Adler, Jacob P.

Adler, Jacob P. (1855–1926), actor and manager. The preeminent figure of the Yiddish‐American theatre, Adler turned to acting in his Russian homeland after dabbling in business and working briefly as one of the few Jews in the Russian civil service. When edicts directed at Jews made performing difficult in Russia, Adler immigrated to London, then came to America in 1887. Two years later he was in New York and heralded as “Greater Than Salvini.” His first appearances in The Beggar of Odessa and Under the Protection of Sir Moses Montefiore were not propitious; but Adler's luck changed when he played The Russian Soldier, and his reputation grew when he followed that work with La Juive, in which he played Eleazar. For several months he toured with Boris Thomashefsky, but professional rivalry, a personal scandal, and Adler's distaste for the operettas in the repertory soon drove the men apart. Determined to offer a loftier theatre, Adler took over the Union Theatre, established the Independent Yiddish Art Company, and commissioned a play from Jacob Gordin, the best of the Yiddish playwrights. The result was The Yiddish King Lear (1892), not a Yiddish translation of Shakespeare but a free use of the story. The hero was Dovid Moishele, a rich merchant, whose daughters were viciously selfish housewives. “Shenkt a neduve der Yiddisher Kenig Lear” (Alms for the Yiddish King Lear), Moishele pleads at the curtain. The role remained an important part of Adler's repertory for the rest of his career. Another successful Gordin play followed, The Wild Man, in which a self‐important father destroys his children. In 1901 Adler brought out a Yiddish translation of The Merchant of Venice. So impressive was his Shylock that it was brought to Broadway in 1903 and 1905, with Adler performing in Yiddish, his fellow actors in English. Gordin's last play, Elisha ben Avuya, gave Adler another lifelong success, as did Tolstoy's The Living Corpse. A stroke in 1920 forced him to retire. Despite an often‐scandalous private life and some questionable business practices, Adler was adored by his special public. An emotional rapport between actor and playgoer enlivened Yiddish performances long after American performances and audiences had become far more restrained. When Dovid Moishele was denied a bowl of soup by one of his monstrous daughters, a voice from the gallery rang out, “Leave those rotten children of yours and come home with me. My wife is a good cook. She'll fix you up.” Aware that Adler is German for eagle, his followers saw in the actor's piercing glance, his strong profile, and his commanding presence a natural and appropriate symbol personified. Biography: Bright Star of Exile, Lulla Rosenfeld, 1977.