New York’s ‘Little Italy’ cheers downfall of Duce
Loss of ‘pitcher beer’ forgotten as jubilant throngs pack Mulberry St.
New York (UP) –
Little groups sat in Mulberry St., heart of New York’s “Little Italy” yesterday, bemoaning the latest war casualty of their neighborhood – “pitcher beer.”
Then came word of Benito Mussolini’s resignation.
They forgot “pitcher beer.” The groups became larger and they went from door to door spreading the news. Soon the narrow streets, across which stretch red, white and blue service flags, were filled.
But there was no formal celebration.
Angelina Corzia, busy selling shirt buttons to Chinese laundrymen, said:
Now we will have peace. That Mussolini, he was no good.
She seemed to echo the sentiments of most of the city’s 1,300,000 Americans of Italian descent.
A meeting of the friends of Italy and Sicily was held up for 20 minutes by the cheering which greeted the news. In parks throughout the city, amateur baseball games were broken up as spectators swarmed over the diamonds.
At Yankee Stadium, where 36,779 spectators saw the New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox divide a doubleheader, an announcer broke in with a special bulletin during the sixth inning of the second game. He got only as far as Mussolini’s resignation. The rest of the announcement was lost in the tumultuous reaction.