Boruch Lumet

Lumet was born in 1898 in Warsaw, Poland. His father was a cantor in a small shul where Lumet would sing in the choir. After his father’s death, he would sing children’s couplets in various Polish vaudeville houses.

Later  he appeared in dramatic sketches directed by David Herman, who took an interest in him, and he instructed him in the dramatic arts.

At the same time, Lumet learned music theory with the conductor Davidovich. Then he played in David Herman’s dramatic studio.

On the way to America, where Lumet arrived in 1920, he performed in Yiddish theatres in Berlin, Hamburg and London.

Lumet's son, Sidney, was an Oscar-nominated film director.

In an interesting passage from PBS's "American Masters," it is written:

"As a child, [Sidney] Lumet was immersed in the world of theatre, where his father lived and worked, and he absorbed it all: the words, the staging, and the storytelling. The theatre gave him an escape from life in the ghetto and introduced him to a more sophisticated expression. Lumet recalls “the wonderful adventure” in his family’s apartment, listening for hours as his father rehearsed the writing of Joseph Opatoshu and Shakespeare (which he had first heard in Yiddish). At a young age he developed a deep respect for the language and rhythm of great writing."

Lumet had brought the family to New York to pursue his acting career, and Sidney spent much of his time in the theatre. He was only four years old when he got his first acting job, and by the time he was seven he and his family had a regular gig on a radio soap opera called "The Grandfather from Brownsville."  It aired on W.E.V.D., fifteen minutes a day, five days a week, and was written and directed by his father. The family earned thirty-five dollars a week, about ten dollars more than the average family living on the Lower East Side.