Sidney M. Goldin

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Sidney M. Goldin (born March 25, 1878 as Samuel Goldstein in Odessa , † September 19, 1937 in New York ) was an American author, actor and director of the Yiddish theater and as director, screenwriter and producer one of the most important representatives of the Yiddish film . He started his career in Europe and continued it in the USA. He often worked with the actors Molly Picon , Maurice Schwartz and Ludwig Satz .

The early years

Goldin, the son of a businessman, probably came to the USA with his parents in July 1880 and remained in New York (first place of residence) for the next 39 years without interruption.

Goldin attended a public school, worked as a newspaper seller and was interested in the theater. From 1895, when he first appeared in a play in Baltimore according to the Lexicon of the Yiddish Theater , he gained his first professional experience as a stage assistant and small actor at East Coast theaters and for two years at the Essanay film studios in Chicago . He was naturalized on March 25 or April 1900.

In 1912 Goldin began making films in New York. His contacts with Jewish stage actors made it easy for him to find the ideal cast for his Yiddish-language productions. He successfully directed several detective films before he made five films with a specific Jewish theme in 1913 - and thus became the first film director specializing in Jewish content almost overnight. On the one hand, the films tie in with pogrom dramas in Yiddish theater ( The Sorrows of Israel ), tell of life on the Lower Eastside ( The Heart of a Jewess ), focus on the question of the identity of Jewish immigrants ( Nihilist Vengeance ) or draw historical attention Compare medieval Poland and contemporary New York as havens of security from persecution. The films received mostly positive reviews. Moving Picture World, for example, was enthusiastic about the authenticity of the story set in the Lower East Side , The Heart of the Jewess [...] The Yiddish newspaper Teater un Moving Pikshurs ('Theater and Film') declared Goldin to be ' first and leading producers of Jewish films'. "

On June 28, 1919, he left the USA for the first time and embarked for England, with the intention of working there as "Kino Director & Director", as he wrote half in German and half in English on an application form. Goldin stayed in London between July 6, 1919 and May 24, 1920 and directed a few films there. Then he moved to Prague , where he has been proven since June 23, 1920. Apparently he returned to the USA in between, but Goldin returned to Europe in October 1920.

At the height of your career

Since he settled in Vienna in December 1920 or the end of March 1921 , Goldin made several films of his own in the years to come (Goldin film): a melodrama with Magda Sonja ( her past ), a drama with the very young Anny Ondra ( Do not lead us into temptation ), a villain story with Ondra discoverer Karel Lamač ( Guard your daughters ), as well as two partly dramatic, partly comedic life stories from the Eastern Jewish milieu ( East and West and Jiskor ).

Goldin was given a solemn reception in Vienna, and his way of working met with great interest among Viennese colleagues. In 1921, the actor Franz Höbling reported in the magazine Die Filmwelt about the collaboration with Goldin: “With kindness, loving patience, calmness, he plays to his artists, he, who speaks only a few words of German, transmits with an incredible artistic Sensitivity, feeling and wanting to his actors and technical staff and all of us, including some watching directors, were happy to be his students. "

Some of these films starred Molly Picon from New York's Yiddish Art Theater and were mostly co-produced by Goldin's production company with Austrian companies such as Marischka-Film, Listo-Film , Astoria-Film and Jüdische Kunstfilm . The comedy East and West told of dealing with tradition and assimilation in Jewish families. The New York film company Picon-Film of the leading actress was also involved in its creation. During this time Goldin also collaborated with other members of the New York Yiddish Art Theater around Maurice Schwartz and the Picon husband Jacob Kalich - Goldin had already filmed with the couple in New York - but also with the Hungarian-Jewish actor Oskar Beregi , who had already made a name for himself as a film actor in Budapest. In between (from December 21, 1923) Goldin stayed again briefly in New York. His various applications for an American passport (1919–1922) suggest that he intended to visit France, the Netherlands, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Italy and Switzerland for professional reasons.

In November 1924 he married the young actress from the Free Jewish People's Theater , Betty Gärtner (born 1904) in Vienna . Since the end of January 1925, he made several flying visits to Warsaw and Germany from Vienna . On October 14, 1925, Goldin returned to New York for good. He moved to Hollywood , where he was signed by AB Studios . With his next film, On the Mountains , he nearly bankrupted his employer as the film was both artistically and commercially a failure. From then on he worked for independent producers. The films made from 1929 onwards already had sound.

The late years

After the film East Side Sadie (1929), with his wife in the lead role, Goldin went to New York, where he made Yiddish-language sound films from then on. These works can be seen as important documents of an (East) Jewish culture that has now disappeared. His last film was The Cantor's Son (1937). During a stay in Easton , Goldin's heart disease, from which he had suffered (at the latest) since 1923, became acute. He died while filming at the French Hospital in New York. This work, a story from the cantor milieu, was completed by Ilya Motyleff.

Some of his films have survived, restored by the National Center for Jewish Film at Brandeis University , and released on DVD with English subtitles, including East and West , Jiskor, and The Cantor's Son .

Filmography

Films directed by Sidney Goldin, unless otherwise stated. If known, the Yiddish title (if this is not the original title), the country of production and the running time are given in brackets. Most of the time Goldin wrote the scripts for his films himself. Goldin also produced some films, and he also appeared in some, although this is not specifically stated here.

Short films :

  • 1912: A Western Child's Heroism (as Sidney M. Golden)
  • 1912: The Adventures of Lieutenant Petrosino
  • 1913: The Heart of Jewess
  • 1915: The Period of the Jew (as Sidney M. Golden)
  • 1915: The Jewish Crown (as Sidney M. Golden)
  • 1915: Hear Ye, Israel (USA)
  • 1915: The Last of the Mafia (USA)
  • 1915: What Might Have Been (USA, as Sidney M. Golden)
  • 1915: The Hunchback's Romance (US, as Sidney M. Golden)
  • 1915: When the Call Came (US, as Sidney M. Golden)
  • 1915: Billy's College Job (USA)
  • 1916: Oh! What a Whopper! (USA, as Sidney M. Golden)
  • 1918: It Can't Be Done (USA, as Sidney M. Golden)
  • 1918: The Mysterious Mr. Browning (US, as Sidney M. Golden)
  • 1919: The Gates of Doom (Great Britain)
  • 1920: The Woman Hater (Great Britain)
  • 1920: The Bird Fancier (Great Britain)
  • 1929: Style and Class (USA)
  • 1929: The Eternal Prayer (USA)
  • 1930: Shoemaker's Romance (USA)
  • 1930: Sailor's Sweetheart (USA)
  • 1930: Oy, doctor! (UNITED STATES)
  • 1930: Kol Nidre (USA)
  • 1930: The Jewish Gypsy (USA)
  • 1931: Shulamith (USA, 46 min)
  • 1931: Feast of Passover (Di Seder Nacht) (USA, 15 min)
  • 1931: A Cantor on Trial (Chasn afn Probe) (USA, 11 min)
  • 1937: I Want to be a Border (Ich wil Sain a “Boarder”) (USA, as producer; Director: George Roland )

Feature films :

  • 1920: Tam na horách (Czech Republic)
  • 1921: your past (Austria / USA)
  • 1921: Do not lead us into temptation (Austria)
  • 1922: Guard your daughters (Austria)
  • 1923: East and West (Mizrekh un Mayrev) (Austria, 61 or 85 min)
  • 1924: Jiskor (Austria, 100 min)
  • 1929: East Side Sadie (USA, 60 min)
  • 1930: My Jewish Mother (USA, 60 min)
  • 1930: Eternal Fools (USA, 68 min)
  • 1931: His Wife's Lover (Sain Waibs Lubovnik) (USA, 80 min)
  • 1932: Uncle Moses (Uncle Moses) (USA, 80 min)
  • 1933: Yiskor (USA, 80 min)
  • 1933: Live and Laugh (USA, 60 min)
  • 1934: The Voice of Israel (USA, 93 min, documentary)
  • 1936: Love and Passion (Libe und Laidnschaft) (USA, as producer)
  • 1937: The Cantor's Son (USA, 90 min, direction with Ilya Motyleff)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ according to the film archive Kay Less , based on Goldin's passport application forms from 1919, 1920 and 1922. The date of birth March 28, 1877 is not applicable
  2. ↑ a b c d Nicolas Wolfinger: Sidney Goldin (1880–1937) - A Pioneer of Yiddish Film in Vienna, 1921–1924. ( Memento of the original from January 10, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.davidkultur.at archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in: David - Jüdische Kulturzeitschrift , No. 86, 09/2010
  3. ↑ according to film archive less, based on archival research in the USA (AMPAS documents) and in Vienna
  4. ↑ in other original documents the years 1881 and 1883 are also given
  5. ↑ according to different US documents
  6. ↑ Teater un Moving Pikshurs, 1914, quoted from: Jim Hoberman: Bridge of Light. Philadelphia: Temple University Press 1995, p. 34; quoted from: "David", No. 86
  7. ↑ According to the Department Passport Application, issued by the American Consulate at Vienna on September 18, 1922
  8. ↑ according to US document
  9. ↑ a b according to registration documents of the City of Vienna
  10. ^ Die Filmwelt , No. 10, May 20, 1921, pp. 3f .; quoted from: "David", No. 86
  11. ↑ "[...] suffered from a severe heart condition.", See: Die Filmwelt , No. 16, August 3, 1923, p. 14 .; quoted from: "David", No. 86
  12. ^ "Sidney M. Goldin; Motion Picture Director Became Ill While on Location." New York Times, September 21, 1937
personal data
SURNAME Goldin, Sidney M.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Golden, Sidney M.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American director of Yiddish film
DATE OF BIRTH March 25, 1878
PLACE OF BIRTH Odessa
DATE OF DEATH September 19, 1937
Place of death New York City