Mina Bern (May 5, 1911 – January 10, 2010) was a Polish and

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

actress. She was a star of the

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 ...

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Biography

Mina Bernholtz was born in

Bielsk Podlaski Bielsk Podlaski ( be, Бельск Падляскі, , yi, ביעלסק, Bielsk) is a town in eastern Poland, within Bielsk County in the Podlaskie Voivodeship. As of December 2021, the town has a population of 24,883. Geography Bielsk Podla ...

in Poland. Her theatrical debut was in Bialystok under the director Yehuda Greenhoyz.Ben-Avraham, Michael (September 8, 2006).
Mina Bern: Portret fun a yidisher bine-kinstlerin
(Mina Bern: Portrait of a Yiddish Stage Artist) . ''Forverts''. Retrieved March 30, 2018. In 1930, through her relative

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 ...

, she shortened her name and auditioned successfully to join the Ararat Yiddish cabaret theater in

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of canti ...

, and then played at the Warsaw ''Scala'' and later, the Kaminska theaters and the local folk theater. With Dina Halperin and Sam Bronetski she worked in the collective ''Our Theater'', and later with Zygmunt Turkov. Zylbercweig, Zalmen (1959).
Bern (Bernholts), Mina
. ''Leksikon fun yidishn teater'' exicon of Yiddish Theater With the assistance of Jacob Mestel. New York: Elisheva. Vol. 3, column 2296. A few years later, she established a small cabaret theater in

Białystok Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area. Białystok is located in the Białystok Up ...

. Bern fled to Russia with her daughter after the

Nazi invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week afte ...

; there she played with the "Bialistocker yidishn miniatur-teatr" (miniature revi-teater) of Shimon Dzigan and Israel Shumacher. In 1944 she was sent to a camp in Uganda where she did children's theater for Poles stationed there. Through Jewish family connections she went to Kenya in 1945 and from there to

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

where she worked with Jenny Lavitz in the revue ''Rozhinkes mit mandlen,'' favorably reviewed and subsequently staged at the Hebrew ''Li-La-Lo'' revue theater. In 1949, after an incident in which she was accused of sending a thug to beat up theater critic

Haim Gamzu Haim Gamzu () (1910-1982) (also Haim Gamzou) was an Israeli art and drama critic. Biography Haim Gamzu was born in Chernihiv in the Russian Empire (now Ukraine). In 1923, his family immigrated to Mandatory Palestine. Gamzu studied art and philosop ...

, who had written a bad review of her performance, she emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. She married actor and producer

Ben Bonus Ben Bonus ( yi, בען באָנוס, 1920–1984) was a prominent American Yiddish theatre and Broadway actor and Yiddish language singer of the twentieth century. He and his wife Mina Bern were credited with keeping Yiddish theatre alive in United ...

. Living in New York City, she and her husband operated the

Village Theater A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

, which ran Yiddish performances. She recorded songs in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

Death

She died in 2010, and was buried at Mount Hebron Cemetery in

Flushing, Queens Flushing is a neighborhood in the north-central portion of the New York City borough of Queens. The neighborhood is the fourth-largest central business district in New York City. Downtown Flushing is a major commercial and retail area, and the ...

Awards

Bern received an

Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the A ...

in 1999, for her performance in ''Sweet Dreams'' (''Zise khaloymes''), at the

Folksbiene The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, commonly known as NYTF, is a professional theater company in New York City which produces both Yiddish plays and plays translated into Yiddish, in a theater equipped with simultaneous superscript translati ...

.Leon, Masha (January 11, 2010).
Mina Bern, Yiddish Theater Doyenne, Dead at 98
. ''

Forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

''. forward.com. Retrieved March 30, 2018.

Filmography

*''

Brooklyn Babylon ''Brooklyn Babylon'' is a 2001 film written and directed by Marc Levin, and a modern retelling of the Song of Solomon, set against the backdrop of the Crown Heights riot, starring Black Thought of The Roots. Plot summary In Brooklyn's Crown ...

'' (2001) .... Nanna *Flawless (1999) .... Mrs. Spivak *Celebrity (1998) .... Elderly Homeowner *The First Seven Years (1998) (TV) .... Landlady *I'm Not Rappaport (1996) * Everything Relative (1996) .... Grandma Kessler * Little Odessa (1994) .... Grandma Tsilya * It Could Happen to You (1994) .... Muriel's Neighbour * Pressure Drop (1994) .... Ida Potashner * Avalon (1990) .... Alice Krichinsky *

Crossing Delancey ''Crossing Delancey'' is a 1988 American romantic comedy film starring Amy Irving and Peter Riegert. Joan Micklin Silver directed it, drawing upon a play by Susan Sandler, who also wrote the screenplay. The film also features performances from ...

(1988) .... Would-be Victim *

Tenement A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, i ...

(1985) (as Mina Bern Bonas) .... Ruth

References

External links