Seeing Mogulesco
play in the theatre, one used to ask the question: "With whom
did he study? Where did he start? He did not copy or imitate
anyone, because he saw little and learned even less in his life,
except a little in kheder and as a choir boy with Cantor
Israel Cooper. Nevertheless, he was compared to the greatest
French character-comic Koklen. He was the most natural comic,
though his first roles were in Goldfaden's operettas, and later
in further shund plays. During the early days of Jacob
Gordin's plays, he was the greatest opponent of Jacob Gordin. He
used to ask: "What does the black Jew with the black beard
want?" But later he became a great patriot [fan] of Jacob
Gordin, and also the successful character-comic in Jacob
Gordin's plays.
He didn't need any jokes that would make the
theatre audience crack up with laughter. One tap with the
foot was enough, that the audience would fall into laughter.
He did not need hops and dances to work hard, so that the
public may rise from their benches; only that the orchestra
used to play a quick dance, and he used to fold one sleeve
and then the second, he undressed, twisted his hat to one
side and made one or two figures; he made the theatre storm
with applause.
Mogulesco, who was the most interesting and
amusing figure on the stage, was in private life a piece of
"lemeshke." Telling a joke was discouraged -- not
that he could, nor did he want to. He used to laugh heartily
from every silly joke. He was the great follower of the
comic Abraham Fishkind, who was the opposite of him.
Fishkind was the greatest comic, but only in a coffee house
and in the Actors' Club. Mogulesco used to break out in
laughter from Fishkind's jokes and Fishkind's facial
expressions ...
In practical life, Mogulesco was naive, like
most of the artists, and perhaps even more naive. It is
worth mentioning this case: Some years back, when a company
used to tour through the province and business was bad, the
manager in each city used to leave an actor, so that their
costs would be less, and they used to go even further. When
they didn't have Sigmund Mogulesco, who was the star, the
crown of the company entirely died of starvation ...
Being musical helped Mogulesco a lot as an
actor. He did not know much music; however he read notes a
bit and also knew how to write nigunim (religious
melodies) that he used to compose by himself. His nigunim
had the same appeal as his playing theatre; it was popular,
rhythmic and mainly in Yiddish."
Source of Testimony
Joseph Rumshinsky -- "Joseph Rumshinsky Tells About Fifty
Years of Yiddish Theatre," Forward, January 15, 1953.
