Born on 31 January 1896 in Bucharest, Romania. His father was a tailor. He learned in a cheder and in a primary school, and he sang with Cantor Herman Margolis.

Together with his family, he immigrated in 1906 to America, and settled in Chicago, where he became a bookbinder. At the age of eighteen, he became familiar with Yiddish actors and went away with Jacob Berlin to St. Louis, where he debuted as a buff comic in Yiddish vaudeville and acted afterwards with Nellie Kesman's and Sh. Steinberg's troupe in legitimate theatre in a tent [palate), debuting as "Shloimele" in Moshe Schor's "Ir ershte libe". Then he went over to Jacob Silbert's troupe in "La Salle Theatre", with whom he also traveled across the province. He returned to Chicago, and he became engaged to Adolph Gertner in the "12th Street Theatre", and also acted (with Muni Weisenfreund as "Liding men") for Feingold in a picture house, where it was presented in Yiddish. From here P. went over to English burlesque, with whom he wandered across America.

Later he entered again into a Yiddish troupe (S. H. Cohen, Esther Field, Leyzer Rosenstein et al), acted an entire winter in Minneapolis-St. Paul and some seasons in the "Monument National Theatre" (director Bernard Elving) in Montreal, in the "Circle Theatre" (Director Abe Kogut) in Detroit (having here the opportunity to act together with the guest-starring actors Blank, Bessie Thomashefsky, Rothstein), and with various Yiddish troupes across the province.