Jacob Ben-Ami

Jacob Ben-Ami
  • Джэйкаб Бэн-Амі
  • Якоб Бен-Ами
  • יעקב בן־עמי
Ben-Ami in the February 1923 issue of Shadowland magazine
Born
Yakob Lazarovich Schirin

(1890-12-23)December 23, 1890
Minsk, Russian Empire
DiedJuly 2, 1977(1977-07-02) (aged 86)
New York City, US
Occupations
Spouse
Slava Estrin
​
​
(m. 1909; died 1966)​
Children1
Relatives

Jacob Schirin Ben-Ami (né Yakob Lazarovich Schirin; December 23, 1890 – July 2, 1977) was a Russian-American actor, theatre and film director.[1][2] A leading figure in American Yiddish theatre, Ben-Ami founding the Jewish Art Theater in 1919.[1][3][4][5]

Early life

Ben-Ami was born Yakob Lazarovich Schirin (Belarusian: Якаў Лазаравіч Шчырын; Russian: Яков Лазарович Щирин)[a] on December 23, 1890[b] in Minsk, Minsk Governorate (present-day Belarus) to Sara Schirin[c] (later Sarah Warren) and Lazar Schirin.[1][8] Ben-Ami had at least two siblings.[8]

Educated at a cheder, Ben-Ami continued his education at a private school.[1][2] As a child Ben-Ami sang with Hazzans, as well as for Russian-language theatre.[1][2]

Career

Russian Empire

In 1907, aged 17, Ben-Ami became an extra at either the Minsk municipal Russian Theatre[1] or the Moscow Art Theatre.[2] Following the 1908 repeal of the 1883 Russian imperial edict which outlawing the performance of plays in Yiddish, Ben-Ami joined Sam Adler-Meerson Yiddish theater troupe.[1][2][9] Initially an understudy, Ben-Ami later played minor roles before being let go by Adler.[2] Ben-Ami then joined the Yiddish theater troupe of Mittleman[d], and began to play larger roles.[2] Following the merge of the two troupes, Ben-Ami remained with the new troupe for a year.[2] In 1909, Ben-Ami met Peretz Hirschbein in Odesa and together founded the Hirschbein Troupe which aimed to showcase high quality Yiddish drama.[1][2][9] Ben-Ami worked for the Troupe as both an actor and theatre director.[2]

Following the disbanding of the Hirschbein Troupe, Ben-Ami relocated to Vilna, Vilna Governorate (present-day Vilnius, Lithuania) and worked as a theatre director for the Yiddish Dramatic Amateur Circle (from which later developed the Vilna Troupe).[2] In 1912, Ben-Ami was invited by Sigmund Feinman to be the director and leading actor at the Feinman's Yiddish People's Theatre in London.[2] However, Feinman's was closed down after only four months and Ben-Ami was subsequently invited by Sara Adler to join her troupe in New York City.[1][2][10]

United States

As part of Adler's troupe Ben-Ami performed in Di Kreytser sonata[e] at the Novelty Theater in Brooklyn.[10] However, the Novelty Theater closed down midseason and Ben-Ami subsequently joined the actor’s union.[2] In 1913, Ben-Ami joined Boris Thomashefsky and performed in Der ewiger wanderer by Osip Dymov.[2]

In 1919, Ben-Ami founded the New Yiddish Theatre (Yiddish: Dos Naye Yidisher Teater), known in English as the Jewish Art Theater.[2][4][11] Ben-Ami's first English-language production was the 1920 Broadway play Samson and Delilah. According to biographer Alan Gansberg in Little Caesar: A Biography of Edward G. Robinson, Ben-Ami earned fellow cast member Robinson's disdain by allegedly trying to upstage the other actors and overacting.[12] Both the play and Ben-Ami, however, were hits.[12] In her 1921 review of the production, Dorothy Parker proclaimed him "one of the greatest actors on the stage today."[13] He was also lauded by John Barrymore ("inspired"), The New York Times, and Alexander Woollcott ("the cocktail question of the year was 'Ben-Ami or not Ben-Ami'"), among others.[14]

He had much less success in Eugene O'Neill's 1924 play Welded, in which he starred. Among other problems, the style of play did not suit Ben-Ami, and he had a thick accent.[15] Welded closed after three weeks and 24 performances.

As an established star, Ben-Ami helped the then-unknown John Garfield get accepted into the American Laboratory Theater.[16]

He co-directed the 1937 film Green Fields with Edgar G. Ulmer and appeared in the films The Wandering Jew [f] (1933) and Esperanza (1949), and on television.[17]

On March 9, 1943, he starred in a mass memorial service to the 2,000,000 Jews who had, up to that date, been murdered by the Nazis in Europe. The service, staged at Madison Square Garden in New York, was called We Will Never Die and attracted 40,000 people during its two performances.[18]

Ben-Ami filmed a scene for the 1958 film The Young Lions, in which he played the father of his friend Montgomery Clift.[19] The scene was subsequently deleted, and would have marked Ben-Ami's English-language film debut.[19] Ben-Ami's last Broadway role was as the Foreman in The Tenth Man, which ran from November 5, 1959, to May 13, 1961.[20]

Personal life

In April 1909, Ben-Ami married Slava Estrin (1889–1966), an actress and later translator and journalist, in Saint Petersburg.[1][4][21][22] The couple had one son.[1][4][21][22] Ben-Ami was the brother-in-law of the actress Paula Bauersmith, and the paternal uncle of the actress and film director Jennifer Warren.[4][8][23]

On July 2, 1977, Ben-Ami died in New York City, at the age of 86.[1][4]

Stage and screen

Screen

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
1933 The Wandering Jew (Der Vanderer Yid) Arthur Levi [24]
1937 Green Fields (Grine Felder) Co-directed with Edgar G. Ulmer [25]
1949 Esperanza
1958 The Young Lions Noah's father Scene deleted [19]

Stage

Year Title Role Venue Notes Ref.
1920–1921 Samson and Delilah Peter Krumback Greenwich Village Theatre Written by Sven Lange, translated by Samuel S. Grossman [26]
1921–1922 The Idle Inn Eisik Plymouth Theatre Written by Peretz Hirshbein, translated by Isaac Goldberg and Louis Wolheim [27]
1922–1923 Johannes Kreisler Johannes Kreisler Apollo Theater Written by Louis N. Parker [28]
1923–1924 The Failures He Garrick Theatre Written by Henri-René Lenormand, translated by Winifred Katzin [29]
1924 Welded Michael Cape 39th Street Theatre Written by Eugene O'Neill [30]
Man and the Masses The Nameless One Garrick Theatre Written by Ernst Toller, translated by Louis Untermeyer [31]
1926 The Goat Song Guild Theatre Director. Written by Franz Werfel, translated by Ruth Langner [32]
Schweiger Franz Schweiger Mansfield Theatre Also staged. Written by Franz Schweiger, translated by Jack Charash and William A. Drake [33]
1927 John John Klaw Theatre Written by Philip Barry [34]
1928 Diplomacy Count Orloff Erlanger's Theatre [35]
1929 The Seagull Trigorin Civic Repertory Theatre [36]
The Cherry Orchard Epikhodov, Semen Panteleevich Civic Repertory Theatre [37]
The Living Corpse Fedya Civic Repertory Theatre Also staged. [38]
1930 Romeo and Juliet Escalus Civic Repertory Theatre [39][40]
The Green Cockatoo Henri Civic Repertory Theatre [41]
Siegfried Siegfried Civic Repertory Theatre [42]
1931 Camellia M. Duval Civic Repertory Theatre Translation by Henriette Alice McCrea-Metcalf [43]
1933 Evensong Arthur Kober Selwyn Theatre [44]
1934 A Ship Comes In Dr. Victor Bard Morosco Theatre; Longacre Theatre Written by Joseph Anthony [45]
1936 Bitter Stream Civic Repertory Theatre Staged by. Written by Victor Wolfson [46]
1946 A Flag Is Born Tevya Adelphi Theatre; Music Box Theatre; Broadway Theatre Replacement for Paul Muni with Luther Adler [47]
1958 The Infernal Machine The Old Shepherd Phoenix Theatre [48]
1959–1961 The Tenth Man Foreman Booth Theatre (1959–1961); Ambassador Theatre (1961) Written by Paddy Chayefsky [20]

Notes

  1. ↑ Also transliterated as Shtshirin[1] and Shimshirin.[2]
  2. ↑ Also cited as November 23 1890.[5][6]
  3. ↑ Also cited as Sara Ben-Ami.[7]
  4. ↑ Possibly Aaron Mittelman
  5. ↑ Also cited as The Green Maiden.[2]
  6. ↑ Not be confused with The Wandering Jew

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Nahshon, Edna (February 2000). "Ben-Ami, Jacob (1890-1977), actor.". American National Biography. New York: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1801474. Retrieved July 7, 2026. (subscription required)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Zylbercweig, Zalmen (1931). "Jacob Ben-Ami (Shimshirin)". Lexicon of the Yiddish Theatre. Volume 1. p. 184. Retrieved July 7, 2026 – via Museum of Family History.
  3. ↑ "Jacob Ben-ami Dead at 86". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. July 26, 1977. Archived from the original on July 8, 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Quindlen, Anna (July 23, 1977). "Jacob Ben-Ami Actor, Dies at 86; A Founder of Jewish Art Theater; Helped to Make Stage More Realistic and Less Farcical". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 10, 2024.
  5. 1 2 Olson, David A. (2014). "Jacob Ben-Ami scripts". Archives NYPL. New York City: Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library. Retrieved July 7, 2026.
  6. ↑ Jacob Ben-Ami at the Internet Broadway Database
  7. ↑ "Jacob Schirin Ben Ami". Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Immigration Cards, 1900–1965 [database online]. Lehi, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 1947.
  8. 1 2 3 "Dr. B. M. Warren, Dentist and Writer". Brooklyn Eagle. Brooklyn, New York. May 18, 1953. p. 9. Retrieved 8 July 2026.
  9. 1 2 Bird, Thomas E. (February 2000). "Hirschbein, Peretz (1880-1948), playwright, producer, and director". American National Biography. New York: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1600768. Retrieved July 8, 2026. (subscription required)
  10. 1 2 Adler, Jacob (2001). "My Last Sight of Rosenberg". Jacob Adler: A Life on the Stage, A Memoir. Translated by Rosenfeld, Lulla. New York: Applause. pp. 351–364. ISBN 155783458X. Retrieved 11 July 2026.
  11. ↑ Nahshon, Edna (February 2, 2016). New York's Yiddish Theater: From the Bowery to Broadway. Columbia University Press. p. 156. ISBN 9780231541077. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
  12. 1 2 Gansberg, Alan L. (May 18, 2004). Little Caesar: A Biography of Edward G. Robinson. Scarecrow Press. p. 24. ISBN 9780810849501. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
  13. ↑ Parker, Dorothy; Fitzpatrick, Kevin C. (May 1, 2014). Dorothy Parker: Complete Broadway, 1918–1923. iUniverse. p. 185. ISBN 9781491722664. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
  14. ↑ Sandrow, Nahma (1996). Vagabond Stars: A World History of Yiddish Theater. Syracuse University Press. p. 274. ISBN 9780815603290. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
  15. ↑ Shafer, Ivonne (November 28, 2011). Eugene O'Neill and American Society. Universitat de València. pp. 97–98. ISBN 9788437083506. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
  16. ↑ McGrath, Patrick J. (January 1, 1993). John Garfield: The Illustrated Career in Films and on Stage. McFarland. p. 5. ISBN 9780899508672. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
  17. ↑ Jacob Ben-Ami at IMDb
  18. ↑ The New York Times, March 10, 1943.
  19. 1 2 3 "The Young Lions (1958)". AFI Catalog. Los Angeles, California: American Film Institute. Retrieved July 8, 2026.
  20. 1 2 "The Tenth Man". IDBD. New York City: The Broadway League. Retrieved July 8, 2026.
  21. 1 2 "Mrs. Jacob Ben-Ami". The New York Times. October 22, 1966. p. 26. Retrieved July 7, 2026.
  22. 1 2 "Slava Ben Ami". Petitions For Naturalization From the U.S. District Court For the Southern District of New York, 1897–1944. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. 1923.
  23. ↑ "Paula Bauersmith, 78, Dies; Actress on TV and the Stage". The New York Times. August 12, 1987. p. 22. Retrieved July 8, 2026.
  24. ↑ "The Wandering Jew (1933)". AFI Catalog. Los Angeles, California: American Film Institute. Retrieved July 8, 2026.
  25. ↑ "Green Fields (1937)". AFI Catalog. Los Angeles, California: American Film Institute. Retrieved July 8, 2026.
  26. ↑ "Samson and Delilah". IDBD. New York City: The Broadway League. Retrieved July 8, 2026.
  27. ↑ "The Idle Inn". IDBD. New York City: The Broadway League. Retrieved July 8, 2026.
  28. ↑ "Johannes Kreisler". IDBD. New York City: The Broadway League. Retrieved July 8, 2026.
  29. ↑ "The Failures". IDBD. New York City: The Broadway League. Retrieved July 8, 2026.
  30. ↑ "Welded". IDBD. New York City: The Broadway League. Retrieved July 8, 2026.
  31. ↑ "Man and the Masses". IDBD. New York City: The Broadway League. Retrieved July 8, 2026.
  32. ↑ "The Goat Song". IDBD. New York City: The Broadway League. Retrieved July 8, 2026.
  33. ↑ "Schweiger". IDBD. New York City: The Broadway League. Retrieved July 8, 2026.
  34. ↑ "John". IDBD. New York City: The Broadway League. Retrieved July 8, 2026.
  35. ↑ "Diplomacy". IDBD. New York City: The Broadway League. Retrieved July 8, 2026.
  36. ↑ "The Seagull". IDBD. New York City: The Broadway League. Retrieved July 8, 2026.
  37. ↑ "The Cherry Orchard". IDBD. New York City: The Broadway League. Retrieved July 8, 2026.
  38. ↑ "The Living Corpse". IDBD. New York City: The Broadway League. Retrieved July 8, 2026.
  39. ↑ "Romeo and Juliet". IDBD. New York City: The Broadway League. Retrieved July 10, 2026.
  40. ↑ "Romeo and Juliet". IDBD. New York City: The Broadway League. Retrieved July 10, 2026.
  41. ↑ "The Green Cockatoo". IDBD. New York City: The Broadway League. Retrieved July 10, 2026.
  42. ↑ "Siegfried". IDBD. New York City: The Broadway League. Retrieved July 10, 2026.
  43. ↑ "Camellia". IDBD. New York City: The Broadway League. Retrieved July 10, 2026.
  44. ↑ "Evensong". IDBD. New York City: The Broadway League. Retrieved July 10, 2026.
  45. ↑ "A Ship Comes In". IDBD. New York City: The Broadway League. Retrieved July 10, 2026.
  46. ↑ "Bitter Stream". IDBD. New York City: The Broadway League. Retrieved July 10, 2026.
  47. ↑ "A Flag Is Born". IDBD. New York City: The Broadway League. Retrieved July 10, 2026.
  48. ↑ "The Infernal Machine". IDBD. New York City: The Broadway League. Retrieved July 10, 2026.
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