Using java monitor

Question

Hi. I'm trying to learn how to use and manage the java monitor, but in this case I cannot understand the behaviour. I create some threads instances of a class with this run() method:
public synchronized void run()
   while (!free) {try {this.wait();} catch (InterruptedException e) {}}
   free = false;
   // Show some text...
   free = true;
   notify();
...free is a boolean, and I would like each thread to run in mutual exclusion. free is at the beginning false. The problem is that after the end of the first thread, no other thread is started by notify(). Shouldn't the notify allow some other thread to reconsider the condition (!free)?
Thanks for any explaination.

Answer 1

I do need the threads to communicate. The fact is that I simplified the thing just to understand better responses from you :). The real problem is more complicated. I have a arbitrary number of threads of two different classes. These threads have to access a shared resource (I used the boolean free). Moreover I have to give precedence to one of these two classes. So, I used to integers to represent two queues. The fact is that only the first thread to be ran reaches the end. The others, I saw, reach the wait() method, but then they stops and the program does not finish.
I mean that I thought this: the first thread to reach the wait() passes. Then, this first thread starts to use the resource (free becomes false). Every other thread which reach the while(...) stops there (there is the wait()). Then the first process, at a particular time, release the resource (free = true) and communicate this to another thread which was stuck at the wait() instruction (through the notify()). The problem I see is that every thread reach the wait() and stops there. After the first one is finished, no more... The notify() does not give the monitor to another thread (which would find free = true). This is my problem. Do you understand?
Many thanks for yuor answer anyway.