se

/

re

: Fifteen years ago, when Sam Wild, commander of the British Battalian of the International Brig-
_.ade, laid this wreath on the Welsh National War M-morial in Cardiff, Jack Brent lay

_ Story is told in It’s Good To Be Alive.

BOOKS

in ‘hospital. Brent’s

___ Story of man who never gave up
___ > fighting for things he believed in

- WHEN -THE British school

‘ teacher asked her pupils to write

"an essay on their favorite hero in

"history, 12-year-old Brett Elliott

wrote: . ee.
.» “My favorite hero was a man
whose name ‘was Jack Brent. He
~~ was @ real living man. I have met
him lots of times. It was in the
_ year 1937 he went to fight. His

.. wounds didn’t heal. He had one
- of his legs: taken off and the
' other he could not walk with.
But in spite of all his pain he

_ was as cheerful as anybody could
be, often more cheerful. He
used to give Johnny Crome and
‘me rides:on the back of his

«motor chair. We always had
. great fun with Jack.” :

+ .I don’t know what rating the
teacher gave young Brett for his
effort, but I give him an A. In
one paragraph he did a masterly
job in presenting a capsule pic-
ture of a real man, Jack Brent,
whose story is told in Good To Be
Alive (available here at the Peo-
ple’s. Cooperative Bookstore, 337
West Pender, price 90 cents).

Author Stanley Harrison leaned -

heavily on letters. from Jack to

__ his friends, recollections of peo-

' ple who Knew him, and the re-
cords of the International Brigade
‘Association ,to. give readers the
flavor of the man. This reviewer
feels compelled to do likewise.

AY Sisk ome ec sebglage e

JACK BRENT was born in Can-
ada, but his family took him back
to Britain when he was still an
‘infant. He grew up in poverty in
a Scottish village, tried to escape
-his environment by. joining the

Cameron Highlanders while in his
*teens, did 96 days in the glass-
house for taking a drink one night
while on guard at Aldershot, then
donned civvies and went AWOL.

The army didn’t catch up with
him, but the Great Depression
did. The workless years helped
to draw him into the struggle for
a better life, and gave him his.
first socialist ideas.

When Franco’s fascists rose in
rebellion against the Spanish Re-
public in July, 1936, Jack knew
what he had to do. He sought
out the committee interviewing
volunteers for the newly-formed

_ International Brigade. They warn-

ed him it was a grim show. “Just

tell me how to get there,” he re-

plied. . :
His front-line career was brief.
Taking part’ in the fighting at
Jamara river, he was shot through
the spine while trying to bring
in a wounded comrade. The bullet
almost ended his life; actually,
the most important part of his life

began from that day on.

Harry Pollitt, visiting the
wounded in hospital, wrote: .

“T saw a Canadian comrade-
lying dangerously ill.. He had
been shot at the base of the spine
and the lower part of his body
had betn paralysed. Now, with
skilful treatment, life was com-
‘ing back to his limbs. It was
Jack Brent. I went to his bed-
side, but he was in such terrible
agony that it was impossible for
either of us to speak.” ‘

From then until he died in 1951,
Jack spent a good part of his life
in hospitals, often in great pain—

‘but he never stopped working for

~ Pauline Johnson concert

to be repéated in city

WHEN THE Pauline Johnson
Memorial concert is repeated at
York Theatre here on Sunday,
May 16, the program will include
‘the famous poet’s “Moonset” set
to music by Arthur Polson, talent-
ed young Vancouver musician.

Polson’s “Pauline Johnson
Overture,” performed for the first
time by special permission of the
composer at the original concert
in Ukrainian Hall here on March
28, has been rewritten for the
larger orchestra which will per-

\

form it at the York Theatre. .
Announcing the concert this
week, the sponsors, New Front-
iers, said that the repeat per-
formance was being given in re-
Sponse to the many requests re-
Ceived following the premiere of
the “Pauline Johnson Overture.”
Tickets may be obtained at the
People’s Cooperative - Bookstore,
3387 West Pender Street (MA.
5836) or the Pacific Tribune of-

fice, Room 6, 426 ‘Main Street
(MA. 5288).

the cause of socialism, to which
he had dedicated his life.
xt x tt

YET THAT doesn’t tell the
story of this real man, this hero
of our times. It was the way he
worked, and the way he kept his .
sense of humor and his zest for
life, that made Jack Brent almost
a legend while he lived, and a
figure whose fame will grow with
the passing years.

He had his faults, of course.
One of them is described by a
friend:

“He was always borrowing
books. If he thought a book
good he would immediately lend |
it to as many people as he knew.
This happened
books as well as his own, often
to the chagrin of the original
owner who would see a cherish-
ed volume vanish into the ocean‘
of Jack’s acquaintances.”

He loved life, he loved sports,
he loved to talk and drink with
friends, he loved to eat and
fancied himself a connoisseur of
good cooking. Denied by his in-
juries from living a normal man’s
life, he never became bitter.

to borrowed »ceeds, faster and faster.

Drama Workshop |
to give ‘The Dybbuk’

ONE OF THE world’s best
known Jewish plays, Sholom An-
sky’s The Dybbuk, will be pre-
sented at York Theatre here May
11 and 12 by the Drama Work-
shop of the United Jewish Peo-
ple’s_ Order.

First produced in Moscow in
1922, The Dybbuk is ‘considered
by many to be a dramatic master-
piece. The UJPO Drama Work-
shop is using an English transla-
tion by Alsberg and Katzin.

Ansky was a poet, a socialist
who had emancipated himself
from the prejudices and pettiness
of the intelligentsia. He was a
collector of folk legends who was
intrigued by the Chassidic world
that J. L. Peretz, the great Jewish
writer, had discovered. He prob-
ed for beauty, where the exterior
was uncouth and repellent; for
truth where outwardly there was
nothing but sham and supersti-
tion. When he came across the
story of the Dybbuk he knew that
he had the germ of an exquisite
dramatic idea. -

PRE Bes

_ THE PLAY opens on the dimly
lighted synagogue whose walls.

are black and damp with the tears -

of generations. The Chassidim
sit there, half starved individuals,
whose dark eyes burn with the:
faith and passion of their people.

Sender, a rich and purse-proud

Jew, comes in to announce the

betrothal of his daughter. He
calls for refreshments and danc-
ing according to the manner of
the Chassidim.
Hunger and desperation are
soon forgotten as the dance pro-
; The
wedding approaches, A banquet
1S spread for the poor. Then there
1S more dancing—this time the
dance of the, beggars, a weird an-
gular dance like a rattle of dry
bones, grotesque yet fascinating,
till Leah, the bride, half-pleased,
half-terrified, becomes exhausted
and swoons.
; She goes to the cemetery, accord-
ing to the Chassidic custom, to
invite the soul of the dead mother

Paul Skup, at whose flat Brent ‘ t© attend her wedding. The Mes-

Jived for a time, writes:

“How delighted he was when
a cat belonging to a doting wo-
man in the apartments escaped

Senger tells her that the souls of
those who had died before their
time live on in new incarnations
and are sometimes assimilated in

her anxious eye and got preg. , the bodies of living people. Leah

nant. The woman would take
the cat to the coal heap every
morning, talking baby talk to it.
Jack listened furtively at the
kitchen or his own window. He
felt sorry for the cat forced to
live such an uncat-like life, He
used to urge it in pseudo-whis-
pers—we shushed him—to go
out and sin some more.”

In 1950 Jack was flown to
Czechoslovakia, spent some
months in hospital there — and
watched a May Day parade from
a six-floor window. “For seven
hours,” he wrote, “I watched
thousand upon thousand march
past proclaiming their strength,
proudly proclaiming their new
life, passionately proclaiming
peace.”

Up to the end, in hospital or
out, he continued to fight for
peace, to sell the London Daily
Worker, to work for the Interna-
‘tional Brigade Association, to re-
cruit members into the Commun-
ist party, to read and study.

At the age of 39 he died, Died?
Men like Jack Brent don’t die.
Buy Good To Be Alive if you
want to meet him, talk to him,
learn from him. You'll find, as
I did, that you’ve made the ac-
quaintance of one helluva good
guy BERT WHYTE, :

understands and invites the soul
of her dead lover, Channon.
Azrael, the Rabbi of Miropol,
appears, a man spent by fasts and
Penitential exercises. He feels

| BEYOND

with

_ .PACIFIC TRIBUNE — May 7, 1954 — PAGE

May 10 - 4 days only - ‘

THE DANUBE

(ZHAPOROZHETS 2A DUNAYEM) E.,
THE FULL FOLK-OPERA WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES Pe,

himself unequal to the great task
of exorcising the Dybbuk. But he
gathers strength from the thought
that a Jewish soul is to be saved.

Then comes the weird Chassk
dic ceremony of expelling the »
evil spirit, one of the most fat
tastic yet impressive spectacles
seen on stage, recaptured by An
sky’s dramatic genius.

“The large cast includes many
who will be remembered for theif

- work in such UJPO Drama Work
shop productions as The Biggest
Thief in Town and Awake and
Sing. ‘

The Dybbuk has lost none of
its original beauty in the English
‘translation and is well worth see
ing. Tickets may be obtained by
phoning ALma 2991-L.

ed
REPEAT
’ PERFORMANCE!

Pauline
Johnson
Memorial
- Concert

‘SUNDAY
MAY 16

8.30 p.m. :
t

YORK
THEATRE

Tickets available at

PEOPLE’S. COOPERATIVE
BOOKSTORE
~ 337 West Pender
MA. 5836

PACIFIC TRIBUNE
Room 6 - 426 Main Street
MA. 5288

Si a Seen!

STARTS MONDAY,

AT REGULAR PRICES

DOORS 11 A.M. —