Leo Fuchs
Leo Fuchs (May 15, 1911 – December 31, 1994) was a Polish-born Jewish American actor. According to YIVO, born Avrum Leib Fuchs in Warsaw;[1] according to Schechter, born in Lwów, Galicia, then Poland, now Lviv, Ukraine).[2]
Fuchs performed in many Yiddish and English plays and movies throughout the mid-twentieth century, and was famed as a comic, a dancer, and a coupletist. He wrote much of his own material and toured widely.
Early life
Fuchs was born into a Yiddish theatrical family: his father, Yakov Fuchs, was a character actor; his mother, Róża Fuchs (Ruzha Fuchs),[3] was "a leading lady of the musical theatre who perished in the Holocaust of the 1940s,"[4] shot dead by Nazi Germans.[5] He began acting (in Polish) when he was five years old, and was praised when he performed at the Warsaw cabaret Qui Pro Quo when he was 17.[6]
Career
His American debut was at the Second Avenue Theater in the Yiddish Theater District in Lucky Boy with Moishe Oysher in 1929.[7] He moved to New York City in 1935,[1] In his prime, he was known as "The Yiddish Fred Astaire",[8][9] appearing both on Broadway and in film. In 1936, he married fellow actor Mirele Gruber and toured with her through Poland for a year next year. In 1937 he made two movies, the short I Want to Be a Boarder (in which he sang his famous song Trouble) and I Want to Be a Mother with Yetta Zwerling. In 1940 he starred in Americaner Shadchen (American Matchmaker).[10] He divorced in 1941[7] and later married Rebecca Richman.
Starting in the 1960s, Fuchs performed in English-language films, plays, and television.[1] Two of his best-known roles later in life included Hymie Krichinsky in the film Avalon[2] and the doomed Herr Shultz in the original Broadway production of Cabaret, opposite Lotte Lenya. He died in Los Angeles in 1994.[1]
References
- 1 2 3 4 Leo Fuchs papers at YIVO archives
- 1 2 Schechter, p. 80.
- ↑ Zalmen Zylbercweig, Leksikon fun Yidishn teater, Book five, 4053
- ↑ "Save the Music bio: Leo Fuchs". Archived from the original on December 8, 2013. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
- ↑ Yonas Turkow, Farloshene shtern, book 2, p 83-87
- ↑ Joel Schechter: Messiahs of 1933: how American Yiddish theatre He ate his own leg and became a goat through satire
- 1 2 Leo Fuchs: Born Laybl Springer in Lemberg. Caraid O'Brien, 2nd Avenue site. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
- ↑ Lugowski, p. 63.
- ↑ Friedman, p. 36.
- ↑ Leo Fuchs bio at IMDb. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
Bibliography
- Friedman, Jonathan C. Rainbow Jews: Jewish and Gay Identity in the Performing Arts. Plymouth, UK: Lexington, 2007.
- Lugowski, David. "'Pintele' Queer: The Performance of Jewish Male Heterosexuality in Yiddish American Cinema of the Great Depression." In Griffin, Sean. Hetero: Queering Representations of Straightness. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2009. 53-70.
- Schechter, Joel. Messiahs of 1933: How American Yiddish Theatre Survived Adversity through Satire. Philadelphia, PA: Temple UP, 2008.