Ida Kaminska and Meir Melman

Title: Ida Kaminska and Meir Melman

Inclusive Dates: 1960s-1980

ID: RG 994

Extent Information

4'2.5"; 8 5"lgl; 2 2.5"lgl; 2.5"high; 1 3"ovr

Creators

Kaminska, Ida and Melman, Meir (1899-1980;?-1978)

Administrative/Biographical History

Ida Kaminska: Leading Yiddish actress in theater and film. Daughter of Esther Rachel Kaminska. Together with her husband, Kaminska established the Warsaw Jewish Art Theater in the inter-war period. Artistic director of the Jewish State Theater in Poland after World War II. Toured Israel, Europe, North and South America with this company. Nominated for an Oscar for her role in the film "Shop on Main Street", 1967. Meir Melman: Husband of Ida Kaminska. Yiddish stage actor. Member of the Vilna Troupe and the Warsaw Art Theater, before 1939. Managing director of the Jewish State Theater of Warsaw. At the outbreak of World War II, Ida Kaminska and Meir Melman fled Warsaw for the Soviet Union. They returned to Poland after the war and immigrated to the U.S. in 1969.

Subjects (links to similar collections)

Film and Cinema
Poland
Theater
United States
Women and Women's Organizations

Forms of Material (links to similar genres)

Documents - Papers

Administrative Information

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Description: The papers pertain predominantly to Ida Kaminska's theatrical career in the United States until her death. A smaller proportion of materials pertains to the pre-1969 period when Mrs. Kaminska and Mr. Melman lived in Warsaw and led the Esther Rachel Kaminska Jewish State Theater in Poland. The collection consists of photographs, letters, telegrams, clippings, awards, notes, personal documents and includes materials pertaining to: the stage production of "Mother Courage" by Bertold Brecht; "Sore-Sheindel from Yehupetz" by Joseph Lateiner; "Mirele Efros" by Jacob Gordin; materials about the film "Shop on Main Street" and the TV production "Mandelstam's Witness" (CBC, 1975). Correspondence of Mr. Melman as director of the Jewish State Theater in Warsaw. Photographs taken at the 50th anniversary memorial service for Esther Rachel Kaminska in Warsaw, 1975. Obituaries and condolences on Meir Melman's death in November, 1978.