Gorin, B., 1868-1925

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.

- "In yeder hoyz" in Montreal.

No title appears in the manuscript; a handwritten label in English on the inside front cover reads: "Adapted from 'Old Curiosity Shop' by Chas. Dickens. Copyright B. Gorin 1905." Contains 4 acts.

Translated and adapted for the stage by Gorin, based on the novel by Charles Dickens. Zylbercweig (I: 465) lists, among plays by Gorin that were never performed, such an adaptation of the Dickens novel, under the title "Der kortn shpiler."

Contains 2 acts. On the front cover, in English: "New York, August 1920"; a heading in Russian indicating 'first version'; and a note in Yiddish explaining that it is the first version ("redaktsye") of the play "In yeden hoyz." The author's name does not appear on the item, and it was previously attributed to M. Gershoy; however, it appears to be in the same hand as Gorin's other manuscripts, and Zylbercweig (I: 464) refers to the title as a play by Gorin, performed in New York in 1924, on the occasion of his 30th anniversary in Yiddish literature. Original folder no. 4131.

Includes a note in English, "Misha Ellman, prompter," followed by the same name in Yiddish characters (at the end of Act I, page no. 168310).

Adapted ("redagirt") by Gorin, based on the play Leichtsinn und Frömmelei, by Aaron Wolfsohn-Halle. A note in Hebrew on the title page indicates that Gorin used an edition of 1798.

On loose leaves. Note on title leaf reads: "Copyright 1920 by B. Gorin." The title page indicates the play was adapted ("adaptirt") by Gorin, without naming the source.

Two drafts in a single notebook, both apparently incomplete. At the front, "Tahores ha-mishpokhe," 15 leaves; toward the back, "Ben yokhed," p. 1-66. Apparently different versions of the same work. A note on the first page, signed Elizabeth Gorin (B. Gorin's wife), indicates the manuscript is the first version ("varyatsye") of "Fremde kinder." On the basis of the note, the manuscript was previously attributed to Elizabeth Gorin; however, as in the case of the manuscript of "Elsi," above, she might have written the note on behalf of her husband, and the manuscript appears to be in the same hand as others of B. Gorin. A play entitled "Far fremde kinder," found in Folder 4073, with a title page identifying the author as Eliyahu Bakman, is possibly the work in question, and appears to be written in the same hand.

Two notebooks, containing two different versions of the play. The first (stamped no. 168175-168238) has a note on the title page in English: "Copyright by B. Gorin, 1910." The manuscript in the other notebook (stamped on title page, no. 168239; 48 leaves) is incomplete, ending part way through Act V.

Translated and adapted for the stage by Gorin, based on Sir Walter Scott's English-language novel Ivanhoe.

Various drafts, consisting of 31 leaves in a notebook (versions of Act I), followed by 74 loose leaves with various numbering, related to Acts I to IV (with each act separately numbered; some pages apparently missing). A note on the title page, signed Elizabeth Gorin (B. Gorin's wife), indicates that this was a first draft ("ershte varyatsye") of the play "Zamd." This manuscript was previously attributed to Elizabeth Gorin; however, another manuscript of the same play, in Folder 4115, has a title page identifying it as a work by B. Gorin.

Incomplete, breaking off at the beginning of Act III; labeled on the first page as the first version ("redaktsye"). Handwritten in English on front cover: "B. Gorin, 170 Henry St., New York City." The Spinoza play ends at page no. 168357. The notebook also includes, beginning from the other end (running in the opposite direction as the play, from the verso of no. 168369 to the verso of no. 168358), a story by Gorin in English, entitled "Isaac Scobeleff's Disturbed Pentecost: A picture from Jewish life."

Translated and adapted for the stage by Gorin, based on the German-language novel Spinoza, by Berthold Auerbach.