Gershoy, M., 1864-1937

The collection contains play manuscripts, programs, playbills, posters, photographs, correspondence, agreements, scrapbooks, clippings, printed ephemera, and memorabilia relating to Yiddish theater primarily in the early twentieth century, especially the interwar period. Also included are items of printed ephemera related to Yiddish film, Hebrew theater, and a broad range of Jewish performers, including cantors, singers and dancers. Geographically, the materials originate predominantly in Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe, including parts of the Russian Empire and, later, the Soviet Union; and, to a lesser extent, the United States, especially New York City. Also included are materials from Western Europe, Palestine (Eretz Israel), South America, and other regions around the world. Among the theater personalities represented in the collection with significant amounts of material are Herz Grossbard, David Herman, Joseph Winogradoff, Rudolf Zaslavsky, Zygmunt Turkow, Jonas Turkow, Moyshe Lipman, Ida Kaminska, and Esther Rachel Kaminska. The theater groups best represented include the Varshever Yidisher Kunst-Teater (VYKT; Warsaw Yiddish Art Theater), founded by Zygmunt Turkow and Ida Kaminska; the Vilna Troupe; Yung Teater / Nay Teater (Warsaw; Vilna), under the direction of Michael Weichert; the Moscow State Yiddish Theater (known by its Russian acronym "GOSET"); Maurice Schwartz's Yiddish Art Theatre, of New York; and the Hebrew theater "Habimah." A wide variety of other professional as well as amateur theater groups are represented with smaller amounts of material.

Notebook stamped no. 168580 on first page, containing Acts I and II of an unidentified play, of which the characters are: Sergey, Natasha, Mina, Tamara, Plakov, Varya.

Act I and II of an unidentified play, with characters: Enrico, Ramiro, Arias, Parets, Zaraya, Isha, Fatima. Originally part of Folder 4127.

Untitled manuscripts of a play in 4 acts, including the characters Avromtsi, Flora, Yashe, Solomon, Rivke, Sofia. Comprises a complete version of the play plus additional partial versions, as follows: 1) Notebook section containing the complete play (no title page or list of characters). Leaves numbered 2 to 57, followed by unnumbered leaves. 2) Notebook section containing part of Act 1 to the end of Act II. Leaves numbered 1 to 52. 3) Notebook section containing a complete verstion of Act IV. Leaves numbered 1 to 51. 4) Notebook section, with a few loose leaves, containing at the back the first page of Gershoy's Russian translation of a story by Hayim Aleksandrov, dated 1904. Originally part of Folder 4127. See also: Gershoy's complete translation of this story, in Folder 4132C.

Fragment. On loose leaves numbered 7 to 26, with the characters Ruter, Lyusye, Sera. See also: two pages related to the same work, in YIVO's digitized collection RG 8000 (held in the Lithuanian Central State Archives), Shipping List 3, Folder 82. Originally part of Folder 4127.

Fragment. Characters: Kleopatra, Anna, Narkiz Papnutyevitsh, Tatyane Vlas. 12 leaves.

Fragment of a play. Pages numbered 4 to 20. Characters: Eyzenshteyn, Boyrdye, Shnitser, Yeta. The notebook is labeled in English as a school notebook of Leo Gershoy, who was M. Gershoy's son. Previously misattributed to B. Gorin. Original folder no. 4113.

Manuscript in Russian. Contains 4 acts (apparently incomplete). Characters: Mitrofan, Valentina, Borislovna. 66 leaves. Originally part of Folder 4124.

Manuscript in Russian, with characters: Morris Rakhov, Dina Abramova, Marina, and Leverson. 22 leaves. Originally part of Folder 4127.

Prose and notes in Russian. Part of the manuscript is a Russian translation by Gershoy of a Yiddish-language story by Hayim Aleksandrov. The heading indicates that the translation was made with the permission of the author. Originally part of Folder 4110, inadvertently mixed together with manuscripts of B. Gorin. See also: another version of the first page of this work, in Folder 4127D, with an untitled manuscript of a play by Gershoy; the heading on the latter version dates the translation to 1904.

Two notebooks; incomplete, missing the beginning of Act I. Title is given in Russian on the covers; manuscript in Yiddish. The Yiddish title "Mikh shrekht" (Scares me) was later added in square brackets on the covers, presumably during processing at YIVO in New York. The first notebook (stamped no. 168584) contains part of Act I (from the middle of Scene 2 to end of Scene 3) and Act II (Scene 4). The second notebook (no. 168583) contains Scene 5. Originally part of Folder 4127.

Evidently a translation of Leonid Andreyev's Russian-language play of the same title.

Story divided into parts I to IX. Notebook cover imprinted with the word "High School." 44 leaves. Originally part of Folder 4132.

Yiddish translation of a novella by Norwegian author Thomas Krag.

This subseries contains play manuscripts arranged alphabetically by author name. Approximately 120 authors are represented. Those represented with the most items include M. Gershoy, Joseph Lateiner, Isidore Zolatarevsky, Jacob Gordin, L. Boymvol, B. Gorin, Boris Thomashefsky, N. Rakow, and S. Libin. In some instances, the provenance of the manuscripts is the authors themselves. Included are manuscripts from B. Gorin, M. Gershoy, M. Tykocinski, Shifra Laufer, Victor Panitch, and Victor Spritzer. Items from David Herman include a small grouping of drafts and fragments, as well as a partial manuscript believed to be his translation of a Dutch play by Johan Fabricius (Folder 4213H), and materials related to his work as a theater director in staging Chone Gottesfeld's play "Mekhutonim" (Folders 4095-4096A) and Leo Robbins's "Provints" (Folder 4241). Other manuscripts that are possibly from the authors themselves include those by N. Gorelik, Jonathan Halpern, M. Tiktin, Nachman Mifelew, Leib Malach, Fishl Slomianski, Dov-Ber Slutski, Yankev Preger, Mordkhe Forlerer, and Akiva Fishkopf.

Most of the manuscripts are handwritten, typically in notebooks; some are typescripts. Two items are published copies of the plays that served as censor's copies (Folders 4102 and 4107); and approximately two dozen items are reproductions by mimeograph or hectograph.

While most of the works represented in this subseries are in Yiddish, 16 items are manuscripts in German translation (Folders 4101, 4104, 4142, 4162, 4169A, 4180, 4181, 4184C, 4184E, 4199, 4210, 4219, 4219A, 4220, 4221C, and 4257), sometimes in a Yiddish-inflected German. (Two items, Folders 4103 and 4245A, appear to be in transliterated Yiddish.) The German translations, dating from 1900 to 1918, are all copies that were submitted to a censor's office. In addition to the German translations, the subseries includes a Polish translation of Sholem Aleichem's play "Agentn" (Folder 4265); and M. Gershoy's Russian translation of Moshe Nadir's play "Di tragedye fun gornisht" (Folder 4206).

In all, some 45 works bear censors' markings, mostly pertaining to the Russian Empire. The censor's copies date from 1900 to 1919, with just a few from later on, specifically, one presented to a Russian military censor in the Ukraine in 1922 (Folder 4252), one to a Polish censor in Grodno in 1931 (Folder 4102), and two to Latvian censors in 1939 (Folders 4080 and 4214). The copies for the Russian censor typically have a cord threaded through the pages of the manuscript, held in place with an official red wax seal at the back. Of the German translations, two were presented to a German censor for performance in Berlin, in 1900-1901 (Folders 4101 and 4180); one to an Austrian censor for performance in Lemberg (Lwów; Lviv, Ukraine), in 1900 (Folder 4142); and two to Austrian and German censors, respectively, during the First World War (Folder 4104, dated 1915, and Folder 4184, dated 1918).

Although the plays are arranged as isolated items, according to author and title, several groupings of items by provenance are identifiable. Some 58 items belong to a cache of theater materials donated to YIVO Vilna by the theater director Nahum Lipovski (or, after his death, by his son Sasha), almost all of them bearing an identical Russian-language stamp of the N. S. Lipovski Theater (Vilna), with the date 6 February 1917 (as noted in the folder summaries).

Approximately 30 items with Russian-language labeling of a similar appearance on the covers are likely from the same theater library (noted in the folder summary as labeling from an "unidentified theater library"). One of those items has a Russian-language stamp on the title page for the L. L. Rappel Troupe (Folder 4072); in another instance, the same stamp of the L. L. Rappel Troupe is found on an accompanying booklet of song lyrics, while the manuscript of the play has postal markings showing that it was mailed to H. Eppelberg in Warsaw in 1909 (Folder 4065).

Also, there are some 20 short works (typically only a few leaves), in the form of mimeographed typescripts, that were apparently distributed to amateur theater groups. Some are identified as issued by the repertoire commission of the Yidishe Arbeter Klubn (Jewish Workers' Clubs), probably in the United States, for example, several works by G. R. Don (Folders 4133-4135).

Finally, a few manuscripts bear the stamp of the "Yidisher Artistn Fareyn in Poyln" (Yiddish Actors' Union in Poland; see Folders 4082, 4085, 4107, 4221, 4235, and 4264). An additional grouping of materials related to two different amateur theater groups (Folders 4146-4147) was also possibly collected by the actors' union.

One quarter or more of the plays are translations and/or adaptations of works in other languages, including Russian, German, English, Polish, Hebrew, Italian, and Romanian. Translations and adaptations are typically found under the name of the author of the original work (if the source is known), with the name of the translator noted in the folder summary. Following are translators credited with Yiddish translations that are listed under the author of the original work: J. Brakarz, M. Damnitsh, G. R. Don, Heshl Eppelberg, Felya Flakser, M. Gershoy, Jacob Gordin, Moishe Gradzenski, D. M. Hermalin, David Herman, Isidore Kaplan, Samuel Kuperman, J. Lauterbach, Nahum Lipovski, Chaim Sherman, Yankev Vaksman, Aaron Zeitlin, and Zalmen Zylbercweig. Translators credited with German-language translations listed under the author of the original work are M. Genfer, A. Kaminski, L. L. Rappel, L. Saslawsky, S. Schilling, and Leon Shtrasfogel (Strassfogel). M. Karpinowicz is credited for a stage adaptation of Sholem Aleichem's novel Stempenyu (Folder 4267).

In the following instances, the translated or adapted work is found under the name of the translator or adapter: Boymvol's adaptation of a work by Eduard Jacobson; Davidovitsh's dramatization of a poem by Peretz Markish; Don's adaptations of stories by Sam Liptzin, Michael Gold, and Yosl Cutler; Gorin's adaptations of works by Charles Dickens, Sir Walter Scott, Aaron Wolfsohn-Halle, and Berthold Auerbach; Gershoy's translation of a novella by Thomas Krag; Vaksman's translations of the German-language librettos for the operettas "Khaya" and "Shoshana di tsnue"; Meyerson's translation of a German-language libretto for the operetta "Der zenger oys Palermo"; Forlerer's translation of a play by Sean O'Casey; Kaplan's translation of a play by Adolf Stoltze; and Kornblith's adaptation of a play by Maurice Maeterlinck.

Also, in a few instances, the manuscript contains two different works. In such cases the item is filed under the author/title of one of the works, with information about the second work given in the folder summary. Following are works that, for this reason, do not appear under the author heading that one would expect:

Bernstein, Henry, "Yisroel; Der antisemit" (Folder 4237A)

Davidman, Shloyme, "Khaver Lenin hot geratevet" (Folder 4224)

Hurwitz, Moishe, "Shloyme hameylekh" (Folder 4264)

Richter, Moishe, "Tsu shpet" (Folder 4104A)

Fragment, consisting of a title page, with character list and setting, referring to 4 acts, and the beginning of Act I. The play takes place in New York City and Rockaway Beach, with characters Sara Hirsh, her son Levi Deyr (Dare?) and his wife Keydi, Boyngard Belin, Berta Tayler, Betsi Shklav, Max Royzenduft. Previously attributed to B. Gorin. Original folder no. 4111.

Two notebooks, containing Act I (stamped no. 168573), 32 leaves, and Act II (no. 168574), 41 leaves. Comprises a version of the same work as the manuscript entitled "Kranke gevisen, oder Der alter gloyben," in Folder 4124A. The partial manuscript "Shpinvebs" found in Folder 4125 (Acts III and IV) is also the same work, and likely comprises the continuation of the present manuscript.

Theme/subject (suzhet) adapted by Gershoy ("nokh an entnumenem syuzhet"), from an unidentified source.

Five notebooks containing various versions of the four acts of the play. The first notebook (stamped no. 168566 on title page) contains Acts I and II. 49 leaves. The second (no. 168567) contains Acts I and II. 51 leaves. The third (no. 168568) contains Acts III and IV (on the cover: "Driter un fierter akten fun speten frihling"). 38 leaves. The fourth (no. 168570) contains Acts III and IV (on the cover: "Shpeter frihling"). 42 leaves. The fifth (no. 168571) contains Acts I and II. 56 leaves. Originally part of Folder 4122.

Theme/subject adapted from an unidentified Russian source ("syuzhet entnomen un bearbet fun rusishn"; title page of first notebook).

Three notebooks. The first (stamped no. 168588 on first page) contains a complete version of the play (3 acts); the second and third notebooks (stamped no. 168589 and 168590, respectively) together contain another complete version of the play. Original folder no. 4128.

Typescript with handwritten emendations. Pages numbered 1-88, with a few irregularities in numbering. Accompanied by two duplicate typescripts (stamped no. 168562 and no. 168563, respectively), with no emendations. Penciled on the cover in English: "M. Gershoy" and two addresses, "1408 Franklin Ave." and "1355 Wanderbild" (i.e. Vanderbilt?).

12 leaves. Originally part of Folder 4127.

This subseries contains play manuscripts arranged alphabetically by author name. Approximately 120 authors are represented. Those represented with the most items include M. Gershoy, Joseph Lateiner, Isidore Zolatarevsky, Jacob Gordin, L. Boymvol, B. Gorin, Boris Thomashefsky, N. Rakow, and S. Libin. In some instances, the provenance of the manuscripts is the authors themselves. Included are manuscripts from B. Gorin, M. Gershoy, M. Tykocinski, Shifra Laufer, Victor Panitch, and Victor Spritzer. Items from David Herman include a small grouping of drafts and fragments, as well as a partial manuscript believed to be his translation of a Dutch play by Johan Fabricius (Folder 4213H), and materials related to his work as a theater director in staging Chone Gottesfeld's play "Mekhutonim" (Folders 4095-4096A) and Leo Robbins's "Provints" (Folder 4241). Other manuscripts that are possibly from the authors themselves include those by N. Gorelik, Jonathan Halpern, M. Tiktin, Nachman Mifelew, Leib Malach, Fishl Slomianski, Dov-Ber Slutski, Yankev Preger, Mordkhe Forlerer, and Akiva Fishkopf.

Most of the manuscripts are handwritten, typically in notebooks; some are typescripts. Two items are published copies of the plays that served as censor's copies (Folders 4102 and 4107); and approximately two dozen items are reproductions by mimeograph or hectograph.

While most of the works represented in this subseries are in Yiddish, 16 items are manuscripts in German translation (Folders 4101, 4104, 4142, 4162, 4169A, 4180, 4181, 4184C, 4184E, 4199, 4210, 4219, 4219A, 4220, 4221C, and 4257), sometimes in a Yiddish-inflected German. (Two items, Folders 4103 and 4245A, appear to be in transliterated Yiddish.) The German translations, dating from 1900 to 1918, are all copies that were submitted to a censor's office. In addition to the German translations, the subseries includes a Polish translation of Sholem Aleichem's play "Agentn" (Folder 4265); and M. Gershoy's Russian translation of Moshe Nadir's play "Di tragedye fun gornisht" (Folder 4206).

In all, some 45 works bear censors' markings, mostly pertaining to the Russian Empire. The censor's copies date from 1900 to 1919, with just a few from later on, specifically, one presented to a Russian military censor in the Ukraine in 1922 (Folder 4252), one to a Polish censor in Grodno in 1931 (Folder 4102), and two to Latvian censors in 1939 (Folders 4080 and 4214). The copies for the Russian censor typically have a cord threaded through the pages of the manuscript, held in place with an official red wax seal at the back. Of the German translations, two were presented to a German censor for performance in Berlin, in 1900-1901 (Folders 4101 and 4180); one to an Austrian censor for performance in Lemberg (Lwów; Lviv, Ukraine), in 1900 (Folder 4142); and two to Austrian and German censors, respectively, during the First World War (Folder 4104, dated 1915, and Folder 4184, dated 1918).

Although the plays are arranged as isolated items, according to author and title, several groupings of items by provenance are identifiable. Some 58 items belong to a cache of theater materials donated to YIVO Vilna by the theater director Nahum Lipovski (or, after his death, by his son Sasha), almost all of them bearing an identical Russian-language stamp of the N. S. Lipovski Theater (Vilna), with the date 6 February 1917 (as noted in the folder summaries).

Approximately 30 items with Russian-language labeling of a similar appearance on the covers are likely from the same theater library (noted in the folder summary as labeling from an "unidentified theater library"). One of those items has a Russian-language stamp on the title page for the L. L. Rappel Troupe (Folder 4072); in another instance, the same stamp of the L. L. Rappel Troupe is found on an accompanying booklet of song lyrics, while the manuscript of the play has postal markings showing that it was mailed to H. Eppelberg in Warsaw in 1909 (Folder 4065).

Also, there are some 20 short works (typically only a few leaves), in the form of mimeographed typescripts, that were apparently distributed to amateur theater groups. Some are identified as issued by the repertoire commission of the Yidishe Arbeter Klubn (Jewish Workers' Clubs), probably in the United States, for example, several works by G. R. Don (Folders 4133-4135).

Finally, a few manuscripts bear the stamp of the "Yidisher Artistn Fareyn in Poyln" (Yiddish Actors' Union in Poland; see Folders 4082, 4085, 4107, 4221, 4235, and 4264). An additional grouping of materials related to two different amateur theater groups (Folders 4146-4147) was also possibly collected by the actors' union.

One quarter or more of the plays are translations and/or adaptations of works in other languages, including Russian, German, English, Polish, Hebrew, Italian, and Romanian. Translations and adaptations are typically found under the name of the author of the original work (if the source is known), with the name of the translator noted in the folder summary. Following are translators credited with Yiddish translations that are listed under the author of the original work: J. Brakarz, M. Damnitsh, G. R. Don, Heshl Eppelberg, Felya Flakser, M. Gershoy, Jacob Gordin, Moishe Gradzenski, D. M. Hermalin, David Herman, Isidore Kaplan, Samuel Kuperman, J. Lauterbach, Nahum Lipovski, Chaim Sherman, Yankev Vaksman, Aaron Zeitlin, and Zalmen Zylbercweig. Translators credited with German-language translations listed under the author of the original work are M. Genfer, A. Kaminski, L. L. Rappel, L. Saslawsky, S. Schilling, and Leon Shtrasfogel (Strassfogel). M. Karpinowicz is credited for a stage adaptation of Sholem Aleichem's novel Stempenyu (Folder 4267).

In the following instances, the translated or adapted work is found under the name of the translator or adapter: Boymvol's adaptation of a work by Eduard Jacobson; Davidovitsh's dramatization of a poem by Peretz Markish; Don's adaptations of stories by Sam Liptzin, Michael Gold, and Yosl Cutler; Gorin's adaptations of works by Charles Dickens, Sir Walter Scott, Aaron Wolfsohn-Halle, and Berthold Auerbach; Gershoy's translation of a novella by Thomas Krag; Vaksman's translations of the German-language librettos for the operettas "Khaya" and "Shoshana di tsnue"; Meyerson's translation of a German-language libretto for the operetta "Der zenger oys Palermo"; Forlerer's translation of a play by Sean O'Casey; Kaplan's translation of a play by Adolf Stoltze; and Kornblith's adaptation of a play by Maurice Maeterlinck.

Also, in a few instances, the manuscript contains two different works. In such cases the item is filed under the author/title of one of the works, with information about the second work given in the folder summary. Following are works that, for this reason, do not appear under the author heading that one would expect:

Bernstein, Henry, "Yisroel; Der antisemit" (Folder 4237A)

Davidman, Shloyme, "Khaver Lenin hot geratevet" (Folder 4224)

Hurwitz, Moishe, "Shloyme hameylekh" (Folder 4264)

Richter, Moishe, "Tsu shpet" (Folder 4104A)

Two notebooks, plus 17 loose leaves. The first book (stamped no. 168689) contains Acts I and II, and the second (no. 168690), Act IV (heading mistakenly indicates fifth act). The loose leaves appear to relate to the end of Act II and some part of Act III. See also typescripts of the same play in Folder 4132A. Also, another manuscript of this play, under the title "Neben vald," in YIVO's digitized collection RG 8000 (held in the Lithuanian Central State Archives), Shipping List 3, Folder 15.

An adaptation ("adaptatsye") by Gershoy from an unidentified source.

Typescript with a few handwritten emendations. Also included is a duplicate typescript, with only a single handwritten emendation (on p. 32), and a duplicate partial typescript. Originally part of Folder 4132.

An adaptation ("adaptatsye") by Gershoy from an unidentified source.

Three notebooks. The first notebook (stamped no. 168564 on title page; 47 leaves) and second notebook (stamped no. 168565; leaves numbered 1-42) each contain a version of Acts I and II. The third notebook (stamped no. 168569; 56 leaves) contains Acts III and IV; cover has stamp: "For sale by M. Bachrach & Son, 2275 - 3rd Ave., N.Y. "

Theme/subject adapted ("syuzhet entnomen") from an unidentified source.

Typescript. Pages numbered 1 to 80. The list of characters is missing; see Folder 4123A for a fragment of the same typescript that includes the list of characters. See also: other versions of the same play handwritten in notebooks, in Folders 4122-4122A.

A list of characters, along with a fragment of the identical typescript as found in Folder 4123, with no handwritten emendations. 6 leaves. Previously misattributed to B. Gorin. Original folder no. 4113.

Notebook containing the end of Act II, and Acts III and IV. The cover is labeled with the title of the play and the note "fortzetsung" (continuation); the manuscript containing the beginning was not found. Comprises a version of the same work as in the manuscripts in Folders 4124-4124A. 48 leaves. Originally part of Folder 4124.

Two notebooks. The first (stamped no. 168575) contains Act I and the beginning of Act II. The second (no. 168577) has the continuation of Act II, through the end of the play (Acts III and IV). Also included is a typescript title page found in the first notebook with the title "Kranke gevisen." Comprises a version of the same work as in the partial manuscript entitled "Der alter gloyben," in Folder 4124.

Theme/subject (suzhet) adapted by Gershoy from an unidentified source ("nokh an entnumenem syuzhet"). Originally part of Folder 4124 (first notebook) or 4125 (second notebook).

Two notebooks, the first containing Act III (cover stamped no. 168578), 33 leaves, and the second, Act IV, 26 leaves. The first notebook is labeled with the title "Shpinvebs" on the cover. Comprises a version of the same work as in the manuscripts entitled "Der alter gloyben" or "Kranke gevisen, oder Der alter gloyben" (Folders 4124 to 4124B), and likely the continuation of the manuscripts of Acts I and II found in Folder 4124.

Incomplete manuscript of a play with 4 acts and an epilogue. Lacks a title page and the beginning of the play. Pages numbered 2-14, 20-49, 51-59, 62-89, [89a], 90-107. Previously misattributed to B. Gorin; however, it is a different version of the same translation/adaptation by M. Gershoy as in Folder 4137A.

Translated and adapted for the stage by M. Gershoy, based on Dostoyevsky's Russian-language novel.

Contains 3 acts, with the last act incomplete. 49 leaves. Original folder no. 4126.

Translated and adapted for the stage by M. Gershoy, based on Dostoyevsky's Russian-language novel.