Background
Orenstein was born in Montreal and moved to Toronto in childhood.
Orenstein was born in Montreal and moved to Toronto in childhood.
After graduating from Central Technical School, he studied at New York City"s American Artists School on a scholarship during which time he wrote for the Columbia Workshop radio series.
At Canadian Broadcasting Company Television alone, he was director or producer in over 150 works there, many of which were adaptations of works by such authors as Chekhov, Ibsen, George Bernard Shaw and Ionesco. During a second stint in New York, Orenstein wrote for The Skeptics, a nightclub group. Otherwise, his career was generally based in Toronto.
He wrote and produced The Big Leap, a theatre play which opened in 1952 at Toronto"s Royal Alexandra.
The production was adapted for Canadian Broadcasting Company Television in 1953, and its later reprise at the Grand Dinner in Niagara Falls, Ontario lasted four years. Orenstein died in Toronto aged 89 at Mount Sinai Hospital.
1952: The Big Leap, Royal Alexandra (producer, writer) 1956: Zone, Crest General Motors Presents/General Motors (Canadian Broadcasting Company Television, producer)End Of Summer (producer).