Jacob Adler : A Life on the Stage

by Adler, Jacob P.; Rosenfeld, Lulla; Adler, Stella; Rosenfeld, Lulla

• ISBN13: 9781557834584
• ISBN10: 155783458X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-05-01
• Publisher: Hal Leonard Corp

Summary

Jacob Adler, with his performances in the Yiddish King Lear, Uriel Acosta and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, became first a megastar of the exploding Yiddish theatre, and then all of Broadway. His memoirs, originally written and published in Yiddish and now translated (by his granddaughter) into English provides not only a compelling portrait of one of America's greatest actors but a fascinating social history of his time.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction	xiii
Stella Adler
A Yiddish Theater? How Did It Happen?	xxi
Lulla Rosenfeld
Prologue	3	(2)
Something About My Family	5	(6)
Growing Up in Odessa	11	(13)
Russian Theater in the Years of My Youth	24	(5)
Odessa Nights	29	(9)
Rosenberg: The Great Friend of My Youth	38	(4)
``For Fatherland and Tsar!'' The War of 1877	42	(12)
The Odessa Attractions: Pleasure and Malaise	54	(17)
Hopes, Plans, and Dreams	71	(4)
Rosenberg: Actor and Impresario	75	(12)
The Great Night: An Echo of My Youth	87	(4)
My Uncle's Verdict	91	(7)
Sonya Oberlander, My Theater Magnet	98	(6)
Strategic Retreat: We Play in Kherson	104	(6)
News of Goldfaden and Our Guilty Longings	110	(5)
Goldfaden's Court	115	(4)
Kishinev Revels	119	(18)
Winter in Yelizavetgrad---My Downfall	137	(9)
The Mirror on the Wall	146	(9)
Yiddish Theater in the Provintz	155	(13)
The Troupe Breaks Up: Destiny Takes a Hand	168	(12)
Lithuania: Stardom and Starvation	180	(8)
Rosenberg's Theater in Nezhin	188	(11)
My First Great Role: Uriel Acosta	199	(11)
Glory---And the Aftermath	210	(5)
Zhitomer---Odessa---The Final Blow	215	(10)
Our Last Piece of Russian Earth	225	(6)
Our Theater in Exile	231	(8)
The Surprising London ``Dramatic Clubs''	239	(4)
How We Played in London	243	(5)
Our London Paradise, and How the Serpent Came	248	(8)
What We Learned in London	256	(9)
The Great New Club on Prince's Street	265	(6)
The Ladder of Words	271	(9)
Schiller: An Epoch in Our Theater	280	(4)
From Joy to Deepest Night	284	(7)
A Storm in Whitechapel	291	(5)
The Tragedy in Prince's Street	296	(6)
Last Days in London	302	(4)
Chicago Days---The Troupe Splits	306	(4)
New York: I Fail in The Odessa Beggar but Triumph as Moishele Soldat	310	(6)
My Great Moment Comes---I Meet Jacob Gordin	316	(13)
``Classicismus''	329	(12)
How I Saw the Role of Shylock and How I Played It	341	(10)
My Last Sight of Rosenberg	351	(14)
Shmendrick, My Mephistopheles	365	(7)
Last Appearances	372	(15)
Index	387