Seymour Rechtzeit

Seymour Rexite (January 18, 1914 – October 14, 2002), originally Shayele Rechtzeit, was a Polish American singer and actor. He was a significant figure in Yiddish theatre in the United States, and with his wife Miriam Kressyn he performed on the radio over four decades, performing pop standards in Yiddish. He also served as president of the Hebrew Actors' Union.

Born in Piotrków Trybunalski, Congress Poland, and a child prodigy, Rexite immigrated to the United States in 1920, along with his father, a cantor, and his older brother Jack Rechtzeit, an actor and songwriter. Several years later, immigration quotas prevented Rexite's mother and other siblings from emigrating from Poland, so Rexite sang a song, which his brother Jack had composed, before President Calvin Coolidge which so moved that he granted them entry visas.

At age 13, he took over the lead in the Yiddish musical The Rabbi's Melody when 30-year-old Ludwig Satz left to play in Potash and Perlmutter on Broadway. Unlike Satz, who had been a grown man playing a teenage boy, he was the actual age of the character. He later starred in The Song of the Ghetto at a theatre on Second Avenue in the Yiddish Theater District opposite the famous soprano Isa Kremer. He first appeared on the radio, singing in Yiddish, in 1927. In the 1930s he flirted with crossover success, performing with The Dorsey Brothers in late-night shows at Billy Rose's Casino de Paree, but decided to focus on the Yiddish-language side of his career.

He married Miriam Kressyn, another star of the Yiddish stage, in 1943. The two had a long-running radio program on WEVD radio, performing Yiddish translations of pop music standards (largely their own translations of everything from Irving Berlin to Man of La Mancha) as well as songs written in his native language.

Kressyn died at age 86 in 1996; they had no children. Rexite died in 2002 in New York City. The couple is buried under the family name Rechtzeit in Block 67 of Mount Hebron Cemetery. This section is reserved for those who were part of New York Yiddish theater and is maintained by the Yiddish Theatrical Alliance.

Birth and Death Data: Born January 18, 1908 (Piotrków Trybunalski), Died October 14, 2002 (New York City)

Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1925 - 1942

Roles Represented in DAHR: tenor vocal

Notes: Name also spelled on disc labels as Seymor Rechtzeit.

= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.

Recordings (Results 26-34 of 34 records)

Company Matrix No. Size First Recording Date Title Primary Performer Description Role Audio
Victor BS-068426 10-in. 11/26/1941 Yingele, nicht vein Abe Ellstein Orchestra ; Seymour Rechtzeit Male vocal solo, with instrumental ensemble vocalist, tenor vocal  
Victor BS-068427 10-in. 11/26/1941 Freilich sol sein Abe Ellstein Orchestra ; Seymour Rechtzeit Male vocal solo, with instrumental ensemble vocalist, tenor vocal  
Victor BS-068428 10-in. 11/26/1941 Philomar Abe Ellstein Orchestra ; Seymour Rechtzeit Male vocal solo, with instrumental ensemble vocalist, tenor vocal  
Victor BS-073718 10-in. 3/19/1942 Nit gedaiget Abe Ellstein Orchestra ; Seymour Rechtzeit Male vocal solo, with instrumental ensemble vocalist, tenor vocal  
Victor BS-073719 10-in. 3/19/1942 Meidele Abe Ellstein Orchestra ; Seymour Rechtzeit Male vocal solo, with instrumental ensemble vocalist, tenor vocal  
Victor BS-073720 10-in. 3/19/1942 Bist main kroin Abe Ellstein Orchestra ; Seymour Rechtzeit Male vocal solo, with instrumental ensemble vocalist, tenor vocal  
Victor BS-073721 10-in. 3/19/1942 Dem rebin's nigun Abe Ellstein Orchestra ; Seymour Rechtzeit Male vocal solo, with instrumental ensemble vocalist, tenor vocal  
Columbia W105973 10-in. approximately October 1925 Der Yidisher shtern (דער אידישער שטערן) Seymour Rechtzeit Male vocal solo, with orchestra vocalist, tenor vocal  
Columbia W106044 10-in. approximately November 1925 A briv fun a Khosid tsum rebn (אַ בריעף פון אַ חסיד צום רבי׳ן) Seymour Rechtzeit Male vocal solo, with orchestra vocalist, tenor vocal  
(Results 26-34 of 34 records)

Citation

Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Rechtzeit, Seymour," accessed March 28, 2024, https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/116690.

Rechtzeit, Seymour. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved March 28, 2024, from https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/116690.

"Rechtzeit, Seymour." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 28 March 2024.

DAHR Persistent Identifier

URI: https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/116690

Wikipedia content provided under the terms of the Creative Commons BY-SA license

Feedback

Send the Editors a message about this record.