To most Americans Yiddish is the language that has given us such great words as “k’vetching” (complaining), “meshugeh” (crazy), and of course the incomparable “oy vey iz mir” (woe is me). But Yiddish Is much bigger than a language -- it’s representative of a culture, a feeling and the rich ethnicity of a people who have known great pain and great joy in the course of their history and lives.

As an expression of those lives, Yiddish theater was one of the traditions that came over with thousands of Jewish immigrants who traveled from Central Europe to America, helping them to anchor their old culture in their new home. Performers became stars in their local communities and then branched out into the national and international circuit.

Multi-talented Pesachk’e Burstein was one of those stars. A stand-up performer - like Milton Berle, Jack Benny, and George Burns -- he delighted audiences around the world with his snappy song and dance routines, his acting, and as a kicker – his trademark whistling. The only difference was he did all of this in Yiddish.

“The Komediant” is director Arnold Goldfinger’s and screenwriter Oshra Schwartz’s fond, kitschy homage to the legendary Burstein and his acting family –- wife Lillian Lux, and son and daughter Michael Burstyn and Susan Burstein Roth -- as they criss-crossed the globe bringing their own brand of Yiddish humor and theater to eager fans.

“The Komediant” is a light, yet engrossing piece. Lux, now in her eighties, does a great combination act as narrator, Jewish grandmother and subject – taking us through a film that is part biography, part entertainment and part history.

Much of the footage dates from the late 40’s through the ‘60’s when Yiddish theater was still popular. We visit 2nd avenue in New York, something of a Yiddish Hollywood, complete with Graumann-style stars in the side walk. We find out about the fearsome Yiddish acting mafia, who could vote you on or offstage no matter how well you performed. We learn why the formation of the state of Israel has actually contributed to the demise of Yiddish. Throughout are pieces from the Burstein/Lux acting and family life. The material was collected from a number of sources -- home movies, old films, archival footage of the Bursteins and other Yiddish acts – and is well-edited into a quilt-like structure

Particularly effective is a series of dramatic black and white scenes intercut with the rest of the film. In many of these, Burstein is solo on stage and it is here that his charisma is most apparent. He acts, sings, or banters with the audience. “I’m a komedianchik,” he laments as he saunters like Chevalier across the stage – “known to all. Barefoot and tattered, ridiculed and despised…”

Contrary to his words, Burstein was of course anything but. Much loved, he died in 1986 after a seventy year career in the business. Toward the end of the film his remaining brood visits his grave. “All my friends are here,” Lillian Lux gestures, pointing to the cheek to jowl headstones of deceased Yiddish actors in a theatrical section of a Queen’s cemetery. As they close the gates in the last scene you can almost hear them singing one of the songs from “The Komediant” one last time “Let’s sing Jews!… Let’s sing brothers!….Let’s dance together!”