Boris Thomashefsky
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Boris Thomashefsky (russian: Борис Пинхасович Томашевский, sometimes written Thomashevsky, Thomaschevsky, etc.; yi, באָריס טאָמאשעבסקי) (1868–1939), born Boruch-Aharon Thomashefsky, was a
Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...
-born (later American)
Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...
ish singer and actor who became one of the biggest stars in
Yiddish theater Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Central European Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satiric or nostalgic revu ...
.


Early life

He was born Boruch-Aharon Thomashefsky in Zylbercweig, Zalmen (1934).
Tomashefsky, Boris
. ''Leksikon fun yidishn teater'' exicon of the Yiddish theatre Vol. 2. Warsaw: Farlag Elisheva. Columns 804-840; here: col. 804. (Note: The birth year 1886 at the beginning of the entry is clearly a typographical error, apparently for 1868, since the author estimates that T. was in Berdichev as an 11-year-old in 1879.)
The Timeline
. ''The Thomashefskys: Music and Memories of a Life in the Yiddish Theater''. wwwthomashefsky.org. Retrieved 2016-12-26. The website is based on the musical show by the same title, which was written, hosted, and conducted by
Michael Tilson Thomas Michael Tilson Thomas (born December 21, 1944) is an American conductor, pianist and composer. He is Artistic Director Laureate of the New World Symphony, an American orchestral academy based in Miami Beach, Florida, Music Director Laureate of ...
(grandson of the Thomashefskys), and premiered in New York in April 2005.
( uk, Оситняжка; yi, אָסיטניאַשקע), a village in the Chyhyryn county of the
Kiev Governorate Kiev Governorate, r=Kievskaya guberniya; uk, Київська губернія, Kyivska huberniia (, ) was an administrative division of the Russian Empire from 1796 to 1919 and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic from 1919 to 1925. It wa ...
of the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
(today in the
Kirovohrad Oblast Kirovohrad Oblast ( uk, Кіровоградська область, translit=Kirovohradska oblast; also referred to as #Nomenclature, Kirovohradschyna — uk, Кіровоградщина) is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (prov ...
, Ukraine). He grew up in the nearby town of Kamyanka (today in the
Cherkasy Oblast Cherkasy Oblast ( uk, Черка́ська о́бласть, Cherkaska oblast, ), also referred to as Cherkashchyna ( uk, Черка́щина, ) is an oblast (province) of central Ukraine located along the Dnieper River. The administrative center ...
, Ukraine), until, at the age of 11, he left for
Berdychiv Berdychiv ( uk, Берди́чів, ; pl, Berdyczów; yi, באַרדיטשעװ, Barditshev; russian: Берди́чев, Berdichev) is a historic city in the Zhytomyr Oblast (province) of northern Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center ...
where he trained as a meshoyrer (choir singer) in the renowned
synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...
choir of
cantor A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. In formal Jewish worship, a cantor is a person who sings solo verses or passages to which the choir or congregation responds. In Judaism, a cantor sings and lead ...
Nisan Belzer. In 1881, he emigrated with his family to the United States, and just a year later, while still a teenager, he was largely responsible for the first performance of Yiddish theater in New York City, in what was to become the
Yiddish Theater District The Yiddish Theatre District, also called the Jewish Rialto and the Yiddish Realto, was the center of New York City's Yiddish theatre scene in the early 20th century. It was located primarily on Second Avenue, though it extended to Avenue B, b ...
. He has been credited as the pioneer of
Borscht Belt The Borscht Belt, or Jewish Alps, is a colloquial term for the mostly defunct summer resorts of the Catskill Mountains in parts of Sullivan, Orange, and Ulster counties in the U.S. state of New York, straddling both Upstate New York and the north ...
entertainment. Although Thomashefsky left
Imperial Russia The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...
at a time when Yiddish theater was still thriving there (it was banned in September 1883), he had never seen it performed prior to the 1882 performance he brought together in New York. Thomashefsky, who was earning some money by singing on Saturdays at the Henry Street Synagogue on the
Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...
, was also working as a cigarette maker in a
sweatshop A sweatshop or sweat factory is a crowded workplace with very poor, socially unacceptable or illegal working conditions. Some illegal working conditions include poor ventilation, little to no breaks, inadequate work space, insufficient lighting, o ...
, where he first heard songs from the Yiddish theater, sung by some of his fellow workers.Boris Thomashefsky
. ''Jewish Virtual Librtary''. www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2016-12-26.


Career

Thomashefsky managed to convince a local tavern owner to invest in bringing over some performers. The first performance was
Abraham Goldfaden Abraham Goldfaden (Yiddish: אַבֿרהם גאָלדפֿאַדען; born Avrum Goldnfoden; 24 July 1840 – 9 January 1908), also known as Avram Goldfaden, was a Russian-born Jewish poet, playwright, stage director and actor in the languages Yid ...
's Yiddish
operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...
(''The Witch''). The performance was a mild disaster: pious and prosperous "uptown" German Jews opposed to the Yiddish theater did a great deal to sabotage it. His performing career was launched in part due to an instance of this sabotage -- bribing the ''
soubrette A soubrette is a type of operatic soprano voice ''fach'', often cast as a female stock character in opera and theatre. The term arrived in English from Provençal via French, and means "conceited" or "coy". Theatre In theatre, a soubrette is a c ...
'' to fake a sore throat: Thomashefsky went on in her place. Shortly afterward, the teenage Thomashefsky was the pioneer of taking Yiddish theater "on the road" in the United States, performing Goldfaden's plays in cities such as
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
,
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
,
Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
,
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
,
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
and Chicago, all in the 1880s; for much of the 1880s, Chicago was his base. After Yiddish theater was banned in Russia, his tours came to include such prominent actors as Siegmund Mogulesko, David Kessler, and
Jacob Adler Jacob Pavlovich Adler (Yiddish: יעקבֿ פּאַװלאָװיטש אַדלער; born Yankev P. Adler; February 12, 1855 – April 1, 1926)IMDB biography was a Jewish actor and star of Yiddish theater, first in Odessa, and later in London and ...
, with new plays by playwrights such as Moses Ha-Levi Horowitz. In 1887, playing in Baltimore, he met 14-year-old Bessie Baumfeld-Kaufman, when she came backstage to meet the beautiful young "actress" she had seen on stage, only to discover that "she" was Boris. Bessie soon ran away from home to join the company, and eventually took over the ''ingenue'' roles, as Boris moved on to romantic male leads. They married in 1891. In 1891, with Mogulesko, Kessler, and Adler all engaged in starting the Union Theater,
Moishe Finkel Moishe Finkel (c. 1850 – June 7, 1904) (also known as MorrisJones 2006. or Maurice Finkel) was a prominent figure in the early years of Yiddish theater. He was business partner first of Abraham Goldfaden and later of Sigmund Mogulesko (the greate ...
brought the still relatively unknown Thomashefsky back to New York to star at his National Theater, where Thomashefsky became enough of a success in Moses Halevy Horowitz's operetta ''David ben Jesse'' as to force the Union Theater temporarily to abandon its highbrow programming and compete head on. After Adler recruited
Jacob Gordin Jacob Michailovitch Gordin (Yiddish: יעקב מיכאַילאָװיטש גאָרדין; May 1, 1853 – June 11, 1909) was a Russian-born American playwright active in the early years of Yiddish theater. He is known for introducing realism and ...
as a playwright and found a way to draw the masses to serious theater with Gordin's ''
The Yiddish King Lear ''The Yiddish King Lear'' ( yi, דער ייִדישער קעניג ליר ''Der Yidisher Kenig Lir'', also known as ''The Jewish King Lear'') was an 1892 play by Jacob Gordin, and is generally seen as ushering in the first great er ...
'', and then turned to
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's ''
Othello ''Othello'' (full title: ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'') is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, probably in 1603, set in the contemporary Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573) fought for the control of the Island of Cypru ...
'', Thomashefsky decided to show that he could compete on that ground as well, and responded with the first Yiddish production of Shakespeare's ''
Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
'', in which, by all reports, he acquitted himself excellently. His production of ''Hamlet'' was more than just a direct translation; the story was also adapted to make it more accessible to a devout European Jewish audience. At the start of the play, young Hamlet has been away at Rabbinical college, and his uncle has seduced the Queen Mother away from King Hamlet, breaking the old man's heart. There are sectarian jokes regarding communication with angels. Claudius spreads a rumor that Prince Hamlet has succumbed to nihilism while away, but his scheme is discovered and the traitor is sent to Siberia in his nephew's stead. The play ends early, with Hamlet ceremonially marrying Ophelia at her funeral then dying of a broken heart. These types of edits were not uncommon in the Yiddish-language theatre scene. Some critics view it as a step away from immigrant assimilation, others as one step further towards common ground between the new residents and their American neighbors. These productions ushered in what is generally seen as the first great age of Yiddish theater, centered in New York and lasting approximately until a new wave of Jewish immigration in 1905—08 once again resulted in a vogue for broad comedy,
vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
and light operettas, which the Thomashefskys embraced wholeheartedly, especially in performing
Leon Kobrin Leon Kobrin (1873 1–1946) was a playwright in Yiddish theater, writer of short stories and novels, and a translator. As a playwright he is generally seen as a disciple of Jacob Gordin, but his mature work was more character-driven, more open ...
's plays about immigrant life. Other notable Thomashefsky productions included Yiddish versions of ''
Uncle Tom's Cabin ''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U. ...
'',
Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as treat ...
's ''
Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroads ...
'' and, unlikely as it may seem,
Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
's ''
Parsifal ''Parsifal'' ( WWV 111) is an opera or a music drama in three acts by the German composer Richard Wagner and his last composition. Wagner's own libretto for the work is loosely based on the 13th-century Middle High German epic poem ''Parzival'' ...
''. According to the Jewish Virtual Library, in an adaptation of ''Hamlet'' called ''Der Yeshiva Bokher'' (''The Yeshiva Student''), "a wicked uncle smears
rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
nic candidate’s reputation by calling him a
nihilist Nihilism (; ) is a philosophy, or family of views within philosophy, that rejects generally accepted or fundamental aspects of human existence, such as objective truth, knowledge, morality, values, or meaning. The term was popularized by Ivan ...
and the young man dies of a broken heart." (They don't say whether this was the production that went head-to-head with the Adler/Kessler ''Othello''.) By 1910, Thomashefsky owned a 12-room home on Bedford Avenue in
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, plus a bungalow by the sea, and 20 acres (81,000 m²) in
Hunter, New York Hunter is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town located in Greene County, New York, Greene County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 2,732 at the time of the 2010 census. The town contains three Administra ...
, which included an open-air theater, Thomashefsky's Paradise Gardens. Each of his three sons had an
Arabian horse The Arabian or Arab horse ( ar, الحصان العربي , DIN 31635, DMG ''ḥiṣān ʿarabī'') is a horse breed, breed of horse that originated on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is ...
. However, in 1915, Thomashefsky filed for bankruptcy, listing assets of $21,900 and debts of $76,297.65. In 1935, late in his career, Thomashefsky was an actor/singer in
Henry Lynn Henry Lynn (July 21, 1895 – August 25, 1984) was a film director, screenwriter, and producer, who concentrated on Yiddish life and culture in the United States, early twentieth century, (1932–1939), the era of Yiddish film in America. Lynn ...
's Yiddish film ''Bar Mitzvah'', in which he played a melodramatic role with gusto and co-produced the film. He sang, ''Erlekh Zayn'' (Be Virtuous), a song from a 1924 Yiddish play, ''Bar Mitzvah''.


Personal life

With his wife, actress
Bessie Thomashefsky Bessie Thomashefsky (1873 – July 6, 1962), born Briche Baumfeld-Kaufman, was a Russian-born Jewish American singer, actress and comedian, a star in Yiddish theater beginning in the 1890s. She was the wife and stage partner of Boris Thomas ...
, he had three sons, as well a daughter who died when she was six years old. The third son, Theodore, changed his name to Ted Thomas and became a
stage manager Stage management is a broad field that is generally defined as the practice of organization and coordination of an event or theatrical production. Stage management may encompass a variety of activities including the overseeing of the rehearsal p ...
. One of Ted Thomas's sons is conductor
Michael Tilson Thomas Michael Tilson Thomas (born December 21, 1944) is an American conductor, pianist and composer. He is Artistic Director Laureate of the New World Symphony, an American orchestral academy based in Miami Beach, Florida, Music Director Laureate of ...
. The first son, Harry, went on to direct the film ''The Yiddish King Lear'' (1935), under the auspices of the
Federal Theatre Project The Federal Theatre Project (FTP; 1935–1939) was a theatre program established during the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depression as part of the New Deal to fund live artistic performances and entertainment programs in the United ...
, and later moved with his mother to Los Angeles. The second son, Mickey, had affairs with two women at the same time, which led to a dramatic murder-attempt/suicide in 1931, reminiscent of his aunt Emma Thomashefsky Finkel's notorious 1904 affair. Both Mickey and his Aunt Emma were left paralyzed by the attempted murders by jealous mates and both later died of complications related to their wounds; Emma, many years later, in 1929, and Mickey, five years after in 1936. Boris Thomashefsky carried on a long-term affair with Yiddish actress Regina Zuckerberg, an Austrian-born actress twenty years younger than Bessie. This caused Boris and Bessie to separate. Both went on to have successful but separate careers. However, Boris became a pauper in the 1930s.The Thomashefskys: Music, Memories and Life in the Theater.


Death and legacy

Thomashefsky is buried with his wife, who, although separated from him by 1911, never divorced him, in the Yiddish theater section of the Mount Hebron Cemetery, Flushing, Queens, New York. Both Thomashefskys did much to shape the world of modern theatre from the follies to Broadway and gave a start to many actors, composers and producers who went on to start and own theaters and movie studios. Even the Gershwin brothers had their start with the Thomashefkys. They were also prominent in addressing controversial social issues of the day and in teaching the Greenhorns how to be Americans. They not only founded theaters and production companies, but had publishing houses and many other successful business adventures. Boris Thomashefsky even founded and funded a Jewish Army which he sent to Israel and was named after him. The unit later became a unit in the British Army. In the third
Marx Brothers The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act that was successful in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in motion pictures from 1905 to 1949. Five of the Marx Brothers' thirteen feature films were selected by the American Film Institute (AFI) ...
movie, '' Monkey Business'', Groucho Marx (in defending his right to hide in a gangster's moll's closet) exclaims, "That's what they said to Thomas Edison, mighty inventor, Thomas Lindbergh, mighty flyer, and Thomashefsky, 'mighty like a rose'!" Tribute was also paid in Mel Brooks' stage and film musicals based on his 1968 film '' The Producers'', when Max Bialystock attributes his acumen as a Broadway producer to the tutelage of "the great Boris Thomashefsky" in the song "The King of Broadway". In 2011,
Shuler Hensley Shuler Paul Hensley (born March 6, 1967) is an American singer and actor. Early life Hensley was born in Atlanta, Georgia. The youngest of three children, Hensley grew up in Marietta, Georgia. His father, Sam P. Hensley Jr., is a former Georgia T ...
portrayed Boris Thomashefsky in ''The Thomashefskys: Music and Memories of a Life in the Yiddish Theater'', a concert stage show celebrating the Thomashefskys and the music of American Yiddish theatre hosted by their grandson the conductor
Michael Tilson Thomas Michael Tilson Thomas (born December 21, 1944) is an American conductor, pianist and composer. He is Artistic Director Laureate of the New World Symphony, an American orchestral academy based in Miami Beach, Florida, Music Director Laureate of ...
. The show aired on the PBS series ''
Great Performances ''Great Performances'' is a television anthology series dedicated to the performing arts; the banner has been used to televise theatrical performances such as plays, musicals, opera, ballet, concerts, as well as occasional documentaries. It is pr ...
'' in 2012.


Works

*The Broken Violin'' (1918), music by
Joseph Rumshinsky Joseph Rumshinsky (1881–1956) was a Jewish composer born near Vilna, Lithuania (then part of Russian Poland). Along with Sholom Secunda, Alexander Olshanetsky and Abraham Ellstein, he is considered one of the "big four" composers and conductors ...


References


Sources

* Chira, Susan, "100 Years of Yiddish Theater Celebrated", ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', October 15, 1982, C28. * Adler, Jacob, ''A Life on the Stage: A Memoir'', translated and with commentary by Lulla Rosenfeld, Knopf, New York, 1999, . *Liptzin, Sol, ''A History of Yiddish Literature'', Jonathan David Publishers, Middle Village, NY, 1972, .
Boris Thomashefsky
from the
Jewish Virtual Library Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...
(JVL), retrieved February 28, 2005.
Timeline from The Thomashefsky Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomashefsky, Boris American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Yiddish theatre performers 1868 births 1939 deaths Burials at Mount Hebron Cemetery (New York City)