Born Leyke Post, Leah Carrey (1908-2005) moved with her family from Ukraine to Boston’s West End in 1913 when she was five years old. Her stage debut was the same year: she played a boy singing in a Yiddish operetta called Heyse Bapkelieh. She later performed at the old Boston Opera House, the Shawmut Theater, and the Franklin Park Theater, working with some of the greatest stars of the Yiddish stage. Locally, she may have been one the most well-known radio singers in Boston, singing on station WCOP. She played the grandmother in Woody Allen’s nostalgic film Radio Days. Carrey also sang at Boston Workmen’s Circle at 612 Blue Hill Avenue, at Workmen’s Circle Camp in Framingham, and at Circle Lodge “Klezkamp”. Her home is no longer standing.
