Biography
Born in Pitava, Russia to Saul and Chaya Shamus Charsky. Her mother died when she was young and she immigrated to America with a sister in the early 1880s to join her father and older sister Jennie Charsky at the Rosenheym Jewish agricultural colony in New Jersey. She then developed an interest in singing and acting. Under the stage name May Arno, she traveled as an actress and singer with a theater company in the early years of the twentieth century. May's older sister Jennie married Dr. Charles Spivak and the couple moved to Denver, Colorado in 1896 for Jennie's health. May Arno married Jacob Marinoff, who was Superintendent of the JCRS in 1906, but they were divorced. May Arno then married Dr. Herman Schwatt, who served as the Medical Superintendent of the Jewish Consumptives' Relief Society (JCRS) from 1910 to 1915 and a few years after Dr. Spivak's death in 1927. While in Denver, May Arno opened the May Arno School of Music and Drama, a dramatic school for children, wrote articles and performed at JCRS and many functions in the Denver community. She died in February 1968.
Found in 6 Collections and/or Records:
Item
Identifier: B296.01.0001.00002.00023
Abstract
Newspaper clipping of a photograph of a traveling theater company's performance at the Jewish Consumptives' Relief Society (JCRS) in August 1929. Caption misidentifies director Maurice Schwarz's New York company, the Yiddish Art Theatre, as the [by-then defunct] Jewish Art Theatre. JCRS Sanatorium superintendent Herman Schwatt, M.D. is shown in the upper row, second from left. The newpaper clipping is from the Jewish Daily Forward, and was found in a scrapbook created by singer and actor...
Dates:
1929 August 4
File
Identifier: B420.01.0001.0003
Abstract
Folder contains a photograph of Jacob Marinoff and May Charsky; a copy of a marriage certificate between Jacob Marinoff and May S. Charsky in Denver, County of Arapahoe, dated January 31, 1898; and a copy of the naturalization application of Jacob Marinoff dated September 25, 1898.
Dates:
1893-1970
Collection
Identifier: B420
Abstract
Jacob Marinoff was a founder and the first superintendent of the JCRS Sanatorium in 1906. He served as the field secretary for four years, doing press and propaganda work in Yiddish. He was also involved in The Sanatorium, a journal from the JCFRS Press and Propaganda Committee. Jacob Marinoff was born in Russia in 1869 and immigrated United States in 1893. He came to Denver in 1895. He married May Charsky, the sister-in-law of Dr. Charles Spivak, in 1899. They were divorced and Jacob...
Dates:
1893-1970
File
Identifier: B002.05.0360.0013
Abstract
May Arno Charsky immigrated to America in the 1880s and developed an interest in singing and acting. Under the stage name May Arno, she traveled as an actress and singer with a theater company in the early years of the twentieth century. May Charsky married Dr. Herman Schwatt in New York City (NY), who served as the Medical Superintendent of the Jewish Consumptives' Relief Society from 1910 to 1915 and a few years after Dr. Spivak's death in 1927. While in Denver May Arno Schwatt opened a...
Dates:
1928-1930
Collection
Identifier: B296
Abstract
May Arno Schwatt was born in Pltava, Russia to Saul and Chaya Shamus Charsky. May Arno Charsky immigrated to America in the 1880s and developed an interest in singing and acting. Under the stage name May Arno, she traveled as an actress and singer with a theater company in the early years of the twentieth century. May Charsky married Jacob Marinoff, who was the Superintendent at JCRS in 1906. After divorcing, she married Dr. Herman Schwatt, who served as the Medical Superintendent of the...
Dates:
1911-1930
Item
Identifier: B296.01.0001.00001.00036.00001
Abstract
May Arno Schwatt and her traveling theater company. May Arno Schatt was the sister-in-law of Dr. Charles Spivak, a founder and executive director of the Jewish Consumptives' Relief Society (JCRS). Schwatt and her theater company performed at the JCRS. She was born in Pitava, Russia to Saul and Chaya Shamus Charsky. Her mother died when she was young and she immigrated to America with a sister in the early 1880s to join her father and older sister Jennie Charsky at the Rosenheym Jewish...
Dates:
1914
