Bowery in Manhattan in New York County, New York — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
Yiddish Theatre’s 1st American Home
199-201 Bowery
Photographed By Larry Gertner, July 19, 2016
1. Yiddish Theatre’s 1st American Home Marker
By 1891, playwright Jacob Gordin had shifted Yiddish Theatre from trashy entertainments into original literary dramas and adaptions of classics including works by Ibsen, Tolstoy and Shakespeare featuring superstars Jacob Adler and Boris Thomashefsky. Adler moved audiences to sobs and cheers with interpretations of Shylock and Lear. Thomashefsky’s Hamlet brought audiences to their feet with calls of “Author! Author!” to which he pleaded forgiveness since “Shekspir lives far away in England and could not come.”
After WWI, Yiddish theatre’s base moved from Bowery to Second Avenue between Houston and 14th Street – a stretch celebrated until the 1940s as the “Yiddish Rialto.”
- Joyce Mendelsohn, author of The Lower East Side Remembered and Revisited
Erected 2016 by Bowery Alliance of Neighbors.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Arts, Letters, Music • Entertainment. A significant historical year for this entry is 1891.
Location.
this page online
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Birthplace Of Vaudeville? (here, next to this marker); “Big Tim” Sullivan’s Clubhouse (a few steps from this marker); Longest-Running Catalogue In America (within shouting distance of this marker); Christians, Cops, Elks & Anarchism (within shouting distance of this marker); From Making Money To Making Art (within shouting distance of this marker); 200 Years & Counting (within shouting distance of this marker); Home Of Photographer Robert Frank (within shouting distance of this marker); Italian Renaissance Palazzo On Bowery (within shouting distance of this marker). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Manhattan.
More about this marker. One of more than sixty entries in the “Windows on the Bowery” series.
Also see . . . The Lost Tony Pastor's Opera House - 199-201 Bowery. Daytonian in Manghattan website entry (Submitted on January 17, 2022, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York.)
Photographed By Larry Gertner, July 20, 2016
2. People's Theatre Marker site
199-201 Bowery, 2016
Photographed By Larry Gertner, July 19, 2016
3. Inset - People's Theatre
Note: The original 1858 structure was a German concert hall, became an incubator for vaudeville (Tony Pastor’s Opera House, 1865-1875) and in the 1880/90s, featured serious plays and everything from magician Herrmann the Great to boxing legend John L. Sullivan. A strike here during an 1899 Yiddish production spawned the Hebrew Actors’ Union, the first actors’ union in America. Following its Yiddish theatre years (1901-1934), people’s ended its days as a burlesque house.
Photographed By Larry Gertner, July 19, 2016
4. Inset
Photographed By Larry Gertner, April 30, 2019
5. Inset
Actors Sara Adler, Bessie Thomashefsky, Bertha Kalich, Boris Thomashefsky, Jacob Adler
Jacob and Sara Adler were the parents of actors/drama coaches Luther and Stella Adler.
Jacob and Sara Adler were the parents of actors/drama coaches Luther and Stella Adler.
Credits. This page was last revised on July 16, 2023. It was originally submitted on May 7, 2019, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York. This page has been viewed 171 times since then and 27 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. submitted on May 7, 2019, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York. • Bill Pfingsten was the editor who published this page.
