From the Canadian Jewish News, May 16, 1985 The Barsh family is a link between the fascinating worlds of Yiddish theatre and music in Toronto. The family lived in four rooms above their barber shop and pool hall at 305 Spadina Avenue, a few doors north of the old Jewish Standard Theatre at Dundas and…
Grand Opening of New Jewish Theatre Quite an Up-to-Date Playhouse with All Sorts of Conveniences — Notables See the Play. From the Toronto Star, May 5, 1909 With waving of flags and the making of many speeches, the new Jewish theatre, called the Lyric, at Agnes and Teraulay streets, was opened last night as the…
These costumed young actors appeared in a Purim play at the old Holy Blossom Temple on Bond Street around 1920. Perhaps the play was about the Purim drama itself. Pictured from left are: Arthur Cohen, Abe Cohen, Sam Nelson, Harry Hertzman, Louis Goodman, Norman Cowan (?), Sam Coffler and Lionel Cohen. Well-known Toronto photographer William…
This article, which appeared under the title “Gone to the Movies” in the Canadian Jewish Standard of March 14, 1935, tells the sad tale not only of the demise of the Standard Yiddish Theatre at Spadina and Dundas in Toronto, but of the Yiddish language in general across North America. Younger, more assimilated and acculturated…
From The Canadian Jewish Review, September 8, 1922. The popularity of the Jewish play in Toronto received a decided impetus with the formal opening of the Standard Theater on Wednesday. The theater was filled to capacity at this, the first Yiddish presented in Toronto in some years. The audience was more than agreeably surprised on…
The Standard Theatre Successful Opening of New Yiddish Temple of the Drama Last Night The opening ceremony and initial performance at the Standard Theatre, the latest addition to the places of amusement of the city, passed off very successfully last night. His Worship the Mayor snatched a half-hour from his duties at the City Hall…
Boasting numerous gems of Georgian architecture, this hilly, former spa town, set in the Peak District of the English Midlands, has been recognized since Roman times for its warm mineral springs — as musicians who venture into the orchestra pit of the Buxton Opera House know only too well. Alec Guiness, Laurence Olivier, Anna Pavlova…
The November 29 (1993) issue of Time Magazine featured a likeness of the founder of psychoanalysis on its cover with the caption, “Is Freud dead?” in conscious parody of the magazine’s well-remembered “Is God Dead?” cover of April 1966. Inside, several articles asserted that recent chemical discoveries and psychoanalytic treatment modalities of dubious value have…
Note: this compendium of Canadian Jews in the arts appeared in a special supplement of the Canadian Jewish News in 2005. * * * Jewish poets were composing lines and Jewish painters composing scenes long before Canada was founded; and, as evidenced in the Canadian Jewish New’s weekly Eye on Arts column, there is no…
It’s been more than 40 years since comedy writer Mel Brooks first conceived of the idea for what would become The Producers, the $10-million musical that opened December 11, 2003 at Toronto’s Canon Theatre, courtesy of real-life theatre producers Ed and David Mirvish. In town for the opening, Brooks appeared on stage at the show’s…
