Menashe Oppenheim (Menasha, Menasze Oppenheim, sometimes used pseudonym Mieczyslaw) (1905–1973) was an American singer, composer, songwriter, collector and performer of folk songs. Born in the eastern borderlands of Poland, in the early thirties he performed at revi-teater in Kovne (

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...

, now in Lithuania) under the direction of

Jonas Turkow Jonas Turkow (Warsaw, 15 February 1898 – Tel Aviv, 1 December 1988) was an actor, stage manager, director and writer. He received the Itzik Manger Prize for his contributions to Yiddish letters. He was the brother of the actor Zygmunt Turkow, ...

. In the mid-thirties he worked at the ''Scala'' theater. He then became a leading Yiddish film actor. As a singer he recorded many records in Yiddish. He composed and wrote lyrics. He belonged to the Jewish Section of the prewar Association of Theatrical Authors And Composers in Warsaw. In the late 1930s he appeared in several important Jewish sound films, including Joseph Green's ''Di freylekhe kabtsonim'' (1937) with Shimon Dzigan and Israel Shumacher (directed by

Zygmunt Turkow Zygmunt Turkow (6 November 1896 – 20 January 1970) was a Polish actor, playwright, and director of Jewish origin from Warsaw, who became famous for roles in the pre-war Jewish films and stage plays in Yiddish. His brother, Jonas Turkow, was als ...

, screenwriter

Moishe Broderzon Moishe Broderzon ( yi, משה בראדערזאן, November 23, 1890 — August 17, 1956) was a Yiddish poet, theatre director, and the founder of the Łódź literary society, literary group ''Yung-yidish''. He was born 1890 in Moscow, but his f ...

, music by

Henech Kon Henech Kon or Henryk Kon (9 August 1890 – 20 April 1972) was a Polish composer and cabaret performer. Kon was born in Łódź to a Chassidic family, and sent at the age of 12 to his grandfather in Kutno, where he studied Torah but also studied w ...

) and ''

Mamele ''Mamele'' ( yi, מאמאלע pl, Mateczka) is a Yiddish Language Polish musical film made in 1938. Synopsis Set in Łódź, the film revolves around Khavtshi Samet ( Picon), a Cinderella figure, who has taken on maternal responsibility for her f ...

'' (1938) with

Molly Picon Molly Picon ( yi, מאָלי פּיקאָן; born Malka Opiekun; February 28, 1898 – April 5, 1992) was an American actress of stage, screen, radio and television, as well as a lyricist and dramatic storyteller. She began her career in Yidd ...

. In February 1939 he accepted Joseph Zeid's (

Joseph Seiden Joseph Seiden (; 1892–1974) was a pioneering American Yiddish language film producer of the early twentieth century. He released a large number of low-budget, sentimental Yiddish dramas during the 1930s and 1940s. He also directed ''Paradise in ...

)'s offer to play the lead in a movie called ''Kol Nidre''. He left for the United States to do the filming; at the completion of the movie, World War II had begun and Oppenheim was unable to return to Poland. He survived the Holocaust in the USSR-occupied part of eastern Poland, but his entire family died during the Nazi occupation. After 1945 he emigrated to South America. In 1940-1960 he worked in various Yiddish theaters in the United States. Oppenheim performed in ''Yoshe Kalb'' with Miriam Kressyn in 1972.New York Magazine Oct 23, 1972 He died on 23 October 1973 and was buried in the Mount Hebron Cemetery in Queens, New York, on land owned by the Jewish theatrical union.

Filmography

* 1937 ''Tkies khaf (The Vow)'' * 1937 ''

Di freylekhe kabtsonim ''Jolly Paupers'' (original title in yi, פריילעכע קבצנים, translit=Di freylekhe kabtsonim; title in ) is a 1937 Yiddish-language black and white comedy film shot in Interwar Poland by in 1937. It was directed by and Zygmunt Turkow ...

(The Jolly Paupers)'' * 1938 ''Mamele'' * 1939 ''Kol Nidre'' (Music

Sholom Secunda Sholom Secunda (, Oleksandriia, Alexandria, Kherson Governorate, Russian Empire13 June 1974, New York City, New York) was an American composer of History of the Jews in Ukraine, Ukrainian-Jewish descent, best known for the tunes of ''Bei Mir Bistu ...

) * 1941 ''Mazel Tov Yidn''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oppenheim, Menashe Jewish cabaret performers Polish cabaret performers 20th-century Polish Jews 1905 births 1973 deaths 20th-century comedians Burials at Mount Hebron Cemetery (New York City) Polish emigrants to the United States