BOSTON—The Salvation Army last week dedicated the Wayside Home School for Girls, at Valley Stream, Long Island, which will have a rehabilitation program for "delinquent and neglected teen-age girls" in its custody.
These girls are between 12 and 18 years old. To give them a chance to learn how to support themselves, and then to help them find their first jobs, is a very practical undertaking. We concentrate so much on boys these days—because they are the ones who largely make up the gangs that trouble us here in the city—that we forget how girls, too, have a hard time and need some attention. Fortunately the Salvation Army is one of those organizations which goes forward trying to fill, wherever it can, the needs that they feel are important at the time.
I am greatly delighted that the Dutchess County Philharmonic Orchestra is to have Claude Monteux as its director this coming year. He is making very ambitious plans to give the whole mid-Hudson area, including Dutchess, Orange, Putnam and Ulster counties, an opportunity to hear good music. At the same time he will try to build in the schools the appreciation of music which makes for better audiences as the youngsters grow up. He will try to raise the orchestra to a fully professional status; and in addition to the regular programs planned he will give 105 grade school concerts the first year. These will consist largely of chamber music groups playing in school assemblies, but at least five of these concerts will feature the full symphony. They hope also to organize a summer festival in Poughkeepsie, to bring in some soloists, and to put on an opera, operetta, ballet and pop concerts.
One of the most interesting features to me is the plan to audition for young local talent. Such a plan of course will require a sum of at least $50,000 to be raised, but I hope that our interest in music is great enough to bring forth this considerable support in the several counties. We have a great deal of latent talent in this country, if only we can gain recognition for it and provide our artists with an adequate living.
I was in Hyde Park last Thursday night and Friday and to my surprise there were still some flowers blooming in the garden, including a few rose buds that I hope will not be nipped by the frost before I get back next weekend.
The Film Festival Benefit for the U. N. International School opened last Saturday evening at the Murray Hill Theatre in New York. The host for the evening, when the Scandinavian films were shown, was Mr. Belaunde, president of the General Assembly this year and a veteran of many sessions. In fact, in my own experience he stands out as one of the most familiar and respected of representatives from the South American countries.
E. R.
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TMs, AERP, FDRL