Art and Louis Eckstein

When the defence mechanism of Chicagoans begins to operate and they wish to turn the subject of conversation away from politics and gangsters, one of the safest and happiest topics they can bring up is wonderful season of summer opera at Ravinia on the North Shore. There, in an all, fresco theatre amidst a sylvan park, stars from the Metropolitan and other leading companies sing nightly before large audiences. Ravinia is about 20 miles from Chicago, but the perfection of the music and the beauty of its setting lead thousands to travel there regularly by motor or train.

Ravinia is peculiarly the hobby of one man, Louis Eckstein. It was he who saved it a few years ago from becoming just another amusement park. He engages the singers, selects the repertoire, and, quite inevitably, pays most of the bills. To be sure, there is a guaranty fund subscribed to by many North Shore residents, but it is wholly insufficient to meet the annual losses. Last year Mr. Eckstein paid $139,000 out of his own pocket. This summer's season will cost him nearly $188,000. One can only agree with him when he says: "It is certain that no one man should carry indefinitely the burden and strain of the artistic direction and in addition contribute from his own resources 67 per cent. of the deficit."

No one will blame him if, like Major Higginson and the Boston symphony orchestra, he feels that the community should carry on what he has so finely and generously begun. --Boston Herald.