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Joseph Opatoshu
JOSEPH OPATOSHU (1886-1954) was a Polish-born Yiddish novelist and short story writer. He was born on January 1, 1886 as Yosef Meir Opatowski to Jewish parents, Dovid and Nantshe near Mława, Congre...view moreJOSEPH OPATOSHU (1886-1954) was a Polish-born Yiddish novelist and short story writer. He was born on January 1, 1886 as Yosef Meir Opatowski to Jewish parents, Dovid and Nantshe near Mława, Congress Poland. His father, a wood merchant, came from a Hasidic family and had become a Maskil. He sent Yosef to the best Polish schools in the country and, at the age of 19, Yosef went to study engineering in Nancy, France. Privation sent him to the United States in 1907, where he settled in New York City and changed his name to Joseph Opatovsky, later taking the professional name of Joseph Opatoshu. His novels included From the New York Ghetto (1914), Alone: Romance of a Forest-Girl (1918) and Hebrew (1919). One of his novels, Romance of a Horsethief (1917) became the basis of a film released in 1971, directed by Abraham Polonsky, and starred Yul Brynner as Captain Stoloff, Eli Wallach as Kifke, Jane Birkin as Naomi, and Opatoshu’s son, David Opatoshu, who also wrote the screenplay, as Schloime Kradnik. Opatoshu died in New York City on October 7, 1954, aged 68.
ISAAC GOLDBERG (1887-1938) was an American journalist, author, critic, translator, editor, publisher, and lecturer. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he studied at Harvard University and received a BA degree in 1910, a MA degree in 1911 and a Ph.D. in 1912. He traveled to Europe as a journalist during WWI writing for the Boston Evening Transcript. He wrote biographies of H. L. Mencken, Havelock Ellis, W. S. Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, and George Gershwin, books on theatrical and musical appreciation, and contributed articles for many magazines. He also founded, published, and edited a monthly news magazine called Panorama. He was fluent in Yiddish, Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Portuguese and translated a variety of literary works into English. He was also a lecturer on Hispanic literature at Harvard University from 1931-1932. Goldberg passed away on July 14, 1938.view less