L. was born in July 1800 in
Aran (Orany, Varena), not far from Vilna, Polish
Lithuania. As a child of six-and-a-half he went with his
family to Vilna, where his father worked ad a cashier in
the karabke. He learned in a cheder, in a Talmud
Torah, and then he completed five classes of an [early=onfangs]
school.
At the age of eleven he saw
Genfer act in "Shulamis" and from then on he became a
frequent attendee of the Yiddish theatre and a permanent
monitor of the actors.
Together with Stein
(later -- the actor Yosef Kamyen) and Bulkin (later -- the
actor Joseph Buloff), founding a dramatic circle in Russia
and he acted in the wine cellar of the parents of
Binyamin Epstein (who also later became an actor) plays,
adapted by Bulkin. Later L. was an understudy in Yiddish
and Russian theatre (in the span of 17-915[?]) there came
a name to the dramatic circle in the city, and in these
productions there often came great roles. The
preparations for the productions went for his own
purposes.
In 1920 he went away to
Vitebsk, where he acted further in a Yiddish dramatic
circle and went over to Mindlin's troupe, which
performed in serious repertoire. In 1922 he traveled
about with itinerant troupes, acting in shund
repertoire, and after a short time became a prompter,
then traveled with G. Beker, Zolkover, Brandesko and at
the end withdrew from the theatre and became an
employee.
In 1924 he entered into the
Yiddish state studio of White Russia, which since
October 1926 was transformed into the White Russia
Yiddish State Theatre, where he has acted up to today.
Sh. E.
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