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Borrah Minevitch (born Boruch Minewitz; November 5, 1902–June 26, 1955) was a Russian-American
harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...
player, comic entertainer, entrepreneur, and leader of his group The Harmonica Rascals.


Life and career

He was born in the village of Borovino near
Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...
, in the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
(now
Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
). He moved with his parents and six siblings to the United States in 1906, and settled in
Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
, where his mother set up a
guest house A guest house (or guesthouse, also rest house) is a kind of lodging. In some parts of the world (such as the Caribbean), a guest house is a type of inexpensive hotel-like lodging. In others, it is a private home that has been converted for the e ...
after her husband died unexpectedly. Borrah sold newspapers, learned to play piano, violin and
harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...
, and at the age of eighteen moved to
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
to study, while also working in a shoe shop and performing on his chromatic harmonica for customers. Art M. Daane, "Borrah Minevitch & His Harmonica Rascals", ''The Archivist'', 23 April 2020
Retrieved 18 March 2024 He then worked in the
Wurlitzer The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...
store, where he attracted customers through his playing. His graduate paper came to the attention of the Hohner company, which distributed thousands of reprints and employed Minevitch as a publicist. Kim Field, ''Harmonicas, Harps, and Heavy Breathers'', Cooper Square Press, 1993, pp.44-53
/ref> It was reported that Minevitch sold the rights to his work on the chromatic harmonica to Hohner for one million dollars, and the company subsequently made a successful "Borrah Minevitch" line of harmonicas. In the early 1920s he began performing as a soloist and featured performer in concert halls as well as in vaudeville. He conceived the idea of a harmonica orchestra, recruited some 25 youngsters from local schools, and trained them as the Symphonic Harmonica Ensemble. They performed popular classical and
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
tunes, appeared at the Metropolitan Opera House and on Broadway, and first recorded in 1926 with "Hayseed Rag". Minevitch appeared in a
short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...
made by
Lee DeForest #REDIRECT Lee de Forest #REDIRECT Lee de Forest {{redirect category shell, {{R from move{{R from other capitalisation ...
{{redirect category shell, {{R from move{{R from other capitalisation ...
in the short-lived
sound-on-film Sound-on-film is a class of sound film processes where the sound accompanying a picture is recorded on photographic film, usually, but not always, the same strip of film carrying the picture. Sound-on-film processes can either record an Analog s ...
process
Phonofilm Phonofilm is an optical sound-on-film system developed by inventors Lee de Forest and Theodore Case in the early 1920s. In 1919 and 1920, de Forest, inventor of the audion tube, filed his first patents on a sound-on-film process, DeForest Phonofi ...
, titled ''A Boston Star: Borrah Minevitch'', which premiered at the Rivoli Theater in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
on 15 April 1923. After Minevitch met the diminutive performer Johnny Puleo, he reconfigured the Ensemble into a smaller group of about nine harmonica players, and focused increasingly on
slapstick comedy Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such as ...
, renaming the group as the Harmonica Rascals. Minevitch himself became a spectacularly-dressed showman conductor. The Rascals quickly became one of vaudeville's most popular acts, and continued to appear regularly on Broadway in musicals such as '' Sweet and Low'' in 1930 as well as their own headlining shows. Their success led to a number of other harmonica-based groups forming and becoming popular in the late 1920s and 1930s.Anthony Slide, "Borrah Minevitch", ''The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville'', University Press of Mississippi, 2012, pp.348-349 The Harmonica Rascals recorded for
Brunswick Records Brunswick Records is an American record label founded in 1916. History 1916–1929 Records under the Brunswick label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, a company based in Dubuque, Iowa which had been manufacturing ...
in 1933, and later for
Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...
, where Minevitch hired Richard Hayman as an arranger. They made many recordings over the next decade, some led and arranged by Leo Diamond and others by Minevitch. Several members of the group were virtuoso performers, including Ernie Morris and Fuzzy Feldman, though Minevitch himself rarely performed with the group after the late 1930s, and his temperamental personality and meanness made him unpopular with other performers and band members. Minevitch promoted the band by staging stunts such as a purported kidnapping in the Mediterranean, and also actively promoted his own line of harmonicas. He eventually built a harmonica factory in
southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...
. He and the Rascals appeared in ''Lazy Bones'' (1934), which was a part
live action Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define film, video games o ...
, part
animated film Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...
released by
Fleischer Studios Fleischer Studios () was an American animation studio founded in 1929 by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who ran the pioneering company from its inception until its acquisition by Paramount Pictures in 1942, the parent company and the distri ...
as one of their
Screen Songs ''Screen Songs'' (formerly known as ''KoKo Song Car-Tunes'') are a series of animated cartoons produced at the Fleischer Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures between 1929 and 1938. Paramount brought back the sing-along cartoons in 19 ...
series, the live-action short ''Borrah Minevitch and His Harmonica Rascals'' (
Vitaphone Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National Pictures, First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone is the last major analog sound-on-disc sys ...
, 1935) and ''Borrah Minevitch and his Harmonica School'' (Warner Bros., 1942) directed by
Jean Negulesco Jean Negulesco (born Ioan Negulescu; – 18 July 1993) was a Romanian Americans, Romanian-American film director and screenwriter.Oliver, Myrna"Jean Negulesco 1900–1993 ''The Los Angeles Times'', 22 July 1993. He first gained notice for his Fi ...
. The group appeared in several films including '' One in a Million'' (
20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...
, 1936), ''Love Under Fire'' (
20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...
1937), ''Top Man'' (
Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...
1943), ''Hit Parade of 1941'' (
Republic Pictures Republic Pictures is currently an acquisition-only label owned by Paramount Pictures. Its history dates back to Republic Pictures Corporation, an American film studio that originally operated from 1935 to 1967, based in Los Angeles, California ...
, 1941), '' Tramp, Tramp, Tramp'' (
Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...
, 1941) and '' Always in My Heart'' (
Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...
, 1942).IMDb profile
accessed March 14, 2014. For several years, up to three lineups of Minevitch's group operated simultaneously; Minevitch maintained the group based around Puleo. According to ''Variety'' editor
Abel Green Abel Green (June 3, 1900 – May 10, 1973) was an American journalist best known as the editor of '' Variety'' for forty years. Sime Silverman first hired Green as a reporter in 1918, and Green's byline first appeared on May 30, 1919. Biograp ...
, "Perhaps next to Sophie Tucker, it is the oldest consecutively booked act in the William Morris agency." Demand faltered in the late 1940s and Minevitch moved to France in 1947, developing other financial interests including film and nightclub productions. He became an ardent Francophile, and his home became a haven for show-business friends visiting Paris. He helped arrange the United States distribution for his friend
Jacques Tati Jacques Tati (; born Jacques Tatischeff, ; 9 October 1907 – 5 November 1982) was a French mime, filmmaker, actor and screenwriter. In an ''Entertainment Weekly'' poll of the Greatest Movie Directors, he was voted 46th (a list of the top 50 was ...
's films ''
Jour de fête ''Jour de fête'' (''The Big Day'') is a 1949 French comedy film starring Jacques Tati in his feature film directorial debut as an inept and easily distracted mailman in a backward French village. Shot largely in and around Sainte-Sévère-sur-In ...
'' (1949) and '' Monsieur Hulot's Holiday'' (1953). Minevitch's first wife was actress Betty Henry, "one of the original Tondelayos in ''White Cargo''", according to ''Variety''. They had one daughter, Lydia (born 1932). He married professional artist Lucille Watson-Little on June 4, 1955. Their romance was a long one, but they were unable to marry until she received an annulment of her former marriage (to composer-author
Deems Taylor Joseph Deems Taylor (December 22, 1885 – July 3, 1966) was an American composer, radio commentator, music critic, and author. Nat Benchley, co-editor of ''The Lost Algonquin Roundtable'', referred to him as "the dean of American music." He was e ...
). The honeymoon couple had been married only three weeks when Minevitch suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in June 1955 (one source cites an altercation with his second wife's boyfriend). Minevitch arrived unconscious at the American Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine and did not recover. He died on June 26 at age 52, survived by his wife, his daughter, five sisters, and a brother.Abel Green, ''Variety'', June 29, 1955, p. 2.


References


External links

*
"Harmonicist in London"
''Time'', February 24, 1936

at ''Spacepop'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Minevitch, Borrah 1902 births 1955 deaths Russian harmonica players Musicians from Minsk Russian Jews Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States American emigrants to France