Frances Edelstein (April 18, 1926 – September 24, 2018), born Frima Trost, was a Polish-born American businesswoman, owner (with her husband) of the Cafe Edison in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

's theatre district from 1980 to 2014. She was a survivor of

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

Early life

Frima Trost was born in Komorów, Poland in 1926, the daughter of Hersz Trost and Chaja Trost. The Trosts were

Jewish 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""The ...

; her father was a butcher. Frima Trost learned traditional recipes from her mother. Most of the Trost family, except for Frima and her brother Moishe, were killed in the Holocaust. Frima and Moishe Trost escaped to the forest with childhood friends Harry Edelstein and his brother; the four orphaned youths slept in barns and hid from capture for five years. Harry and Frima (who took the name Frances) married in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

in 1945, and moved to the United States in 1947, with their first child.

Career

The Edelsteins ran a chicken farm in New Jersey, then coffee and candy shops in Brooklyn. In 1980, Frances and Harry Edelstein founded the Cafe Edison in an old hotel ballroom on West 47th Street. The menu featured

matzo ball The Matzo Ball is an annual Christmas Eve nightlife event and party held in a number of major cities in the United States targeted primarily at young Jewish singles and organized by Mazel Events, LLC (previously the Society of Young Jewish Profes ...

soup,

blintz A blintz ( he, חֲבִיתִית; yi, בלינצע) is a rolled filled pancake of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, similar to a '' crepe'' or Russian ''blini''. History Traditional blintzes are filled with sweetened cheese, sometimes with the additio ...

es,

borscht Borscht () is a sour soup common in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. In English, the word "borscht" is most often associated with the soup's variant of Ukraine, Ukrainian origin, made with red beetroots as one of the main ingredients, wh ...

, and

latke A latke ( yi, לאַטקע ''latke''; sometimes romanized ''latka'', lit. "pancake") is a type of potato pancake or fritter in Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine that is traditionally prepared to celebrate Hanukkah. Latkes can be made with ingredients ot ...

s, and was popular with theatre professionals working on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

, looking for a hearty, inexpensive meal. It was jokingly called "the Polish Tea Room", in contrast with the more formal (and more expensive)

Russian Tea Room The Russian Tea Room is an Art Deco Russo-Continental restaurant, located at 150 West 57th Street (between Sixth Avenue and Seventh Avenue), between Carnegie Hall Tower and Metropolitan Tower, in the New York City borough of Manhattan. ...

restaurant. She was remembered as "a very, very short woman, firmly grounded on the earth," whose food and hospitality created a home away from home for a generation of showfolk and theatregoers. "The Edison felt like going to grandma's house," recalled actress

Linda Lavin Linda Lavin (born October 15, 1937) is an American actress and singer. She is known for playing the title character in the sitcom '' Alice'' and for her stage performances, both on and off-Broadway. After acting as a child, Lavin joined the Co ...

, a regular at the cafe. In a 1996 profile, journalist

Lenore Skenazy Lenore Skenazy () is president oLet Grow a non-profit promoting childhood independence and resilience, and founder of the Free-Range Kids movement. She is also a speaker, blogger, syndicated columnist, author, and reality show host. A mother w ...

noted that Edelstein "is to Cafe Edison what

Carol Channing Carol Elaine Channing (January 31, 1921 – January 15, 2019) was an American actress, singer, dancer and comedian who starred in Broadway and film musicals. Her characters usually had a fervent expressiveness and an easily identifiable voice, ...

is to ''Hello, Dolly!''" Frances Edelstein was the inspiration for a

Neil Simon Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He has received mo ...

character, Zelda in ''

45 Seconds from Broadway ''45 Seconds from Broadway'' is a comedy by Neil Simon, his thirty-third. The play premiered on Broadway in 2001. Production The play opened on Broadway at the Richard Rodgers Theatre on November 11, 2001Simon, Neil''45 Seconds from Broadway''(20 ...

'' (2001), a role created on Broadway by

Rebecca Schull Rebecca Anna Schull (née Wattenberg; born February 22, 1929) is an American stage, film and television actress, best known for her role as Fay Cochran in the NBC sitcom ''Wings'' (1990–1997). Life and career Schull was born in New York City, ...

. The Edelsteins were honored by the

American Theatre Wing The American Theatre Wing (the Wing for short) is a New York City–based non-profit organization "dedicated to supporting excellence and education in theatre", according to its mission statement. Originally known as the Stage Women's War Relief ...

in 2004, with a special

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...

for their contributions to the Broadway community. The Cafe Edison closed in 2014, despite a public protest and effort to save the restaurant.

Personal life

Frances and Harry Edelstein had a son Scott, and a daughter, Harriet. She was widowed when Harry died in 2009, and she died in 2018, aged 92, at home in

Manalapan Township, New Jersey Manalapan Township (, ) is a township in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The township is centrally located within the Raritan Valley region and is a part of the New York Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 United States Census, the t ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Edelstein, Frances 1926 births 2018 deaths Broadway restaurateurs Polish Holocaust survivors Polish emigrants to the United States American women in business People from Kolbuszowa County 21st-century American women