CROSS-COUNTRY
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around Doylestown in Bucks County. The old time Germantown fam–
ilies have gone on to Chestnut Hill, after the PRR laid out another of
its convenient spurs for them.
But there is still some of the past hanging over the city itself. Rit–
tenhouse Square is not what it used to be, but Delancey Place still has
its pastel shuttered houses with the white stone steps, and some of the
old streets like Camac and Mole and Appletree have been refurbished
to look not new, but old. What Bohemia there is tends to cling to nar–
row mews like Ringold Place, and the homosexuals wander nearby in
Rittenhouse Square and further downtown in Washington Square. There
are still drug stores called apothecaries which show no interest in soda
fountains and telephone booths. Here and there are islands of the old
city: Leary's book store and the Mercantile Library are practically
next door to the one relatively modern piece of architecture, the
Philadelphia Savings Fund Society on Market Street. And, of course,
City Hall still rears monstrously. "It's so awful, it's lovely," a Phila–
delphian said to me. "I wouldn't mind it staying there if it wasn't such
a traffic hazard."
The arts sicken and suffer in Philadelphia, except musically. The
huge, Greek-style Parkway museum does almost nothing to encourage
native talent, although a fine Matisse show was held last year. The
Barnes hoard is as inaccessible as ever in Merion; and the collectors
(some important ones) prefer to buy their paintings in New York.
Thus, that is where the Philadelphia artist must sooner or later go, if he
wants to be heard of. The exodus of talent in all artistic fields has been
going on for many years, for Philadelphia represents only dullness and
sterility to the stubbornly creative soul. But the orchestra patrons have
always been staunch, and for the first time in history a city appropria–
tion came forth for it this year. It is still respectable for Philadelphia
adolescents to stand in line for hours on Saturday evenings, with their
dates, in the hope of gaining gallery seats. The line is constantly menaced
by pigeon droppings, for the city ordnance against feeding the plague of
these birds that like so much to roost and eliminate on and around the
Academy of Music has had little effect to date. No one has taken to
Ormandy as they once did to Stowkowski, but there is no denying the
fact that The Philadelphia Orchestra makes some of the world's finest
musical sounds.
I was walking one bright, hopeful day with a young lady and on
that quiet Philadelphia street a pigeon wandered lazily across our path.
"Pigeon," she said, bending down, "do you have a message for
me?"
