After he was
demobilized, during the October Revolution, Lebedeff
joined Avraham Fishzon's troupe, but because of bad
business dealings he often had to support himself by
singing in Russian and later in English for the
members of the American Red Cross.
Later he traveled to
Japan where he (and his wife Vera) organized
international concerts. In September 1920, he and
his wife came to America, and on October 12, 1920
he appeared in Boris Thomashefsky's National Theatre
in Wolf Shumsky's play, "Lovke molodyets". His
success was so great, he became a star
overnight and remained one in the American Yiddish
Theatre.
On January 8, 1921, he
appeared in Boymval's "Khatskele kolboynik". On
February 25, 1921, he appeared in Julius Adler's "Di
sheyne berta," and on April 7, 1921, in "Shlomke oyf brodvey" by Yitzhak Lash.
During the 1921-22
season Lebedeff was a star in Thomashefsky's
National Theatre. He performed, (alone or together
with Samuel Rosenstein) on October 28, 1921 in
Isidore Lash's "Yoshke khfat" (music, H. Wohl), on
December 25, 1921, in "Lebedik un freylekh" (music,
H. Wohl) and on April 13 1922, in Kalmanowitz's "Arontshik
un solomontshik" (music, H. Wohl).
During the 1922-23
season Lebedeff was again the star of Thomashefsky's
National Theatre, where he performed on September
23, 1922 in Boris Thomashefsky's "Toyznt un eyn
nakht" (director, composer, music, H. Wohl). On
November 3, 1923 he appeared in Kalmanowitz's "Tants,
gezang, un vayn" (director, B. Thomashefsky,
music, Joseph Cherniavski) and on January 26, [1924] in
Israel Rosenberg's "Yankele litvak" (directors L.
and S. Rosenstein).
During the 1923-26
seasons, Lebedeff was again in the National Theatre
(directors Louis Goldberg and M. Saks) and
he staged Moshe Schorr's " Di rumenishe khasene"
(music, Peretz Sandler) on September 11, 1923;
Kalmanowitz's "Dem tatns zundele" (music, Peretz
Sandler) on January 1924; on March 28, 1923
[sic! 1924]; G. Rakov's "Mendl in yapan" (music,
Peretz Sandler); on October 3, 1924, Israel Rosenberg's "Kavkazer libe" (music, Peretz Sandler);
later Israel Rosenberg's "A khasene in
palestine"
(music, Peretz Sandler); on November 17; 1925, L. Freiman's "Modeln fun libe" (music, Peretz
Sandler), and on March 30, 1926, Isidore Lash's "Volodke in
ades" (music, Peretz Sandler).
During the 1926-1927
season Lebedeff and the National Theatre troupe
moved into the Brooklyn Liberty Theatre, which
opened with L. Freiman's "Syomka vert a khosn"
(music, Peretz Sandler) on September 22, 1926, and
later in the Public Theatre on April 15, 1927, he
staged Aaron Nager's " Der kleyner milyoner"
(music: Sholom Secunda).
During the 1927-1929
season Lebedeff was involved in the National Theatre
(directors, Nathan Goldberg and Jacob Jacobs), where
on September 27, 1927, he appeared as "Fayvl Visotsky"
in William Siegel's "A nakht in kalifornye" ( music,
A. Olshanetsky); on December 30, 1927, he and S.
Goldenburg had the leads in Siegel and Lateiner's "A
gan eden far tsvey" (music, A. Olshanetsky); on
April 5, 1928 he appeared in Isidore Lash's "Itsikl
sholtik" (music, A. Olshanetsky); on September 5,
1928, in William Siegel's "Goldene teg" (music, A.
Olshanetsky); on December 21, 1928, he played the
title role in Isidore Lash's " Der litvisher yenki"
(music, A. Olshanetsky) ; and on March 29, 1929
Israel Rosenberg's "Hulye kabtsn" (music, A.
Olshanetsky).
During the 1929-1930
season Lebedeff was involved in the Chicago Lawndale
Theatre and appeared in guest roles at the end of
the season in the New York National Theatre, on
April 9 staging Kalmanowitz's "Motke in slobodke".
From 1930 to 1932
Lebedeff was involved in the New York National
Theatre (director, M. Saks) where
on September 23, 1930 he staged William Siegel's "A
khasene in shtetl" (music, H. Wohl); on
November 25, 1930, Isidore Lash's "Rusishe libe" (music, H. Wohl);
on February 27, 1931, William Siegel's " A nakht in
vald" (music, H. Wohl); on September 12, 1931,
William Siegel's " Di gliklikhe nakht" (music, H.
Wohl); on December 3,1931, Avraham Blum's "Der groyser nes" (music, H. Wohl); and on March 4, 1932,
William Siegel's " Raykhe kabtsonim" (music, H. Wohl).
During the 1932-1933
season Lebedeff was involved with Kessler's Second
Avenue Theatre (director, M. Saks) where he staged
Avraham Blum's "Der groyser surprayz" (music, H. Wohl)
on October 10, 1932.
At the end of that
season Lebedeff and the troupe, in which he played
guest roles, traveled to various cities in the
United States. On various occasions Lebedeff played
"Maks" in Goldfaden's "Beyde kuni lemels", and
appeared in Goldfaden's "Di bobe yakhne"; played "Vorobeytshik"
in Gordin"s "Der vilder mentsh" and appeared in Chone
Gottesfeld's comedy "Morgen."
Lebedeff made many
records of his songs for the Brunswick Record
Company.
During his stay in
America, Lebedeff visited Europe a number of times,
but never appeared on the stage there.
M. E.
-
Ab. Cahan, " Another new
comedy in Thomashefsky's theatre," Forverts,
[Forward] N.Y., Oct. 14, 1920.
-
Lead Pencil [B. Botvinik]
"Who is the new Yiddish comedian, Lebedeff?"
Forverts, [Forward] N.Y., Oct. 15, 1920.
-
Jacob Kirschenbaum,
"How Lebedeff became popular in the Yiddish theatre"
Der amerikaner, [The American], N.Y., Dec.18,
1925.
-
Idisher Velt-Almanakh
,
[Jewish World Almanac] N.Y.,1926.
-
Dr. A. Mukdoni,
Theatre, N.Y., 1927, pp. 172-178.
-
A. Glants, "Molly Picon and Aaron Lebedeff in two
new beautiful operettas," Tog [Day], N.Y.,
Sept. 30, 1927.
-
Aaron Lebedeff, "I and the audience,"
Tog
[Day], N.Y., Jan. 27, 1923.
-
A. Frumkin, "Aaron Lebedeff on starring in the
operetta", Morning Journal, N.Y., Feb. 3, 1928.
-
A conversation with
Aaron Lebedeff about his plans for the Yiddish
Lawndale Theatre," Forverts, [Forward],
Chicago, Oct. 11, 192?
-
B. Y. Goldshteyn, "Do
you know that ...", Fraye arbeter shtime (Freye
arbeiter stimme, Free Voice of Labor), N.Y., July
10, 193?