MOYSHE PERNSON

MOYSHE PERNSON (December 24, 1902-January 5, 1969)

            He was born in Warsaw.  He studied until age thirteen in religious elementary school, later in the craftsmen’s school in the Warsaw Jewish community and with private tutors.  In 1918 he joined the Bundist youth organization “Tsukunft” (Future) and took part in the performances of one-act plays and also performed poetry recitals and monologues.  In 1922 he entered the first Yiddish drama school under the direction of Dr. M. Vaykhert.  He published a series of reviews, articles, and essays on theater and actors in: Folkstsaytung (People’s newspaper), Yugnt-veker (Youth alarm), and Foroys (Onward).  After Hitler’s invasion of Poland, he fled to Lithuania.  In 1941, after much wandering through Lithuania, Switzerland, Russia, and Japan, he arrived in New York, where he became a drama teacher in the Sholem Aleichem Middle School.  He wrote for: Unzer tsayt (Our times) and Veker (Alarm) in New York; and Unzer gedank (Our idea) in Buenos Aires.  He was co-editor of the anthology: Yidish teater in eyrope tsvishn beyde velt-milkhomes (Yiddish theater in Europe between the two world wars) (New York: Jewish Culture Congress, 1968), 515 pp.  He died in New York.

Source: Zalmen Zilbertsvayg, Leksikon fun yidishn teater (Handbook of the Yiddish theater), vol. 3 (New York, 1959).

Leyb Vaserman