Re: Thomashevsky

[TTova <TTova...>]

I worked with Michael Tilson Thomas in San Francisco premiering his grandmother bessie' Thomashevsky's songs. We premiered three of them with a 17 piece orchestra giving much attention to the original orchestrations...
The stories Michael told of his grandparents were earthy, randy,  hair raising and outrageous....
what a legacy...
I believe Michael is  in the preplanning of a movie about their lives...



On Nov 23, 2003, at 4:53 PM, Trudi Goodman wrote:

> Translates just fine.
>
> A rumor in the Yiddish Theatre was that Thomashevsky had so many illegitimate children that they could form a fan club. Usually his current mistress(and often their child/children) would sit in one of the front row seats of any house he was in.
>
> P.S. Michael Tilson Thomas...the conductor is his grandson.
>
> Trudi
>
> >From: Lori M Simon
> >Reply-To: jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org
> >To: World music from a Jewish slant
> >Subject: Thomashevsky
> >Date: Sun, 23 Nov 2003 15:54:16 -0500
> >
> >Friends,
> >
> >I thought I'd share this story with you. An older friend of mine, Mabel
> >Snyder (nee Fenster), grew up in the Yiddish Theater in Cleveland and
> >from time to time tells me stories. Today she shared this gem with me.
> >Boris Thomashevsky was in town doing Grine Felder and little Mabel was
> >sitting in the prompter's box, where she liked to watch from.
> >Thomashevsky played a coal miner and in the opening scene he walked down
> >into his basement apartment, covered in coal dust, face black, and
> >prepared for himself a glezele tey (glass of tea). Since the glass would
> >have been hot, he took a towel and wrapped it around the glass...and
> >wrapped it around the glass, and wrapped it around the glass. He was
> >making such a big deal about the wrapping. Now Mabel's father had warned
> >her.that Thomashevsky was an alcoholic, like Barrymore, and when he was
> >drunk he was magnificent onstage, sometimes improvising great things,
> >improved in artistry, so everyone watched quietly to see what he would
> >do. When nothing was forthcoming but the towel shtik, the house started
> >whispering and tittering because he had been sitting for such a long time
> >doiing the pantomime with the towel. Quietly, to the prompter he said,
> >"Momzer, gib mir a vort!" The first two rows and the orchestra pit heard
> >and were hysterical, but the rest of the house had no idea what was going
> >on. They just thought here was the great Thomashevsky, hamming it up
> >with a shtick, but really it was the drunk Thomashevsky who had forgotten
> >his line and said, "Bastard, give me a word!" Dosn't translate as well,
> >but there ya go.
> >
> >Lorele
> >
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