Morris Lampe in the war years of 1914-1917 had a colleague with whom he used to perform in all of the shows and concerts that they arranged --  it was Max Pokoy [M. Maksimov]. He was a house painter. Lampe and Pokoy were not any kind of professional actors, but amateurs. They performed in all the Warsaw wedding halls, toured as "guest players" in the summer apartments of the Warsaw area, in several 'residences,' such as Jablonna, Falenica, and so on., and even though they were still amateurs then, not professionals, they were so mobile that everywhere their eyes were thrown off. Why did the two men have such a pathetic relationship is a secret to me this day. Perhaps take note of the fact that their looks were so catastrophic and were thrown into their eyes.

"Max Pokoy was, on the contrary, to Lampe, a little farther away, with a brighter, flashier nose, like a half-cut potato, with little pointed eyes, had struck a flood, and incoherent temperament. Pokoy, on the contrary, was a calm one, sedate person, speaking slowly and walking across the streets as if he was in no hurry. Indeed, one had to laugh when one saw the pair of Pokoy and Lampe along the streets. Lampe laughed, always a few steps ahead, and he spoke for him, meaning that he gave himself up to his partner. He gave himself to his businessman, who walked slowly behind Lampe and didn't hear his words. When Lampe remarked that he gets no response. He turned, and seeing that Pokoy continually standing behind him, he ran to him and scolded him, throwing it with his head and hands. [awk]

...During the German Occupation in the year 1916, when people again were permitted to play Yiddish theatre, Morris Lampe, together with his partner Pokoy, think this might be "Like in Paris" -- so the cinema was called -- on the first floor of Djike (sp) Street 12. There Lampe staged "Mendel Beilis Trial"... In the production among others, also Max Poloy participated. ...That evening the theatre was oversold to the last seat, so that the troupe began to play twice a day. 'Mendel Beilis' went on for months."

According to Turkow M. also played in the former wedding hall in Warsaw on Djike 29 during the First World War.

About M.'s tragic end there is little information:

According to Jonas Turkow in his description of Morris Lampe, that the two friends had, during the Second World War, happened to be in 1940 in Grodno, where Lampe founded a Yiddish theatre collective, and together they found the martyr's death.

Sh. Kacerginski detailed in short: "Maksimov, a well-known actor, Ponar, 1941."

And in another place he mentions: " Pokoy -- artist. In 1940-41 administrative head of the Yiddish war theatre in Vilna. Shot at the beginning of July 1941."

• "Lexicon of the Yiddish Theatre," Warsaw, 1934, Volume 2, pp. 1240-41.

• Sh. Kacerginski -- "The Destruction of Vilna," New York, 1947, p. 229.

• Jonas Turkow -- "Extinguished Stars," Buenos Aires, 1953, Vol. 1, pp.296, 297, 300; Vol. 2, p. 236.