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There were many actors and actresses of the Yiddish stage who married each other. Many of them followed the same path to the stage as the other, and thus their stage careers often mimicked each other's. Here are many family photographs, both of a personal and professional nature, of Goldie Eisman and her husband Marty Baratz, as well as those of Edythe (one of Goldie's sisters) and Isadore Richman, both of whom were also involved with the Yiddish stage.


 

 

This lovely Yiddish actress, Goldie Eisman, was born on 15 March 1906 in Toronto, Canada. Her father was a tailor.

She studied there, learning with a rabbi, attending public school, as well as one class in high school.

She and her family then moved to Montreal from Toronto, and it was there that they came to meet Yiddish actors who sometimes would take her to act in a child's role. This was until 1923, when Jacob Cone brought her down to New York City, where she performed in the Lipzin Theatre for the first time as a soubrette; this was in the play "Di fargesene kalen (The Forgotten Bride)," together with Malvina Lobel and Jacob Cone.

From there she went over to the Lenox Theatre, where she acted for two seasons in such plays as "Bad Companions" (a melodrama in three acts by William Siegel and Harry Kalmanowitz, produced by Samuel Rosenstein, music by Joseph Cherniavsky), which opened at the Lenox on 9 October 1925 with Eisman, Jacob Hochstein, Jeanette Paskevitch, Jacob Cone, Nettie Tobias, Samuel Rosenstein et al.

Since 1926 she was with the National Theatre, in such plays as "In gortn fun libe (Garden of Love)," with Bettie and Jacob Jacobs, Max Wilner and Yetta Zwerling.

Goldie is on the far left, in a scene from "The Garden of Love."

Goldie Eisman is on the far left. Max Wilner is in the center. This play
opened at New York City's National Theatre on 3 December 1926. 
I'm not sure of the other identifications -- perhaps the second woman from the left is Bettie Jacobs;
perhaps her husband Jacob Jacobs is the man with the boxing gloves on.
Lastly, the woman on the far right may be Yetta Zwerling. Photographer: Rappoport Studios, New York.

Photograph from the Museum of the City of New York.

From 1929-30 Goldie was at Gabel's Public Theatre, acting in such plays as "Love and Politics" (19 October 1929), with Max Gabel, Marty Baratz, Jennie Goldstein, Boris Rosenthal et al, "Slaves of Luxury" (7 February 1930) and "Sonitchka" (7 March 1930).

On 1 October 1932, Goldie appeared in "Song of the Ghetto" at the National Theatre in New York City.
 

The cast of "The Little Bandit," which opened at the Hopkinson Theatre in Brooklyn, New York on 27 October 1934. Julius Nathanson headlined the cast, which also included Goldie, Marty Baratz, Louis and Minnie Birnbaum, Abraham Lax, Lillian Lux, Anna Mills, David Popper, Tillie Rabinowitz, Samuel Steinberg, Sam Stern and Aimie Warren. The play was also staged at the Public Theatre in Manhattan in April of 1935. Previous to the move to the Public, Goldie also acted with the same troupe in "Yoshke khvat" at the Hopkinson.

Goldie also played at the Hopkinson for the 1935-1936 season, in such plays as: "Kleyner rebe-le (The Little Rabbi), a musical romance in two acts and four scenes, by Anshel Schorr" (28 September 1935); "The Girl of my Heart" (21 October); "Prayz fun zind (Price of Sin)" (8 November), which also was staged at the Bronx's McKinley Square Theatre in February 1936; "Fraylekhe shnayderlekh (The Jolly Tailors)" (November), "Got, mentsh un tayvl (God, Man and Devil)" by Jacob Gordin on 14 February, and "Shykele shmadnik" on 7 April 1936.

Goldie was part of the troupe that performed at New York's Yiddish Folk Theatre for the 1936-1937 season. Here she acted in the following plays: "The Straw Hero (23 November 1936)"; "Shlemiel" (17 September); "Senor Hershel" (24 December), and "Der galitsianer rebe (The Galician Rabbi)" with Menasha Skulnik (12 February 1937), which also was staged at Brooklyn's Parkway Theatre in April of that same year.

She also acted in "The Jolly Village" (5 November 1937) at the Second Avenue Theatre.

On 3 June 1938 she played in Der gasn-zinger (The Street Singer)" at the Hopkinson.

During the 1938-1939 season, she was at the Second Avenue Theatre, in such plays as: a musical comedy by Alexander Olshanetsky and William Siegel, "Mayn meydele's khasene (My Baby's Wedding)," "Pini fun pinchev (Pini From Pinchev)" (1 December), with Seymour Rechtzeit, Miriam Kressyn et al.

In the 1941-1942 season, Goldie was in at least two Joseph Rumshinsky's musical plays: "Libe un lakh (Live and Laugh)" (1 October 1941), with Menasha Skulnik, Bella Mysell, Annie Thomashefsky, Muni Serebrov et al at the Second Avenue Theatre, then six days later at the Public Theatre in the play, "Mayn vayse blum (My White Flower)" (with Herman Yablokoff, Miriam Kressyn, Max Bozyk, Edmund Zayenda et al). On 10 October 1942 she acted again at the Second Avenue Theatre in Siegel's "Freylakh zol zayn (Be Happy)," with Menasha Skulnik, Michal Michalesko, Miriam Kressyn, Seymour Rechtzeit et al.

Goldie also appeared in "Grine yenkis (Greenhorn Yankees)," with Aaron Lebedeff and Leo Fuchs, during the 1943-1944 season at both the Brighton and Hopkinson Theatres, both in Brooklyn, New York.

Other plays that she performed in (dates unknown) were: "Di kleyne khazon'te (The Little Cantor)" at the Douglas Park Theatre in Chicago, Illinois, and at the Arch Street Theatre in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: "Galitsiner shlimiel (Galician Schlemiel)" and "Lena."

Goldie passed away on 4 June 1984 and was brought to her eternal rest in the burial plot of the Yiddish Theatrical Alliance, at Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, Queens, New York.

Her specialty was as a young soubrette.


 

 

 Goldie Eisman in the group photograph at the top of the page is standing in the front row, seven from the left, in the strapless, tw0-piece dress.
 

 

 



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