News Brief

Her eyesight almost gone and suffering from a number of complications, Bertha Kalich, beloved actress who has starred on Broadway and the Jewish stage, lies on her back at the Medical Arts Hospital and visualizes a new deal for the theatre.

“The theatre today is at a low ebb. It is in the hands of the money grabbers and real art is being stifled. But as I lie here I dream of the great things that will once again come to the theatre. For real theatre will always be with us. It will go on forever–for it is art! Miss Kalich predicted.

There is something of the prophet about Miss Kalich as she talks about the stage, which for twenty-seven years has been the mainspring of her life. Her voice is tremulous with emotion and her eyes seem to stare into other worlds. There is bitterness and deep hurt as she talks and it is only the dream of a Great Tomorrow that makes it possible for her to plan.

STARS ARE HUNGRY

“In America today stars are hungry. Actors who have spent their entire lives dreaming and working in the theatre are today paupers begging for a piece of bread. What did they do to deserve such a fate? It is the rotten institution which we call the Great American Stage!

“The American stage is today nothing but a sweat shop. It works its actors like slaves. They cannot act — for they have not the strength. They merely work. And when acting becomes work it ceases to be art.”

But the ideal which Miss Kalicb holds resolutely before her mind and which makes her proclaim even from a hospital bed “Real theatre never begins or ends–it goes on forever” is the plan of a National Theatre.

For years Miss Kalich has spoken before clubs, schools and congregations about her plan for a great National Theatre. And today she thinks the time has come when it can be put to a test.

This National theatre which would give to the people the great literature of the world from the stage would be devoted to art instead of business. There would be no stars in this theatre–only artists.

This ideal which Miss Kalich visualizes would cater to no one race or group of people. It would appeal to all who truly love the theatre. She would have the principal theatre located in Washington, D. C. Another large theatre would be in New York and still others in focal points throughout the South and West. These theatres would be maintained by the Government and would produce only works of merit. The casts would include actors of proven ability.

The smaller theatres she would like to see controlled by the State and patterned after the National Theatre. The precarious position in which actors are placed today would be alleviated and the public would get better plays at nominal costs.

JEWISH THEATRES APPROACH IDEAL

And though Bertha Kalich had nothing but condemnation for the theatre as it is played on Broadway she finds the smaller Jewish theatres more human and more nearly approaching the ideal.

“The plays one sees on the Jewish stage are better — they are more often based on literature. The audiences are familiar with the plays and come to see them whenever they are billed. Nor does the Jewish theatre make slaves of its actors. A star may appear only once a week and maintain a reputation.

“Since my ilness I have made but two or three appearances a month. My friends of the theatre, when they hear that I am going to appear, offer their services. They dance and sing between the acts or put on skits. They call this a benefit performance.

“When I was young I did this for others. It was an early investment–like a small gold mine which is paying me dividends now.”

Miss Kalich, true to the tradition of the trooper, continued to appear on the stage until she collapsed. Five weeks ago, after a performance of “Isaac’s Sacrifice,” she was taken to the hospital.