Funeral services will be held tomorrow for Jacobs Jacobs, a major figure in the Yiddish theater who died here Friday at age of 86. He acted in and produced hundreds of musicals and wrote lyrics for countless songs. His biggest hit song, “Bei Mir Bist du Schoen,” which he wrote with Sholom Secunda in 1931, became world famous.
A master showman who sought to entertain through original Yiddish musicals and comedies, Jacobs also brought to the Yiddish theater plays originally written in English, including “Detective Story,” “Johnny Belinda,” and “Anna Lucasta.” During the 1920s and 1930s he owned a string of theaters throughout New York. In 1971 he brought the Yiddish-American theater to Broadway with the production of “The President’s Daughter,” which he directed and in which he played.
Born in Czechoslovakia, Jacobs came to this country in 1904 at the age of 13 After working for a while in the garment industry he went into vaudeville in 1908. In 1969 he was cited by New York City as “first in the hearts of all who love Yiddish theater.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
