Miriam Kressyn
Encyclopedia
Miriam Kressyn one of the "First Ladies of the Yiddish Theater", acted and sang on stage, film and radio; she wrote plays as well.
"By the time she arrived in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1925, Miriam was fluent in six languages." Her mother sold a feather-bed to pay for her education. She won a $5000 scholarship to study music abroad after winning a contest between the best high school singers in New England. When Julius and Anna Nathanson, playing in Freeman's Goldene Kaleh in Boston, happened to hear Kressyn, they persuaded her to join their chorus. She played small roles with Max Gebil in Khuppah-kleyd (Wedding dress), with Ludwig Satz in Der gazlen (The Thief) and with Leon Blank in The Three Brides. She didn't consider this to be a career, as she was studying law at Northeastern University.
It was Hy Jacobson
who drew her further into Yiddish theater; she performed with him and with Aaron Lebedeff
at the Londiel Theater. In 1930-31 she played at Philadelphia's Arch Street Theater (managed by Hymie Jacobson, May Sieman and Simone Woolf). In 1933 she married Jacobson and they toured in Argentina, Berlin, England, France, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. She played the leading role (Esther) in Joseph Green's 1937 film Der Purimshpiler opposite her husband, with Zigmund Turkow as a traveling Purim player. She toured with Jacobsen in America and then in 1938 they returned to Poland and toured South African in 1939.
Returning to America, they took part in Maurice Schwartz
's "Yiddish Art Theater" in Sholem Aleichem's Ven ikh bin Rotschild (If I were Rothschild). After touring in Argentina, Brazil, and London, they returned to America. In 1943 Kressyn married the well-known Yiddish actor Seymour Rechtzeit (aka Seymour Rexite
); they worked in the National Theater, the Public Theater, the Second Avenue Theater, and others, co-starring with Menashe Skulnick, Michael Mikhalesko, Fuchs, A. Grossman, Zyenda, and Irving Jacobson. She performed on the radio show The Forward
's Hour in pieces by Isaac Bashevis Singer
, Osip Dimov, Dluzhnovsky and Kadia Molodowsky). For many years she had her own show, as singer and commentator, on WEVD; she wrote the show herself. Another such show was Treft zikh mit Miriam Kressyn. She composed Yiddish lyrics for Misirlou
.
In the late 1940s she created a Yiddish version of Philip Vordan's Anna Lucasta (a Broadway hit being performed by an all-negro cast) with Ben-Zion Witler
playing the romantic lead; the play was a great success. In the 1960s she became Professor of Yiddish at Queens College, New York, where she also directed Yiddish plays.
In 1984 she was interviewed in Almonds and Raisins, a documentary about Yiddish talking films made in the United States and Europe between the release of The Jazz Singer in 1927 and the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939.
Kressyn continued to teach drama at Queens College until her death in 1996 in New York City
, aged 86. Miriam Kressyn was the recipient of many awards such as Show Business 1973, Golden Awards for Outstanding Acting and Lifetime Achievement, Drama Desk Award, 40 years of Yiddish Radio. Seymour Rechtzeit died in 2002 at the age of 91; they had no children. The couple is buried in the Yiddish Theatrical Alliance's Block 67 at Mount Hebron Cemetery
; the section is reserved for the Yiddish theater community and is maintained by the Alliance.
Personal life
Kressyn was the seventh child of Mashe and Yankev Kressyn. It was a poor family; her father made his living traveling to village fairs. Not being able to support the family, he emigrated to the United States, bringing two of his daughters, but three years later he traveled home alone. Miriam became a member of the kleyn bund but threatened with arrest for "smuggling literature" she went to America with the whole family and settled in Boston."By the time she arrived in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1925, Miriam was fluent in six languages." Her mother sold a feather-bed to pay for her education. She won a $5000 scholarship to study music abroad after winning a contest between the best high school singers in New England. When Julius and Anna Nathanson, playing in Freeman's Goldene Kaleh in Boston, happened to hear Kressyn, they persuaded her to join their chorus. She played small roles with Max Gebil in Khuppah-kleyd (Wedding dress), with Ludwig Satz in Der gazlen (The Thief) and with Leon Blank in The Three Brides. She didn't consider this to be a career, as she was studying law at Northeastern University.
"Her dancing ability ... bordered on the acrobatic (she was able to do a backward bend and pick up a rose from the stage with her teeth)."
It was Hy Jacobson
Hymie Jacobson
Hymie Jacobson was an American Jewish actor and composer in Yiddish vaudeville, films and theater. Born 1895 in Chicago to actors Joseph and Bessie Jacobson. His sister, Henrietta, married Yiddish theatre actor Julius Adler; his brother, Irving, was also a performer. He and Irving also owned some...
who drew her further into Yiddish theater; she performed with him and with Aaron Lebedeff
Aaron Lebedeff
Aaron Lebedeff , a Yiddish theater star, was born in Homel, White Russia. In childhood he sang for the Hazzan, Borekh David. Having no interest in education, he was sent to learn a trade, but soon he ran away and began to play small roles in a Russian theaters in Boboysk, Minsk and other towns...
at the Londiel Theater. In 1930-31 she played at Philadelphia's Arch Street Theater (managed by Hymie Jacobson, May Sieman and Simone Woolf). In 1933 she married Jacobson and they toured in Argentina, Berlin, England, France, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. She played the leading role (Esther) in Joseph Green's 1937 film Der Purimshpiler opposite her husband, with Zigmund Turkow as a traveling Purim player. She toured with Jacobsen in America and then in 1938 they returned to Poland and toured South African in 1939.
Returning to America, they took part in Maurice Schwartz
Maurice Schwartz
Maurice Schwartz was a Russian-born film and theatre actor active in the United States. He was also a film director, film producer, theatrical producer, screenwriter and theatre director.-Theatre:...
's "Yiddish Art Theater" in Sholem Aleichem's Ven ikh bin Rotschild (If I were Rothschild). After touring in Argentina, Brazil, and London, they returned to America. In 1943 Kressyn married the well-known Yiddish actor Seymour Rechtzeit (aka Seymour Rexite
Seymour Rexite
Seymour Rexite , originally Rechtzeit, was an actor and singer of the Yiddish theater, film and radio in the United States, and for some time president of the Hebrew Actors Union....
); they worked in the National Theater, the Public Theater, the Second Avenue Theater, and others, co-starring with Menashe Skulnick, Michael Mikhalesko, Fuchs, A. Grossman, Zyenda, and Irving Jacobson. She performed on the radio show The Forward
The Forward
The Forward , commonly known as The Jewish Daily Forward, is a Jewish-American newspaper published in New York City. The publication began in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily issued by dissidents from the Socialist Labor Party of Daniel DeLeon...
's Hour in pieces by Isaac Bashevis Singer
Isaac Bashevis Singer
Isaac Bashevis Singer – July 24, 1991) was a Polish Jewish American author noted for his short stories. He was one of the leading figures in the Yiddish literary movement, and received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1978...
, Osip Dimov, Dluzhnovsky and Kadia Molodowsky). For many years she had her own show, as singer and commentator, on WEVD; she wrote the show herself. Another such show was Treft zikh mit Miriam Kressyn. She composed Yiddish lyrics for Misirlou
Misirlou
Misirlou , is a popular Greek song with popularity in five styles of music: Greek rebetiko, Middle-Eastern belly dancing, Jewish klezmer, American surf rock, and international orchestral easy listening .- History :...
.
"She and her husband became known as the romantic idols of Yiddish musicals. Often she was featured in a cast with other Yiddish theater favorites, including Reizl Bozyk, Ben Bonus, Leo Fuchs, Mina Bern and Jacob Jacobs."
In the late 1940s she created a Yiddish version of Philip Vordan's Anna Lucasta (a Broadway hit being performed by an all-negro cast) with Ben-Zion Witler
Ben-Zion Witler
Ben-Zion Witler , 1907–1961, Jewish singer, actor, coupletist, comedian and composer.At the age of six Witler moved with his family from Belz to Vienna, where he received a strict Chasidic religious upbringing; fearing his family's reaction, in 1919 he secretly joined the "Free Jewish Folksbiene"...
playing the romantic lead; the play was a great success. In the 1960s she became Professor of Yiddish at Queens College, New York, where she also directed Yiddish plays.
In 1984 she was interviewed in Almonds and Raisins, a documentary about Yiddish talking films made in the United States and Europe between the release of The Jazz Singer in 1927 and the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939.
Kressyn continued to teach drama at Queens College until her death in 1996 in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, aged 86. Miriam Kressyn was the recipient of many awards such as Show Business 1973, Golden Awards for Outstanding Acting and Lifetime Achievement, Drama Desk Award, 40 years of Yiddish Radio. Seymour Rechtzeit died in 2002 at the age of 91; they had no children. The couple is buried in the Yiddish Theatrical Alliance's Block 67 at Mount Hebron Cemetery
Mount Hebron Cemetery
Mount Hebron is a Jewish cemetery located in the Flushing neighborhood of New York City. It was founded in 1903 as the Jewish section of Cedar Grove Cemetery. It is noted for its Yiddish theater section....
; the section is reserved for the Yiddish theater community and is maintained by the Alliance.
Filmography
- The Jewish Gypsy, 1930, with Hy Jacobson, director Sydney Goldin
- The Sailor's Sweetheart, 1933, with Hy Jacobson, director Sydney Goldin
- Der Purimshpiler, 1937, with Zygmunt Turkow and Hymie Jacobson, also Ajzyk Samberg, Maks Bozyk, Berta Litwina, Eni Liton, Jakum Fiszer, and others. Set of the shtetlShtetlA shtetl was typically a small town with a large Jewish population in Central and Eastern Europe until The Holocaust. Shtetls were mainly found in the areas which constituted the 19th century Pale of Settlement in the Russian Empire, the Congress Kingdom of Poland, Galicia and Romania...
was built on a backlot in Warsaw; exteriors shot partially in Kraków. Dialog by Itzik MangerItzik MangerItzik Manger was a prominent Yiddish poet and playwright, a self-proclaimed folk bard, visionary, and ‘master tailor’ of the written word...
. - Geleb un gelakht (Live and Laugh), 1933, with Hymie Jacobson, Max Wilner, Pincus Lavenda, Yudel Dubinsky, Celina Breene, Seymour Reichtzeit, Chaim Tauber, Mae Simon, Eddie Friedlander, Eva Miller, Cantor Josef Rosenblatt, Tamara, Menasha Skulnick, Joseph Buloff, Boris RosenthalBoris RosenthalBoris Rosenthal , character actor and operetta lyricist in the Yiddish theater. Born in Kishinev, Bessarabia to a flour merchant. Rosenthal was sent to work very early at a manufacturing factory, when the family moved to Lódz he began to frequent the German theater productions. In 1904 he played a...
, Jack Shargel, Meyer Machtenberg, Sadie Banks.