It gives me great pleasure to thank the friends and colleagues who contributed to the making of this book.
First and foremost I wish to express my gratitude to Stefanie Halpern, my assistant and doctoral student. Her incomparable intelligence, dedication, and organizational skills have been instrumental in the creation of this catalog and the exhibition it accompanies.
I am particularly grateful to the individuals who worked in the Yiddish theater and to the family members of artists who are no longer with us for opening their hearts and graciously sharing with us memories and artifacts. Their reminiscences appear throughout this book. I wish to single out Marc Aronson, son of Boris Aronson, for allowing us to reproduce his father’s brilliant stage designs, including works never seen before; David S. Buchholz and Audrey H. Waxman, son and daughter–in–law of the late Nat Norbert, Jewish puppeteer par–excellence, who shared with us important items from their personal collection; Mary Anne Beale, who lent us her Serge Soudeikin stage painting; Dr. Phil Brown, president of the Catskills Institute and professor of sociology and health sciences at Northeastern University, who allowed us to reproduce precious Catskill Institute materials; Louise Hirschfeld, wife of the late Al Hirschfeld whose illustrations have been etched in the memory of all theater lovers, and David Leopold, the Hirschfeld Foundation's creative director; Charlotte Goldstein, a veteran of the Yiddish stage who began her theater career in 1932 in the Yiddish Art Theatre production of Yoshe Kalb; and Mike Burstyn, son of Pesach Burstein and Lilian Lux, and a noted performer in his own right. The archive of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research was our treasure island. Every visit led to the discovery of new gems: handwritten manuscripts, photos, artwork, costumes, statues, puppets, posters, pins and ribbons, make–up kits and feathers. Thank you Jonathan Brent, executive director of YIVO, for your cooperation. Special kudos go to Fruma Mohrer, senior archivist; Leo Greenbaum, accessions archivist / bund archivist; Gunnar Berg, project archivist; Vital Zajka, information manager in the Archives, Photo Archives & Library; and Krysia Fisher, formerly senior curator at YIVO.
In addition to YIVO, I thank the following institutions who made materials available to us: the Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, Hunter College Libraries, Hunter College of the City University of New York, the American Jewish Historical Society, the Yiddish Artists and Friends Actors Club, the Yiddish Theatrical Alliance, the New York Public Library, Southern Illinois University, and the Library of Congress.
I offer my gratitude to the dedicated team of the Museum of the City of New York: Susan Henshaw Jones, Ronay Menschel director; Sarah M. Henry, deputy director and chief curator; and Phyllis Magidson, curator of costumes and textiles. I have worked most closely with Autumn Nyiri, manager of curatorial affairs, and Becky Laughner, curatorial associate. Autumn and Becky, thank you! It’s been a pleasure working with you! I also thank Lilly Tuttle, assistant curator, who directed us when this project took its first steps, and Morgen Stevens–Garmon, theater archivist at MCNY, who runs a truly exemplary operation.
I also thank David Y. Chack, president of the Association for Jewish Theatre; Corey Breier, president of the Yiddish Artists and Friends Actors Club and the Yiddish Theatrical Alliance; Julio Luis Hernandez–Delgado, associate professor, head, Archives and Special Collections at Hunter College Libraries; Esther Brumberg, senior curator for Collections at the Museum of Jewish Heritage; David Leopold, archivist, the Al Hirschfeld Foundation; and Benoit Sapiro of the Galerie Le Minotaure, Paris, France. I am indebted to Tim Oliver for his editorial corrections and especially for his friendship.
I am grateful to the Jewish Theological Seminary, my home institution, for granting me some teaching relief time so I could devote more of myself to the completion of this project.
I thank Urshula Barbour and Paul Carlos of Pure+Applied Design Studio for designing the exhibition and this beautiful book.
This book is dedicated to my granddaughter, Zoe Nahshon, born December 22, 2015.
Edna Nahshon