Menasha Skulnik

Menasha Skulnik (May 15, 1890 – June 4, 1970) was an American actor born in Warsaw, Poland, who built his reputation primarily through Yiddish theater in New York City while also establishing a significant presence on radio, television, and Broadway between 1953 and 1965.

Skulnik immigrated to the United States in 1913, and after his arrival joined a Yiddish stock company in Philadelphia, where Molly Picon was among his fellow performers. His physical characteristics — a height of 5'4", a high nasal voice, and distinctive mannerisms — suited him naturally to comic roles. The New York Evening Journal dubbed him the "East Side's Chaplin" in 1935. Skulnik himself drew a clear distinction between his stage persona and that of Charlie Chaplin, describing his own character as a pure schlemiel with no larceny, in contrast to what he saw as Chaplin's slightly wily fool.

On radio, Skulnik was widely recognized for playing Uncle David on The Goldbergs, a role he held for nineteen years. He also appeared on television, including in Menasha the Magnificent in 1950.

His Broadway career spanned from 1953 to 1965 and included five productions. He starred in The Fifth Season in 1953 and in Clifford Odets's The Flowering Peach in 1954. Skulnik took the lead in Uncle Willie in 1956, followed by The 49th Cousin in 1960 and Harold Rome's The Zulu and the Zayda in 1965.

Skulnik collapsed during a dress rehearsal in New Haven, Connecticut, while preparing a production for Broadway, and died several weeks later on June 4, 1970, in New York City. He is buried in the Yiddish theater section of Mount Hebron Cemetery.