Putnam patriot., 1930-07-31

and a legion of associates are spon- soring the rapidly rising. Empire State Building which Is to be the tal- lest of them all.
 seiaeeA in New York
 Talking with a friend recently who is connected with one of the leading historical societies of New York. he referred to the fact that there is much truth in the mot of the man who declared that New York is | not city but "league of nations Demonstrating the remark. he de- serihed to us how in the various quarters devoted the foreign born, residents of city or town in Europe or Asia will congregate in certain street or block in New York. Do you know, for instance" he asked, 'tthat Elizabeth Street downtown is practically entirely inhabited by the emigrants who have come from Seiacca. a town on the southeastern coast of Sicily?" That did interest US and back came very vivid
 memory of Sciaeea itself.
 We had motored from Castelyet-
 rano by the ruins of Selinunte and to Seiaeco for lunch All about the town were high, ruin-crowned hills.
 Below stretched away the Mediter- ranean. While waiting for lunch we joined the male population taking their noon-day promenade in the little piazza. for in Sicily the women do not appear in the public places with the men. And we remembered Sciacca afterwards for the variety of the faces of the Sicilians, forI here we found traces of all the rae es that have contributed to Sieily's conglomerate population -- Greek, Saracen, Norman. Carhaginian, Lom- bard and Roman. We remembered too. seeing huge American iimou- sine in which sat a prosperous look ing Sicilian whom the hOtel-keeper described as having made his money in America in "the bootleg
 One afternoon recently Tn the heat of the day on our way uptown, we took a taxi to crowded Catherine Street and there we found Seiacca slum and there We found Seiacca again, the Sciacea of the little piaz- "a on the coast of Sicily, crowded in- Co an evil-smelhne. sweating street in the heart of the Italian slum.
 The Summer Theatre
 Summer heat and the slump in the stock market and hard times generally nave hit the summer thea Ire as seldom before in many years. Mir. Earl Carroll. who commutes from theatre to the courtroom. di- verted the town for a night or two with the "Vanities." spectacular revue at the New Amsterdam which was closed by the authorities after a few performances and Mr. Car roll and some of his high pri ed players were hauled into Court { laying in Mir Ziegfeld's New Ans terdam Theatre. Mir Carroll for the moment took crack at his rival revue producer by painting over the stage entrance: Through this door NOW pass the most beautiful wom- en in the world" Perhaps MT. Iieg- fields satisfaction was in the legal , closing of the show.
 We went the other evening to the i highly advertised and equally sue eeesful "Ivsistrata" of Aristophanes , presented at the Forty-fourth Street Theatre by the Shuberts after its long and successful run in Phil I adelphia where the Gilbert Seldes [ translation was first presented un- der the auspices of the Philadelphia [ Civic Theatre Association, com pany backed by the most respecta .-.,..s citizens of the Quaker ly-r-e~- i, theless, so bawdy Wy seldes' adapation ol Athenian farce. that r195tJleclares it was even too " <4-r New York and many of its spes were deleted or modified Tor the benefit of Manhattan's hitherto hard boiled taste.
 We were disappointed in the American "I.ysistrata. We had seen the merry earryings-on of the same play as adapted by the French Maurice Donnay and presented at the Marigny in Paris lew years ago And there was that superb unity of acting and stageerat Of the same play as given by the Mos COW Art Theatre on it's last Visit to America.
 True. Mir. Normal Bel-Geddes has given to the play an extraordinary set. showing the steps leading Co the rates of the Acropolis. but MT bel- Ceddes should have satisfied himself with the scenery and should not have taken on the far more demand ing role of stage director. Miss Violet Kemble Cooper presents fine figure and gives an excellent performance in the title role but the rest of the cast seems something of hodge-podge and there are mos ments when the play wanders aii over the stage and almost out of the dor And in few other productions can we remember listening to so many varieties of the American ae- cent. Miss Kemble-Cooper speaks in almost fiawless. declamatory Eng fish. but her associates speak col louuially with the tone and intona- ation of Tulsa, Richmond. Bangor, n..gs!. as other aant= of the Amer
 ican region. Mir. Ernest Truex,
 rather fat and a little bit far along ife's road to play juveniles, works very hard as the leading amorous soldier whose wife will have none of him until he has taken a pledge against carrying arms, but even Mir. Truexs work brings little unity to the play.
 We enjoyed of all the summer
 shows. the Garrick Gaieties. Here the Theatre Guild has once more brought back that group of lively