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“’Louis David Reingold”’ (1875-1944 ) was a Yiddish theatre playwright. Many of

his plays were performed on stages in New York and around the country. Some of

his plays are to be found in the Library of Congress, and in the New York Public

Library.

Early Life
He was born in 1875 (or perhaps in1874)  in a small town in Poland, variously

spelled Ciechanow, Czechanow,  or Tschekenov. His first name in Poland is

sometimes given as Eliezer or Ljetzokr. His last name, translated from Yiddish, is

Azharov Ozharov or Ozharov. His father, Rabbi of Cherpits, left around 1888 for

New York City to be the rabbi at a small temple in lower Manhattan. The family

followed a year later. According to Louis’s autobiography, handwritten in

Yiddish, the family took the name of Reingold since there were confusing

translations of the Polish-Yiddish name into English. As a playwright he

sometimes used the name Luis Rayngold.

According to his autobiography, his paternal grandfather was a Jewish advisor to

the Russian Tsar Alexander II, and was killed during the Polish uprising of 1863.

Louis married Esther Friedman July 4, 1897, whom he had met on a union protest

line. They had four children, one, Joseph, who changed the spelling of his name

to Rheingold. As a young adult, Louis worked in the New York area as a labor

organizer, trade unionist, and garment maker. Louis and Esther moved to Chicago

about 1900, but he returned often to New York.

Writing Career
Louis’s writing career started with skit writing and moved on to one-act plays.

These were for the Yiddish Theatre Company in Manhattan and also in

Brownsville in Brooklyn. After the move to Chicago he wrote short plays for

various theatre groups and organized Yiddish clubs, and helped establish a guild

and nursery home.

Around 1918, Louis began his career of writing full length plays which were

performed on the New York stage (and then often went on road trips). These

were said to often command full houses. The Yiddish theatre of the day has been

explained in detail in some books, such as “’Kanfer, Stardust Lost.’”  More than a

dozen plays are known. Much information about these productions comes from

Zalman Zylbercwieg’s Lexicon of Yiddish Theatre, who in turn obtained

information from the writings of Zalmen  Reisen (whose papers are in YIVO). ,,l

His plays were produced and directed by some well-known people at the time,

such as Jacob Adler and the Kalishes (Bertha and Shpechner). They also featured

such then well-known actors as the Thomashefskys (Boris and Bessie ), Molly

Picon, and Mooney Weisenfreund (Paul Muni). Many of the plays are billed as

musicals. The songs were more dropped in than part of advancement of the plot.

Most of the theatres were in lower Manhattan.

List of Plays
The best known of the plays all deal with the transition from the shtetl world of

the old country to life in America. These include:


 * “Sha, Sha, der Rebe Geht!” (“Hush, Hush the Rabbi’s Coming”) 1924. The

daughter is promised to marry a “fool from Chelm” but has a shiksa boyfriend.

Appeared at Elving’s Metropolitan Theatre, Barnard Elving director, Manhattan;

and on the road in Chicago and Detroit. (This is also the title of a song.)


 * “Tsuriene Hertser” (“Torn Hearts”) 1924. A wealthy man’s first wife, thought

dead in the war, returns, in time for their son’s Bar Mitvah. Later produced

under the name” Forgotten Children” at Lyrik Theatre in Brooklyn, and in Detroit.


 * “Di Zinke Neshome” (“Sinful Souls”) was performed 1917 in Gertners Pavillion

Theatre in Chicago. A similar play, “Neshome,” 1925. Yiddish Theatre Bureau;

ran in Rochester NY as a one act play in 1925.

These three play were submitted for copyright  and typscripts are in the Library

of Congress, in the Marwich collection.FN


 * “Kunst un Liebe” (“Art and Love”). Manuscript found  in Thomashefky

collection, New York Public Library.


 * “A Grus fun der Heim” (“Regards from Home” ) 1914. Produced by Jacob and

Liza Silbert, Hopkinson Theatre; later played at Lillian’s Lyric Theatre, Brooklyn.

Later reappeared as “Fargesene Froyen” (“Forgotten Wives”) in Toronto. (This is

also the title of a song.)


 * “Di Naye Velt” (“The New World”) was produced by Jacob P. Adler at the Grand

Theatre.


 * “Dos Milkome Kind” (“The Child of War”) starred Yakov Kalich and Dinah

Fineman in Boston, and also ran as “Malchurah Kind” in 1918, staged by Henry

Hochstein at Empire Theatre in Manhattan., and also in Chicago and other cities.


 * “Dr Idisher Velt Charban 1920. Ran three weeks in Lenox Theatre


 * “Der Eybiker Kamp” (“The Eternal Struggle”)


 * “Human Clay”


 * “The Jewish Gypsy”


 * “Zaynen Froyen Shuldik?” (“Are Women Guilty?”)


 * “Yidishe Velt Kjurbin”, 1919


 * “Di Tekfer fun Ukraine”r (Daughters of the Ukraine) 1918


 * “Bar Mitzvah”, Palace Theatre operetta

The first two plays listed have been translated into English and acted informally

by a group of descendants.

Other activities
Toward the end of his life, Reingold lived in Chicago and worked for the American

Jewish Congress as an administrator  of publicity, and also did philanthropic

work. Louis died August 27, 1944, and is buried with Esther in the Waldheim

Cemetery, Chicago.

Sources and bibliography

--Reingold, Life’s Story of Louis Reingold 1875-1925 (in Yiddish; it has been

translated for his family)

--Kanfer, Stefan, Stardust Lost (2006)

--Zylbercweig, Lexicon of the Yiddish Theatre (entry on Louis), vol.4, p. 3173.