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formed several troupes, A.
became assistant regisseur in the troupe under the
direction of Samberg in Kremenchug (Weissman, Rubin,
Brandesko, Appelbaum, Poldubny). From there he went over
to the Harlamp-Kanievski troupe in Poltava (among
the members were Vera Kanievska, Paul Breitman and Millie Kanievska).
Due to the invasion of the Ukraine from which the
Yiddish theatre had naturally suffered greatly, A.
traveled to Minsk, Vilna and Odessa (to the troupe of
Rappel with the guest-starring Clara Young), and then
was in
the first Yiddish artists theatre (Misha Fiszon, Vera
Zaslavska, Segalesko, the Fenigstein brothers and
regisseur Yehoshua Bertanov). When the anxiety reached
Odessa, the theatre closed, and A. went with the troupe
to the Crimea, where the anxiety had also reached, and
A. had to go away to Constantinople, where he was forced
to act outside the Galata quarter, the center of white
slavery, and to villages with his wife. Also with the
help of other members of the troupe, he became a
newspaper seller. From there he wandered to Bulgaria,
then to Romania (Director Goldenburg), Hungary, Germany,
where he settled in Frankfurt-au-Main, and after the
birth and death of a child, he further migrated to
Switzerland, France, Belgium and settled in Brussels,
where he went, together with Joseph Kessler and Nathan
Blumenthal, with three theatres across England, France
and Belgium, where they also brought the guest-stars
Stella Adler, Samuel Goldenburg, Julius Adler et al. In
1928 the "Moscow Jewish State Theatre" was brought
to Belgium (among those in the troupe: Mikhoels, Zuskin
and regisseur Granovskiy), A.'s Yiddish troupe from
Belgium became engaged in the time by Henry Berman and
the Shlezinger Theatre Society to South Africa, and
thanks to the ninety performances of "Bar Mitzvah" sold-out houses, remained in the troupe after a season. A.
traveled across Africa with Yiddish evenings, thanks to
the arrangements of the Hebrew poet Morris Hoffman, and
settled at the end in Johannesburg, where he suffered
from hunger and poverty, and he took to commerce and had
success, delivering, only from time to time, Yiddish
guest-stars, such as Max Perlman. A. became general
director of the Hebrew-English journal "Brkay"
(editor Jacob Rubin), and although in business withdrew
from Yiddish theatre, and he further maintained his
connection with the Yiddish theatre world through his
great hospitality for guests, such as Jacob
Kalich, Molly Picon, Abe Ellstein, Misha Ellman, Jan
Rubini, Jan Pierce et al. He also helped organize the
seventy-year evening banquet for Yiddish actress Sara
Silvia.
In 1964 and 1967 A.,
together with his wife, visited America and renewed his
closeness with the Yiddish theatre world.
On 25 October 1967, finding
himself in New York during a visit, A. there suddenly
passed away, and his body was brought to Los Angeles,
where he was brought to his eternal rest.
Rabbi Yermiyahu Aloy of
Johannesburg characterized him as such:
"The deceased Boris Abramov
was an important member of our Kehillah. His
sudden death has evoked from everyone a great sorrow. He
was valued, and geakht in our city as a beloved,
pleasant and a good-hearted man, a great benefactor and
bel drkh-arts and had always manifested a great
respect and love for his fellow Jews".
M. E. and
Sh. E. from Oscar Ostroff.
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