Bessie Thomashefsky

Bessie Thomashefsky
Born	1873
Died	(1962-07-06)July 6, 1962
Occupation	Stage actress
Spouse	Boris Thomashefsky
Children	Esther Thomashefsky 1889-1895 Harry Thomashefsky 1895-1993 Milton (Mickey) Thomasshefsky 1897-1936 Theodore Hertzl Thomashefsky (later Ted Thomas) 1904-1992

Boris and Bessie Thomashevsky, their engagement photo

Bessie Thomashefsky (aka Bessie Baumfeld-Kaufman) (1873 – July 6, 1962) was a Jewish American singer and actress, a star in Yiddish theater beginning in the 1890s. She was the wife and stage partner of Boris Thomashefsky, the most popular Yiddish leading man of his era. Probably her most famous role was the title role of Oscar Wilde's Salomé at the People’s Theater in 1908.

Early Life, Coming to America and Meeting her Husband

She was born in 1873 in Tarashche, Kiev province of the Ukraine. Her family emigrated to American in 1879 and finally settled in 1883 near Baltimore. She attended school until she was 12 and then went to work in a sweatshop.

In 1887, 14-year old Bessie met her future husband when she went backstage at a Baltimore production of Aliles Dam ("Blood Libel") by a Yiddish touring company to meet the beautiful young "actress" she had seen on stage, only to discover that "she" was the 19-year-old Boris Thomashefsky, and that he was also the manager of the company. In 1888, Bessie ran away from home to join Boris as a performer, and was given an ingenue role starring in Abraham Goldfaden’s Shulamith, which was performed at the Boston Music Hall. Boris moved to romantic male leads.

In 1889, 16-year old Bessie had a daughter, Esther, with Boris and in 1891 they were married. Esther died at the age of 6 of diphtheria. They also had 3 sons. Their first son, Harry, started acting at the age of 13 in the play The Pintele Yid (A Little Spark of Jewishness, 1909), became a director of the Federal Theater's Yiddish Theater Project and directed his father in films The Jewish King Lear (1934) and The Bar Mitzvah Boy (1935). Their second son, known as Mickey, took after his father's romancing ways and romanced 2 women at the same time which led to a dramatic murder-attempt/suicide in 1931, reminiscent of his Aunt Emma Thomashefsky Finkel's notorious 1904 affair. Both Mickey and his Aunt Emma were left paralyzed by the attempted murders by jealous mates and both later died of complications related to their wounds; Emma, many years later, in 1929, and Mickey, in 1936. Their third son, Theodore, changed his name to Ted Thomas and became a stage manager. One of Ted Thomas's sons is the noted conductor Michael Tilson Thomas.

It was the success of Boris' Greenhorn scripts and Bessie's feature acting in them that led to Bessie being overworked and Boris taking the money and philandering. Bessie wanted an accounting of the money and couldn't find it. Boris Thomashefsky began and carried on a long-term affair with Yiddish actress Regina Zuckerberg (1888-1964) Regina began her artistic career at the Jewish Theatre of Lemberg, Galicia (Austro-Hungarian Empire, now Lviv, Ukraine) and had in September 1911 immigrated to the United States with her husband, actor Sigmund Zuckerberg. She was the leading actress in a number of theaters by Boris Thomashefsky, and was his common-law wife in the middle of the 1910s. She was a member of the Union of Jewish actors in the United States. Regina modeled herself on Bessie in dress, speech, style and acting—except that she was 15 years younger. This, and the financial mismanagement, led to a separation between Boris and Bessie in 1911.

Both Boris and Bessie went on to successful but separate careers. Bessie went on to found her own theatre troupe and, in 1916, took over the management of The People's Theatre. She focused on serious social issues of the day, particularly those affecting women, like suffrage and birth-control.

However, Boris filed for bankruptcy in 1915. In the 1930s Boris was a pauper and died in 1939. Bessie had never divorced Boris.

Death and legacy

Both Thomashefskys did much to shape the world of modern theatre from the follies to Broadway and gave a start to many actors, composers and producers who went on to start and own theaters and movie studios. Even the Gershwin brothers had their start with the Thomashefkys. The Thomashefskys were also prominent in addressing controversial social issues of the day and in teaching the Greenhorns how to be Americans. They not only founded theaters and production companies, but had publishing houses and many other successful business adventures.

After Boris's death, Harry moved with his mother to California. Bessie died in 1962, aged 89, and was buried with her husband in the Yiddish theater section of the Mount Hebron Cemetery, New York. Ted Thomas died in 1992, aged 88. Harry died in Los Angeles in 1993, aged 97.

In 2011, Michael Tilson Thomas hosted a concert stage show celebrating his grandparents and the music of American Yiddish theatre which aired in 2012 on the PBS series Great Performances. Bessie Thomashefsky was portrayed by Judy Blazer.

External links

• Bessie Thomashefsky at the Internet Broadway Database