About Sam Kestin

Start by read his entry in the Leksikon fun Yidishn Teater! Note that a good amount of the information in his entry was obtained from his memoirs.

Entry in the Jewish World Almanac (1926)

Sam is today both the youngest and oldest Yiddish comedian on the stage1. In his time, Mogulesko was the comedian among comedians, and Kasten is in his time the comedian among comedians. Kasten is a true Yiddish-American comedian. He was born in a European shtetl, but he was brought up in the true American-Yiddish atmosphere.

When Kasten goes up onto the stage, he is a yidele2, a voyler3, tayere4 yidele down to the last detail. The yidele who Kasten represents is a “jumper”5. He is nimble and animated, and you have no choice but to love him regardless of whether he is the schemer in the play, or the lover in the play. There are many comedians on the Yiddish stage who want to be like Kasten.

There are comedians who make you laugh by smearing themselves with soot, or by dressing up dirty pants, or by sticking out their tongues, or by prancing around the stage in their drawers. There are comedians who make you laugh by behaving like schlimazls who get hit or whose wife gives them a black eye.

Kasten is not one of those comedians. Kasten makes you laugh simply because he is on the stage6. When he is up on the stage, you feel good with joy in your heart, and you don’t want him to ever leave the stage. He is so dear, so “cute”7.

A bad actor won’t help a good play with a good role. A good actor is pleasant to see even without a play and without a role. Kasten is that sort of talent, who will amuse you even without being in a play or performing in a role.

Kasten is a play unto himself. When you meet Kasten in private and spend an hour with him, you come away feeling like you have just seen an interesting play. He is a comedian who takes his comic roles seriously, but still with liveliness and joy. Kasten is a deeply serious mentsh who appreciates art and the Yiddish stage in general.

Sam Kasten is an institution in the Yiddish theater world.

In whichever city Kasten performs, he brings happiness to the lives of the Jewish youth. This season, Kasten plays in the People’s Theater8.

Songs

Listen to Sam sing! Click on the album images below to be directed to the song information and recording.

Shtetl Amerike _Shtetl Amerike_

Ikh bin sherif _Ikh bin sherif_

Kolombus’s medine _Kolombus's medine_

Ikh beink zurik kein New York _Ikh beink zurik kein New York_

Footnotes

  1. Sam was 57 years old, with a shock of white hair, when this entry was written, yet he had a youthful exuberance in his dancing, acting, and general demeanor/way of life.↩︎

  2. Affectionate term for a fellow Jew; literally “little Jew”↩︎

  3. good↩︎

  4. dear↩︎

  5. איז אויף ספּרוזשינעס↩︎

  6. In other words, Kasten does not need to resort to gimmicks to get a laugh↩︎

  7. ’קיוט’↩︎

  8. The 1925/26 season↩︎