Born on 16 December 1896 in Hertsa, Romania. His grandfather was a badkhan, a prayer leader, a matchmaker and in the end a sexton. Father -- owner of a shop.

Learned in a cheder, completed two classes in a Romanian primary school, but for a year he learned in a modernized Yiddish school and then began self-education.

At the age of twelve he became independent, and served as a servant(?) in a manufacturing business, was an agent for various newspapers, a writer in a counting house, a broker in the bourse, a teacher, a flower seller, a carrier, a cigarette seller, etc.

At the age of sixteen or seventeen he acted in dramatic circles, where he also was the regisseur and author. In 1915 he acted for a short time in Romanian in a professional Romanian troupe in Galatz, served in the army, and in September 1917 fled to Russia, where he acted with "amateurs". In June 1918 he joined as a professional in Bidesko's troupe in Kamenets Podolsk under the pseudonym "Ben-Ami". After wandering across Russia until 1920 with various troupes, G. entered into the Odessa Jewish State Theatre in Minsk under the pseudonym of Bertanov. He traveled to Moscow, participated in the Sholem Aleichem theatre there, and when the theatre closed down, he joined as a student in the theatre school of the Moscow Jewish Chamber Theatre,