KHAYIM GUTMAN (DER LEBEDIKER) (December 20, 1887-July 18,
1961)
He was born in Petrikov, Minsk
region, Byelorussia. His father, Elye, well
known as “Elye the shoreman,” came from an elite family in Pinsk. They had barges by the “shores” of the Pripet
River and engaged in trade with the largest Russian commercial centers. His older brother Borekh was a followers of
the Jewish Enlightenment, wrote stories, and published correspondence pieces in
Hatsfira (The siren). Until age
thirteen, Khayim Gutman studied Tanakh and Gemara in religious primary schools,
later studying on his own. He acquired
secular knowledge with private tutors, including Russian and German, later
leaving to pursue his studies in Pinsk and Vilna. At the age of nine, he was already writing
Hebrew verse. For a brief period, he held
a job with a town’s communal administration, where he transcribed the local
births and deaths. He was also a
petition scribe. Late in 1904 he
emigrated to the United States, where he stayed with his uncle (on his mother’s
side), Shmuel Ofenhenden, a farmer in Woodbine, New Jersey. In the winter of 1905 he entered the Baron
Hirsch Agricultural School in Woodbine.
But the hard work did not fit his disposition and his physical
strengths. In the summer of 1905, he
moved to New York. He worked in a paper
factory, and that year he published his first piece, a poem in Fraye arbeter
shtime (Free voice of labor). From
that point he published stories in the Forverts (Forward) and in the
weekly Der arbayter (The worker) which was under the editorship of Dovid
Pinski and Y. Shlosberg. For a short
time he ran a store selling Yiddish books in Brownsville. He published a weekly newspaper which he
alone wrote with news, editorials, stories, features, and even a “letter
box.” In 1909 for the first time he
published epigrams in Der tunkeler’s Der kibetzer (The joker), and he
signed them with the pseudonym “Der lebediker” (The live one), which would
remain his pen name. He became the
leading contributor to this humorous magazine.
His short poems and parodies, epigrams and human-interest pieces became
a byword of American Yiddish journalism.
When Der kibetser discontinued publication for financial reasons
from time to time, Yankev Marinov snatched him away for his magazine Kundes
(Prankster). Later, after “Der tunkeler”
(The shady one) left Der kibetser, Gutman served as its editor from 1911
to 1914. After Der kibetser
seized publication, he became one of the most important contributors to Kundes,
for which he wrote a weekly feature. In
1915 he started publishing in Kundes his weekly feature “Afn literarishn
yarid” (At the literary fair), and he followed this up with a series of
philosophical-satirical essays entitled “Azoy hot geredt pompadur” (Thus spake
Pompadur) which he had begun in Der kibetser. During the theater seasons, he wrote about
performances in the Yiddish theater. He
published treatises on literature, “feder shpritsn” (squirts of the pen),
aphorisms, and humorous sketches.
Together with caricaturist Lola, Zuni Maud, and Shoyl Raskin, he gave
the art of caricature a grounding. At
the same time, he contributed to: Fraye arbeter shtime, Der arbayter,
Dos idishe folk (The Jewish people), Idisher kemfer (Jewish
fighter), Di glaykhheyt (Equality), Gerekhtikeyt (Justice), Roman-tsaytung
(Fiction newspaper) in Warsaw, Amerikaner (The American), and Literatur
un lebn (Literature and life). He
wrote for the Forverts from 1913 to 1919. Afterward, as Varhayt (Truth) ceased
publication in 1919, he moved over to Tog (Day) in which he published once each week a
feature piece under the general heading “In krig mit der velt” (At war with the
world). In 1920 he became a regular
contributor to the Labor Zionist newspaper, Di tsayt (The time). In 1922 when Di tsayt discontinued
publication, he became a regular contributor to Morgn zhurnal (Morning
journal), where under his pen name “Der lebediker” and other pseudonyms—such as
R. Khayim, R. Yat, Zhivoy, Inkognito, Regidebl, and the like—he wrote weekly
features, reviews of theater and film, every Friday a rhymed feature, and
served as editor of the weekly humor page “Zol zayn lebedik” (should be
alive). He continued in Morgn zhurnal his weekly feature “Afn literarishn yarid” in which he succinctly
responded to what he found in newly published books, magazines, periodicals,
and often even to individual stories, essays, and poems. In these feature pieces, he frequently in
just a few words would characterize a writer, evaluate a work, and with a
special delight draw attention to talented writers who had been overlooked.
Among
his books: Azoy hot geredt pompadur (New York, 1918), 235 pp., which later
appeared with the Warsaw publisher Aḥiasef under the general title Humoristishe shriftn (Humorous
writings) (1928), 184 pp.; Azoy
lakh ikh (That’s how I laugh) (New
York, 1918), 268 pp.; 100 taynes
tsu amerike (100 complaints for
America) (Warsaw, 1928), 286 pp.; Shpil
un lebn (Play and life) (Warsaw,
1928), 207 pp.; Pisem un ramses (Pithom and Ramses) (Warsaw, 1928), 309
pp.; Di ferte vant (The fourth wall) (Warsaw, 1928), 211 pp.; Di eybike milkhome (The eternal war) (Warsaw, 1937), 194 pp.; Yidn oyf der vogshol (Jews in the scales) (Warsaw, 1937), 213
pp.; Pompadur (Buenos Aires, 1957), 330 pp. He also translated F. M. Dostoevsky’s The Idiot (Y. Der idyot) in three volumes (New York). He was also the author of a comedy in two
acts, Meshiekh af ist-brodvey (The messiah on East Broadway) which was
staged several times. On the occasion of
his fiftieth birthday, a collection of his, entitled Der lebedike, was assembled and published in 1938, edited by Dr. A. Mukdoni (New
York), 249 pp., with contributions from over twenty writers. After the discontinuation of Morgn zhurnal, he became a contributor to the joint Tog-morgn zhurnal, where
he continued his weekly feature “Afn literarishn yarid,” while also publishing
in Fraye arbeter shtime a new series entitled “Azoy hot geredt pompadur.” He placed writings as well in Di goldene keyt (The golden chain) in Tel Aviv and in other newspapers and periodicals
in the United States and overseas. He
was living in Miami Beach, Florida.
“Der
lebediker is thus an exception, in that he is a humorist whose humor is never
reckless,” noted B. Rivkin. “…. A joke for him is born naturally. It jumps out at you with good reason, a fillip
before the reader’s forehead or nose, but it arrives like a natural support for
an idea…. Der lebediker always has a
moral and a reason, and he will not abandon them, even when he had to break off
a joke. This places the seal on his
brand of humor…. His humor is on a
mission from his writerly vocation.”
Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon (Vilna, 1928), vol. 1; N. B. Linder, in Tog (New York) (February
5, 1932); Z. Zilbertsvayg, Leksikon
fun yidishn teater (Handbook of
Yiddish theater), vol. 2 (Warsaw, 1934); Dr. A. Mukdoni, in Morgn zhurnal (New York) (May 8, 1935); Mukdoni, In varshe un in lodzh (In
Warsaw and in Lodz), vol. 1 (Buenos Aires, 1955), p. 290; Bikher nayes
(Warsaw) (April 1938); Toyznt yor pinsk (1000 years of Pinsk) (New York,
1941), pp. 360-61; D. Ignatov, in Tsukunft (New York) (December 1944);
N. Mayzil, ed. and comp., Amerike in yidishn vort, antologye
(America in the Yiddish word, an anthology) (New York, 1955), see index; M.
Yafe, in Fraye arbeter shtime (New York) (August 28, 1953); M. Yordani, Intervyus
mit yidishe shrayber (Interviews with Yiddish writers) (New York, 1955),
pp. 44-52; Mukdoni, in Kultur un dertsiung (New York) (January 1958);
Mukdoni, in Tog-morgn zhurnal (New York) (January 12, 1958); Sh. Slutski,
Avrom reyzen biblyografye (Avrom Reyzen bibliography) (New York, 1956),
nos. 4951, 5039; Kh. Pets, in Fraye arbeter shtime (January 15, 1958);
Mukdoni, in Tog-morgn zhurnal (January 12, 1958).
Zaynvl Diamant
