Image Source: Live Auctioneers
Translation of poster:
A new management in Liberty Theater
A new (theater) company in Liberty Theater
A completely new play in Liberty Theater
Samuel Rosenstein and Dora Weissman
Together with Bessy Weissman and Anna Toback
Moshe Feder, Ida Graper, Vera Lebedev, Moshe Silverstein, Eve Dorff, Yaakov Bergrin, Haiman Feinstein, and Yaakov Wechsler
Beginning Friday evening, 21 January and every Friday, Shabbos and Sunday. On Shabbos Ladies Free.
Dora Weissman and Samuel Rosenstein
In a new interesting comedy-drama with music
WIFE AND SWEETHEART
a new company * a new play * new music * completely new decorations * everything is new !
Major notice! ——->
There exists little information online about Brooklyn’s Liberty Theater, which was located at 61 Liberty Avenue in Brownsville. It was open as early as 1910 as primarily a Yiddish theater, although it began showing Italian films as well from the early 1930s till its demolition in 1942. It initially had a seating capacity of 1,056 until a renovation in 1918 added a second balcony, which increased it to 1,467.
The only picture I could find in the New York Public Library Digital Collections was of the Liberty Theater’s demolition in 1942
Image source: New York Public Library Digital Collections
The location where the Liberty Theater once stood
Image Source: Google Maps
It frequently changed owners, the most renowned of whom was Yiddish lyricist, writer, and director, Anshel Schorr. Born in Zlotczow in 1871 to a prominent chazzan and melamed, Schorr would have followed in his father’s footsteps had he not discovered his love of theater. The family moved to Lvov, where Schorr became involved in the Lvov Theater, which he managed from 1890 to 1900, when he moved to the United States. He became an instant success in the Yiddish theater scene, and owned Philadelphia’s Arch Street Theater from 1912 to 1927. He then moved to New York, which is when ownership of the Liberty Theater fell into his hands. His wife, Dora Weissman, was often cast in plays at the Liberty, as is evidenced by the poster above.
Seated: Clara Gold, Bertha Gutentag, Annie Toback, Dora Weissman, Annie Lubin and Sara Skulnik;
Standing: Sholem Secunda, Morris Nasatir, Max Badin, William Schwartz, Menasha Skulnik, Harry Hochstein, Paul Burstein, Anshel Schorr; In circle: A photograph of Schorr taken in 1904.
Image and caption source: Museum of Family History
Schorr wrote the lyrics to “Mayn Yidishe Meydele,” the signature song of Sholom Secunda’s Zayn Yidishe Meydl, which premiered at the Liberty in 1927. The play is about a young military officer, Grisha, who falls in love with a Jewish woman, Aniuta. It is set somewhere in the Russian empire prior to WWI, and deals with interfaith marriage. Aniuta cannot bring herself to tell her father that she is in love with a non-Jew, and just before she signs the tnaim (betrothal contract) with a elderly Jewish man selected for her by her father, Grisha enters with good news: he is, in fact, Jewish, a fact kept from him by his father throughout his life. Apparently his father abandoned his Jewish wife, Grisha’s mother, known as, “Khayke the Meshuggeneh,” and converted his children to Russian Orthodox christianity. Grisha is relieved, and the happy couple can finally wed. For good measure, they then move to Palestine.
Works Cited:
http://www.jewish-music.huji.ac.il/content/anshel-schorr
http://www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/yt/lex/S/schorr-anshel.htm
http://www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/moyt/t-liberty-1926-27.htm
https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47dc-d77c-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
