Regina Zuckerberg portrait from Song of Love score

Regina Zuckerberg ( yi, רעגינע צוקערבערג or , 1888–1964) was an Austrian-born

Yiddish theatre 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 revues ...

actor and

Prima donna In opera or commedia dell'arte, a prima donna (; Italian for "first lady"; plural: ''prime donne'') is the leading female singer in the company, the person to whom the prime roles would be given. ''Prime donne'' often had grand off-stage pers ...

who had a career both in Europe and the United States.

Biography

Regina Zuckerberg was born Rifke Kobak on 19 March 1887 or 1888 in Lemberg, Galicia,

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

(today

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

). Her parents were Leiser and Gittel (née Zuker) Kobak. She was involved in singing and performance from a young age; as a youth she sang in a temple choir in Lemberg under Cantor Halperin. She met her first husband, Sigmund (Zaynvil) Zuckerberg, also an actor, and they were married in Lemberg in 1904. At around that time they joined a troupe led by Sholem Perlmutter which toured successfully around Galicia, as well as the famous Gimpel Theatre troupe based in Lemberg. Due to her striking appearance and strong voice she was highly in demand as a leading actress. She had a daughter, Pauline, who was born in

Chernivtsi Chernivtsi ( uk, Чернівці́}, ; ro, Cernăuți, ; see also other names) is a city in the historical region of Bukovina, which is now divided along the borders of Romania and Ukraine, including this city, which is situated on the upp ...

in 1907. 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 ...

in March 1908, sailing from England to New York City. She made some appearances on the London Yiddish theatre stage during her journey. Her mother, Gittel, also followed her to the United States a few months later. The month Regina arrived she joined

Boris Thomashefsky Boris Thomashefsky (russian: Борис Пинхасович Томашевский, sometimes written Thomashevsky, Thomaschevsky, etc.; yi, באָריס טאָמאשעבסקי) (1868–1939), born Boruch-Aharon Thomashefsky, was a Ukrainian-b ...

's People's Theater in the

Bowery The Bowery () is a street and neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The street runs from Chatham Square at Park Row, Worth Street, and Mott Street in the south to Cooper Square at 4th Street in the north.Jackson, Kenneth L. "B ...

, where she was billed as the "Austrian

Tetrazzini Tetrazzini is an American dish made with diced poultry or seafood and mushroom in a butter/cream and cheese sauce flavored with wine or sherry. It is served hot over linguine, spaghetti, egg noodles, or some other types of pasta, garnished wi ...

." That marked the beginning of several decades of collaboration with Thomashefsky;

Jacob P. 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 ...

was also involved in bringing her to the New York theatre world. Regina seems to have gone back to Europe and returned with Sigmund in the following years, apparently settling permanently in the United States in 1911. In New York, as in Galicia, Regina was highly in demand as an actress. She also recorded a handful of

78-rpm A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near ...

discs at

Victor records The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer that operated independently from 1901 until 1929, when it was acquired by the Radio Corporation of America and subsequently operated as a subsidi ...

in 1916 during the wartime boom in local Yiddish recording. Those ten sides, which were recorded over a two-day period, were mainly Yiddish theatre songs of the day by such contemporary composers as Arnold Perlmutter,

Herman Wohl Herman Wohl ( yi, הערמאַן װאָהל, 1877–1936) was a Jewish–American composer closely associated with the American Yiddish Theatre. Galicia Wohl was born in Otyniia near Stanislavov (now called Ivano-Frankivsk) in eastern Galicia, n ...

, and

Louis Friedsell Louis Friedsell (born 1863 or 1865, Yekaterinoslav, Ukraine; died 25 June 1923, New York, United States) was a conductor and composer for the Yiddish theatre. He has written the music for about 150 plays and operettas (partly by himself, partly wi ...

Regina Zuckerberg portrait from Forverts 4 March 1923

She divorced her first husband Sigmund in Chicago in 1920. She had become romantically involved with

, who had given her the leading role in his production over his own wife Bessie, and who eventually left him. Sigmund sued Thomashefsky for $100,000 for "loss of marital affection." Regina and Boris were then married to one another. In the 1920s and 1930s Regina continued to tour successfully with Thomashefsky's productions. In 1935 she costarred in her only film role, the Yiddish

talkie A sound film is a motion picture A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, percep ...

''Bar Mitzvah'', written and directed by

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 ...

, based on a Thomashefsky play and produced by Lynn and Jack Stillman. When Thomashefsky died in 1939 Regina was at his bedside. Her Yiddish theatre career seems to have declined after Thomashefsky's death. In 1943 she remarried in New Jersey to an insurance salesman named Robert Kessler. She died in

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark. She was buried at the Mount Hebron Cemetery.

References

External links

A recording of Regina Zuckerberg
singing Yiddish theatre music from 1916 {{DEFAULTSORT:Zuckerberg, Regina 1880s births Year of birth uncertain 1964 deaths Yiddish theatre performers Actors from Lviv Jewish actresses Victor Records artists Jewish American actresses