Regina Zuckerberg on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Regina Zuckerberg ( or , 1888–1964) was an Austrian-born
She divorced her first husband Sigmund in Chicago in 1920. She had become romantically involved with Boris Thomashefsky, who had given her the leading role in his production over his own wife Bessie, and who eventually left him. Sigmund sued Thomashefsky for $100,000 for "loss of marital affection." Regina and Boris were then married to one another.
In the 1920s and 1930s Regina continued to tour successfully with Thomashefsky's productions. In 1935 she costarred in her only film role, the Yiddish
A recording of Regina Zuckerberg
singing Yiddish theatre music from 1916 {{DEFAULTSORT:Zuckerberg, Regina 1880s births Year of birth uncertain 1964 deaths Yiddish theatre performers Actresses from Lviv Jewish actresses Victor Records artists Jewish American actresses
Regina Zuckerberg ( or , 1888–1964) was an Austrian-born Yiddish theatre
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 satire, satiric or nostalgic revues; melodr ...
actor and Prima donna
In opera or ''commedia dell'arte'', a prima donna (; Italian for 'first lady'; : ''prime donne'') is the leading female singer in the company, the person to whom the ''prime'' roles would be given.
''Prime donne'' often had grand off-stage pe ...
who had a career both in Europe and the United States.
Biography
Regina Zuckerberg was born Rifke Kobak on 19 March 1887 or 1888 in Lemberg, Galicia,Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...
(today Lviv
Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...
, Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
). Her parents were Leiser and Gittel (née Zuker) Kobak. She was involved in singing and performance from a young age; as a youth she sang in a temple choir in Lemberg under Cantor Halperin. She met her first husband, Sigmund (Zaynvil) Zuckerberg, also an actor, and they were married in Lemberg in 1904. At around that time they joined a troupe led by Sholem Perlmutter which toured successfully around Galicia, as well as the famous Gimpel Theatre troupe based in Lemberg. Due to her striking appearance and strong voice she was highly in demand as a leading actress.
She had a daughter, Pauline, who was born in Chernivtsi
Chernivtsi (, ; , ;, , see also #Names, other names) is a city in southwestern Ukraine on the upper course of the Prut River. Formerly the capital of the historic region of Bukovina, which is now divided between Romania and Ukraine, Chernivt ...
in 1907. She emigrated to the United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
in March 1908, sailing from England to New York City. She made some appearances on the London Yiddish theatre stage during her journey. Her mother, Gittel, also followed her to the United States a few months later. The month Regina arrived she joined Boris Thomashefsky's People's Theater in the Bowery
The Bowery () is a street and neighbourhood, neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City, New York. The street runs from Chatham Square at Park Row (Manhattan), Park Row, Worth Street, and Mott Street in the south to Cooper Square at 4th ...
, where she was billed as the "Austrian Tetrazzini." That marked the beginning of several decades of collaboration with Thomashefsky; Jacob P. Adler was also involved in bringing her to the New York theatre world. Regina seems to have gone back to Europe and returned with Sigmund in the following years, apparently settling permanently in the United States in 1911.
In New York, as in Galicia, Regina was highly in demand as an actress. She also recorded a handful of 78-rpm
A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English) or a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog signal, analog sound Recording medium, storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, ...
discs at Victor records
The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer, incorporated in 1901. Victor was an independent enterprise until 1929 when it was purchased by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and became ...
in 1916 during the wartime boom in local Yiddish recording. Those ten sides, which were recorded over a two-day period, were mainly Yiddish theatre songs of the day by such contemporary composers as Arnold Perlmutter, Herman Wohl, and Louis Friedsell.
She divorced her first husband Sigmund in Chicago in 1920. She had become romantically involved with Boris Thomashefsky, who had given her the leading role in his production over his own wife Bessie, and who eventually left him. Sigmund sued Thomashefsky for $100,000 for "loss of marital affection." Regina and Boris were then married to one another.
In the 1920s and 1930s Regina continued to tour successfully with Thomashefsky's productions. In 1935 she costarred in her only film role, the Yiddish talkie
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed befo ...
''Bar Mitzvah'', written and directed by Henry Lynn
Henry Lynn (July 21, 1895 – August 25, 1984) was a film director, screenwriter, and film producer, producer, who concentrated on Yiddish life and culture in the United States in the years 1932–1939, the era of Yiddish film in America. Lynn w ...
, based on a Thomashefsky play and produced by Lynn and Jack Stillman. When Thomashefsky died in 1939 Regina was at his bedside.
Her Yiddish theatre career seems to have declined after Thomashefsky's death. In 1943 she remarried in New Jersey to an insurance salesman named Robert Kessler.
She died in Jersey City
Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous
on October 4, 1964 at age 76. She was buried at the Mount Hebron Cemetery.
References
External links
A recording of Regina Zuckerberg
singing Yiddish theatre music from 1916 {{DEFAULTSORT:Zuckerberg, Regina 1880s births Year of birth uncertain 1964 deaths Yiddish theatre performers Actresses from Lviv Jewish actresses Victor Records artists Jewish American actresses