- Lillian Lux
Infobox actor
name = Lillian Lux
imagesize = 150px
caption = Pesach Burstein, and his wife Lillian Lux
birthname =
birthdate = birth date|1918|6|20|mf=y
birthplace =Brooklyn ,New York City, New York ,United States
deathdate = death date and age|2005|6|11|1918|6|20|mf=y
deathplace =New York, New York ,United States
spouse =Pesach Burstein
(1938-1986) (his death) 2 childrenLillian Lux (
June 20 ,1918 –June 11 ,2005 ) was anIsrael i-American singer, author, songwriter and actor inYiddish theater and Yiddish vaudeville in theUnited States ,Israel and other Yiddish speaking communities in thediaspora .Wife of actor-director
Pesach Burstein of theYiddish stage who was often criticized for staging melodramas and song-and-dance acts, she is best remembered for her roles in the Yiddish shows -"The Komediant", and "A Khasene in Shtetl " ("A Wedding in the Village") directed by her husband. However, her most critically acclaimed performance was inItzik Manger 's "Songs of the Megillah " (Yiddish: "Megille Lider" - the longest running Yiddish production to date in Israel, released on Broadway as "Megilla of Itzik Manger").She has usually played roles alongside her husband, and often alongside her twin children Mike and Susan (the performing family was advertised as the
Four Bursteins ). On the 100th anniversary of her husband's birth in 1996, directorArnon Goldfinger directed a documentary film about the lives and careers of the Burstein family -"The Komediant"."The Komediant", New Yorker Video, New York, 1999]The move for the Burnstein troupe to tackle serious theater (when they produced "Megilla of Itzak Menger") was part orchestrated by Lux. She also ran a cosmetics company - "Lily of Israel". Even though they were critically panned, she wrote a number of the songs and musicals her family appeared in, and has also appeared in Israeli and American films, and
American television , including roles in "The Body" and "Law and Order".Her son,
Mike Burstyn is aJewish American actor on Broadway, Israeli theatre and theYiddish theater . Her daughter, Susan, is not a performer.She also co-authored her husband's autobiography - "What a Life!" in Yiddish ("Geshpilt a Lebn", 1980), which was later translated into English. ["What a Life! The Autobiography of Pesach'ke Burstein, Yiddish Matinee Idol"; by Pesach'ke Burstein and Lillian Lux;
Syracuse University Press, 2003 (ISBN 0815607849)]External links
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* [http://www.jewish-theatre.com/visitor/article_display.aspx?articleID=1414 Obituary] at "www.Jewish-theater.com"
* [http://www.thekomediant.com/ The Komediant website]References
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