Sam
Morris
(Shmuel Moshe Ganz)
M. was born in a village
near Kolbuszowa, Galicia. His father was the owner of an
[introduction home=areynfor-hoyz]. As a child of about
four he came with his family to America, where he
learned in a public school until he was thirteen. As a
child he acted in a children's role in the troupe "Khayim
in amerika" in an amateur club.
At the age of sixteen he let
himself [iberreydn] for actor Isidor Levenstein to
travel to perform in New Orleans' Yiddish theatre. There
he debuted in the role of a father. His family brought
him, but he returned to New York, where he founded a
drama circle in his name, in which a certain Fridman was
directing Lateiner's "Kbud ab". Soon however he traveled
again with actor Cesar Greenberg to act in theatre in
Montreal, where he became the buff comic of the troupe
and he went then across to the troupe of Mitnik, but
after several months of acting, his parents brought him
back home again. Here he entered into the "David Kessler
Dramatic Club", where he acted under the direction of
David Kessler in the title role in Gordin's "Shoimke
sharlatan".
M.'s success in that role
encouraged him to become a professional actor and he
took to wandering with the provincial troupes (in
Chicago with Glickman, Cleveland with Bernstein, again
with Glickman and then with Largman in Baltimore), where
he had the possibility of acting with all the
guest-starring Yiddish stars. |
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He returned to New York, and
M. entered into vaudeville in the Irving Music Hall,
then he became a buff comic in the Hub Theatre in
Boston, and he performed again in New York in vaudeville
(110 Fifth Avenue), where he performed three times a day
with Berta Gerstin and Mae Simon and he then crossed
over to the Odeon Theatre, where he for the first time
acted in vaudeville and then full plays. Here he acted
in September 1913 in he title role of Leon Kobrin's "Yankel
Boyle", attracting the attention of the critics.
After acting for three
seasons in Winnipeg, twelve seasons in Los Angeles,
where he also acted for eight weeks in English in the
melodrama "Subway Express", M. returned to the eastern
part of the United States. In the 1930-31 season he
performed in Philadelphia in the Yiddish Gerard Theatre,
1931-32 in the McKinley Square Theatre. The entire three
seasons stood under the jurisdiction of the Yiddish
Actors League.
M. E.
-
Israel The Yankee -- "Yankel
boyle," "Theater un moving piktures", N. Y., 2, 1913.
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