Frank Seiden (אפרים זײדען, Efraim Zeyden) (July 20, 1860 – May 16, 1931), who sometimes went by the stage name Professor Seiden, was a professional magician, Badchen, vaudeville entertainer, barber, and Yiddish-language recording artist of the late 1800s and early 1900s. He recorded almost 200 Wax cylinder and 78-rpm releases for Columbia, Victor, and Berliner.[1]

Biography

Little is known about Seiden's early life. He was born Efraim Seiden in Galicia, Austria-Hungary on July 20, 1860.[2][3][4] His parents were Jacob and Clara (Chaje) Seiden.[5] He emigrated to the United States in 1877.[2][6][7] His first decade there is poorly documented, but he married his wife Rachel in November 1883 and became a naturalized citizen in 1886.[2] During the 1880s and 1890s he often worked as a barber, opening various shops in the Lower East Side on Ridge Street, Chrystie Street, and Willett Street.[8][9]

By the late 1880s Frank was increasingly known as an entertainer and magician. It is unclear when he started performing magical acts, but an 1889 advertisement calls him the "Prof. Seiden, Austrian Prestidigitateur (the pupil of old Hermann)."[10] Herrmann presumably refers to Alexander Herrmann, one of the first modern magicians, who was living in New York city and Boston during this era. It is unclear if they had any actual relationship.

Frank became known as a street magician, fire eater, Punch and Judy man, and ventriloquist.[11][12] By the late 1880s, he was running a bar in the Bowery, and later another one in a Tenement building at 122 Attorney Street.[13][14] He tutored Max Malini in magic and entertainment around 1887, who would go on to greater fame than Seiden.[14] But at the time of his apprenticeship, Malini was often reduced to working in Seiden's restaurant or performing on street corners with him.[15][16] Seiden is thought to have been present at the founding of the Society of American Magicians in New York in 1902.

Professor Seiden poster c.1890

At the turn of the century Seiden became involved in the recording industry; in the 1900 census he listed his occupation as "phonograph dealer."[6] In 1901 he made his first Wax cylinder recordings of Yiddish songs for Columbia, becoming one of the first Jewish recording artists in the United States, alongside William Dory, Solomon Smulewitz, and a handful of other pioneers.[1] As technology evolved, he started recording discs for Columbia, Edison, and Victor, and by the middle of the decade had recorded more than two hundred.[1] He was in the very first round of foreign language performers ever released by Columbia Records.[17] His output consisted of folk songs, Yiddish Theatre songs, comic scenes, and religiously-themed content, often with basic piano accompaniment.

By 1905 Seiden had mostly moved on from music recording to running early Nickelodeon theaters. He applied his skills in vaudeville and singing to the new medium; he would start the film and sing along with the show.[18] The comedian George Burns worked in Frank's theater at 66 Columbia street in around 1905 and described it in his memoir as a noisy place where the adjacent Billiards hall often drowned out the act.[19] Burns described how Frank, Joe and Jacob would narrate the dialogue in the films, first in English and then again later in Yiddish.[19] After 1910 the Seiden family relocated around the corner to the Willott Street Theater in the Lower East Side, which they ran until around 1915.[20][21][22] He still performed during this time, as in the 1910 census he listed his occupation as vaudeville entertainer.[7] Later in that decade, as his sons Jacob and Joseph became involved in silent film production (rather than mere exhibition), Frank had some involvement as a member of their production companies, such as Teeaness Film Co., founded in 1916.[23]

By the 1920s Seiden may have retired from entertainment. He listed his occupation on the 1920 census as "none".[24] He died at the Montefiore Hospital on May 16, 1931.[25][26][3] He was buried at Mount Carmel Cemetery.[27]

Personal life

Seiden's wife Rachel (née Lack) was also born in Galicia. They were married in New York in 1883 and had a number of children including Jacob (born 1884), Eva (born 1886), Amalia (born 1888), Annie (born 1890), and Joseph (born 1891 or 1892).[28][6] In 1893, while Seiden was on tour in New Jersey, an accident with fire in the family apartment caused the death of Annie, then three years old.[29][30] Of his children, Joseph Seiden became the most well known for his work in the Yiddish-language film industry, first as a cameraman in the 1910s and then as a producer and director in the 1930s and 1940s. Joseph's older brother Jacob was also involved in the film industry in the 1910s and later.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Sapoznik, Henry (1999). Klezmer! : Jewish music from Old World to our world. New York: Schirmer Books. p. 62. ISBN 9780028645742.
  2. 1 2 3 "Frank Seiden New York Naturalization Index (Soundex), 1792-1906". FamilySearch. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  3. 1 2 "Frank Seiden in the New York, New York, U.S., Index to Death Certificates, 1862-1948". Ancestry Library. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  4. ↑ "Joseph Or Josef Seiden. United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925". FamilySearch. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  5. ↑ "Frank Seiden. New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949". FamilySearch. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  6. 1 2 3 "1900 United States Federal Census for Frank Leiden". Ancestry Library. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  7. 1 2 "Frank Seiden. United States Census, 1910". FamilySearch.
  8. ↑ "Brooklyn Ny City Directory 1885-1886". Old Fulton New York Postcards. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  9. ↑ "Brooklyn Ny City Directory 1892-1894". Old Fulton New York Postcards. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  10. ↑ "Advertisement. PROF. SEIDEN". The New York Clipper. 1889-12-28.
  11. ↑ Howard, Ryan (2013). Punch and Judy in 19th century America : a history and biographical dictionary. Jefferson: McFarland & Co., Publishers. p. 208. ISBN 9781476601540.
  12. ↑ Blaine, David (2002). Mysterious stranger. London: Channel 4. p. 34. ISBN 9780752219899.
  13. ↑ "Brooklyn Ny City Directory 1889-1890". Old Fulton New York Postcards. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  14. 1 2 Jay, Ricky (1987). [0709031505 Learned pigs & fireproof women]. Hale. pp. 85–7. ISBN 0-7090-3150-5. {{cite book}}: Check |url= value (help)
  15. ↑ DeVillo, Stephen Paul (7 November 2017). The Bowery : the strange history of New York's oldest street. New York, New York: Skyhorse. p. no page numbers in ebook. ISBN 9781510726871.
  16. ↑ Price, David (1985). Magic : a pictorial history of conjurers in the theater. New York: Cornwall Books. p. 251. ISBN 9780845347386.
  17. ↑ "Columbia Repertoire History: Foreign Language Recordings - Discography of American Historical Recordings". adp.library.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  18. ↑ "Sang to save his life from mob". New York Evening World. 1908-05-18.
  19. 1 2 Burns, George (1955). I Love Her, That's Why! an Autobiography. Simon and Schuster. p. 14. ISBN 9781456636425.
  20. ↑ Goldman, Eric A. (1983). Visions, images, and dreams : Yiddish film past and present. Ann Arbor, Michigan. p. 61. ISBN 9780835715157.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  21. ↑ "Empire State Exhibitors Hold Convention". Motion Picture News. 1914-06-20.
  22. ↑ "East Side Flat Sales. Willett Street". The New York Sun. 1915-02-28.
  23. ↑ "New Corporations". Motion Picture News. Motion Picture News, inc. 1916-08-19.
  24. ↑ "Frank Seiden. United States Census, 1920". FamilySearch. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  25. ↑ "Frank Seiden (Unknown-1931) - Find A Grave..." Find a Grave. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  26. ↑ "Frank Seiden Buried". The Film Daily. 1931-05-19.
  27. ↑ "Hold Seiden Rites". Motion Picture Herald. 1931-05-23.
  28. ↑ "Rachel Lack. New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1940". FamilySearch. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  29. ↑ "A CHILD'S TRAGIC DEATH". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1893-07-25.
  30. ↑ "Burned in a feather bed". The New York Sun. 1893-07-26.
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