Burstein

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BURSTEIN

BURSTEIN , family of actors. pesach (1900–1986), born in Warsaw, joined a wandering Yiddish troupe as a boy. In 1924 he was engaged by Thomashefsky's Broadway company and appeared in many productions. In 1940 he married the Yiddish actress Lilian Lux and with her formed a company which had its own theater, the Hopkinson, in Brooklyn, n.y. They played there in summer and toured abroad in winter. In 1954, they settled in Israel. The family enjoyed its biggest success in the musical The Megilla, based on poems by Itzik *Manger, and featuring their son Mike *Burstyn (1945– ), a popular performer. After Pesach's death, his wife remained active in the Yiddish theater. In 1999 a documentary film called The Komediant on the Burstein family premiered in Israel and the United States, and winning an Israeli Academy Award.

[Dora Leah Sowden]