Yetta Zwerling Silverman (December 25, 1894 – January 17, 1982) was a Yiddish movie star during the 1930s and 1940s.

Early life

Yetta Zwerling was born in Kalievo, near Lemberg, Galicia, Austria-Hungary (present-day Choliv, near Lviv, Ukraine). Her father had a fruit business and was also a klezmer. Her sisters Bessie and Mamie sang in the Yiddish theater chorus and brought Yetta in as well.Zalmen Zylbercweig, ''Leksikon fun Yidishn teater'', Book 3, #2276 She emigrated to the United States with her family, finishing high school there and playing juvenile roles in variety theaters and English-language vaudeville. During her vaudeville years she also sang Yiddish songs like ''Vu Bistu, Yukel?'' and ''

Bei Mir Bist du Schoen "Bei Mir Bistu Shein" ( yi, בײַ מיר ביסטו שעהן, or yi, בײַ מיר ביסטו שיין, , "To Me You're Beautiful") is a popular Yiddish song written by lyricist Jacob Jacobs and composer Sholom Secunda for a 1932 Yiddish lang ...

.''

Career

Her first "legitimate role" in Yiddish theatre was as Hanele in Zolotarevsky's ''Yeshiva Bokher (Schoolboy)''. She toured and ended up in New York, playing Yiddish vaudeville with Sam Klinetsky at the Grand Theater, then doing four years of English-language comedy with Leon Errol and then six seasons in Philadelphia with

Anshel Schorr Anshel Schorr ( yi, אַנשל שור; October 25, 1871 - May 31, 1942), also known by the anglicized name Albert Schorr, was an Austrian-born American playwright, lyricist, theater manager and composer active in the Yiddish Theatre of the early ...

, who improved her Yiddish and gave her the opportunity to play the

soubrette A soubrette is a type of operatic soprano voice ''fach'', often cast as a female stock character in opera and theatre. The term arrived in English from Provençal via French, and means "conceited" or "coy". Theatre In theatre, a soubrette is a c ...

opposite, among others, Celia Adler, Samuel Goldenberg, and

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

. She then played at the National Theater in ''Student Prince'' and with

Bertha Kalich Bertha Kalich (also spelled Kalish, born Beylke Kalakh; 17 May 1874 – 18 April 1939) was a Ukrainian-Jewish-American actress. Though she was well-established as an entertainer in Eastern Europe, she is best remembered as one of the several ...

in ''Di neshomeh fun a froy (The Soul of a Woman)''. She played alongside Yitskhok Feld, Julius Nathanson, Eli Mintz, Isidore Meltzer, Adof Fenigshtayn, Irving Jacobson, later Menasha Skulnik and Leo Fuchs in Yiddish movies such as ''Motl der opereytor'' and ''Ikh vil zayn a mame''. Beyond her comic roles, she sang as a soloist and in duets with her partners. She was also noted for her eccentric outfits and jewels.

Death

In 1982, Yetta Silverman died at Cedar-Sinai Hospital in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. She was survived by her two sons, Sidney and Arthur Silverman.''New York Times'' gave her age at death as 93; however her death certificate and Social Security records give her date of birth as December 25, 1894. She was interred at Mount Sinai Memorial Park in Los Angeles.

References

Sources

* 1894 births 1982 deaths American film actresses Austro-Hungarian emigrants to the United States Yiddish theatre performers Vaudeville performers Jewish American actresses Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe) American people of Polish-Jewish descent American people of Austrian-Jewish descent 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American Jews Burials at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery {{Yiddish-stub