- Sokher Goldstein
Mike Goldstein (c.1859–1887), first name also spelled Suher, Suray, ukas, or mikey boy, was a singer and actor, one of the founding performers in
Yiddish theater . AJew , presumably of Ukrainian orRomania n origin, nothing is known about his life beforeAbraham Goldfaden recruited him inIaşi in 1876 as the second actor afterIsrael Grodner for what became the first professional Yiddish theater troupe.Goldstein participated in the performance at Gradina Pomul Verde ("the Green Fruit-Tree Garden") that is often accounted the first professional Yiddish theater performance. Most likely, the piece by Goldfaden that was performed was a semi-improvised
vaudeville called "Dos Bintl Holts", "The Bundle of Wood". Goldstein participated in a tour with Goldfaden toBotoşani ,Galaţi ,Brăila , and finallyBucharest , where the troupe settled for about two years.According to Joel Berkowitz, " [his] boyish face landed him all the women’s roles until the troupe took on its first actress a few months later." [Berkowitz, 2004, 12] That actress was the young Sara Segal, who he met and married in Galaţi (upon marriage, she took the name Sofia Goldstein; after his death, she remarried and became famous as Sofia Karp). ("See
Sophia Karp for more about the marriage.")In Bucharest, he performed for Goldfaden and other theater directors.
He died of
tuberculosis . [Adler, 1999, 86 (commentary)]References
* Adler, Jacob, "A Life on the Stage: A Memoir", translated and with commentary by Lulla Rosenfeld, Knopf, New York, 1999, ISBN 0-679-41351-0. 64 (commentary), 86 (commentary).
* Bercovici, Israil, "O sută de ani de teatru evreiesc în România" ("One hundred years of Yiddish/Jewish theater in Romania"), 2nd Romanian-language edition, revised and augmented by Constantin Măciucă. Editura Integral (an imprint of Editurile Universala), Bucharest (1998). ISBN 973-98272-2-5. 61.
*Berkowitz, Joel, [http://yiddishbookcenter.org/pdf/pt/44/PT44_goldfaden.pdf Avrom Goldfaden and the Modern Yiddish Theater: The Bard of Old Constantine] , "Pakn Treger", no. 44, Winter 2004, 10-19.
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