K. was born in 1885 in Psherosla (Przerośl -- ed.), Suwalki kreyz, Poland. His father was a teacher in a Talmud Torah, which had brought him over with his family to Suwalki. Until age fifteen he learned in a yeshiva, and in the same time he participated in amateur productions. Antoysht, which he could not raise as "holy tools", the father went away to become an craftsman -- a locksmith. K. quickly cast off his work and started for Bialystok, where he was introduced to some Polish actors, and he became an assistant properties manager  in the Polish theatre, and there came to there gradually opportunities to act in small roles. Ongekleyben a little money, K. traveled to London so that he could become a Yiddish actor, but as such he didn't find success, he tut various in England, until he traveled in 1903 to America,.

Here K. participated in amateur productions, and in Pittsburgh he entered into Avramov's troupe, working at the same time in his profession as a locksmith, then he went over to be a chorus singer in Levinson's troupe, where he also krigt from time to time to act in roles, again returning to Abramov, later in vaudeville with Harry Borenstein in Cleveland, in legitimate theatre with the guest-starring Max Gabel in Cleveland, then in Newark (Manager -- Sam Rose, Director -- Jacob Frank), where he went over, as a non-member, geshtert from the Yiddish Actors Union, he acted for two months under difficult economic conditions with the troupe