Pesach Burstein - Sonny Boy, Polish Shtetl, Columbia 1928

Pesach Burstein ran away from home in Poland to join a traveling Yiddish theater troupe, and wandered from country to country. He was arrested as a spy by Russians during World War I. He came to the USA in the 1923, when his troupe was sponsored by Boris Thomashefsky to play on the Upper East Side Yiddish theatres on Manhattan's Second Avenue. Securing a contract with Columbia Records, he went on to record a number of hits, including the Yiddish version of Sonny Boy, and Odessa Mama. He married twice, the second time to Lillian Lux, an upcoming star of the Yiddish stage. He performed The Komediant and A Khasene in Shtetl and other popular Yiddish productions in numerous productions all over the world, first with his wife and his troupe, and later along with his twin children Mike and Susan as well (advertised as the Four Bursteins, the twins were given stage names of Motele and Zisele).

After the Holocaust, due to a drastic reduction in the size of the Yiddish audience, he was instrumental in finding out diasporic communities as far afield as South America, and East Europe, as well as Israel. He initially settled in Israel but later left due to the state tax levied on Yiddish theater for promotion of the Hebrew language, and problems with authorities.

His family and troupe also performed extensively in upstate New York in the Borscht Belt (the Catskill Mountains area), and he later opened his own theater in Brooklyn - The Hopkinson. His troupe usually performed crowd-pulling acts, but won critical acclaim in Israel and on Broadway for performing Itzik Manger's Songs of the Megillah (Yiddish: Megille Lider - the longest running Yiddish production to date in Israel, released on Broadway as Megilla of Itzik Manger). He also performed a small role in the Israel Becker-directed movie Shnei Kuni Leml, starring his son. On the 100th anniversary of his birth, director Arnon Goldfinger directed a documentary film about the lives and careers of the Burstein family - The Komediant, named after Burstein's career and being the name of one of his shows.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Sonny
• Boy
• Yiddish
• song
• Poland
• shtetl
• 1920s
• 1930s

[BigGuyBoleslaw]

You Tube won't let me type in the link to Michael Burstyn singing Sonny Boy.

The fellow who uploaded it is mikeburst.

[BigGuyBoleslaw]

Thank you very much.

Pesach Burstein's son Mike Burstyn spells his last name differently so as not to be confused with someone else.

You can compare Mike singing Sonny Boy in English to his dad singing in Yiddish. Below is Michael Burstyn playing Al Jolson in "jolson the Musical".

[ivelosthewilltolive]

This song is hard to take in any language...

[nicodagger]

@panobiektywnyKielce Czy to nie ktoś, kto mieszka w Polska Polak, bez względu na ich religię?

[Nadav34]

No, Poland belongs to Poles and Jews - both are brothers... and we both suffered greatly.. although those nazi mamzerim did a nice job on our people, but while everyone else in Eastern Europe helped the nazis accomplish their goal, the POLES and I do mean THE POLISH PEOPLE risked their lives and helped Jews to survive.. if the situation were reversed, Jews would have helped the Poles too.

[Elvuz]

Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha'olam.

[SwietnyLew]

Nicely done vid.

[LeonardMIS]

Excellent.

One problen\m, the song is called "Zindele maynts" ("My son") Er zingt mit an emesn gefil.