Osip Dymov

• Name — Osip Dymov • Native Name — * Осип Дымов • אָסיפּ דימאָוו • Birth Name — Osip Isidorovich Perelman • Born — 17 February 1878 • Birthplace — Białystok, Grodno Governorate, Russian Empire • Died — 2 February 1959 • Place of death — Manhattan, New York, US • Relatives — Yakov Perelman (brother) • Education — Imperial Forestry Institute, 1902 • Citizenship — American (from 1926) • Children — 1

Dymov was born Osip Isidorovich Perelman on in Białystok, Grodno Governorate (present-day Poland). Dymov's father came from Germany, and died when he was quite young. Dymov was the elder brother of the popular-science writer Yakov Perelman. Educated at a Russian-language gymnasium, Dymov larter studied at the Imperial Forestry Institute graduating in 1902. At the age of 16 he began to publish humorous stories in Russian satiric journals. At that time he took the pen name 'Osip Dymov', from the character in Anton Chekhov's short story "The Grasshopper" (1892), and continued to write under that name throughout his career. He emigrated to the United States in 1913, at the invitation of Yiddish actor and theatre director Boris Thomashefsky, and subsequently became known for his contributions to Yiddish theatre. Among his most popular plays are Yoshke Musikant (Yoshke the musician; 1914) and Bronx Express (1919). The latter play had its premiere in 1919 in a Yiddish translation, at the Jewish Art theatre of Jacob Ben-Ami; it was later translated into English and performed at the Astor Theatre on Broadway, in 1922, to mixed reviews. From 1927 to 1932 Dymov lived in Germany.

Dymov was first married to Irene Grune Dymow (1886–1924), a physician, with whom he had one daughter. On 6 March 1929, Dmyov married Anna Dymov (born 1894) in Prague. Dymov became a naturalized US citizen on 15 April 1926. On 2 February 1959 Dymov died in Manhattan aged 80.