"When I learned that all our money was in the market, I frantically tried to cover our losses. I went from bankers to brokers to pawnshops without much luck. Amid all this I did nine shows a week, singing, dancing and blaming Yonkel for investing all the money I had worked so hard to acquire. Finally, I decided, 'Que sera, sera.'"

In the midst of the Great Depression Kalich bought the Folks Theater at 12th Street and 2nd Avenue and grandly renamed it the Molly Picon Theater. The opening marked a dramatic comeback from the serious losses he and Picon suffered in the 1929 stock market crash.