Bessie Thomashefsky
| Bessie Thomashefsky | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Briche Baumfeld-Kaufman 1873 Tarashche, Kiev province, Ukraine |
| Died | July 6, 1962 (age 89) |
| Other names | Bessie Baumfeld-Kaufman |
| Occupation | Stage actress |
| Spouse(s) | Boris Thomashefsky 1891-1939 |
| Children | Esther Thomashefsky 1889-1895 Harry Thomashefsky 1895-1993 Milton (Mickey) Thomashefsky 1897-1936 Theodore Hertzl Thomashefsky (later Ted Thomas) 1904-1992 |
Bessie Thomashefsky (1873 – July 6, 1962) was a Russian-born Jewish American singer, actress and comedian, a star in Yiddish theater beginning in the 1890s. She was the wife and stage partner of Boris Thomashefsky, the most popular Yiddish leading man of his era. Probably her most famous role was the title role of Oscar Wilde's Salomé at the People’s Theater in 1908.
She was born Briche Baumfeld-Kaufman in 1873 in Tarashche, Kiev province, Ukraine. Her family emigrated to America in 1879 and finally settled in 1883 near Baltimore. She attended school until she was 12 and then went to work in a stocking factory and a sweatshop.
In 1887, 14-year-old Bessie met her future husband when she went backstage at a Baltimore production of Aliles Dam ("Blood Libel") by a Yiddish touring company to meet the beautiful young "actress" she had seen on stage, only to discover that "she" was the 19-year-old Boris Thomashefsky, and that he was also the manager of the company. In 1888, Bessie ran away from home to join the Thomashefsky Players, and was given an starring in Abraham Goldfaden’s Shulamith, which was performed at the Boston Music Hall. Boris moved to romantic male leads.
In 1889, 16-year-old Bessie had a daughter, Esther, with Boris and in 1891 they were married. Esther died at the age of 6 of diphtheria. They also had 3 sons. Their first son, Harry, started acting at the age of 13 in the play The Pintele Yid (A Little Spark of Jewishness, 1909), became a director of the Federal Theater's Yiddish Theater Project and directed his father in films The Jewish King Lear (1934) and The Bar Mitzvah Boy (1935). Their second son, known as Mickey, took after his father's romancing ways and romanced 2 women at the same time which led to a dramatic murder-attempt/suicide in 1931, reminiscent of his Aunt Emma Thomashefsky Finkel's notorious 1904 affair. Both Mickey and his Aunt Emma were left paralyzed by the attempted murders by jealous mates and both later died of complications related to their wounds; Emma, many years later, in 1929, and Mickey in 1936. Their third son, Theodore, changed his name to Ted Thomas and became a stage manager. One of Ted Thomas's sons is the noted conductor Michael Tilson Thomas.
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