Changed Attitude

Before the Brattle's last performance, Moliere's The Doctor in Spite of Himself, one could see the difference in attitude between the old Brattle the company and those who were there for this play alone. Zero Mostel, a Broadway and Holly wood comedian, was the featured performer, and he was enthusiastic about the theatre and angered that it had never gotten outside financial support.

It was a hot night late in August and the small dressing rooms reeked with sweat and perfumed grease. Yet, to the outsiders this enhanced the Brattle's almost mystic quality. They talked freely, voicing their hopes that more more actors would turn to projects like the Brattle's. Most of them made their living in television or small-time theatre, and the Brattle was a temple in which to worship the theatre's best art.

There are only two dressing rooms at the Brattle, one for the men, another for the women. Stars and extras dress together, but the old members stayed aloof.

Few Veterans

At that time, few of them still remained at Cambridge. Albert Marre had already gone off to New York, but his wife and the company's leading lady, Jan Farrand, had stayed to finish the last play. Jerry Kilty, a leading actor, was in London, playing with the Old Vic. Robert Fletcher, who did costumes and also acted, was with the New York City Center Ballet, and Robert O'Hearn was with the Sadler Wells Company. Many of the other Brattle alumni had also attached themselves to bigger companies. Jack Kerr and Michael Wager were rehearing "Bernadine," and Fred Gwynne was playing in "Mrs. McThing."

And for all their arrogance and business ignorance, they had worked hard and suffered abominable theatre conditions. They endured small dressing rooms and made their own costumes. Their theatre presented technical difficulties: there was no fly gallery or wing space, only a tremendous 38 foot depth. And they had to fit their productions of these limitations. It was a difficult life, especially for intelligent and actors drawing huge salaries on radio, television and in Broadway theatre.

They did bring two of their own productions to New York. The first was The Little Blue Light with Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandey; the other The Relapse, a Restoration comedy, sponsored by the Theatre Guild. These should have given the Brattle prestige to attract angels and revenue to pay the debts. But the inexperienced Brattle businessmen found they had signed contracts for certain properties and had forfeited play rights to such an extent that the profit disappeared and they left New York with little more than they had brought in. Moreover, the prestige they won did not draw any outside help.

Disintegration

As the theatre failed to make, the members began to blame each other, and the organization started to disintegrate. There was a Board of Directors and its members would often by to control choice of plays and business policy from the outside. The Directors were also overly ambitious, and they helped choose productions like The Idea, which lost about $1,000 a week. Even a box office attraction like Mactteth lost money, because Brattle overextended itself on sets.

It is easy to see how extreme financial worries could upend all parts of the theatre. With no stable authority and many pretenders, each department tried to get as much of the budget as it could. And all the while Brattle kept its ticket prices low.

This past summer Haliday discovered that the theatre could make money, if managed correctly. He sliced his cast, and put it on a profit sharing basis instead of the old straight salary. Besides this, he picked plays that would cost less. As a result, he was able to raise salaries and run an efficient front office.

Too Late

But Haliday's venture came too late to save the company. Its members have grown apart from each other. Away from their close ingrown society, they now have the chance to put the spark that made the Brattle into the outside theatre. Marre wants to do this at the City Center.

All of Brattle's company can look back with pride on what Harper's Bazaar called "the new Old Vic." And their amazing number of productions attests to their versatility and enthusiasm. Each member of the company filled in different types of roles, and doubled as stagehands of various types.

For the future, Haliday has bought the theatre and will run it as a foreign movie house. He hopes to bring back the theatre during the summer, and perhaps members of the old company will return briefly.

But Brattle Theatre is dead, and it was murdered by the same ambition, exuberance, and energy that powered it through its meteoric four years of production