this month I've been working my way through the members of the Progressive Musical Benevolent Society (mutual aid society from New York City for mostly klezmer musicians & some others) trying to find out who they were. this guy seems like a cool dude, Jack Zimbler (1891–1965), drummer from Bukovina. no guarantee he was a #klezmer musician (this group also contained some theatre & classical musicians) but it's likely.
I found a photo of him on newspapers.com heh. the question was whether Supreme Court justices should have mandatory retirement ages. from the NY Daily News, Feb 26 1936.
I poked around in the records today and I've sorted out that the union musician Zimblers in NYC back then are the families of two violinists from Przemyśl, Galicia: Benjamin (born 1881) and Leopold/Lipa (born 1853). Not clear yet what the relation is between the two families.
So far the only other musicians from Przemyśl I have on my list of NY musicians are some Kestenbaums (eg. Jacob, b. 1887, who became an orchestra violinist in NY). And some of the Zimblers married Kestenbaums on both sides of the ocean I think, something else to sort out🥺
Jack Zimbler was the son of Leopold/Lipa, but clearly indicates he was born in Bucovina, which is a few hundred km from Przemyśl... that kind of layover in another district isn't unheard of in klezmer families, not because of the "itinerant musician" thing which is a myth, but due to opportunities.
the fact that there were two different/competing Zimbler klezmer families in NYC both from Przemyśl makes it hard to know which one was playing events like this (a 1911 Fancy and Sensational Ball by the Przemyśler Young Mens and Young Ladies Progressive Association). If another ad has a first name, or even an initial it can definitely make one option more likely, though not proof.
🕵️old klezmers🎻