YOYSEF-MORTKHE LEVINSON

YOYSEF-MORTKHE LEVINSON (July 18, 1888-November 12, 1945)

            He was born in Kovno, Lithuania.  In 1903 he moved to the United States, settling in Boston.  He also lived in Los Angeles and New York.  He began writing in English for the Jewish Advocate in Boston (1911).  In 1920 he switched to Yiddish.  He was a contributor to: Der idisher zhurnal (The Jewish journal) in Boston (1922); Der idisher fihrer (the Jewish leader) in Boston (1923-1924); Di idishe velt (The Jewish world) in Philadelphia; Kalifornyer idishe shtime (Jewish voice of California) in Los Angeles; Der tog (The day), Di feder (The pen), and Nyu-yorker vokhnblat (New York weekly newspaper), among others, in New York—aside from articles and reviews of music and theater, he also published stories and translations from Anglophone literature.  From 1926 he was an internal contributor to and from 1930 editor of Di teglikhe shpayz tsaytung (The daily food newspaper) in New York, as well as editor of P. m. kohn yubiley-bukh (Jubilee volume for P. M. Kohn) in Yiddish, Russian, and English (Los Angeles, 1939), 38 pp. in Yiddish, 48 pp. in English and Russian.  He authored plays in Yiddish and English, of which The Indelible Stain was staged in 1925 in Boston’s English Theater.  He died in New York.

Sources: A. Goldberg, in Zamlbukh lekoved dem tsvey hundert un fuftsikstn yoyvl fun der yidisher prese 1686-1936 (Anthology in honor of the 250^th jubilee of the Yiddish press, 1686-1936), ed. Dr. Y. Shatski (New York, 1937), p. 241; Der tog (New York) (November 13, 14, 16, 1945); Hadoar (New York) (November 16, 1945); Di tsukunft (New York) (January 1946); Sh. Tenenboym, Shnit fun mayn feld, eseyen, dertseylungen, minyaturn (Harvest from my field, essays, stories, miniatures) (New York, 1949), pp. 214-19; Lite (Lithuania), anthology (New York, 1951), see index.

Khayim Leyb Fuks