History feature story

Lynbrook and Malverne's rich vaudevillian history

(Or, look what we found in the basement!)

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 Malverne has long laid claim to being a magnet to vaudevillians and actors, from the 1920s to the present. Indeed, some noted theatrical personalities have lived there, within easy commuting distance to showplaces in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Long Island.

One such nearby venue was the Lynbrook Theatre, built in 1923 as a vaudeville and silent movie house. The structure was recently demolished.

Malverne lays claim to vaudevillian Storm Bergh, who also played “Teddy Snow Crop” in orange juice ads. Frank Britton Wenzel, the originator of a unique American style of “slapstick” musical comedy also lived there. During Wenzel’s heyday, he ran the Brown Derby Restaurant in Malverne. In 1951, he became mayor of the village. Back in the day, famous vaudevillians such as Ole Olsen, Chic Johnson, and big band leader Ralph Flanagan were frequent visitors to Malverne. More recently, of course, we have entertainer Tony Danza, a graduate of Malverne High School.

 Thanks to an exciting discovery made a few weeks ago, we now know that Lynbrook had a vaudeville connection as well — and it’s not just because of the Lynbrook Theatre, but because of two former Lynbrook residents, Jack Kaufman (1853-1948) and his wife, Rosine.  This is how the discovery came about.

A discover in the basement

I got a call from an old friend, Art Tillman of Mattituck, on Long Island. He said that a Lynbrook homeowner had told someone who had told someone who had told him that there were some interesting drawings on the wall of a Lynbrook basement. The drawings appeared to be from the silent film era. Curious, I stopped by the house on Denton Avenue. The owner, Al Santini, was pleased to show me around. He grabbed a flashlight and led me down to the far reaches of his unfinished basement. And there they were, right in front of me: cartoon-like drawings of silent film star Rudolph Valentino as “The Sheik” and another of Fatty Arbuckle.  Santini had heard from neighbors that former owners of the house, twin girls with the last name Kaufman, were involved with vaudeville and that they had entertained famous people from the theater business. As Lynbrook’s historian, I had to get to the bottom of this.

A web search uncovered no “Kaufman Twins” in show biz, but my trip to the County Clerk’s Office in Mineola yielded a solid clue: the home on Denton Avenue had previously been owned by the twin’s parents, Jacob (Jack) and Rosine Kaufman. I found on the web that Jack Kaufman and his three brothers (Irving, Phil, and Izzy) were vaudevillians and recording stars for Victor Records. Moreover, Rosine had been an “English showgirl.” As a sign of the racist times of the 1920s, the Kaufman Brothers appear to have worked almost exclusively in black face, in the style of Al Jolson. Nothing more is known about Rosine, who acted under the stage name, Olive York.

Looking for some local connections, I examined some old Lynbrook news clippings that I had used for my book, “The History of Lynbrook.” On November 1, 1922, the lead article of Lynbrook’s “New Era” newspaper reported that Lynbrook High School’s auditorium had been full to overflowing the previous night. The event was a building fundraiser for The Hebrew Education Alliance of Lynbrook. The “hit of the evening” was the comedy and singing of the Kaufman Brothers – Jack (referred to as a “local resident”), and Irving. They were described as “big time talents,” and Victor (later called RCA-Victor) recording artists.

Lynbrook’s quintessential Irish cop, “Shorty” had joined the Kaufmans on stage.

 We may never know whether Rudolph Valentino or Fatty Arbuckle ever partied in the Kaufmans’ basement on Denton Avenue — but I do hope the future owners of the house on Denton Avenue will never paint that basement wall.

Art Mattson is an author and Lynbrook’s Village historian.