Murray Glass was born in 1924 in Brooklyn, New York and grew up in the Bronx. His father was the manager and part owner of a restaurant in New York City. Glass went to three different elementary schools and then went to junior high in Manhattan. He attended the Bronx High School of Science and graduated in 1942. Glass was still in school when Pearl Harbor was attacked. His European relatives lived in Ostrołe̜ka, Poland during the war so he was concerned with Hitler's [Annotator's Note: German Dictator Adolf Hitler] policy toward the Jews. He had spent a summer with those relatives so they were familiar to him. He spoke only Yiddish that summer since no one there spoke English. After that trip to Poland, members of the family were brought to America little by little. When the war came some were still in Poland. Some did not survive the Holocaust. To Glass, six million dead Jews in the Holocaust is an abstract number, but his three relatives who were lost are more tangible. His mother feared for the safety of her Polish relatives who were left in Europe during the war. After high school, Glass attended CCNY [Annotator's Note: City College of New York] and studied chemistry. He majored in chemistry and wanted to be a scientist after graduation. He received his BS [Annotator's Note: bachelor of science degree] in chemistry from CCNY. After graduation, Glass like some of his friends, was drafted. This ended his plans to go to graduate school.

Murray Glass was drafted and sent to the Fort Dix, New Jersey reception center for a few weeks. He then went to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds near Baltimore, Maryland for basic training. After completing basic training, he went to the Edgewood Arsenal near Baltimore for specialized training in gas warfare. He was trained in the use of poison gas. He had to go through a tear gas filled tent with a gas mask, but it was removed before he exited the tent. During this time, Glass was attempting to get into a military band since he was a professional musician. From Edgewood, he was sent to Camp Beale near Sacramento, California where he managed to become a military band member. He played the guitar but there was no call for a guitar player in the band. Instead, he played the glockenspiel even though he was given an MOS number [Annotator's Note: military occupational specialty] for French horn. An MOS number is issued to every person in the military to show his skill. Glass enjoyed being in the military band and was also playing with a band at night during this period. He was in Camp Beale which was a Replacement Depot for several months before it was closed. Even though the war was coming to a close, Glass knew he always had one foot on the boat to go to Japan or Alaska or somewhere else until the depot was closed. Glass went to the Presidio in California as a band member. The leader of the band was excited to get a French horn player but disappointed when he learned that Glass did not play the horn. In parades, Glass would play the bass drum. In a short time, Glass was transferred to Fort Lewis, Washington where he stayed until he was discharged. He entertained recovering troops in Madigan General Hospital near Fort Lewis. He also played at dances. Although he would have rather been a civilian, Glass did enjoy his service. He did quite a bit of reading, particularly Hop Along Cassidy novels. He preferred the duty he had rather than being on the battlefield. He communicated with friends overseas during this time. Most of the letters were about what they were doing and reminiscences. Glass felt at ease about not being shipped overseas. He felt that his entertainment was contributing to the wellbeing of the convalescing troops. It was worthwhile. Glass dated a lady before his service, but she found someone else while he was away. It was a Dear John story. He followed the course of the war while in service. There was always the chance that he might be shipped out, but he was fortunate that he was not chosen to go overseas. He was in the Army on VJ-Day [Annotator's Note: Victory Over Japan Day] and was very happy. He was not sorry for the Japanese when the atomic bomb was dropped because no more Americans would be killed fighting in the Pacific. It was only later that he felt more compassion for the Japanese.

Murray Glass hated the Nazis. For years after the war, he had no use for Germans. The German denial of the Holocaust upset him. Glass became aware of the death camps at the end of the war when the Russians and the Americans overran the concentration camps. There were only rumors of these camps prior to that time. His family had left Poland years before any of these occurrences so they had no firsthand knowledge of these circumstances. After discharge, Glass went back to CCNY [Annotator's Note: City College of New York] for refresher courses in chemistry. He took a course on film history and that stirred his interest in movies. He had a well respected instructor for the class. Glass was requested by his instructor to bring film into class on Charlie Chaplin and soon after he received his first check for a film rental. Soon he started buying more films to add to his collection. When he went to California, he continued to expand his film collection. While he was working as a chemist, he began to rent those films. His income from the rentals soon exceeded his salary as a chemist. He then went into the film rental business full time.

Murray Glass had a resentful band master who took offense at Glass not playing the French horn according to his MOS [Annotator's Note: Military Occupational Speciality]. The bandmaster transferred Glass to what he thought would be a miserable assignment. Glass had an opportunity to verbally taunt the bandmaster and did so. This gave him satisfaction as he got some revenge on the bandmaster. Glass' most memorable experiences in World War 2 were the surrender of the Germans and the Japanese. Glass was drafted into the service. The draft pulled him out of college and prevented him from continuing his graduate studies. Even though he might have attained the master and doctorate degrees in chemistry, it worked out well since he was happy in his 50 year career in film distribution. His World War 2 service was something worthwhile. Entertaining the troops made him feel good about what he was doing. World War 2 resulted in the perseverance of the Western way of life. If the outcome had been different, Glass might not have survived. The lessons of World War 2 and the Holocaust should never be forgotten. We should always be aware of people trying to take over various parts of the world. The Syrian leader used poison gas on his people. It is ironic that Glass served in that discipline. In some respects poison gas is as dangerous as the atomic bomb. America treated the German prisoners of war very well. That treatment was in contrast to the way American prisoners were treated. Glass spoke with several German prisoners at the end of the war and shared some of his water and provisions with them. He felt nothing special when talking with the Germans.

Murray Glass went to Poland in 1933 with his family. They visited relatives there. The summer was spent in Ostrołe̜ka, Poland [Annotator's Note: Glass points out that the pronunciation of the Polish city in English is not the exact spelling of the city's name in Polish] which is about 60 miles northeast of Warsaw. The town had about 25 percent of the population as Jewish residents. Yiddish was the common language for Glass and his family that summer. Returning to America, his parents started bringing members of the family from Poland to the United States for citizenship. They came over one at a time beginning with Glass' grandmother. When the war broke out, some of the relatives were still in Poland. Some survived the Holocaust, but others did not. Those that did survive had to go to Israel first and then transfer to America. Those relatives in Poland that did survive lived in the forests with partisans. This was depicted in the movie called Defiance. During the course of the summer in Poland, Glass did not experience any prejudice. He spent most of his time with Jewish people who were 25 percent of the population so there was little time spent with non Jewish Poles. Glass did experience some uncomfortable moments in a Polish cinema when his aunt was translating the Polish subtitles into Yiddish. In recollecting the incident, Glass knew the Poles were irate at that moment to the verbal disruption of the movie as opposed to the speaking of Yiddish. When Glass and his brother left Poland, his grandmother said that she would never see them again. That was not the case, as she was brought to America before the war. Those relatives that did make it to America before the war were very concerned about those left behind in Europe. They had not heard from those left behind. Those that lived in the forests were under considerable hardship. There was the danger that the Nazis would come in with their army and kill them. Because they were deep in the woods, and they were armed, they managed to defend themselves. In returning in 2013 to Ostrołe̜ka, Glass visited several of the sites he had seen in 1933. It was a poignant experience and remarkable how much he remembered. There were no records to be found. There are no more Jews in Ostrołe̜ka despite the prewar population level of 25 percent of the residents.