Funeral services were held Wednesday for Henrietta Jacobson, veteran star of the Yiddish theater, who died Sunday in Manhattan after a long illness following a stroke. She was 82 years old.
Born in Chicago in 1906, the daughter of two Yiddish actors, Jacobson made her stage debut at age 3. She spent the next 75 years of her life appearing on the Yiddish stage, mainly on New York’s Second Avenue, starring in scores of musicals and plays.
For most of that time, she starred with her husband Julius Adler. On Broadway, she appeared in Neil Simon’s “Come Blow Your Horn,” and also appeared in the John Kander-Fred Ebb musical “70 Girls 70.”
More recently, Jacobson appeared in the film “Hero at Large” with John Ritter and Ann Archer. She also played in dinner theaters with her husband across the country in such shows as “Don’t Drink the Water” and “Hello Dolly.”
In April 1986, the couple won a Golden Goldy award for lifetime achievement in the theater. The awards are presented by the Congress for Jewish Culture. Their son, Bruce Adler, the third generation of the family in the theater, presented the couple with the award.
Jacobson was the sister of the late Irving Jacobson, remembered for his role as Sancho Panza in “Man of La Mancha” on Broadway. Their brother Hymie was also active in the Yiddish theater.
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.
