GUTMAN, CHAIM

GUTMAN, CHAIM ("Der Lebediker"/"The Lively One"; 1887–1961), Yiddish humorist and theater critic. Born in Petrikov (Belorussia), he immigrated to the U.S. in 1905, where he became successful as a writer of epigrams and sketches for numerous periodicals, particularly the humorous journals Der Kibetser and Der Kundes (which he later edited), and wrote humor columns, as well as theater reviews, for New York Yiddish dailies. His language was rich, vivid, and colloquial, an American East-Side Yiddish employing some Anglicisms for local color. His sketches Azoy hot geret Pompadur ("Thus Spake Pompadour," 1918), were followed by seven more humorous collections. A two-act comedy Meshiekh oyf Ist Brodvey ("Messiah on East Broadway") was occasionally staged. His sketches enriched the repertoire of Yiddish comedians for several decades. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Rejzen, Leksikon, 1 (1926), 544–9; LNYL, 2 (1958), 177–80; A. Mukdoni (ed.), Zamelbukh… Der Lebediker (1938). (M.Rav./ Jerold C. Frakes (2nd ed.)