vaksman/fanny

Lives in the Yiddish Theatre
SHORT BIOGRAPHIES OF THOSE INVOLVED IN THE Yiddish THEATRE
aS DESCRIBED IN zALMEN zYLBERCWEIG'S "lEKSIKON FUN YIDISHN TEATER"
1931-1969

Fanny Vaksman

Born on 14 February 1878 in Lodz, Poland. She learned in a folkshul. She had a soprano voice, and at age eleven, her mother entered her as a chorus singer in the troupe of Weinstock-Schorr, which was then guest-starring in Lodz.

In 1889 she went with her parents to London, where she joined as a chorus singer in the Weincourt Theatre, under the leadership of the conductor and compositor Yarikhovsky, and when by chance both prima donnas didn't arrive for the production of "Ahasuerus", V. "took on" the role of "Esther the Queen", and from then on she was a prima donna, debuting in Yiddish in "Traviata". From London she went with Yarikhovsky for fifteen months to Manchester, where she also acted for a certain time on the English stage.

With the intention to leave the stage, she married the late theatre director Blumenthal in 1894, but performing in productions for voyltetike purposes, she again retired from the theatre.

Later V. traveled to South Africa to her brother Moshe Dovid and acted with him for a short time. Then her husband became a partner of the director, and she then remained there for three years as a dramatic actress.

In 1903 V. returned to London, where she entered into a member troupe. In 1904 her brother came to London and together they

staged the direction at the Standard Theatre, where they acted only for a short time. From there they went over to act in the Pavilion Theatre, which was, due to the outspoken Jewish area of Whitechapel, transformed into a Yiddish theatre, which was then found in London.

Later V. acted in Paris, across the English province, and three years on the English stage in London and in the province.

In 1910 she performed in Antwerp, then again in England together with Adler, Moshkovitsh and Ch. Nathanson. Then she again traveled to Paris and [then] returned to London, where she participated in the newly opened Feinman Theatre.

In 1912 she partnered with Moshkovitsh for a Yiddish troupe in London, but after a half-year she went to Buenos Aires, and from there to Brazil, and then to Poland and Russia.

In 1914 she acted under her own direction in the Pavilion Theatre in London, and in wartime in Paris, where she became a co-founder of the "Peretz Theatre". Soon after the war, she acted again in London and across the English province under her husband's direction, and in 1927 in Paris.

M. E.

B. Gorin -- "History of the Yiddish Theatre", Vol. II, pp. 151-2.

Adapted from the original Yiddish text found within the "Lexicon of the Yiddish Theatre" by Zalmen Zylbercweig, Volume 1, page 661.