Rose Feinman Papers

Rose Feinman, daughter of Benjamin Grossman and Lina Grossman, was born on November 18, 1912. She was a successful sales woman at a chic dress shop. Feinman had a previous marriage that soon ended in divorce, but she remarried around 1949 to Jerome Saul Feinman. They had two daughters Lynne and Mindy. Since Feinman became a first time mother late in life she didn't start truly living for herself until her children left home. Feinman did volunteer work for over a decade for the Cerebral Palsy Association. She started pursuing her acting career around the age of 65, she started off by looking for small acting gigs in the New York Theater. Feinman also wrote and directed plays as well as acted in many places such as Yiddish plays at a Yiddish club. Feinman debuted on many TV commercials and Ads as well. She was a member of the Screen Actors Guild (S.A.G.) and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (A.F.T.R.A.).

Soon after moving to Orlando, Feinman wanted to test out her comedic skills on an open-mic night at a comedy club on International Drive, she had told her husband that she wished she could just go and do it; but, she was very self-critical and doubted herself. Her husband encouraged her and told her she had nothing to lose. Feinman ended up winning the open-mic contest that night. Feinman also received great reviews that night, the judges loved her and told her that she was ready to take her act on the road. Feinman later started doing stand-up comedy on cruise ships, comedy clubs, and even at some theme parks. Rose and Jerome purchased annual passes to Disney as well as a few other theme parks. A few years after she had started doing stand-up comedy her husband developed Alzheimers, which led to her giving up a lot of her free time in order to help care for him. She could no longer travel long distances for fear of something happening to him. When she finally had a chance to leave the house for a few hours she would go to the comedy club. She enjoyed going on stage; hearing the laughter made everything feel better at the time. Feinman later passed away on December 7, 2012 at the age of 100. Her funeral was held at the Farone & Son, Inc., Funeral Home in Syracuse, New York.