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Frog Has His Day
Admirers Pay Tribute At Huge Statue

PHILADELPHIA frog-lovers, who include some of the city's best people, yesterday celebrated their biggest day in years.

They gathered reverently around the 1800 - pound granite statue of the Frog of Rittenhouse Square, unveiled it to display its new granite base, and hailed it as a permanent acquisition to their own peculiar hall of fame.

The statue, done in dark green French granite and standing two feet high, was presented to the Rittenhouse Square Improvement Association by the members of the Print Club, who purchased it through public subscription from its sculptor, Cornelia Van Auken Chapin.

Miss Chapin was present at the dedication ceremonies, as was Paul Cret, prominent architect and winner of the Philadelphia Award, who designed the permanent base.

RITTENHOUSE SQUARE passers-by and bench occupants were startled when the low hum of the dedication ceremonies suddenly expanded into a cheer: "Brek-ek-ek-ek, co-ax, co-ax!" Samuel R. Rosenbaum, the cheer-leader, explained this was from Aristophanes' comedy, "The Frogs," and quite suitable for the occasion.

After the exercises, the frog-lovers adjourned across the street to the Art Alliance, where they had cocktails. Frogs' legs were omitted from the menu, as the least that could be done.

Those present included Mrs. Francis Biddle, wife of the Solicitor General, who read an original poem call "To a Giant Stone Frog in a Public Place"; Mrs. Raymond D. B. Wright, of the Print Club; Charles L. Borie, Mrs. Richard W. Meiers, Mrs. Edwin Graham, Mrs. Amory Hare, Mrs. Austin Clark, and two New York sculptors, Louis Slobodkin and Elizabeth Poucher.