Appendix A: Timeline
This appendix contains a rough timeline (some dates are necessarily approximate, indicated with ~) for Sam’s whereabouts during the time periods the memoirs recount. Although Sam does not always mention it, based on historical records we know that his wife Suzie often performed in the same troupe with him through the early 1920s.
| Dates | Location | Activity | Chapter(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1869 – ~1877 | Zatishiye, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire | Sam’s early childhood in Ukraine, before his father’s death | 1 – 3 |
| ~1877 – 1885/6 | Rybinka, Poltava Governorate, Russian Empire | Sam’s late childhood and early adolescence in Ukraine, after his father’s death. He experiences pogroms and witnesses a mob beat a young Mikhail Efimovich Medvedev. Sam arrives in America |
4 – 5 |
| 1885/6 – ~1887 | Philadelphia, PA | Sam sells parlor matches in Philadelphia and the “suburbs” | 5 – 6 |
| ~1887 | Philadelphia, PA | Sam appears on stage for the first time as an extra in Shulamith, and he begins working as a tailor | 6 |
| ~1887 – ~1888 | Philadelphia, PA | Still working as a tailor, Sam meets Mogulesko | 7 |
| ~1888 – ~1889 | Philadelphia, PA | Sam performs for the first time in Di Kishefmacherin in Gartenstein’s troupe | 8 |
| ~1888 – ~1890 | Philadelphia, PA and Bridgeton, NJ | Sam performs in Saylor in Gefar, and then briefly with the Thomashefsky troupe. The Kasten family wins the lottery and buys a farm in the Jewish Alliance Colony |
9 |
| ~1891 – 1892 | Philadelphia, PA | Sam establishes and plays in the Star Specialty Club troupe, where he meets Suzie | 10 |
| 1893 – 1894 | Brownsville, Brooklyn, NY | Sam plays in Parmer’s Casino in Brooklyn. He marries Suzie and sells his farm to Yisroel Weinblatt |
11 – 12 |
| 1894 – 1895 | Boston, MA | Sam joins Abba Schoengold’s troupe and performs in Boston, where the young Morris Gest is the theater errand boy. He briefly returns to Brownsville for a small period during this time when things go poorly in Boston. Sam performs with Keni Liptzin in Boston in December 1895. |
13 – 15 |
| 1895 | Baltimore, MD | Sam travels with the troupe to Baltimore, where there was a false-fire alarm and many were trampled to death around Christmas 1895. Sam quits the troupe over aftermath of the incident. | 15 |
| 1896 – 1898 | Many cities, including Cleveland, OH; Pittsburgh, PA; and Buffalo, NY | Sam travels the provinces acting with Jacob Frank and Jakele Cone, and eventually rejoins Schoengold’s troupe but of course leaves again because theater is a total mess these days. | 16 – 18 |
| 1898 – 1899 | Cincinnati, OH | With his khevreh Jacob Frank and Jakele Cone, Sam acts in Cincinnati and gives Clara Rafalo one of her first roles | 18 – 20 |
| 1899 | Many cities, including Louisville, KY; Cleveland, OH; and St. Louis, MO | Sam travels the provinces, changing troupes along the way. He briefly travels to NYC to try and join Boris Thomashefsky and Jacob P. Adler’s troupe, unsuccessfully. In St. Louis, he meets Jacob Gordin |
21 |
| 1889 – 1900 | Chicago, IL | Sam joins Elias Glickman’s theater in Chicago where he again meets Medvedev. Sam refuses to be a scab when asked to play in Boris Thomashefsky’s theater during the strike in December 1889 |
22 |
| 1900 – 1901 | Philadelphia, PA | Sam joins Ivan Abramson’s troupe in Philadelphia at the Columbia Theater, after his first rejection from the Hebrew Actors' Union in New York. Sam then joins Mike Thomashefsky’s troupe in the Arch Street Theater Boris Thomashefsky and Yosl Edelstein invite Sam to act in New York |
23 – 24 |
| 1901 – 1902 | New York City, NY | Sam1 performs vaudeville in the People’s Music Hall during the 1901/1902 season. At the beginning of the 1902 season, he is finally admitted to the Hebrew Actors' Union |
25 |
| 1902 – 1903 | New York City, NY | Sam performs in the People’s Theater, managed by Boris Thomashefsky, Jacob P. Adler, and Yosl Edelstein, during the 1902/1903 season. Sam’s timeline is somewhat out of order here; In Chapter 27, he recounts some stories from after he had moved on from the People’s Theater |
26 – 27 |
| 1903 – 1904 | New York City, NY | Sam performs in the Windsor Theater, managed by Horowitz and Heine-Chaimovich, during the 1903/1904 season. | 28 – 31 |
| 1904 – 1905 | New York City, NY | Sam performs in the Grand Theater, managed by Jacob P. Adler, David Kessler, and Leopold Shpachner, during the 1904/1905 season. | 31 |
| 1905 – 1907 | New York City, NY | Sam performs in the Kalich Theater (formerly known as the Windsor Theater), managed by Leopold Shpachner, Kalmen Juvelier, and Sigmond Feinman, during the 1905/1906 and 1906/1907 seasons. | 32 |
| 1907 – 1910 | Philadelphia, PA | Sam performs in Columbia Theater (and Arch Street Theater, although he does not specifically mention it), managed by Mike Thomashefsky | 33 |
| 1910 – 1911 | Brooklyn, NY | Sam performs in Lyric Theater (and other theaters where Kessler’s troupe performed) in Brooklyn, NY, managed by David Kessler, Max Wilner, and (?) Boaz (Bernard) Young | 33 – 35 |
| 1911 – 1912 | New York City, NY | Sam performs in the People’s Theater, managed by Boris Thomashefsky and Yosl Edelstein, during the 1911/1912 season | 36 |
| 1912 – 1913 | Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY and more | Sam performs in the Novelty Theater, managed by Sara Adler, during the 1912/1913 season. The theater does not do well, so halfway through the season the cast is laid off, and Sam performs wherever he can | 37 – 41 |
| 1913 – 1920 | New York City, NY | Sam performs in the National Theater, managed by Boris Thomashefsky, from the 1913/1914 season through the 1919/1920 season | 35, 41 – 43 |
| 1920 – 1925(?) | Philadelphia, PA | Sam performs in the Arch Street Theater, managed by Mike Thomashefsky, in Philadelphia starting in the 1920/21 season. During this time, he also performs in New York on occasion and in Atlantic City, NJ | 44 |
| 1925 – 1926 | New York City, NY | Sam performs in Max Gabel’s People’s Theater. He does not discuss this in his memoirs. | N/A |
| 1926 – 1927 | Philadelphia, PA | Sam performs in the Arch Street Theater, managed by Mike Thomashefsky, in Philadelphia. | 44 |
| 1927 – 1928 | New York City, NY | Sam performs in the New York Public Theater, managed by Nathan Schulman and Louie Goldberg during the 1927/1928 season. | 45 |
| 1928 – 1931 | New York City, NY | Sam performs in the Second Avenue Theater (1928/29 and 1929/30) and Molly Picon’s Folks Theater (1930/21) with Molly Picon and Jacob Kalich | 45 |
And his wife, although he does not discuss her involvement specifically↩︎