performances, and there she remained
for an entire four years. Instead of some tens of
productions, there she gave scarcely five hundred.
After this, after she again left
Russia, Miss Young played in Mexico, in Cuba, and in the
United States. But she could not settle in one place and
play.
And it was not her fault. As the
Yiddish theatre is now built in America, if an actor with a
name does not fit into it, he has his own theatre
building and engages his own troupe. Clara Young, however,
only an actress, could not develop any business abilities.
She was able to play theatre. This is, unfortunately, not
enough for those who want to sustain a troupe.
She leaves again tomorrow. She again
travels to Soviet Russia. They are waiting for her there.
The actors, as well as the public, hunger for the playing
that Clara Young can give them. She brings her musical
pieces without propaganda, without morality, pieces that
entertains and brightens the mood.
She travels tomorrow morning on the
ship "Paris." In France she will spend only three days, but
several days in Warsaw, and then she will arrive in Kiev.
The collective is already waiting for her -- the same
theatre troupe that she played with on her last visit to
Russia. In Kiev the first play will be rehearsed, and then
the whole company will head to Moscow, where the first
performance will be given at the Karsh Theatre. With Young
they will also play in Leningrad, Kiev and every other
important city in Russia and Ukraine.
In the course of this conversation that
Clara Young had with the representative of the "Forward,"
she spoke about the theatre audience in Russia.
"There they are attracted to good
theatre," she said, "Theatre is one of the best spiritual
foods. And the protesters were there on compromises -- they
did not miss my plays, but they have love for good acting.
You see, I have to give myself a compliment, despite the
fact that it is not very humble. Finding an artist who can
satisfy them is not too expensive for them yet. You know,
their most important newspaper, the 'Izvestia' gives a lot
of space to the Yiddish theatre."
That they hold Clara Young in high
esteem in Russia is shown in the booklet about her that was
published there, with an article about her written by the
then Minister of Education Lunacharsky.*1
"Yes," Clara Young said further, "I
know that I will not be able to get any money out of there,
but I want to play theatre for buildings, and where the
actor is valued. It's a shame that such a serious critic as
Kugel is no more.
"There there are only two sorts of
actors: good and bad; they don't know there from older and
younger. You are able to play theatre if you are an actor;
you can be seventy years old. You see, it a little bit
different from us."
They paid for her trip here and back,
they are providing her with the hotel and food and a certain
percent of the income. She travels with five trunks,
costumes, plays, music and other theatre paraphernalia. And
she travels with the expectation to meet with her
colleagues, and together with them to bring joy and
encouragement to the most rejected corners of Greater
Russia.
She does not know how long she will
spend there. Meanwhile, she's leaving, and it is hoped that
when she returns, she will again give us her talent and
artistry as before, before she began her wanderings across
the world. Perhaps she then will return and become again a
citizen once again in the United States of America.
A happy journey, Mrs. Young! |