MICHAEL MENDELSON, who played Max Eisenstein in “Address Unknown,” discusses the play with Millie Miller, left, and Mildred Pick.
Manor residents recall ‘Address Unknown’ publication
By Amy Kaufman
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Many of the Rose Schnitzer Manor residents who attended the Aug. 3 performance of “Address Unknown,” adapted for the stage by Frank Dunlop, had read the original 1936 story by Katherine Kressman Taylor, which warned millions of Americans of the impending Holocaust.
Mary McDonald-Lewis, co-artistic director of Readers Theatre Repertory, said her group was “blessed to be joined by the Oregon Holocaust Resource Center, particularly angels Miriam Greenstein and Fern Winkler Schlesinger, who were absolutely crucial” in bringing the play to the Winningstad Theater for a two-week full-scale production, followed by the staged reading at the Rose Schnitzer Manor.
Schlesinger, who is the president of the OHRC and a board member of Cedar Sinai Park, said she and Greenstein negotiated the reading “as a gift to the residents who I knew should be able to see the play [at the Winningstad], but many would not be able to attend for health reasons or due to performance times.”
Acclaimed actors Tobias Anderson and Michael Mendelson donated their time for the reading and the ensuing discussion, in which an audience of 60 participated, Scheslinger said.
“Address Unknown” first appeared in Story magazine under the name Kressman Taylor, a masculinized version of the author’s name.
Story printed 100,000 copies of the issue and “immediately sold out,” according to McDonald-Lewis, who provided background on the Portland native.
“Reader’s Digest then reprinted it.” The story has been translated into 10 languages and is still available in book form.