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.

Melanie Lewis's Oral History

Melanie Lewis—great-niece of Yiddish actor and founder of the NYC Yiddish Art Theatre Maurice Schwartz—was interviewed by Christa Whitney on January 7th, 2019, at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts.

This interview was conducted in English.

Melanie Lewis was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1949.

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Video highlights from this oral history

The Early Life of Maurice "Moishe" Schwartz

4 min 57 sec

The Life of an Actor: Family and Personality

4 min 1 sec

Marinating in Jewish Culture: Life in Brooklyn

1 min 21 sec

The Hollywood Blacklist: Animosity and Censorship During the McCarthy Era

3 min 28 sec

Medicating Away Creativity: A Retrospective on the Life of the Artist

2 min 39 sec

Answers to the Present from Lessons of the Past

2 min 26 sec

Artifacts related to this oral history

John Wexley

Yiddish Art Theater Program

"Three Gifts" Cast List English

"Three Gifts" Cast List Yiddish

Sam H. Harris Theater Program

Maurice Schwartz

"The Last Mile"

John Wexley

Maurice Schwartz's Parents

More information about this oral history

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