suutarit. After her, Albert Saloranta came with a group of his own in 1925, and the next to appear was Aarne Orjatsalo, who made up a cast of actors from Duluth to assist him in his production of Herman Bahr's The Master: Lauri and Sigrid Lemberg, Kerttu Lindros, Matti Pellinen and Antti Vitikainen. Later he made another tour of Minnesota, performing in Lemberg's play, Haihtuvia pilviä (Fading Clouds.) The next guests were Veikko Antero and Maikki Ruoppila, who performed Dario Nicodemi's play Night and Day. At Christmas 1926, Kirsti Suonio arrived, with her son-in-law Martti Similä, and Mme. Suonio, a star of the Finnish National Theater, arranged a production of Tukkijoella, selecting local talent for the suppotring roles : Matti Kero, Matti Pellinen, Impi Salo, Sigrid Lemberg and Robert Anderson. In 1929 there came Annie Mörk, of the Turku Theater, performing several plays with the help of Onni Gabriel (from Helsinki), and John Mattila and Hugo Nordlund, Finnish-Americans from Astoria and New York respectively.

The first guests from neighboring areas were a group from Port Arthur, Canada, who performed two plays in Duluth in 1911 under their director Felix Hyrske. A year later they visited Duluth again, as well as other communities in northern Minnesota, with a repertory of five plays. In 1913 and 1914 they paid further visits, bringing one new play with them each time. The workers' society group from Superior, across the river, paid numerous visits, and their opposite numbers from New York brought a group of operettas under the direction of Aarre Linnala.

Along with the actors, a few dancers have also made their appearances in the state: the brother-and-sister team of Akseli and Tyyne Vuorisalo made two tours of the state, and in the 1930s Tuulikki Paananen made a tour.

More recently, after World War II, the frequently mentioned FAAC of Duluth was probably the only place in Minnesota where any plays were being put on at all, but even here it was but a pale reflection of the halycon years when as many as 500,000 Finns a year were able to go to plays, acted in Finnish, almost any week of the year.

In answer to a query as to what this theater activity contributed to Finnish-American life, Lauri Lemberg stated : "In the first place, it gave the Finns living here an acquaintance with Finland's great dramatists, interpreted their ideals and aspirations to their fellow Finns here, and thus kept intact the spiritual ties between the old and the new country. In the second place, the theatricals, and the halls they built, offered a suitable meeting

306