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Born 27
December,
1881 in
Kutno,
Poland.
His parents were
merchants. Belavsky
studied in a
cheder and yeshiva in
Kutno and Włocławek,
in the
state school and
he also had
private
tutoring.
Already in
the cheder
he used to
dress up and
act as
“David”,
”Goliath“,
“Saul”,
imitating
his father,
who as well
as being a
merchant was
also a
shadkhen [a
matchmaker],
and he also used to
dress up on
Purim.
At the age
of fifteen
he played
the part of
“Eliezer” in
“The Jews”
with a group
of
amateurs.
When he was
sixteen, an
aunt took
him to
London where
he joined
Samuel
Goldenburg’s
Drama Club.
Next he went
to Paris,
returning
to London to
act in a
Yiddish
theatre with
professional
actors.
In 1907
Belavsky
returned to
Poland and
joined a
professional
troupe. Here
he met
Glicke
Degenstein
and, since
he was a
Bund member,
he had to
leave
Poland. So
they both
left for
Denmark.
In Denmark
he set up an
amateur drama
society[?],
some of
whose
members
became
professional
actors later
on. Belavsky
joined them
and played
Asch,
Hirshbein,
and other
Yiddish
playwrights
– for the
first time
in
Denmark. For
the first
time he also
went on tour
within
Sweden and
Norway with
a Yiddish
theatre
group. |
