Shifra Lerer
Encyclopedia
Shifra Lerer was an Argentine
-born American
Yiddish theater actress based in New York City
. Lerer appeared opposite every major Yiddish theater actor during her career, which lasted 90 years. She was also cast in film roles, including the 1997 Woody Allen
film, Deconstructing Harry
.
Her father, a manager
at a soap factory, had immigrated to Argentina from the Russian Empire
to escape anti-Semetism and poverty
through the sponsorship of philanthropist
and banker, Maurice de Hirsch
. Lerer was born in the Santa Catalina colony in Argentina
on August 30, 1915. Lerer was discovered in Buenos Aires
by Yiddish theater legend, producer and actor Boris Thomashefsky
, who was starring in the area, when she was just five or eight years old, at the recommendation of her sister (the actress Miryam Lerer). At ten she was participating in Yakov Botashanski's productions in a theater circle. When she was older, she studied at a Spanish-language drama school and performed for three years on the Argentinian stage. She then passed the examinations for the actors' union and became a member, playing with the star Miryam Karalova-Kambarov, then Moyshe Oysher and Florence Weiss, finally playing in serious drama roles with Zygmunt Turkov in Urteyl, Hirsh Lekert, Ivan Kruger and Di glokn-tsier fun Notr-dam (The Bell-ringer (Hunchback) of Notre Dame).
She played with Yakov Ben-Ami and Bertha Kalich
in Wolf's Profesor Malok, Strindberg's Der Foter, and Leyvick's Der poet is blind gevorn (The poet became blind), with Samuel (Hymie) Goldenberg in Kalmanovich's Hayntike kinder (Kids these days) and with Maurice Schwartz
in Singer's Moyshe Kalb.
In 1943 she was invited by Samuel Goldberg to perform at the Parkway Theater in Brooklyn
(owned by Hymie Jacobson
and his brother Irving
). Her first performance was in Fun Niu York keyn Berlin; she then toured concertizing at places like the Arbeter Ring, the National Yiddish Workers Union, and Camp Boyberik. In 1946 she went back to Argentina where she worked with Ben-Zion Witler
at the Mitre theater and thereafter toured and performed with him (she married Witler in 1957 - he died from a brain tumor in 1961.). She joined the actors' union in 1949 and played in Got, mentsh un tayvl with Mikhal Mikhalesko and Gustav Berger. In 1952 she participated in Herman Yablokoff's production of Benyomin Ressler's Onkl Sem in yisroel (Uncle Sam in Israel) in the Public Theater in New York.
She ultimately decided to settle permanently in New York City. Lerer worked actively in the Yiddish theater cicuit until she was 90 years old.
Her second husband, Yiddish actor Michael Michalovic, died in 1987. She was best friends with the late Yiddish theater actress, Mina Bern
, who died in 2010.
Shifra Lerer died of a stroke in Manhattan
on March 12, 2011, at the age of 95. She was buried in Block 67 of Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, Queens
, next to her second husband, Michael Michalovic. The cemetery's Block 67 is reserved for who worked in New York City's Yiddish theater industry. Lerer was buried just rows from Boris Thomashefsky, who discovered Lerer at the age of 5 in Argentina. She had no immediate survivors.
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
-born American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Yiddish theater actress based in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Lerer appeared opposite every major Yiddish theater actor during her career, which lasted 90 years. She was also cast in film roles, including the 1997 Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
film, Deconstructing Harry
Deconstructing Harry
Deconstructing Harry is a black comedy film by Woody Allen released in 1997. This film tells the story of a successful writer called Harry Block, played by Allen himself, who draws inspiration from people he knows in real-life, and from events that happened to him, sometimes causing these people to...
.
Her father, a manager
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
at a soap factory, had immigrated to Argentina from the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
to escape anti-Semetism and poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
through the sponsorship of philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
and banker, Maurice de Hirsch
Maurice de Hirsch
Maurice de Hirsch was a German-Jewish philanthropist who set up charitable foundations to promote Jewish education and improve the lot of oppressed European Jewry. He was the founder of the Jewish Colonization Association which sponsored large-scale Jewish immigration to Argentina...
. Lerer was born in the Santa Catalina colony in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
on August 30, 1915. Lerer was discovered in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
by Yiddish theater legend, producer and actor Boris Thomashefsky
Boris Thomashefsky
Boris Thomashefsky was a Ukrainian-born Jewish singer and actor who became one of the biggest stars in Yiddish theatre; born in Tarashcha , a shtetl near Kiev, Ukraine, he emigrated to the U.S. at the age of 12 in 1881...
, who was starring in the area, when she was just five or eight years old, at the recommendation of her sister (the actress Miryam Lerer). At ten she was participating in Yakov Botashanski's productions in a theater circle. When she was older, she studied at a Spanish-language drama school and performed for three years on the Argentinian stage. She then passed the examinations for the actors' union and became a member, playing with the star Miryam Karalova-Kambarov, then Moyshe Oysher and Florence Weiss, finally playing in serious drama roles with Zygmunt Turkov in Urteyl, Hirsh Lekert, Ivan Kruger and Di glokn-tsier fun Notr-dam (The Bell-ringer (Hunchback) of Notre Dame).
She played with Yakov Ben-Ami and Bertha Kalich
Bertha Kalich
Bertha Kalich, was a Jewish actress, born in Lemberg, Galicia...
in Wolf's Profesor Malok, Strindberg's Der Foter, and Leyvick's Der poet is blind gevorn (The poet became blind), with Samuel (Hymie) Goldenberg in Kalmanovich's Hayntike kinder (Kids these days) and with Maurice Schwartz
Maurice Schwartz
Maurice Schwartz was a Russian-born film and theatre actor active in the United States. He was also a film director, film producer, theatrical producer, screenwriter and theatre director.-Theatre:...
in Singer's Moyshe Kalb.
In 1943 she was invited by Samuel Goldberg to perform at the Parkway Theater in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
(owned by Hymie Jacobson
Hymie Jacobson
Hymie Jacobson was an American Jewish actor and composer in Yiddish vaudeville, films and theater. Born 1895 in Chicago to actors Joseph and Bessie Jacobson. His sister, Henrietta, married Yiddish theatre actor Julius Adler; his brother, Irving, was also a performer. He and Irving also owned some...
and his brother Irving
Irving Jacobson
Irving Jacobson , Yiddish theater star, American stage and film actor. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio to actors Joseph and Bessie Jacobson, his brother was Hymie Jacobson and his sister Henrietta Jacobson, who married Julius Adler. Irving played juvenile roles in Pinkhas Thomashefsky's troupe and later...
). Her first performance was in Fun Niu York keyn Berlin; she then toured concertizing at places like the Arbeter Ring, the National Yiddish Workers Union, and Camp Boyberik. In 1946 she went back to Argentina where she worked with Ben-Zion Witler
Ben-Zion Witler
Ben-Zion Witler , 1907–1961, Jewish singer, actor, coupletist, comedian and composer.At the age of six Witler moved with his family from Belz to Vienna, where he received a strict Chasidic religious upbringing; fearing his family's reaction, in 1919 he secretly joined the "Free Jewish Folksbiene"...
at the Mitre theater and thereafter toured and performed with him (she married Witler in 1957 - he died from a brain tumor in 1961.). She joined the actors' union in 1949 and played in Got, mentsh un tayvl with Mikhal Mikhalesko and Gustav Berger. In 1952 she participated in Herman Yablokoff's production of Benyomin Ressler's Onkl Sem in yisroel (Uncle Sam in Israel) in the Public Theater in New York.
She ultimately decided to settle permanently in New York City. Lerer worked actively in the Yiddish theater cicuit until she was 90 years old.
Her second husband, Yiddish actor Michael Michalovic, died in 1987. She was best friends with the late Yiddish theater actress, Mina Bern
Mina Bern
Mina Bern was a Polish-born American actress. She was a star of the Yiddish theater.-Biography:Mina Bern was born in Bielsk Podlaski. Her theatrical debut was in Bialystock under the director Yehuda Greenhoyz...
, who died in 2010.
Shifra Lerer died of a stroke in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
on March 12, 2011, at the age of 95. She was buried in Block 67 of Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, Queens
Flushing, Queens
Flushing, founded in 1645, is a neighborhood in the north central part of the City of New York borough of Queens, east of Manhattan.Flushing was one of the first Dutch settlements on Long Island. Today, it is one of the largest and most diverse neighborhoods in New York City...
, next to her second husband, Michael Michalovic. The cemetery's Block 67 is reserved for who worked in New York City's Yiddish theater industry. Lerer was buried just rows from Boris Thomashefsky, who discovered Lerer at the age of 5 in Argentina. She had no immediate survivors.