Swing (Jan-Dec 1945)

white it lasts the customers are fiUing the Chicago Stadium to the rafters. It hasn't seen such crowds since the Lone Ranger appeared with the Barnes Brothers Circus. The local yen for legalized assault and battery is also expressed in the annual reappearance of the Roller Derby. For a number of years now, Mr. Leo Seltzer has brought to the Coliseum an assortment of male and female skaters who spend days on end whirling dizzily around a wooden oval. This combination of the 6-Day Bike Race and the Dance Marathon, with a little mayhem thrown in to make it interesting, is highly popular with the citizenry. So much so, in fact, that Mr. Seltzer makes it an annual event. The current state of the Theatre is extremely healthy. All playhouses are now occupied, most of them by hits which should be around for months to come. A theatrical traffic jam seems to be developing, with few houses available to take care of January arrivals. The long-run hits are "Voice of the Turtle," "Dear Ruth," "Carmen Jones," and Anna Lucasta." Of the quartet only "Carmen Jones" will leave in the near future. This Billy Rose hit will stick around only until the first of the year. The others will probably be with us on July 4, 1946. On the horizon are a revival of the old standby, "The Desert Song," and a new play starring that debonair fugitive from the Hollywood whodunits, Mr. Edmund Lowe. Mr. Lowe arCOMING SOON rives in the photogenic THE "RYAN company of June Havoc GIRL" in "The Ryan Girl," assisted by Doris Dalton and Una O'Connor. Also promised arc the new Eddie Dowling play, "St. Lazare's Pharmacy," and the Broadway hit, "The Hasty Heart." Mr. Dowling hopes to repeat the Chicago success of last season's premiere of "The Glass Menagerie." And, incidentally, he hopes to appease his Chicago supporters who were counting on him for something in the way of a repertory theatre. Visitors from out of town during the December, 194^ holiday season who want to get away from the usual pubs and places will do well to visit several of the not so well known but important restaurants. These spots are frequented by Chicagoans but off the beaten path for visitors. First on many a personal list of top cafes is the Wrigley Building Restaurant on the first floor of that venerable pile on North Michigan avenue. The Wrigley, as it is more familiarly known, has wonderful food at surprisingly modest prices. Also famous is the bar, presided over at almost all times by Lou Harrington, master of martinis and manhattans. You'll find politicians and nice old ladies eating happily side by side in the main restaurant. The bar in the rear is the almost exclusive hang-out of Chicago's radio and advertising fraternity. Great consternation was caused recently when a small fire in the kitchen brought a twentyfour hour closing. Radio and advertising agency people peered into the darkened windows anxiously and roamed the boulevard like lost souls. Other restaurants well worth a try are Riccardo's on Rush Street, the Corona (also on Rush Street), and the Petite Gourmet on North Michigan Avenue. These, like the Yar and the Kungsholm, are famous for their food and atmosphere. The only difference is that the checks are considerably smaller. With the money saved you can pay for a ticket back to the home town or buy new shoes for Baby. UNWEPT, UIVHDMOHED AIVD IIVCLUDED OUT I think that I shall never see A horse-thief on a family tree: Somehow in charting families All those who've hung on other trees Are missed by genealogies.