part of clift's mother's effort was her determination that her children should be brought up in the style of true aristocrats. thus, as long as clift's father was able to pay for it, he and his siblings were privately tutored, travelled extensively in america and europe, became fluent in german and french, and led a protected life, sheltered from the destitution and communicable diseases which became legion following the first world war. the wall street crash of 1929 and the great depression of the 1930s ruined clift's father financially. unemployed and broke, he was forced to move his family to new york, but clift's mother still persisted in her plans, and as her husband's situation improved, she was able to enrol brooks at harvard and ethel at bryn mawr college. clift, however, could not adjust to school, and never went to college. instead, he took to stage acting, beginning in a summer production, which led to his debut on broadway by 1935.