Germany, Russia, England, Czechoslovakia, Portugal, Switzerland and Greece, working odd jobs to sustain himself. New York theatre and radio career After returning from Europe in 1936, Dassin joined the Children's Theatre, a division of the Federal Theatre Project during the Great Depression. It was during this time that he joined the Communist Party USA. The troupe put on children's plays at the Adelphi Theatre in New York City. During this time, he played the role of Zar in The Emperor's New Clothes in September 1936, and the role of Oakleaf in Revolt of the Beavers, which ran from May 20, 1937, to June 19, 1937. The later play was criticized as strongly communist. He later joined up with the Artef Players, a Yiddish Proletarian Theater company in 1937, serving as an actor, set designer, set builder, stage director and even ticket salesman. Beginning on October 5, 1937, he appeared in Moyshe Kulbak's play The Outlaw, which had been adapted by Chaver Paver at The Artef Theatre He also appeared in Artef Players' Recruits and 200,000. On November 5, 1938, Dassin's wife Beatrice gave birth to their first child, son Joseph. In October 1939, he acted in Chaver Paver's Clinton Street, which was staged at the Mercury Theatre, after Orson Welles' troupe had left for Hollywood and the Radio-Keith-Orpheum circuit. Since the pay was poor with Artef Players, Dassin formed a theatre troupe to tour the Borscht Circuit in the Catskills as summer stock. Dassin acted in a movie scripted and directed by Jack Skurnick, which was shown to a small group at a space that Skurnick rented in New York but was never exhibited beyond that. He then wrote sketches for radio, at times directing his own radio plays, and became a stage director and producer. In April 1939, Dassin adapted Nicolai Gogol's story The Overcoat for the CBS variety program The Kate Smith Hour, which starred Burgess Meredith and was broadcast live on April 20, 1939. In early 1940, Dassin staged and directed the play Medicine Show for producer Martin Gabel, starring Isabel Bonner, Philip Bourneuf and Norman Lloyd. Although it was well received by critics, Medicine Show only ran for 35 performances at the New Yorker Theatre, from April 12, 1940, to May 11, 1940. Working in Hollywood RKO Radio Pictures (1940) In June 1940, Dassin was signed to a term contract with Hollywood film studio RKO Radio