Yetta Dorothea Geffen (December 10, 1891 – May 21, 1986), also known as Jetta Geffen Mirkil, was an American musician, journalist, and publicist. She went to Europe after World War I to entertain the troops, playing violin in an all-female quintet sponsored by the YMCA.
Geffen was born in Boston and raised in New York City, the daughter of Charles Geffen and Vera Schneirova Geffen. [1] [2] Her parents were Russian Jewish immigrants. [3] Her father was a painter and a musician. She attended Wadleigh High School for Girls, [4] and trained as a musician at the Institute of Musical Art under Frank Damrosch. [5]
Geffen was a member of the editorial staffs at the New York Press and the Washington Times. [6] She also contributed to the New York Tribune, Musical Courier, [7] The Theatre, [8] and The Musical Observer. [9] She often interviewed musicians and actors, but she also covered the women's suffrage movement, [10] and public health reforms. [11]
In 1916 she appeared in period costume for the Civil War segment of the Great Pageant at Yale. [12] [13] In March 1918 she was a judge at a costume ball in Greenwich Village. [14] In 1919 she was traveling with D. W. Griffith as his press representative. [5] [15] She toured post-war Europe in 1919, playing violin as part of a YMCA-sponsored musical quintet called "Just Girls". [15] [16] She wrote from Europe, "Paris may face a coalless winter and New York begins to look very good to me." [17]
Geffen was also an actress, [18] and did publicity for the Greenwich Village Theatre. [19] In 1925, Geffen was managing director of the Richard Mansfield Players in New London, Connecticut. [20] [21] She managed the Fifth Avenue Playhouse in Greenwich Village in 1926. [22]
Geffen married Hazelton Mirkil, a Philadelphia attorney and World War I veteran, in 1935. [2] He died by suicide a few months later. [30] Her inheritance from his estate was a matter for the courts. [31] [32] She died in 1986, at the age of 94, in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. [33]
Yetta Dorothea Geffen (December 10, 1891 – May 21, 1986), also known as Jetta Geffen Mirkil, was an American musician, journalist, and publicist. She went to Europe after World War I to entertain the troops, playing violin in an all-female quintet sponsored by the YMCA.
Geffen was born in Boston and raised in New York City, the daughter of Charles Geffen and Vera Schneirova Geffen. [1] [2] Her parents were Russian Jewish immigrants. [3] Her father was a painter and a musician. She attended Wadleigh High School for Girls, [4] and trained as a musician at the Institute of Musical Art under Frank Damrosch. [5]
Geffen was a member of the editorial staffs at the New York Press and the Washington Times. [6] She also contributed to the New York Tribune, Musical Courier, [7] The Theatre, [8] and The Musical Observer. [9] She often interviewed musicians and actors, but she also covered the women's suffrage movement, [10] and public health reforms. [11]
In 1916 she appeared in period costume for the Civil War segment of the Great Pageant at Yale. [12] [13] In March 1918 she was a judge at a costume ball in Greenwich Village. [14] In 1919 she was traveling with D. W. Griffith as his press representative. [5] [15] She toured post-war Europe in 1919, playing violin as part of a YMCA-sponsored musical quintet called "Just Girls". [15] [16] She wrote from Europe, "Paris may face a coalless winter and New York begins to look very good to me." [17]
Geffen was also an actress, [18] and did publicity for the Greenwich Village Theatre. [19] In 1925, Geffen was managing director of the Richard Mansfield Players in New London, Connecticut. [20] [21] She managed the Fifth Avenue Playhouse in Greenwich Village in 1926. [22]
Geffen married Hazelton Mirkil, a Philadelphia attorney and World War I veteran, in 1935. [2] He died by suicide a few months later. [30] Her inheritance from his estate was a matter for the courts. [31] [32] She died in 1986, at the age of 94, in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. [33]