Theatre Register

Irving Jacobson

Shows · Irving Jacobson

Actor 1898–1978 On stage 1963–1972

Irving Jacobson (June 18, 1898 – December 17, 1978) was a Yiddish theater star, American stage and film actor. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to actors Joseph and Bessie Jacobson, his brother was Hymie Jacobson and his sister Henrietta Jacobson, who married Julius Adler. Irving played juvenile roles in Pinkhas Thomashefsky's troupe and later appeared in films by Sidney Goldin. He performed two years with Goldenburg at Philadelphia's Garden Theater and toured Paris and Rumania with May Shoenfeld in 1929. He and his brother Hy Jacobson co-wrote the novelty number A Bisl Fefer, A Bisl Zalts (A little pepper, a little salt), recorded by Pesach Burstein. As the comic character Schnitz'l Putz'l (Schept…

On stage 3 productions, 9 years

1963 Enter Laughing Henry Millers Theatre · Original · directed by Gene Saks 419 perf.
1965 Man of La Mancha ANTA Washington Square Theatre · Original · directed by Albert Marre 2,328 perf.
1972 Man of La Mancha Vivian Beaumont Theater · Revival · directed by Albert Marre 140 perf.

Each row is a staging this name appears in the cast list of, read from the production record rather than from the person record. The person record names works instead, and a work cannot say which run somebody was in — that is how Elaine Stritch ends up filed under Show Boat 1927 when she was in the 1994 revival. No row here says what part was played, because no cast list records it.

Worked with more than once12 names

Ted Forlow 2 productions
Shev Rodgers 2 productions
Robert Rounseville 2 productions
Robert Cromwell 2 productions
Rita Metzger 2 productions
Richard Kiley 2 productions
John Aristides 2 productions
Joe Lorden 2 productions
Joan Diener 2 productions
Jeff Killion 2 productions
Hector Mercado 2 productions
Fernando Grahal 2 productions

Both names in the same cast list, more than once. It is not evidence of a partnership — a long-running company puts the same forty people together every night — but it is where one would start looking. 8 of these names are not links because we hold no record behind them; the name is set from the identifier and its punctuation may be wrong.

In the literature3 passages

  • Closed Oct. 21, 1972 after 140 performances. For original production, see THEATRE WORLD, Vol. 22. Irving Jacobson was to have opened as Sancho, but an accident prevented his rejoining the original cast.theatre-pdfs/Theatre World/Theatre World, 1972-73 Season, v. 29 (Willis).txt
  • Top Right: Richard Kiley, Irving Jacobson (in previews) Below: Joan Diener, Richard Kileytheatre-pdfs/Theatre World/Theatre World, 1972-73 Season, v. 29 (Willis).txt
  • on. . .,” “Good Woman of Setzuan,” “The Contractor,” “Ice Age.” No reported survivors. IRVING JACOBSON, 80, Cincinnati-born star of Yiddish theatre for more than 20 years, died Dec. 17, 1978 in NYC. He had appeared in over 50 Yiddish productions, and on Broadway in “Enter Laughing,” “So Long 174th Street” and “Man of La Mancha” for over 7…theatre-pdfs/Theatre World/Theatre World, 1978-79, v. 35 (Willis).txt

Passages naming this person, found by keyword across 178 books. A keyword match is not a biography, and a common name will pull in the wrong one.

What this page does not know

  • What this person played. No cast list we hold records a character against a performer.
  • Any portrait. 1,626 of 7,139 people have one, so this is the usual case rather than the exception.
  • Which of the credits above the roles on this record — actor — apply to. The roles sit on the person and never on a credit, so a director who also acted looks the same here as one who did not.

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