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Lives in the Yiddish Theatre

SHORT BIOGRAPHIES OF THOSE INVOLVED IN THE YIDDISH THEATRE
AS DESCRIBED IN ZALMEN ZYLBERCWEIG'S "LEXICON OF THE YIDDISH THEATRE"

1931-1969



 

Yosef Khash

 

Born in Grodno, Polish Lithuania. His grandfather was a cantor and shemash. He learned in a cheder-msukn. He sang as a choir boy with Cantor Yasha Slonimer and afterwards as a child he arranged "theatres" in private homes or in stalls. At the age of sixteen he sang in the chorus of the Grodno choral school, and from time to time he helped out (behind the scenes) in the children's chorus of Grodno's Russian city theatre. In 1906 he went into the chorus of Dotshteyn's Yiddish troupe in Yozefko, and after acting by chance in the role of "Yankele" in Lateiner's "Dovids fidele (David's Violin)", he was already associated with the troupe as an actor. Since then he has acted in several prominent troupes across Poland, Russia, Bessarabia and the Caucuses. During the war he was mobilized and later as a prisoner-of-war, he organized through the through the prisoners-of-war (in the small Austrian prisoner-of-war Munich camp?), with Linz), theatre productions in Russian, Polish and especially in Yiddish.

The productions were attended by all of the prisoners and the local officials. Here the women's roles were played by men, and K. played "Esterke" in "Di shkhithe (The Slaughter)" and "Chasye" in "Di yesoyme (The Orphan)".

In 1918 -- Kh. was hired in the Vilna folks theatre under the direction of Nachum Lipovsky, with whom he guest-starred in Kovno and its surroundings. From there Kh. was, together with his brother Kadish and wife Nekhama, engaged to guest-star in Liboy, Riga, Memel, Kenigsberg and Berlin, and then they returned to Vilna's Folks Theatre. Later Kh. performed in Lodz's  Skala Theatre (Director Lazar Kahan), then across the Polish province and in Warsaw with a European operetta repertory in Yiddish. In 1926 he guest-starred in Rumania, Bessarabia and Transylvania. Then he returned to Poland, founded together with his brother and wife an operetta troupe that toured across Poland under the name "Di vilner operetn-troupe (The Vilna Operetta Troupe)". In 1928-9 -- he acted in Krakow.

Specialty: Fat comic.


Sh. E.


 

 

 




 

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