Seymour Rexite
Seymour Rexite (January 18, 1914 – October 14, 2002), originally Shayele Rechtzeit, was a Polish American singer and actor. He was a significant figure in Yiddish theatre in the United States, and with his wife Miriam Kressyn he performed on the radio over four decades, performing pop standards in Yiddish. He also served as president of the Hebrew Actors' Union.Born in Piotrków Trybunalski, Congress Poland, and a child prodigy, Rexite immigrated to the United States in 1920, along with his father, a cantor, and his older brother Jack Rechtzeit, an actor and songwriter. Several years later, immigration quotas prevented Rexite's mother and other siblings from emigrating from Poland, so Rexite sang a song, which his brother Jack had composed, before President Calvin Coolidge which so moved that he granted them entry visas.
At age 13, he took over the lead in the Yiddish musical ''The Rabbi's Melody'' when 30-year-old Ludwig Satz left to play in ''Potash and Perlmutter'' on Broadway. Unlike Satz, who had been a grown man playing a teenage boy, he was the actual age of the character. He later starred in ''The Song of the Ghetto'' at a theatre on Second Avenue in the Yiddish Theater District opposite the famous soprano Isa Kremer. He first appeared on the radio, singing in Yiddish, in 1927. In the 1930s he flirted with crossover success, performing with The Dorsey Brothers in late-night shows at Billy Rose's Casino de Paree, but decided to focus on the Yiddish-language side of his career.
He married Miriam Kressyn, another star of the Yiddish stage, in 1943. The two had a long-running radio program on WEVD radio, performing Yiddish translations of pop music standards (largely their own translations of everything from Irving Berlin to ''Man of La Mancha'') as well as songs written in his native language.
Kressyn died at age 86 in 1996; they had no children. Rexite died in 2002 in New York City. The couple is buried under the family name Rechtzeit in Block 67 of Mount Hebron Cemetery. This section is reserved for those who were part of New York Yiddish theater and is maintained by the Yiddish Theatrical Alliance. Provided by Wikipedia
-
1
This item is not available through BorrowDirect. Please contact your institution’s interlibrary loan office for further assistance.Audio -
2
This item is not available through BorrowDirect. Please contact your institution’s interlibrary loan office for further assistance.Audio -
3by Rechtzeit, Seymour, 1908-2002
Published 1930
This item is not available through BorrowDirect. Please contact your institution’s interlibrary loan office for further assistance.Audio -
4by Rechtzeit, Seymour, 1908-2002
Published 2003
This item is not available through BorrowDirect. Please contact your institution’s interlibrary loan office for further assistance.Electronic Book -
5by Rechtzeit, Seymour, 1908-2002
Published 1973
This item is not available through BorrowDirect. Please contact your institution’s interlibrary loan office for further assistance.Audio -
6
This item is not available through BorrowDirect. Please contact your institution’s interlibrary loan office for further assistance.Kit -
7by Rechtzeit, Seymour, 1908-2002
Published 1960
This item is not available through BorrowDirect. Please contact your institution’s interlibrary loan office for further assistance.Audio -
8by Rechtzeit, Seymour, 1908-2002
Published 1940
This item is not available through BorrowDirect. Please contact your institution’s interlibrary loan office for further assistance.Audio -
9by Rechtzeit, Seymour, 1908-2002
Published 1930
This item is not available through BorrowDirect. Please contact your institution’s interlibrary loan office for further assistance.Audio -
10by Rechtzeit, Seymour, 1908-2002
Published 1940
This item is not available through BorrowDirect. Please contact your institution’s interlibrary loan office for further assistance.Audio -
11by Rechtzeit, Seymour, 1908-2002
Published 1997
This item is not available through BorrowDirect. Please contact your institution’s interlibrary loan office for further assistance.Audio -
12by Rechtzeit, Seymour, 1908-2002
Published 1930
This item is not available through BorrowDirect. Please contact your institution’s interlibrary loan office for further assistance.Audio -
13by Rechtzeit, Seymour, 1908-2002
Published 1930
This item is not available through BorrowDirect. Please contact your institution’s interlibrary loan office for further assistance.Audio -
14by Rechtzeit, Seymour, 1908-2002
Published 1960
This item is not available through BorrowDirect. Please contact your institution’s interlibrary loan office for further assistance.Audio -
15by Rechtzeit, Seymour, 1908-2002
Published 1930
This item is not available through BorrowDirect. Please contact your institution’s interlibrary loan office for further assistance.Audio -
16by Rechtzeit, Seymour, 1908-2002
Published 1940
This item is not available through BorrowDirect. Please contact your institution’s interlibrary loan office for further assistance.Audio -
17by Rechtzeit, Seymour, 1908-2002
Published 1991
This item is not available through BorrowDirect. Please contact your institution’s interlibrary loan office for further assistance.Audio -
18by Rechtzeit, Seymour, 1908-2002
Published 1960
This item is not available through BorrowDirect. Please contact your institution’s interlibrary loan office for further assistance.Audio -
19by Rechtzeit, Seymour, 1908-2002
Published 1930
This item is not available through BorrowDirect. Please contact your institution’s interlibrary loan office for further assistance.Audio -
20by Rechtzeit, Seymour, 1908-2002
Published 1940
This item is not available through BorrowDirect. Please contact your institution’s interlibrary loan office for further assistance.Audio