Abba Schoengold (also Shoengold, Shongold, or Sheingold) was a Romanian Jewish actor in the early years of

Yiddish theater Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satiric or nostalgic revues; melodrama; na ...

, the first person to score a serious reputation as a dramatic actor in

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

Biography

A singer in the

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

choir of the leading synagogue in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

, Romania, Schoengold had also performed in a quartet with

Sigmund Mogulesko Sigmund Mogulesko (16 December 1858 – 4 February 1914) — Yiddish: זעליק מאָגולעסקאָ ''Zelik Mogulesko'', first name also sometimes spelled as Zigmund, Siegmund, Zelig, or Selig, last name sometimes spelled Mogulescu & ...

, playing at weddings and parties. He failed an audition in 1877 for

Abraham Goldfaden Abraham Goldfaden (; born Avrum Goldnfoden; 24 July 1840 – 9 January 1908), also known as Avram Goldfaden, was a Russian-born Jewish poet, playwright, stage director and actor in Yiddish and Hebrew languages and author of some 40 plays. Goldfad ...

's nascent Yiddish theater company (which Mogulesko joined). Within a year, he had joined the troupe of playwright Moses Halevy-Hurvitz, which toured through rural Romania and eventually to Chişinău, where his performance supposedly inspired David Kessler's interest in theater. He then travelled on his own to

Odesa Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...

, Ukraine. In 1882, at the Mariinsky Theater in Odesa, he scored a triumph in the first Yiddish-language production of

Karl Gutzkow Karl Ferdinand Gutzkow ( in Berlin – in Sachsenhausen) was a German writer notable in the Young Germany movement of the mid-19th century. Life Gutzkow was born of an extremely poor family, not proletarian, but of the lowest and most menial ...

's ''

Uriel Acosta Uriel da Costa (; also Acosta or d'Acosta; c. 1585 – April 1640) was a Portuguese Sephardic Jews, Sephardi philosopher who was born a New Christian but returned to Judaism, whereupon he questioned the Catholic and Rabbinic Judaism, rabbinic orth ...

''.

Jacob Adler Jacob Pavlovich Adler (Yiddish: יעקבֿ פּאַװלאָװיטש אַדלער; born Yankev P. Adler; February 12, 1855 – April 1, 1926)IMDB biography was a Jewish actor and star of Yiddish theater, first in Odessa, and later in London and ...

writes that at this time he was "the god of the Yiddish public, the god, indeed, of all who saw him on stage... the handsomest man in the world. Tall. Blue eyes. Golden hair. An

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

." dler, 1999, 221Adler also writes that he had "a mania for adding to his costume... a plume, a feather, a cape, a scarf, ... medals". dler, 1999, 269 With his wife Clara Schoengold, he followed much of the Yiddish theater community to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in the mid-1880s and thence to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Their son

Joseph Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...

married Adler's daughter

Frances Frances is an English given name or last name of Latin origin. In Latin the meaning of the name Frances is 'from France' or 'the French.' The male version of the name in English is Francis (given name), Francis. The original Franciscus, meaning "F ...

in New York in 1911; both went on to be leading lights of the Yiddish stage.

References

* Adler, Jacob, ''A Life on the Stage: A Memoir'', translated and with commentary by Lulla Rosenfeld,

Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Blanche Knopf and Alfred A. Knopf Sr. in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers ...

, New York, 1999, . 68, 125, 203, 221. {{DEFAULTSORT:Schoengold, Abba Yiddish theatre performers Romanian Ashkenazi Jews Romanian emigrants to the United States American people of Romanian-Jewish descent Jewish American male actors 19th-century male actors from the Russian Empire Russian male stage actors Year of birth missing Year of death missing