The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1909-06-12
YIDDISH SHAKESPEARE DEAD
q QUICKLY MASTERED JARGON
AND CONQUERED THE EAST SIDE

GorlIn Author OF . Hundred Plays. None
or which Was q Failure and Some OF
which were Played In Engiish-His
sayings Became HensAhold words.
Jacob M. Gordin, the East Side play
fright who was often referred to by his
admirers in the Ghetto as the 'Yiddish
shakespeare died yesterday morning
at bis home. 2so Madison street, Brooklyn.
Tor the last three months he had been
confined to his bed by a cancerous
affection.
Gordin was So years old. he had
practically made the Yiddish theatres In
New York. furnishing them with an
extraordinary large number OF dramas.
most Of which proved very successful
and made for him an enthusiastic admirer
out OF every playgoer IN the East Side.
Many Of his plays were printed In Yiddish
and had a wide circulation.
While Gordin's fame as a playwright
was confined largely to the district where
his plays were produced n Of his dramas
was translated and played before Amer
lean audiences and also in England.
This was his "Kreutzer Sonata in which
Blanche Walsh starred. Save for the
name it had no relation to Tolstoy's work,
being a story OF Jewish life. The pro-
duotion Of this play enhanced his fame
a great deal as being the first real reoog-
milton paid to an East Side playwright.
Gordin wal born in May. 1883. in the
province of P~oltava. Russia. He became
a school teacher and then a writer for
a Russian paper in Odessa. His articles
on politics soon attracted attention and
secured for him a considerable following.
though it was not until he founded a
society known as the Bible Brotherhood
that he began to make enemies in his
native land. The society was an ethical
one and much Of the opposition came
from Russian Jews. In 1891 when a more
rigid prees censorship was established
Gordin was compelled to leave Russia.
When he arrived here he could not
write a word Of the polyglot language
OF the Jews on the East Side. but he
quickly became proficient In it and was
soon turning out plays which made him
popular and stimulated the growth Of
the Yiddish theatre. He wrote. it is
said, over 100 plays. many Of them
powerful dramas as interpreted by the
East Side tragedians. or this prolific
output not n is said to nave been a
failure. The first one. Siberia he
sold to Jacob Adler. the actor. in 1892 for
s35. it is said, at a time when he was
wrote we're .The Unknown The Home
less -Dementia Americana THE
Truth God. Man and the Devil and
True Power
1t was he who first introduced to the
East Side the plays OF Ibsen, Sudermann.
Hauptmann and Gorky. In some OF his
own plays he satirized conditions here.
His -Dementia Americana was q satire
on the real estate mania among the Jews.
He sought to raise the standard OF Jewish
family life in his Purity OF the Family.
produced at a time when moral condi-
tons on the East Side were being crit,
cised. The Jewish newspapers, united
in giving him credit for lifting dramatic
art among his people to a high standard,
as compared with its former condition.
Many Of Gordin's sayings are as famil-
lar in East Side homes as are quotations
from Shakespeare elsewhere. A saying
attributed to him which has had much
q among the orators OF his race is:
when America learns to tell the truth
and shame the dollar it will be the greatest
country intellectually in the world"
In the work Of betterine conditions
among the East Side Jews Gordin took a
leading part outside Of his literary eff orts.
He was one OF the founders Of the Edu-
cational Alliance and was a liberal sub
scriber to Jewish charities. In many
ways he was a leader among his people.
a fact which was attested by the manner
in which he was often followed about
in the streets. Large and powerfully
built with a massive head and a long.
heavy black beard. his appearance alone
was sufficient to attract attention. He
spoke Ave languages and by many was
regarded as a seer. a.
Gordin leaves eleven children and his
widow. They were all at his bedside
when he died.
Plans we're not completed Yesterday for
his funeral, but II is said to be the inten-
ton to hold it in one OF the theatres where
an imposing scale.