YANKEV KALIKH (JACOB KALICH) (November 18, 1891-March 16,
1975)
He was
born in Rimenov (Rymanów), Galicia. He
was raised in the court of the Rimenov rebbe.
He studied in Hungarian yeshivas.
Early on he turned away from Hassidism and fled to Bucharest. From that time, he focused his attention on
Yiddish theater as an artist, director, writer, and adapter of plays. In 1914 he came to the United States with the
assistance of Ber Borokhov. In 1919 he
married Molly Picon.
In America he managed Yiddish theaters. His first literary works were the pamphlets Tsum yunge dor (To the younger generation)
which were later partially published in G. Bader’s Nayer lemberger tageblat (New Lemberg daily newspaper). His first plays were: Der tam (The simpleton), Der
katsef (The butcher), Der shamesh
(The synagogue beadle), and Gots mishpet
(God’s judgment). His most famous and
frequently staged play was Yankele
(Jackie)—earlier called Yankele geyt in
shul arayn (Jackie goes to school)—with Molly Picon in the title role. Kalikh reworked and somewhat revised plays of
other authors, among them: Goldfaden, Shomer (Nokhum-Meyer Shaykevitsh),
Lateiner, Anshl Shor, V. Sigal, N. Rakov, and L. Freyman. His play A
kinder-shpil (A children’s play) was translated into several
languages. Kalich also published
Hassidic sketches, novellas, travel narratives, articles, and poems in the New
York Yiddish press: Varhayt (Truth), Di tsayt (The times), Idisher kemfer (Jewish fighter), Der tog (The day), Yidishes tageblat (Jewish daily newspaper), and Kalmen Marmor’s Der kunstfraynd (The friend of art), as
well as in other periodical publications in America, Canada, and Poland. He died in Lake Mahopac, New York.
Sources: Zalmen Zilbertsvayg, Leksikon fun yidishn
teater
(Handbook of the Yiddish theater), vol. 4 (New York, 1963); Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 3; Pinkes galitsye (Records of Galicia) (Buenos Aires, 1925), p. 245.
Yekhezkl Lifshits
No comments:
Post a Comment