The Grand Theatre was a theatre in the

Yiddish Theatre 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 ...

in Manhattan 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 ...

built for Yiddish productions, the first of its kind.Rosenfeld, Lulla Adler
The Yiddish theatre and Jacob P. Adler
p. 299 (1988) The theater was built in 1904 by Jacob Pavlovitch Adler, a famous Russian-born Jewish actor.

Background

On March 12, 1902, Sophia Karp, with

Harry Fischel Harry Fischel (1865 - 1948) was an American businessman and philanthropist based in New York City at the turn of the 20th century. Fischel was one of the leading pioneers in the growth of American Judaism, in general, during the dynamic and pre ...

and playwright

Joseph Lateiner Joseph Lateiner (1853 – 1935) was a playwright in the early years of Yiddish theater, first in Bucharest, Romania and later in New York City, where he was a co-founder in 1903 with Sophia Karp of the Grand Theater, New York's first purpose-buil ...

, founded the Grand Theatre in New York City. The city's first theatre built specifically for

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

productions,Moses Rischin, ''The promised city: New York's Jews, 1870–1914'' the Grand was typical of Yiddish theatres of the time by being largely artist-managed. Besides Karp and Lateiner, the directors included leading man Morris Finkel, comedian

Bernard Bernstein Bernard Bernstein (30 November 1908 – 6 February 1990) was an American economist and public official. Background Bernard Bernstein was born on November 30, 1908, in New York City. He had at least one brother and one sister. He receive ...

, L. S. Gottlieb, and composer Louis Friedsell. It opened on February 5, 1903.

Two events in 1904 symbolized the decline of the serious stage. Jacob Gordin failed as the director of his own theater and Jacob Adler, the leading exponent of Gordin's dramas, opened the Grand Theater – the first structure built specifically for the Yiddish stage. In 1912 T mashefsky's new National Theater on
Houston Street Houston Street ( ) is a major east–west thoroughfare in Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs the full width of the island of Manhattan, from FDR Drive along the East River in the east to the West Side Highway along the Hudson River in t ...
even surpassed the Grand in the magnificence of its appointments. The National compared favorably with
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 ...
palaces and offered similar enjoyments subject to the same commercial will-o'-the-wisp.

Italian performances also were done at the theatre. The theatre was demolished in 1930 to make way for

Sara D. Roosevelt Park Sara Delano Roosevelt Park is a park in the Lower East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. The park, named after Sara Roosevelt (1854–1941), the mother of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, stretches north–south along seven blo ...

References

External links

* {{Coord, 40.718184, -73.99386, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-NY_dim:5km, display=title Jews and Judaism in Manhattan Yiddish culture in New York City Yiddish theatre in the United States 1902 establishments in New York City Theatres completed in 1903 Jewish theatres Demolished theatres in New York City Demolished buildings and structures in Manhattan Buildings and structures demolished in 1930 Former theatres in Manhattan Lower East Side

Background

See also

References

External links