Born in 1900 in Pietrkow,
Poland, to well-to-do parents. His father had, as a
musician, played in the orchestra of Zandberg's Yiddish
theatre in Lodz. As a young student B. studied music
with the well-known musician Ignatz Gruzhnitskovitsh,
and concentrated on playing the piano. 1919 he joined
the Polish army, and two years later deserted and fled
to Galicia, where in Peremyšl (then a free city) entered
into the local Yiddish theatre as a pianist, which was
under the direction of Ebell. There he found himself
with the late well-known comic Max Bozyk (also a
deserter of the Pilsudski's army), and between the two
of them there developed a very intimate friendship, and
together they played in various troupes, among them with
Karol Zimbalist and Regina Zucker, where Blumstein was
the conductor and pianist, and in Norbert Glimer's
operetta theatre.
Evidently, he was, as a
deserter, visited by the secret police, and he fled to
Paris in 1931, where he acted under the direction of
Lachtiger, and from there he immigrated in 1935 to
America, where he played with several famous actors,
such as Aaron Lebedeff and Jennie Goldstein, performing
with the orchestras in the Yiddish thetres of Chicago,
Detroit, Boston and Philadelphia. In 1947 B. married the
actress Stella Schulman, and since then they have acted
together in various theatres in the provinces of America
and Canada. He went on a tour with the Yiddish National
Arbeter Farband (Jewish National Workers Alliance), with
Dzigan-Schuchmacher, then with Ben Bonus, Mina Bern,
Benzion Witler, Shifra Lerer, Max and Reizl Bozyk, and
was the musical director |
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