Pesach Burstein

Pesach Burstein
Burstein and his wife Lillian Lux
Born	April 15, 1896 Pułtusk, Poland
Died	April 6, 1986 United States

Pesach "Peishachke" Burstein (April 15, 1896 – April 6, 1986) was a Polish-born American comedian, singer, coupletist, and director of Yiddish vaudeville/theater. His wife Lillian Lux, and son Mike Burstyn are also actors.

Born in Pułtusk, then in Congress Poland, in the Russian Empire (today, in Poland), Burstein was called Pesach-ke due to his birth on Passover. In 1901 he moved with his family to Berdiansk (Ukraine), where his father ran a clothing store. He ran away from home as a teenager to join a traveling Yiddish theatrical troupe. He was arrested as a spy by Russians during World War I. He never again saw his parents, who were beaten and killed in a robbery in Minsk, as they were traveling back to Poland in 1921.

Brought to the United States in 1923 by Boris Thomashefsky and signed to a 20-year recording contract by Columbia Records, he is well-remembered for singing "Odessa Mama" and the Yiddish version of "Sonny Boy". There is a common myth that this recording was made same day, in the same studio and with the same orchestra that Jolson had just used, but the Burstein waxing was made some time after the million-selling Jolson recording. In addition, Jolson was an exclusive Brunswick artist, whilst Burstein recorded for Columbia, on its Green Label ethnic series. Jolson was accompanied by the Brunswick studio orchestra, under the direction of Gus Haenschen. The (considerably smaller) studio orchestra accompanying Burstein was probably a sub-group of the National Theater pit orchestra, under the baton of Joseph Rumshinsky. An impressive stage whistler and actor-director of the popular A Khasene in Shtetl (A Wedding in the Village) act with his entire family.