Born 1 January 1900 in Belz, Bessarabia. His father was a shopkeeper. Gold studied at a cheder until he was nine years old, as well as at a Russian state school and with private tutors. While still in cheder, he used to “monkey around” with the boys.  When he was twelve, he wrote a play called “Orphan”. Later he wrote a few more plays that he acted out with amateurs and dreamt of becoming an actor. In 1917 he was engaged by Kitzis in the province. After traveling about small shtetls for some time, he went with director Lerman on the same route. Next he joined various others troupes until 1919 when he became a member of the Yiddish theatre set up in Zhitomir by the municipality. Next G. served in the Red Army, on the battlefront for two years and was -- at the same time -- its theatre department administrator.

In 1922 Gold went abroad, acting for one week in Antwerp, then a season, already as Leon Gold, in a collective in Paris, and in 1923 with director Blumenthal in Paris. In 1924 he arrived in Chicago to be with his mother, and participated in a couple of plays for Glickman. In 1925 he played in Montreal, in 1926 in Baltimore, in 1927 at the Hopkinson Theatre in Brownsville, and was accepted as a member of the [actor's] union. In 1928 he played in Chicago with Glickman. In 1929 he performed with Louis Goldberg at the New York Public Theatre and in 1929-30 at Satz’s Folks Theatre.

Occupation: lover-singer.

                                   
Sh. E.

• Jacob Kirschenbaum -- New faces on our stage, “Morning Journal”, 12 October 1928.