Putnam patriot., 1929-05-16

New York City, May II, 1920 Thanks to the weather, which has been exceptionally trying throughout the so-called Spring season, New York has been late in removing its winter wrappings and donning the lighter raiment of softer season ! Easter it is true, was all that Spring might promise.- Then came cold, rain. gray cloudy days, and even when the sun has infrequently ap- peared there has been a cold under current of chill that has invited con tinuance of the use of furs and over coats.
 The cherry trees blossomed m the Park. the fleet came into the river, the opera and the orchestral seasons closed. and still New York waited for the coming of Spring. All Of the events of the calendar were followed in precision. but still the city shiver- ed.
 In a city where only few months absence can make one conscious Of incessant change, probably the most ! interesting event of the past months has been the closing of the Waldorf Astoria and the consequent auction i cf the contents of the famous old hotel. There was something to be said about the passing of really tradi- | tional landmark. Kings and queens and princes and presidents and he roes had been the hotels guests. Os- car. the chef, had made both fame and fortune within it's doors. The Peacock Alley" had become more than a local phrase, and more speech es had probably been delivered in the great ballroom of the house than in any other one spot in America. Now l the contents of it's late Victorian rooms are going under the hammer and soon the wreckers will tear down the building to make way for another and bigger one. A new Waldorf will be opened uptown. for New forl is still forever moving uptown.
 And also worthy of note in tn, obituaries cf the "wrecking column is the passing of the famous traffic towers on Fifth Avenue whenc, gleamed the red and green lights tha were law to the motorist. They have after only a few years of service proven to be an obstruction, am anything that obstructs New York T it's daily hurry uptown and down town must go. regardless of cost. Tn traffic towers. you may remember were first of all wooden structures wherein a blue uniformed police man guided the lights and the traffic A few years ago, that progressiv organization known Es the Fifth Ave nue Association determined that the towers must stay they must als be good looking, so a contest for de signs was instituted and the resul was the spindle-legged bronze affair whose clocks have become part O . the life of the Avenue. But noN the towers must go. Police Com missioner Whalen says SO; and Nil Whalen's word is the law in thes days of the Walker Directorate.
 "Journey's End"
 And would you believe it.-th weather of this cold, cold spring ha even affected the theatre. 1t ha : been, on the whole, a pretty miseI able season for the managers. Fol lowing the few hits of autumn ther came an arid pericd when only feN flip comedies prospered here an there. Then suddenly, out of Eng land came one of the most beautiful things that has even been seen in tn theatre of our language. This wa an English war play, by one J. : Sherriffs, an English insurance brok CT writing for the theatre for tn first time. The result has been smashing hit in London and in NeH York. "Journey's End" Mir. Sher riffs play. produced over here by Gil bert Miller. is a play of men in dug-out at the front, a play of cour age. of cowardice, a vivid picture of small corner of the war, and yet 1t appeal is universal. Sheer geniu combined with an actual expsIiene drove Mir. Sherrifs to write this play which. in the sense of the theatre. l net a play at all. The first time tha we saw "Journey's End" we wep without shame. It tried us SO that VI swore never to see it again. But VI were taken in a theatre party, am the second experience proved evel more trying than the first. WI wouldn't have missed seeing Jour ney's End" for all of the things tha we have seen in the theatr' since the war ended; but we doub that we have the strength and tn courage to see it again.
 Pulitzer Play
 Those who have followed the thea Ire this winter seem to agree that tn award of the annual Pulitzer dram , prize to Street Scene" by Elme Rice and produced by William Brady is a just award Personally, "Stree Scene" disappointed us a bit. lt a vivid three-act description of lif in a single New York apartmen house in the course of one day an night. The play revolves around , scrdid story of illicit love and con l comitant murder. It becomes of ca' , ual interest in the efforts of bot author and producer to give the pla , far more than it's share of local colol The plot is, consequently, interrupte
 while New York audiences are intro
 duced to familiar figures passing l
 the ordinary course of the days actis
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