di tsvey kuni-lemels

Last week, my friends, Jenny and Cliff, invited me over to watch an Israeli documentary The Komediant about the Burstein family of Yiddish entertainers: Pesach [1896–1986], his wife Lillian Lux [1918–2005], and their twin children Mike Burstyn and Susan Burstein-Roth [1945– ]. It was fun, and upon arriving home that evening I’d read through the film’s website and the relevant Wikipedia articles. Seeing that an autobiography had been written in 1980 in Yiddish, I pointed Firefox at Henry Hollander’s online bookstore and ordered a copy of geshpilt a lebn (What a Life!). It arrived yesterday, and I immediately noticed two things: the tipped-in photos of Pesachke and Lilian, and the inscription to the book’s previous owner, Freydele Oysher [1913–2004]. What fun! Now if I could just find a copy of Shnei Kuni Lemel to viddy well I’d be happy.