The actors ruled the theatre, allowing them to identify themselves as aristocrats in their immigrant society.  They found solace in assuming new identities.  Yiddish actors shared the point of view that “man had been given a voice to shout, curse, whisper, weep, and woman to solace, scold, suggest, and sing.  Life on stage should be grander than on the street, for the Yiddish imagination was best released through images of potentiality” (Howe).

Theaters in New York relied heavily on the star system because stars reeled in audiences, much like they do today.  This did not sit easily with actors who weren’t celebrities because the star would ignore direction to keep him or herself in the spotlight.  “The star”, wrote the critic Jacob Mestel, “controlled the staging and ‘direction’, ignoring the technical and ideological matter of the play, and was concerned mainly with dominating and outshining his colleagues” (Howe 479).  The star system was unavoidable for a type of theatre that failed to focus on the depths of its plays and worked only to please an audience.

Unlike today, actors weren’t paid a lot and, therefore, had to work extremely hard to make a living.  Managers often treated their actors horribly so that one “had to be some kind of rascal to become a Yiddish actor in those days” (Howe 480).  A manager beat up a member of his company in 1900 and, fed up with their horrible treatment, 45 Jewish actors organized a Union and declared a strike at the People’s Theatre until their fellow actor was rehired.  Soon, almost all the actors joined the union and within a decade, European and American actors were struggling to join as well.

Male actors were required to be like Shakespearian actors in the mid-1500’s; they needed to fill the spaces of the theatre for numerous performances weekly, even daily.  Here are some famous Jewish actors from 1880-1920.  Click on each to learn more!

Significant contributors:

I.  Jacob Pavlovich Adler: Russian-born American actor, Yiddish theatre.

II. Al Jolson: Singer and Actor

III.  Jacob Mihailovich Gordin: Russian playwright

IV.  Boris Thomashevsky: Yiddish singer and actor

Actresses, on the other hand, were expected to be womanly and they embraced the theatre and all the spectacle that went with it. However, actresses were scarce because fathers rarely allowed their daughters on the stage.  Even though women were required to play up their femininity, their sensualness, and show their pride in their fullness of body, sex remained “behind the curtain” in the theatre.  Click below for some famous actresses of the stage and screen:

V. Sophie Tucker: Russian/Ukrainian-Born American singer and actress

VI.  Fannie Brice: Comedienne, Singer, film and stage actress

VII.  Mae West:  Actress, playwright, sex-symbol

Other Actors:

I.  Jack Benny: Comedian, vaudeville performer, radio, TV, and film actor

II.  George Burns: Comedian and actor

III.  Eddie Cantor: Comedian, singer, actor, and songwriter

IV.  Joe Smith and Charlie Dale: Comedians, Vaudeville team

V.  Douglas Fairbanks: American actor, writer, screenwriter, and producer

VI.  Sam Jaffe: Academy-Award nominated film and stage actor

VII.  George Jessel: Singer, actor, songwriter, Academy Award winning producer

VIII.  Marx Brothers: Comedians, Film actors

IX.  Edward G. Robinson: Stage and film actor

X. The Three Stooges: American Vaudeville and comedy team

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