Yiddish Actor Drops Dead on New York Stage

Mr. David Baratz, a well-known Yiddish actor, dropped dead on the stage to-day while he was reciting “The Hunchback”, by the famous Yiddish dramatist, J. L. Gordin.

Mr. Baratz, who was 52 years of age, was born in Jassy, in Roumania, and came to America when he was ten to join his sisters who had been for some time in America. He attended the American public elementary schools. When he left school, he went back to Roumania to see his parents, and there joined a Yiddish theatrical touring company. He went on tour in Galicia, Germany, and Hungary, playing for some time in Berlin and Budapest. At the age of 21 he returned to America, where he played with Boris Tomaschewski, and other leading Yiddish actor-managers. He also made several tours in Europe, and when the war broke out he was playing in Lemberg. He managed, however, still to make his way back to America, and in the years which followed he played important parts on the Yiddish stage in New York and other American cities.