Sam Kasten on 50 years of Yiddish Theater
Preface
As were many other well-known actors and actresses in the American Yiddish theater, my great-great-grandfather ּSam Kasten’s1 (1869-1953ּ) memoirs were published as serialized articles in American Yiddish press. From September 1946 - February 1947, Sam’s memoirs, likely ghost written by Mendel Osherowitch2, were published as a 45-article series in the Forverts (now The Forward).
Sam Kasten on 50 years of Yiddish Theater
The famous comedian, who for 50 years has been dancing and singing on the Yiddish stage, writes his memoirs for “Forverts”. Dramatic, romantic, funny, and comical tales that occurred in and around the Yiddish theater in the last half century.
Start reading Sam Kasten’s articles in “Forverts” Saturday, September 7th. The articles will appear twice a week, Thursday and Saturday.
This website contains my translation of his memoirs. Armed with beginner Yiddish skills and an English/Yiddish dictionary, I provide a mostly verbatim translation, but in certain areas I do shift towards a more natural translation rephrased for the English ear. I indicate areas where I am very unsure of my translation. Translations of many of the lyrics that Sam recounts are still a work in progress, and I am also slowly working to clean up the translation as a whole.3
Where possible, I have cross-referenced items Sam discusses, as detailed in footnotes and inserted images. I obtained all memoirs articles from The National Library of Israel and, for those newspaper editions that were not available online, from the New York Public Library’s microfiche archives.
There are also three appendices:
- Appendix A: A timeline of Sam’s whereabouts over the course of his memoirs
- Appendix B: A table of all plays Sam describes in his memoirs, including the English translations of their names
- Appendix C: A list (with biography links, where available) of all people Sam meets and describes in his memoirs
Yiddish words are generally defined on their first usage. I hope to add a Yiddish glossary in the future!
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to librarians at NYPL’s Dorot Division for support finding the “missing” articles! Thanks also to Steve Lasky and other volunteers who have contributed to the Museum of the Family History for making many translations from Zalmen Zylbercweig’s Leksikon fun Yidishn Teater available! They have been invaluable for cross-referencing.
This project is dedicated to the memory of my maternal grandfather Sol Glassman ז׳׳ל, whose untimely death sent me down an ancestry rabbit hole wherein I accidentally ended up at Sam (who, as one of my paternal great-great-grandfathers, is entirely unrelated to Sol) and discovered a treasure trove of Yiddish writings. Uniting the two sides of my family through Yiddish Theater is, simply put, beshert.
Note that Sam’s name was written in Yiddish as Sam “Kestin” (סעם קעסטין), but I will write his name throughout as Sam Kasten.↩︎
Sam’s Leksikon fun Yidishn Teater entry reads,
↩︎K. was published in the Forverts anonymously, through M. Osherowitch, his memoirs entitled, “Sam Kasten on 50 Years of Yiddish Theatre” (19 September 1946 – 20 February 1947).
Want to help? Please reach out at
stephanie.spielman <at> gmail <dot> com!↩︎