{"id":2124,"date":"2012-06-11T09:25:06","date_gmt":"2012-06-11T09:25:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/faujsa.fau.edu\/blog\/?p=2124"},"modified":"2026-02-04T20:40:37","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T20:40:37","slug":"aaron-lebedeff-yiddish-comedy-super-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/collections\/judaic-collection\/aaron-lebedeff-yiddish-comedy-super-star\/","title":{"rendered":"Aaron Lebedeff: Yiddish comedy super-star"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" src=\"http:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Lebedeff.jpg\" alt=\"Album Cover of Aaron Lebedeff Sings Rumania, Rumania and more\" class=\"wp-image-2128\" title=\"Lebedeff\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Lebedeff.jpg 250w, https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Lebedeff-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Album Cover of Aaron Lebedeff Sings Rumania, Rumania and more<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/aaron-lebedeff\"><strong>Aaron Lebedeff<\/strong><\/a> was a Yiddish theater super star whose popularity among Jews during the 1920s and 1930s made his name a household word.&nbsp; More than 80 years before performers could go viral on the internet, Lebedeff was making a name for himself by driving audiences wild with his energetic and exuberant live performances. He was a super-star, like Mick Jagger, who was able to excite audiences and leave them wanting more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His devil-may-care free spirit, love of life and allusions to sensual delights helped to create his exciting persona.&nbsp; Whether dressed in traditional Russian garb and boots or formal attire with straw hat and cane, his dynamic presence always kept him the center of attention. He understood nostalgia for the <em>shtetl <\/em>and was able use it to rouse his audiences&#8217; emotions. His best known recording,<strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=zKMiEB-xEoY\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Roumania, Roumania<\/em><\/span><\/a><\/strong>, was originally released in 1925. His second version, recorded with Sholem Secunda and Dave Tarras in 1941, became a best-selling Yiddish recording during the 1940s and still brings a smile to almost everyone who hears it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because the JSA has received more copies of this recording than any other single 78 rpm disc, we regularly play it on our vintage 1924 Victrola for guests who visit us at FAU&#8217;s Wimberly Library in Boca Raton, FL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/album\/1609\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Hot Dogs and Knishes!<\/em><\/span><\/a><\/strong> is a comic ditty with a catchy chorus that even includes a barking dog. Hot dogs and knishes, romance and Coney Island &#8230;.. you can almost smell the nostalgia. Lebedeff&#8217;s output of records was prolific. He recorded for Emerson, Brunswick, and Vocalion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><object width=\"560\" height=\"315\" classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" codebase=\"http:\/\/download.macromedia.com\/pub\/shockwave\/cabs\/flash\/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0\"><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\"><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\"><param name=\"src\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/LoxAbgrh7mo?version=3&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0\"><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\"><embed type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/LoxAbgrh7mo?version=3&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/object><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" src=\"http:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Lebedeff-2nd-ave.jpg\" alt=\"Album Cover of Aaron Lebedeff on 2nd Avenue\" class=\"wp-image-2130\" title=\"Lebedeff 2nd ave\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Lebedeff-2nd-ave.jpg 250w, https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Lebedeff-2nd-ave-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Born in Homel, White Russia, in 1873, Lebedeff made his NYC debut in October 1920 at Thomashevsky\u2019s National Theater, located at Second Avenue and Houston Street on New York\u2019s Lower East Side.&nbsp; He was an instant sensation! His success and popularity grew throughout the 1920s and 1930s. During the 1940s and into the 1950s his career continued to thrive though revivals. He continued to perform until his death in 1960.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Judaica Sound Archives has created this special <a href=\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/aaron-lebedeff\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Lebedeff online collection<\/span><\/a> just for you!&nbsp; It contains three LPs produced by Collectors Guild and ten songs recorded on 78rpm which are in the public domain. Users of the Judaica Sound Archives Scholars Research Station have access to 186 songs on 78 rpm discs and 12 LP albums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/aaron-lebedeff\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Click here<\/span><\/a> to listen to songs in the JSA online collection by Aaron Lebedeff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Aaron Lebedeff was a Yiddish theater super star whose popularity among Jews during the 1920s and 1930s made his name a household word.&nbsp; More than 80 years before performers could go viral on the internet, Lebedeff was making a name for himself by driving audiences wild with his energetic and exuberant live performances. He was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[737,413],"tags":[65,73,126,189,323,377],"class_list":["post-2124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-collections","category-judaic-collection","tag-1920s","tag-aaron-lebedeff","tag-collectors-guild","tag-hot-dogs-ad-knishes","tag-rumania-rumania","tag-yiddish-theater"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Aaron Lebedeff: Yiddish comedy super-star - Recorded Sound Archives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover Aaron Lebedeff, the Yiddish comedy super\u2011star, with historic recordings and laughs from the Recorded Sound Archives\u2019 Judaic Collection.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/collections\/judaic-collection\/aaron-lebedeff-yiddish-comedy-super-star\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Aaron Lebedeff: Yiddish comedy super-star - 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