Reuben Doctor
{{Short description|Yiddish actor and songwriter}}
File:Portrait of Reuben Doctor.jpg
Reuben Doctor or Rubin Doctor ({{langx|yi|רובין דאקטער}} or {{lang|yi|רובין דאקטאר}}, {{circa}} 1880 – c. 1940) was an actor of the Yiddish Theater, best known as a prolific writer of Yiddish songs during the early Twentieth century. His most well known song was his 1922 piece, "Ikh bin a "boarder" bay mayn vayb'' ("I'm a Boarder at My Wife's").{{cite web |last1=Levin |first1=Neil W. |title=Doctor, Reuben |url=https://www.milkenarchive.org/artists/view/reuben-doctor/ |website=Milken Archive of Jewish Music |accessdate= June 13, 2020}}
Early life
Doctor's father was a kosher meat tax collector, and until the age of fourteen he had a traditional Jewish education in a Cheder.{{cite web|title=Museum of Family History|url=http://www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/yt/lex/D/doctor-rubin.htm |website=www.museumoffamilyhistory.com |accessdate=13 June 2020}} At some point in the 1890s, possibly 1896, he emigrated to England, where he began his involvement in the musical theater while supporting himself as a hairdresser.{{cite web |url=https://www.jewishlivesproject.com/profiles/rubin-doctor |website=jewishlivesproject.com |accessdate=June 13, 2020 |language=en|title=Jewish Lives Project}} He met many of the actors in the London Yiddish Theater milieu and eventually made his debut as the character Marcus in Abraham Goldfaden's The Sorceress.{{cite web |url=http://www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/yt/lex/D/doctor-rubin.htm |website=museumoffamilyhistory.com |accessdate=June 13, 2020|title=Museum of Family History}}
Musical career
Around 1908 or 1910, Doctor relocated to the United States, where some of his family members were already living, and began to see real success in the musical theater, and especially as a Yiddish language songwriter.{{cite web
|title=Rubin Doctor
|url=https://www.jewishlivesproject.com/profiles/rubin-doctor |website=jewishlivesproject.com |accessdate=June 13, 2020 |language=en}} His compositions were used in the Yiddish musical theater, vaudeville, radio, and commercial recordings.{{cite web |title=GREAT SONGS OF THE YIDDISH STAGE, VOL. 1|url=https://www.naxos.com/mainsite/blurbs_reviews.asp?item_code=8.559405&catNum=559405&filetype=About+this+Recording&language=English |website=naxos.com |accessdate=June 13, 2020}} He published at least 100 songs and recorded more than 50.{{cite web |url=https://www.jewishlivesproject.com/profiles/rubin-doctor |website=jewishlivesproject.com|title=Biodata |accessdate=June 13, 2020 |language=en}} Although he is less remembered for these, he apparently wrote plays as well, such as Der kales kind ("the Bride's Child") in 1912.{{cite news |title=קלינטאָן טהעאטער |url=http://jpress.org.il/Olive/APA/NLI_heb/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=TJM%2F1912%2F12%2F15&id=Ar00701&sk=3791DC07 |accessdate=21 June 2020 |work=jpress.org.il |agency=Morgn-zhurnal |date=December 15, 1912}}
For a time he was also active in union politics, as in 1919 he was listed as the secretary of the American Hebrew Vaudeville Actors Union.{{cite news |title=אַמעריקאַן היברו וואָדוויל עקטאָרס יוניאן |url=http://jpress.org.il/Olive/APA/NLI_heb/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=DWT%2F1919%2F02%2F16&id=Ar00212&sk=8E0E9541 |work=jpress.org.il |agency=Di Varhayt |date=February 16, 1919}}
File:Rubin Doctor portrait from score cover of A Yidish Lidele.jpg
Doctor died around 1940 in New York City, although the exact date is disputed.
External links
- [https://www.loc.gov/collections/yiddish-american-popular-sheet-music/?fa=contributor:doctor,+rubin&q=Doctor Rubin Doctor pieces in the Library of Congress Yiddish American Popular Sheet Music collection]
- [http://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-no2004-18046/ Rubin Doctor holdings in WorldCat]
- [https://rsa.fau.edu/album/3228 A 78rpm recording of Reuben Doctor from 1908] on the Florida Atlantic University site
References
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Category:People from Edineț District
Category:Yiddish theatre performers