The Yiddish Book Center's

Wexler Oral History Project

A growing collection of in-depth interviews with people of all ages and backgrounds, whose stories about the legacy and changing nature of Yiddish language and culture offer a rich and complex chronicle of Jewish identity.

Gloria Weiner Weiss's Oral History

Gloria Weiner Weiss, z"l, former Yiddish child actress on the radio and stage, was interviewed by Christa Whitney on November 21, 2017 in Manchester, Connecticut.. Gloria's parents were from neighboring small towns in Russia and married when they came to America. Gloria believes that her maternal grandfather was killed in a pogrom. She describes her tailor father's quiet personality and her mother's more gregarious one. They shared a house with her aunt's family in the Roxbury section of Boston; the cousins were basically raised as siblings. Reminiscing about her childhood reminds Gloria how much she will miss her only sister, who died recently at age ninety-nine. She reads a short eulogy that she wrote for her sister's shive (period of mourning). Gloria grew up in a traditional Jewish home, and she recalls the little velvet pouch that visiting friends and family filled with coins for her during Hanukkah. Her mother wanted her children to know Yiddish and value Yiddishkayt, unlike other immigrants who valued assimilation above all else. Her family spoke Yiddish at home and Gloria and her sister attended the Arbiter Ring folkshule after a full day at the Girls' Latin School. When Gloria was three, a customer of her father's tailor shop asked her parents to let her try out for a Yiddish radio show. She auditioned with 100 other children and was chosen for the part. Although she did not find performing especially exciting, she was compliant and proficient at reading Yiddish scripts. Gloria sings some of the jingles she sang advertising salami and cream cheese. She remembers with more pleasure going with her mother to the Museum of Natural History and riding the swan boats in the Public Gardens in between shows. Gloria talks about the Boston Jewish immigrants' love for Yiddish theater and her role as "Baby Weiner" in various plays that the New York troupes brought to Boston and other New England cities. She would play to sold-out houses. Gloria remembers meeting Molly Picon and the Adlers. Her last time on stage was playing Miss New Year in 1937. She describes the exaggerated and often oversentimental nature of the genre and did not miss the theater when she decided to quit. Decades later Gloria compiled theater programs, preparing to give a talk to a Hadassah group; she is sorry that her mother didn't save many theater posters or other memorabilia. She is not sure why her mother encouraged her to participate in these performances but believes that it was one way of responding to the disappearance of Yiddish and Yiddishkayt. While Gloria never wanted a life on the stage, she enjoys reminiscing and credits her experience with making her comfortable speaking to large groups.

This interview was conducted in English.

Gloria Weiner Weiss was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1926. Gloria Weiner died in 2020.

Artifacts related to this oral history