Schwartz Not to Return Here Unless Support for Yiddish Art Theatre is Assured

Maurice Schwartz, noted Jewish actor and former director of the Yiddish Art Theatre of New York, will not return to America unless an organization is founded in New York which will finance a Yiddish art theatre for him there. This was the statement made yesterday by Mr. Schwartz, who has been appearing in Buenos Aires in Yiddish plays for the past couple of months, to the Argentine correspondent of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Mr. Schwartz revealed that while here he received cables from several large Jewish centers in various parts of the world in which he is offered the financial support necessary for the upkeep of a Yiddish art theatre. From New York too, he said there came a cable signed by influential people in which he was asked to return and continue his Yiddish theatrical work in the North American metropolis.

MUST SUGGEST PLAN

“I answered my New York friends that they must first suggest a concrete plan whereby a Yiddish art theatre there would be able to maintain itself financially, before I would consent {SPAN}#o{/SPAN} return”, declared Mr. Schwartz. “After twelve years of work in New York and after presenting ninety plays there which were duly appreciated by the theatrical world, I have this year for the first time been forced to play outside of New York without my regular troupe. It was heart-breaking for me when I had to leave the city where the Yiddish Art Theatre was founded. Because of the high rentals in New York and because of lack of adequate support from the great Jewish community, I had to keep perpetually moving from one theatre to the other and was constantly burdened with financial worries. Then when I got my own theatre at last after a hard struggle, I lost it, again due to lack of support”.

Because of his disappointments in New York, Schwartz said, he has recently been thinking of establishing the Yiddish Art Theatre on an international basis. He is planning to spend some time in all the larger Jewish centers of Eastern and Western Europe, play with the local Jewish troupes and attempt to elevate the standards of the Yiddish theatre in each city. His experiences in Buenos Aires during the past few weeks, where he has appeared in Yiddish plays with the assistance of local Jewish actors, have convinced him of the feasibility of this plan.

HAS REJECTED ENGLISH STAGE OFFER

Asked by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency correspondent whether he expects to appear on the English-speaking stage in the near future, Mr. Schawartz answered that he has received offers from an English and a German theatre, but that he has rejected both offers. During the next few weeks he will make a more definite announcement about his plans for the near future.

The appearance of Mr. Schwartz before the Buenos Aires Jewish theatrical public have met with great success. He made his debut here on June 19, and since than he has presented nine plays in Yiddish, all of which have been enthusiastically received. He has appeared in plays by Sholem Aleichem, Asch, Hirschbein, Ibsen, Feuchtwanger and Toller. On his way to Buenos Aires Mr. Schwartz appeared in Rio de Janeiro, and Montevideo, Uruguay, in both of which centers a considerable number of Jewish immigrants from Europe have settled during the past few years.