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Joseph Rumshinsky Talks Yiddish Theatre ...
His Contributions to the Yiddish Forward Newspaper, 1930-1936


 





"The Sin" Theatre (a teater "el khta")
written specially for the "Forward" by Joseph Rumshinsky and Boris Rosenthal
September 26, 1930

 

                             DOOR KEEPER
The sin: I give such a strong rip of the ticket from the customer's hand: Believe me when it's an English theatre, I don't.

                                   CASHIER
The sin: That I do not treat my customers politely. Believe me, I do not owe you [anything] at all: in this I owe the "travels" and a few of the troubles I have with my ideas at home.


                                        STAR
The sin: Who is like me to the stars in the sky, because in truth I am no more than sand on the earth.


                                      CRITICS
The sin: That I do not write the true truth that I think of the play.

                               ACTORS' UNION
The sin: We have so many members in our union, and we burden the Jews with so many theatres in America.


                                     PROMPTER
The sin: That you hear me speak louder and clearer than the actors on stage.


                      THE VALUABLE PUBLIC
The sin: What we hold in English theatre is more beautiful and dignified than in the Yiddish theatre in America.

And for all: In this Yiddish theatre with all its sins, the most important Jewish institution.

 

                       THE MANAGEMENT
The sin: When we announce that we are playing Yiddish theatre, and in the end, we only play ninety percent in English.
 

                          STAGE DIRECTOR
The sin: What I want to make you believe is that the productions cost in the thousands, and that it is the most beautiful and the best that has never been seen before.


                                        AUTHOR
The sin: That I put my name on a foreign play.


                                MUSIC COMPOSER
The sin: I want to sell you old tunes for new ones.


                                            LOVER
The sin: That I bore you with my singing of unrequited love.


                                        DRAMATIST
The sin: Which in each play I tell you about my troubles and sufferings: Only believe me, when I tell you about my own life, will be much more dramatic.


                                             USHERS
The sin: Who leaves our customers to search for their seats, and that we already show yes, it is a stranger.






THEATRE WORDS
by Boris Rosenthal
 

The theatres are opening up -- let's hope Guskin's "machine"
won't let them down.

The theatres are opening up -- Managers do not know what to ask first, whether larger units or smaller forms.

The Yiddish theatres are opening -- The cantors revolve around the theatre; perhaps they will create a few pieces from their prayers.

The theatres are opening -- God of the arts! They are with us 36 weeks. The rest we will ask of the God of Pinochle.

The Yiddish theatres open -- the critics fill up their fountain pens.

To mark the start of the new season, some theaters have set up kindergartens for babies, that the parents bring to the theatre.

The Yiddish theatres open -- The choristers go around with the theatre songs inone hand, and psalms in the second.

For the new season, there is high hope that the Candy Boys will not have to shout to wake up the public. The musicians were already worried about this.


Photographs, left to right, top to bottom, left column: Betty Frank, Boris Rosenthal, Julia Adler, Max Wilner, Frances Sincoff; Yetta Zwerling, Anna Toback, Luther Adler, Bessie Budanov and Sabina Rosenthal.

Right column, left to right, top to bottom: Joseph Schoengold, Charlie Cohan, Dave Lubritsky, Bertha Hart and Florence Weiss; Jacob Kalich, Lucy Levine, Diana Goldberg, Jacob Wexler and Regina Zuckerberg.



 

 

 

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