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For several years, up to three lineups of
Minevitch's group operated simultaneously, but demand faltered in the late 1940s. Minevitch maintained the group based around Puleo, but moved to France in 1947 and attempted to develop other financial interests including film and nightclub productions. He
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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
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company, which distributed thousands of reprints and employed
Minevitch as a publicist. 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.
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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
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Minevitch promoted the band by staging stunts such as a purported kidnap in the
Mediterranean, and also actively promoted his own line of harmonicas. He eventually built a harmonica factory in
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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.
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Minevitch died in Paris in 1955, of a stroke, or (according to one source) during an altercation with his second wife's boyfriend. He was 52.
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store, where he attracted customers through his playing. His graduate paper came to the attention of the
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after her husband died unexpectedly. Borrah sold newspapers, learned to play piano, violin and
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as an arranger. They made many recordings over the next decade, some led and arranged by
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to study, while also working in a shoe shop and performing on his
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player, comic entertainer, entrepreneur, and leader of his group
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118:; November 5, 1902–June 26, 1955) was a Russian-American
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Art M. Daane, "Borrah
Minevitch & His Harmonica Rascals",
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helped arrange the United States distribution for his friend
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Emigrants from the
Russian Empire to the United States
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299:. The group appeared in several films including
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222:After Minevitch met the diminutive performer
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166:for customers. He then worked in the
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433:, Cooper Square Press, 1993, pp.44-53
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467:Anthony Slide, "Borrah Minevitch",
239:The Harmonica Rascals recorded for
263:. He and the Rascals appeared in
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295:(Warner Bros., 1942) directed by
496:, Random House, 2011, pp. 158–61
213:A Boston Star: Borrah Minevitch
494:Jacques Tati: His Life and Art
469:The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville
283:series, the live-action short
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578:American emigrants to France
150:, where his mother set up a
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483:; accessed March 14, 2014.
453:; accessed March 14, 2014.
408:. Retrieved 18 March 2024
267:(1934), which was a part
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370:Monsieur Hulot's Holiday
247:, where Minevitch hired
189:Metropolitan Opera House
519:"Harmonicist in London"
243:in 1933, and later for
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124:The Harmonica Rascals
563:Musicians from Minsk
444:harmonica-brands.com
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336:Tramp, Tramp, Tramp
261:southern California
219:on 15 April 1923.
203:in the short-lived
164:chromatic harmonica
449:2014-01-01 at the
346:Always in My Heart
327:Hit Parade of 1941
323:Universal Pictures
558:Harmonica players
510:Borrah Minnevitch
341:Columbia Pictures
331:Republic Pictures
277:Fleischer Studios
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16:(Redirected from
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367:(1949) and
269:live action
253:Leo Diamond
152:guest house
542:Categories
380:References
265:Lazy Bones
197:short film
56:1902-11-05
361:'s films
353:, 1942).
333:, 1941),
309:, 1936),
289:Vitaphone
256:members.
211:, titled
209:Phonofilm
181:classical
168:Wurlitzer
156:harmonica
138:, in the
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447:Archived
373:(1953).
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199:made by
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88:, France
325:1943),
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317:1937),
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191:and on
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172:Hohner
114:(born
142:(now
136:Minsk
86:Paris
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523:Time
514:IMDb
185:jazz
183:and
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