His real name was Adolf Bagiński. He was born into a working class family. His father, also named Adolf, was a railwayman. After graduating from Wawelberg Business School, he worked in a notary’s office and it was most probably then that his first contact with theatre occurred. In around 1918, he started to perform in the semi-amateur Staszic Theatre. He spent the next three years outside of Warsaw and performed in the Municipal Theatre in Grodno (among others).
However, he did not completely abandon his hometown. For several months he acted in small roles in Miraż, one of the most important small drama theatres of pre-war Warsaw. At the same time, he served as the theatre’s stage manager.
The Qui Pro Quo Era
For a long time, Dymsza was not permanently employed in a theatre. He played small parts in films, worked as a bellwether and taught ballroom dancing in a school in Warsaw. He even won a dancing marathon held in a circus on Ordynacka Street. Supposedly, he danced for 48 hours straight. In February 1921, he performed in Konrad Tom’s szmonces [editor’s note: ‘szmonce’ is a Yiddish word meaning ‘a joke’, ‘nonsense’] one-act play titled Wantz Hotel in the famous Qui Pro Quo theatre. However, this performance was such a failure that his name disappeared from Qui Pro Quo’s programmes.
He reappeared there, but it is difficult to say when exactly as he performed anonymously. Józef Galewski, Qui Pro Quo’s famous decorator, said that he did ‘behind-the-curtain performances, some juggling, bouncing the ball in darkness’. At that time, he also returned to performing in Miraż and in the Stańczyk small theatre, while at same time moonlighting as a bellwether at mediocre dance parties.
Legend has it that one of Qui Pro Quo’s actors saw him at such a performance and suggested that director Jerzy Boczkowski audition Dymsza once again. However, Tadeusz Wittlin asserts in his memoirs that Boczkowski was witnessed Dymsza’s performance in Zakopiańska confectionery in Saxon Garden and that he was the one to make him an offer to return to the stage. Dymsza worked with Qui Pro Quo in 1925 and from that time he performed in the small theatre until its end in 1931.