Green, Joseph

(Józef Grinberg, 1900-1996)

   A Polish-born Jewish American film director, producer, and distributor. Joseph Green is responsible for some of the best-known examples of Yiddish cinema produced in Poland prior to 1939, which depict Jewish life in Eastern Europe. Educated in Berlin, he toured Europe with the Vilna Troupe. In 1924 he moved to New York and then to Hollywood where he became interested in cinema. His career started with distribution of American-made Yiddish films in Poland. Later he invested his talent into Yiddish films made on location in Poland, mostly for the American market, with the participation of Polish/ Jewish and American/Jewish talent, as well as Polish filmmakers. Between 1936 and 1939, he produced four films, beginning with a well-received musical comedy Yiddle with His Fiddle (Yidl mitn fidl, 1936) with the Jewish American actress Molly Picon and codirected by Green and a Polish director, Jan Nowina-Przybylski. This film tells the story of a girl (Picon) dressed as a boy fiddler and three other klezmorim (musicians) touring the Jewish quarters of small Polish towns. The list of Green's successful productions also include The Purim Player (Purimszpiler, 1937), codirected with Jan Nowina-Przybylski; after Nowina-Przybylski's death, Little Mother (Mamele, 1938), codirected with Konrad Tom; and A Letter to Mother (A brivele der mamen, 1938), codirected with Leon Trystan. Before the outbreak of World War II, Green returned to the United States.

   Historical Dictionary of Polish Cinema by Marek Haltof