Photographers
unknown
Sitter
Menasha Skulnik, May 15, 1890 - June 4, 1970
Date
unknown
Type
Portrait
Medium
Photograph
Credit Line
Yiddish Theatrical Alliance
Testimony
"In the drama he never ever made a living, and he also had
trouble with the stars because when he used to speak out a word
on the stage, or make a movement, the theatre roared with
laughter, and they couldn't continue with their performance. All
side roles, therefore, did not satisfy him, and he was jealous
of those who had been stamped "stars." Israel Rosenberg put
together a comedy, "Getzl Becomes a Bridegroom," and Menasha
Skulnik played in it, and he drew the attention of the entire
New York theatre public, although they played the comedy in
Brooklyn's Hopkinson Theatre. Since then his name had risen. He
has played as a featured actor, as he was an up-and-coming star,
but he had not yet had earned the explicit name of a
full-fledged star.
I always have had a weakness
for attracting new tchotchkes to the Yiddish theatre.
New sensations. I became partners with Menasha Skulnik in
the "Folks Theatre," which they had built for Maurice
Schwartz. With our first offering, "Fishl der gerotener,"
both the Yiddish and the English press greeted us with open
arms. There was felt a freshness from the new star, Menasha
Skulnik. From the glorified text of Louis Freiman, and also
from the music, which was brought over from my women's
orchestra, Menasha Skulnik's name was spreading everywhere
to Jewish audiences, and also with the non-Jewish audiences.
And what confirmed Menasha
Skulnik's success? The answer is that he is a natural comic.
Menasha doesn't need to have any jokes that the public
should strongly laugh at. For example: What kind of a joke
is saying, "I love soup!"? An entirely ordinary set of
words, "I love soup!." But when Menasha says it, they laugh
a lot. Or when Menasha says: He is not a great man, but a
man" ... it is not what he says, but how he says it that
brings a great laugh from the entire public. He is also
blessed with such physiognomy, that although he plays a man
who isn't handsome, a woman nevertheless loves him. He
plays someone who is unsuccessful, simply an eternal fool,
but nevertheless he is wise; he twists and turns in the
entire situation of the play with his role. Everything he
does on the stage has its charm. It fits him. He is wise
enough and enough of an actor that he should not do things
on the stage that would not work. Menasha Skulnik became the
comic who, when they mention only his name, they are already
laughing."
Source of Testimony
Joseph Rumshinsky -- "Joseph Rumshinsky Tells About Fifty
Years of Yiddish Theatre," Forward, March 19, 1953.