Career
In 1904 the family emigrated to the United States and Jacobs worked in a soda factory, later in a sheet-metal factory, and then learned tailoring. In 1907 he joined the chorus in a vaudeville theater and he sang couplets on Sundays, when vaudeville plays could not be presented. The following year he was hired as a vaudeville actor.
In 1911 he was in his first play, Leon Kobrin"s Yankel Boyla in the Odeon theater.
From 1926-1930 he was co-director of the National Theater, and subsequently the Prospect Theater in the Bronx. He wrote the music to his own couplets.
In 1932 he collaborated with composer Sholom Secunda on a Yiddish musical comedy, I Would If I Could. Although the show was not a great success it did produce a song that become a #1 hit, Bei Mir Bistu Shein
He wrote, composed and directed the Broadway show, "The President"s Daughter" in 1970.
He"s buried in Mount Hebron Cemetery, in the Yiddish Theatrical Alliance area: Block 67, reformed
1, section A-Doctorate, Lincolnshire 16, Grave 5.