Harold Goldblatt

Harold Goldblatt was one of the leading figures in the theatre life of Belfast for half a century, as actor and manager, closely involved with the Group Theatre based in Belfast, while also managing to earn a respected reputation on screen. His forebears were from the then Baltic provinces of Russia and arrived in Belfast by way of Manchester. They were mostly tailors, pressers and seamtresses, although through his mother (whose family name of Ross was originally Rosenzweig) Goldblatt was descended from Talmudic scholars. The family settled in the Lower Crumlin Road area (Lonsdale Street) near Annesley Street synagogue. He was founder, producer and principal actor of the Jewish Institute Dramatic Society which won the President's Cup at the 1929 Ulster Drama Festival for a production of "The Melting Pot" by Israel Zangwill, a prominent Jewish dramatist; the play, which gave currency to what is now a familiar expression, depicts aspects of life for Jewish immigrants to the United States