Playwright. Last name also spelled Hirshbein. A Polish Jew who later settled in the United States, he wrote his works in Yiddish. His plays were sentimental folk dramas about Jewish village life in Eastern Europe at the turn of the 20th Century. The most popular among them, "Raisins and Almonds" (1915) and "The Green Fields" (1916), are considered classics of the Yiddish Theatre and are still in the international repertory. "The Green Fields" was produced as a film in 1937, co-directed by Edgar G. Ulmer from a screenplay by the author. It was recently restored and is the best surviving example of early Yiddish-language cinema. Another Hirschbein script, "A Vilna Legend", was filmed in 1924 and also survives. Hirschbein was born in Klestchel near Grodno, Poland (now Hrodna, Belarus). He was associated with the Vilna literary group and in 1908 he founded the Jewish Theatre in Odessa. At the start of World War I he emigrated to New York City and began writing plays for the Folksbiene Yiddish Theatre, including "Downhill", "Where Life Ends", "Joel", "The Last One", "A Hidden Comer", "The Blacksmith's Daughters", "The Infamous", "The Haunted Inn", and "The Agreement". He also kept ties with his native Poland and oversaw several productions of his dramas there. In the early 1940s Hirschbein moved to Los Angeles, where he scripted one feature, "Hitler's Hangman" (1943), and may have done uncredited work in government propaganda films. He died at 67 of Lou Gehrig's Disease.
Playwright. Last name also spelled Hirshbein. A Polish Jew who later settled in the United States, he wrote his works in Yiddish. His plays were sentimental folk dramas about Jewish village life in Eastern Europe at the turn of the 20th Century. The most popular among them, "Raisins and Almonds" (1915) and "The Green Fields" (1916), are considered classics of the Yiddish Theatre and are still in the international repertory. "The Green Fields" was produced as a film in 1937, co-directed by Edgar G. Ulmer from a screenplay by the author. It was recently restored and is the best surviving example of early Yiddish-language cinema. Another Hirschbein script, "A Vilna Legend", was filmed in 1924 and also survives. Hirschbein was born in Klestchel near Grodno, Poland (now Hrodna, Belarus). He was associated with the Vilna literary group and in 1908 he founded the Jewish Theatre in Odessa. At the start of World War I he emigrated to New York City and began writing plays for the Folksbiene Yiddish Theatre, including "Downhill", "Where Life Ends", "Joel", "The Last One", "A Hidden Comer", "The Blacksmith's Daughters", "The Infamous", "The Haunted Inn", and "The Agreement". He also kept ties with his native Poland and oversaw several productions of his dramas there. In the early 1940s Hirschbein moved to Los Angeles, where he scripted one feature, "Hitler's Hangman" (1943), and may have done uncredited work in government propaganda films. He died at 67 of Lou Gehrig's Disease.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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