:Rudolph Marks
{{short description|American dramatist}}
Rudolph Marks (circa 1867–1930; born in Odessa,{{cite news |title=Rudolph Rodkinson, Lawyer, Dies at 63 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/59884673/?terms=%22Rudolph%2BMarks%22%2Bactor |accessdate=9 January 2019 |work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=7 May 1930 |page=12}} Russian Empire, as Max Radkisson and A.K.A. Rudolph Marks Rodkinson) was a playwright, songwriter, and comedian. He rivaled Sigmund Mogulesko in Yiddish Theater in New York City in the 1890s, but had a less enduring career.
Biography
Marks arrived in New York aged 19, having spent four years in England after leaving Russia. In New York, he appeared with the Thalia Theatre and the United Hebrew Opera Company. By 1893, he was described as a "well known and clever comedian",{{cite news |title=Hot Weather Entertainments - The Standard |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/168275031/?terms=%22Rudolph%2BMarks%22 |accessdate=9 January 2019 |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=11 June 1893 |page=11}} and was one of two contenders for the title of "most popular young actor" in a contest run by a New York newspaper.{{cite news |title=Picture and Name His Own |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/3750334/?terms=%22Rudolph%2BMarks%22 |accessdate=9 January 2019 |work=The World |date=30 December 1893 |location=New York, New York |page=9}} He wrote several plays in Yiddish, including The Bowery Tramp,{{cite news |title=Effort Toward Yiddish Theater |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/350214053/?terms=%22Rudolph%2BMarks%22 |accessdate=9 January 2019 |work=The Chicago Tribune |date=21 March 1901 |page=7}} "the great comedy success" Chaim in America,{{cite news |title=In the Theatres - Park Theatre |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/336133129/?terms=%22Rudolph%2BMarks%22 |accessdate=9 January 2019 |work=The Bridgeport Times and Evening Farmer |date=2 March 1911 |location=Bridgeport, Connecticut |page=5}} and The Shop Girl.{{cite news |title=Prager Operetta Company To-night |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/118919806/?terms=%22Rudolph%2BMarks%22 |accessdate=9 January 2019 |work=The Courier-Journal |date=25 January 1912 |location=Louisville, Kentucky |page=6}} By 1893, Marks had begun studying law at University of the city of New York, and was admitted to the bar in 1898. For some years, reports of court cases he appeared in described him as "better known as a writer of Yiddish plays and as an actor of Shakepearean parts in the Bowery theaters than as a lawyer".{{cite news |title=Value of Mrs. Eisenhofer |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/466293755/?terms=%22Rudolph%2BMarks%22 |accessdate=9 January 2019 |work=The Sun |date=27 July 1903 |location=New York, New York |page=14}} He died in Manhattan on 6 May 1930.
References
{{reflist}}
- Adler, Jacob, A Life on the Stage: A Memoir, translated and with commentary by Lulla Rosenfeld, Knopf, New York, 1999, {{ISBN|0-679-41351-0}}. 261.
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Category:American dramatists and playwrights
Category:Yiddish-language dramatists and playwrights
Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States
Category:American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent
Category:Yiddish theatre performers
Category:Year of birth uncertain
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