
committee has this day called a
conference of all the artists
who are in Warsaw, to
familiarize them with
everything, matters that have a
connection to the "Lexicon of
the Yiddish Theatre".
During this conference, Mr.
Zalmen Zylbercweig, the editor
of the "Lexicon", took part, who
familiarized those present with
the preparations, which were
made for the Lexicon so that it
may be published as soon as
possible.
The "Lexicon" will be
published in America, through the local Yiddish
Actors Union, and with the assistance of the Yiddish
Artist Union in Poland. This will hold 1,600 pages.
The edition of the Lexicon is calculated to cost
14,000 dollars. Each "Lexicon" will contain images
and biographies of all the Yiddish actors and
theatrical workers since the onshteyung of
Yiddish theatre into a number of 1600.
In order that the
Lexicon should be published as quickly as possible,
there must be created a large number of subscribers.
In the conference that
was completed, the parameters were written up the
same as agreed, [which] paid for the first provision
of information, [along] with the decision to create
a greater number of subscribers for the "Lexicon."
And here is a short
blurb in a Sunday edition of "Rampa", Anul XIII, No.
3171, dated 19 August 1928:
"We
received a visit at our
newspaper by Mr. Zalmen
Zylbercweig, who is
currently undertaking a very
interesting study tour in
Europe.
The
mission of Mr. Zylbercweig is to
study objectively the historical
evolution of Hebrew theatre,
which strange to say has a
valuable tradition that is quite old,
despite its extraordinary
worldwide spread, and which
has not yet been subjected
scientific study, is only
superficial. With support from
the Hebrew Actors Union in New
York and American Jews,
Zylbercweig -- a young journalist
in Poland -- is currently first
undertaking a thorough research,
in order to draw up an
encyclopedia of Jewish
theatre...."
THE CONTENT AND
LAYOUT OF THE MUSEUM'S LEXICON TRANSLATION PROJECT
The reader should take
note of the content and layout here, so they may
best navigate through this major project.
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On the "questionnaire
page", you can read an
English translation of the Yiddish-language questionnaire
that was sent out to all the prospective actors, actresses
et al who were given the opportunity to have their
biographical information appear in
what would turn out to be seven volumes of the "Lexicon of the Yiddish Theatre".
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Starting in January
1929, in cooperation with the Yiddish Actors
Union in America, Zylbercweig put out
"Lexicon" bulletins on a periodic
basis, to inform actors et al of the doings of
the "Lexicon" committees, its activities, its
efforts to raise money for the publication of
the "Lexicon" by various means, etc. You can
read the English translation of some of the
"Lexicon" by clicking on the link above.
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A number of
benefit performances and testimonials
in honor of editor Zalmen Zylbercweig were given
in both the U.S. and abroad, both prior to
subsequent to, the publication of the first
Lexicon volume. You might enjoy reading about
them.
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You might like to
read the
introduction written by
Zylbercweig, for the first volume of
the "Lexicon". It is very interesting, as it
gives one insight as to the preparation and
inner workings of Zylbercweig, the various
Lexicon committees, as well as the actors
unions, representatives, and especially those
actors et al from whom he sought biographical
information from.
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The "graphics
page" contains the single major illustration that is
featured in each of five of the six published
volumes, as well as links to a link to the
original, unpublished, Yiddish-language seventh
volume. Each graphic is linked to the Museum's
list of translated biographies for each volume.
There is also a separate webpage that lists the
names of all those who once passed through
Maurice Schwartz's Yiddish
Art Theatre, which was based in New
York City.
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The main list of
those biographies alphabetically lists the names
of all the translated biographies, along with
the town/city in which the person was born (if
known), and the number of the volume in which
the particular biography appears. Each name
listed is linked to the webpage on which exists
the translation, so one need only click on any
of the links to be taken to the page and read
the biography in its entirety.
There are also smaller web pages, each one
dedicated to a particular volume. Thus, there
are eight separate pages of listed biographies,
though the names of all those whose biographies
have been translated can be found on the
main biography page.
EXHIBITION DATABASES
The Museum has several
privately-held spreadsheets, replete with data,
relative to this project. Its wish is that these
databases be made freely searchable, online within
the Museum of Family History website. However, the
Museum cannot accomplish this without the assistance
of a volunteer, who would be willing to come forth
to create such a database. If you are such a person,
please contact the Museum.
The Museum's data
regarding Zylbercweig's "Lexicon of the Yiddish
Theatre" has two components:
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The main database
contains the names of all those individuals and
now-defunct organizations that have biographies
featured in the seven volumes of the "Lexicon".
Besides the names, one may find (when available)
the town or city of their birth, as well as the
number of the page on which one would find the
original Yiddish-language biography within the
Lexicon. The
Yiddish Book Center,
in cooperation with
Internet Archive,
contains pdf files of each of the six published
Lexicon volumes. The aforementioned database
contains not only the specific page numbers in
the hard copy of the "Lexicon" volumes, but the
pdf version of each volume as well.
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There are also
nearly four-hundred photographs contained within
these seven volumes, and the Museum has a
finding aid for these photographs, along with
English translations of all of the captions.
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Until an online,
searchable database is created, one may contact
the Museum in order to enquire about a
particular individual or organization, e.g.
whether someone has been biographied within this
work, or perhaps on what page a biography is
located, etc.
SOME PRACTICAL
ASPECTS OF THIS PROJECT
The Museum of Family
History is not only unfunded, it does not actively
seek contributions. Thus, the Museum hasn't the
financial means to pay those capable of translating
the Lexicon biographies. Because of this, the task
of translating these many volumes rest on
volunteers, especially yours truly who has
translated ninety percent of the biographies. This
means that the time-consuming job of translating the
entire seven volumes will not be accomplished
overnight, and perhaps (unfortunately) never will.
One can only hope.
As I am not a
professional translator, I cannot state that each
biographically is translated without error. There
are indications within a number of these biographies
of translation difficulties, with words, phrases,
etc. Please forgive any errors that might have been
made; appreciate the
large amount of effort and painstaking work that has been done to this
point in order to accomplish our goal.
Of course, the Museum always welcomes
volunteers to aid in the translation of the
remaining Yiddish-language biographies into English,
as well as monies to fund the payment of
"professional" translators if needed.
If you are interested in
some way with this project, please contact the Museum
directly by e-mail.
TO BEGIN YOUR JOURNEY INTO THE WORLD OF ZALMEN
ZYLBERCWEIG
Since no online,
searchable database currently exists for the
"Lexicon" biographies, you must search for any names
of interest by perusing the various lists contained
within this exhibition.
Might I suggest you
first visit the "questionnaire
page", so that you may get some sense of what
biographical information you might find as you read any of the
translations.
Then visit the project's
"graphics
page"
and click on the "entirety" link that will take you
to the main biographical listings; or,
alternatively, on any of the
graphics representing a particular "Lexicon" volume.
The Museum will be
adding more material to this exhibition as time
permits, so please check the Museum's "Recent
Updates" page from time to time,
or sign up for the
Museum's blog or
e-newsletter,
Perspectives.
I hope you enjoy reading
about not only the acting greats of the Yiddish
theatre, but also its supporting actors and
actresses, its directors, its chorus singers, its prompters,
the literary critics who wrote about the Yiddish
theatre et al.
Through its
many trials and tribulations, its ups and its downs,
the history of the Yiddish theatre is a fascinating
story and one quite worth your attention!
Best wishes,
Steven Lasky
Founder and Director
Museum of Family History
1 -- Schack,
William. "A New Spotlight on the Jewish Stage", New
York Times, New York, 5 April 1931.
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