Leo Rosten

Leo Calvin Rosten (April 11, 1908 - February 19, 1997) was born in Łódź, Russian Empire (now Poland) and died in New York City. He was a teacher and academic, but is best known as a humorist in the fields of scriptwriting, storywriting, journalism and Yiddish lexicography. Rosten was born into a Yiddish-speaking family in what is now Poland, but emigrated to the U.S. with his family in 1911 at age three. His parents were Samuel C. Rosten and Ida Freundlich Rosten, both trade unionists. They opened a knitting shop in the Greater Lawndale area of Chicago, where Rosten and his younger sister grew up among other working-class Jewish families. Like their neighbors, the children spoke both English and Yiddish. Rosten showed an interest in...