Rudolph Marks (circa 1867-1930; born in

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrat ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

, as Max Radkisson and A.K.A. Rudolph Marks Rodkinson) was a

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

, and

comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolish (as in slapstick), or employing prop comedy. A comedian who addresses an audience dir ...

. He rivaled

Sigmund Mogulesko Sigmund Mogulesko (16 December 1858 – 4 February 1914) — Yiddish: זעליק מאָגולעסקאָ ''Zelik Mogulesko'', first name also sometimes spelled as Zigmund, Siegmund, Zelig, or Selig, last name sometimes spelled Mogulescu & ...

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 re ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

in the 1890s, but had a less enduring career.

Biography

Marks arrived in New York aged 19, having spent four years in England after leaving Russia. In New York, he appeared with the Thalia Theatre and the United Hebrew Opera Company. By 1893, he was described as a "well known and clever comedian", and was one of two contenders for the title of "most popular young actor" in a contest run by a New York newspaper. He wrote several plays in Yiddish, including ''The Bowery Tramp'', "the great comedy success" ''Chaim in America'', and ''The Shop Girl''. By 1893, Marks had begun studying law at

University of the city of New York New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

, and was admitted to the bar in 1898. For some years, reports of court cases he appeared in described him as "better known as a writer of Yiddish plays and as an actor of Shakepearean parts in the Bowery theaters than as a lawyer". He died in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

on 6 May 1930.

References

* Adler, Jacob, ''A Life on the Stage: A Memoir'', translated and with commentary by Lulla Rosenfeld, Knopf, New York, 1999, . 261. 1930 deaths American dramatists and playwrights Yiddish-language playwrights Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Odesa Jews Yiddish theatre performers Year of birth uncertain {{US-playwright-stub