Zalmen
Zylbercweig was born on 27 September
1894 in Ozorków,
a town not far from
Łódź, Poland.
His father was a cultured man, a merchant, who
brought his family over to
Łódź
when Z. was but two years old. There Z. would
study in a cheder.
As a child he was popularly
known in the city as a "Shiri-tsoyn-zinger
(the "Songs of Zion" singer".
In 1905 he worked in the
first local modern Yiddish bookstore that his father
owned,
where he would surround himself with Hebrew,
Yiddish and translated European literature.
Afterwards he studied
yeshiva songs for a half-year, then he worked for a
short time as a laborer on a farm in Czestochowa. Then
Z. studied
privately with a teacher and became a trade employee
for various companies.
In 1910 Z. made his
debut under the pseudonym of "Solomon", with a
translation in the "Łódźer
morgenblat" newspaper and
various other publications.
Following an inclination
to the theatre, Z. soon completed his
first Yiddish theatre translation for a live-action
play named "Kin".
Later he participated in
Hebrew, then later in Yiddish amateur productions, and
he also founded an "amateur circle" in 1912. |
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Zalmen
Zylbercweig, cir 1960s.. |
From 1915-1924 Z.
was a collaborator and later a co-editor at
the "Łódźer tagenblat" and
published many critical articles and reviews of Yiddish
theatre productions. In 1922 he edited and
published
(together with Lazar Kahan) the
weekly "Theatre and Cinema". Afterwards, Z.
by himself edited and published the weekly page
"Theatre and the Arts". In 1923 (again together with Lazar Kahan)
he translated this weekly
page. In 1924, Z. traveled to
Eretz Yisrael as a correspondent for the Yiddish
newspaper.
Z. was also the editor
or author of more than thirty books relating to
Yiddish culture and history. He is most often
remembered today as the editor of the six-volume "Leksikon
fun yidishn teater (Lexicon of the Yiddish
Theatre)", a compendium of more than 2,800
Yiddish-language biographies and histories of
those individuals and now-defunct theatrical
organizations who were once involved in some fashion with the Yiddish
theatre. Volume 1 was published in 1931; Volume 6 in 1969.
Volume 7 still remains in galley form, as Z.
passed away in 1972, and the hopes of publishing
this last volume faded.Volume 5,
published after World War II, is the Lexicon's memorial
edition, consisting mostly of biographies of
those who were killed during the war at the hands of the Nazis
and their collaborators.
Here, at the virtual
Museum of Family History, we are making some of
Zalmen Zylbercweig's remarkable life's works
available to you in hopes of furthering not only
your awareness of this great man's
achievements, but also to enhance your appreciation
of Yiddish culture and Yiddish theatre in
particular.
At the time of his
passing, Z. had completed, or was in the process of
completing, two more works which to date have
remained unpublished. The first was to be the
seventh volume of his "Lexicon of the Yiddish
Theatre". The second was to be a history of
Maurice Schwartz's famous "Yiddish Art Theatre" and
was entitled the "Yudisher kunst-teater in amerike (Yiddish Art Theatre
in America)". After his passing, neither of these
books were published, yet due to the generosity of
his estate, the Museum of Family History has been
given permission to
present to you galleys of these two books (albeit
with some pages missing). These book
galleys are being made available to you in the hope that it will
keep alive the memory of those once involved in the
Yiddish theatre.
Additionally, the Museum
is in the process of translating these seven volumes
into English. At some point in the near future these
translations will be made available to "Museum
visitors". However, saying this, the Museum, which
is unfunded must rely on volunteers to help
translate these Yiddish-language biographies. If you
are willing to volunteer, please contact the Museum
at
postmaster@museumoffamilyhistory.com .
The Museum will also be presenting to you
both full and partial radio programs hosted by the
Zylbercweigs from a studio in their Los Angeles home over
a twenty-year period, from 1948 to 1968. During this
span, the Zylbercweigs (Zalmen and his wife
Celia)
interviewed many personalities, e.g. Yiddish actors, poets, playwrights,
politicians and other personalities. On occasion
plays or other types of performances would be presented on-air for the listening
public. These radio programs will mostly be represented
within the Museum's upcoming "On the Air!"
series, each program available to you at no charge
for your listening pleasure. Each program can be listened to 24/7,
at least until it is replaced by a new Zylbercweig
program, etc.
It is hoped that these
works will help you in your research delves into
some aspect of the history of the Yiddish
theatre. simply to give you a glimpse
into the history of the once-popular Yiddish
theatre. This is part of the mission of the Museum
of Family History, i.e. to keep alive the memory and
enhance the appreciation of Jewish culture, not only as it
once existed, but as it exists today. The Museum
also wishes to honor the memory of Lexicon editor
Zalmen Zylbercweig who had dedicated himself
wholeheartedly to the preservation of Jewish culture
and the history of the Yiddish theatre.
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Due to the
extraordinary volume and breadth of his
work, Zylbercweig received numerous
awards throughout his lifetime. One such award
was bestowed upon him in 1959 by the Los
Angeles City Council. This award was
given to him only for his work on the
"Lexicon", but also for the body of
his life's work
that contributed greatly to the
preservation of both Jewish history and
culture.
Here you can
hear an audio recording of this awards
ceremony.
The recording comes to you in four parts
in sequential order, and is in an mp3
format:
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photo,
above: Graphic design representing the "Leksikon
fun yidishn teater".
Drawing of playwrights Jacob Gordin,
bottom left, and Abraham Goldfaden,
upper right. |
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