THE MICHIGAN DAILY Tuesday, February 24, 1970 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Tuesday, February 24, 1970 arts fe Joseph Strick and estival dam the lusty Tropic HELD OVER 2nd WEEK! SHOWS AT: 1 :00-300-5:00-7:00-9:0 03 By NEAL GABLER had my first exposure to ry Miller's Tropic of Cancer, 'opriately enough, in a high ol freshman biology class. n the teacher would leave room, out would come the :rback, and the sniggers .d begin. Luckily, it was one hose books you didn't have earch through to find the sure; so we could snap it i and indulge our wicked minds whenever the op- unity was afforded us. therefore, have some fond- ness for the book. It introduced me to a world of debauchery I hadn't known existed and to four letter words even the guys in the alley didn't use. And al- though I didn't realize it at the time, it also revealed to me a strange value system which has since come to be known as the Playboy Philosophy. In this 'value system, women are living pleasure machines, devoid of emotion, driven by sex. Pretty passionate stuff for a thirteen year old! Subtly, this notion has infect- ed all our lives. Its perpetration, however, is not the result of a conspiracy. Men are only follow- ing tradition, and, looking at cosmetic sales, it is one the girls accept as well. If it is crue, as the sociologists claim, that one's self-image is in large part mold- ed by how other people treat you, it is no wonder that womankind is divided between the neurotic and the simple. Anyone who has searched for a girl of the golden mean knows how rare such persons are. Joseph Strick's film Tropic of cinema; ube' lacks grooviness - By DREW BOGEMA There are bright and exciting oments in Groove Tube, the. if-Broadway television satire rported to the Hillel "Video" oom" and other hip college 61,unties across t h e land. here.= are also, one is t o I d, rght and exciting moment on levison itself. What it ulti- iately comes down to, then, is hether. one is willing to endure le waste with the wealth. You k n o w about television. tst of us donated incredible pounts .,of childhood energy rid interest to its operation, n that time when it was Ph The Price' r!ve Pay er, toplay By ROBERT A. MARTIN Daily Guest Writer Anyone familiar with p 1 a y- ight Arthur Miller's contin- Ing exploration of the Ameri- an social and moral environ- ient should feel perfectly com- ortable in the atmosphere of is most recent play, The Price. Although Miller has frequent- i ventured into dramatic terri- rties as diverse as those found a A View from the Bridge and 'he Crucible, his stature in the #erican theatre derives large- r from All My Sons, Death of Salesman and After the Fall. 'With the appearance of The rice, Miller hasadded a fourth jihis distinguished trio of fam- y plays, which have as their iterrelated themes contempor- ry social values and the con- Liets that exist between fath- rs sons and brothers. Miller tells his tale simply nd .well. Two brothers, meet ter a sixteen year separation n the cluttered attic of their lildhood home. The long-buried ,elings . of resentment, misun- erstandings, and implied be- rayai come to the surface as be play's focus shifts. in: The Price, Miller probes eeply into the emotional and iychologcal motivations of in- Ividual man and his reactions t the demands society places pon him. As a balance, Miller nploys the humor, wisdom and pmpassion of the old junk ealer, Gregory Solomon, as iediator and one-man chorus. or it is Solomon, finally, w h o Lye: meaning and direction to 11e .play -when he says: "The ice of used furniture is noth- g:btt a viewpoint, and if you 'ould't understand the v i e w- pint, it's impossible to under- tand the price." The. Price will play tonight n d tomnorrow evening at Hill ud" under the auspices of the Editor's note: The author is t, Associate Professor of Eng- sh in the University's Depart- ient of Humanities. given the giant shuck, dusted off and occasionally brought back to life only for the late- movie or latest civil disorder. At the time, it seemed a won- derful escape from the horrors and blight of coercive educa- tion, but, in the end, one found that school and TV were one and the same; that the revenge it exacted gave you a conscious- ness which had to be partially and painfully purged if lives were to be built and happiness be more than a Bonanza melo- drama. It's power frightens, it's sen- sitivity frustrates, it's inten- tions conspire toward plasticity. Hopefully, one is far past the point where the device plays any part in one's life. It's sim- ply so exhilarating to be bored and to smash the lethargic state of mind without relying on the nefarious, insidious, inhumane conspiracy that wreaks devas- tation and despair upon t h e minds of its addicts. As to Groove Tube, the pro- gram consists of a number of ingeniously desiged s k i ts, shaped from a variety of per- spectives, attacking virtually ev- ery "genre" program that ap- pears on the tube. Some place the observer deep inside those all-too-familiar bourgeois tele- shit settings, then work out the unquestioned absurdity of it all by interjecting that turbulent and frightening world of s e x and sin into the logic of the ending. Others present the sa- tire through such a distorted and grotesque lens in order to re-reveal the terrifying, vapid, pacifying effect the media cap- italists impose. Ko-Ko the Clown does t h e Bozo bag of giggles and silly an- tics until it's "Make Believe Time" and only kids under ten can stay to watch. Whereupon he removes his false nose, speaks in everyday masculine fashion, and begins to read se- lected requests from the likes of Fanny Hill and Lady Chat- terly's Lover. It's all a front, the satire subtly tells us, a child- ren's conspiracy to extend the generation gap and force the elders to treat them like indi- viduals. BACH CLUB presents PETER GRIFFITH playing works of Bach and other composers on guitar Refreshments and FUN afterwards WED., FEB. 25-8 P.M. 1236 Washtenaw (at S. Forest near S. University) EVERYONE WELCOME! (no musical knowledge necessary) Last meeting's attendance was 50 (we haven't degenerated into nothing yet) 663-2827 663-3819 764-9887 (Jenny) There is a delightful n e w s show, in which the commentator after delivering a trite human- interest anecdote and wishes his audience well, finds that t h e camera continues to focus upon him while he has nothing ?to do and nothing to say. There is Kramp TV' Kitchen in which the home-maker's dream food is transformed into a quaddie's nightmare. There is the deter- gent commercial for 'Black Power,' which promises to wipe out white. As a capper, there is the Olympic Sex Games, a stag movie with dubbed in pseudo- sports commentary. Unfortunately for G r o o v e Tube, satire and black humor a r e extraordinarily delichte realms of direction and plan- ning, especially in such a wide- open medium of television. We are told that Kenneth Schapiro and cohorts spent three years revising and tinkering with video satire. A lot happens dur- ing three years. And to be suc- cessful, as it seems the produc- ers and distributors urgently crave, one has to keep up with the times. Does anybody really care whether television can be liberated? Now, it might be fine for the younger set who may or may not have gone through all this yet. But don't be awed by it's pretentions as avant-garde art. It's all quite stale, but t h e n' again, I'm an out-and-out pur- ist. SUPPORT UNCENSORED TV Cancer, which he accompanied to Auditorium A last Sunday, attempts to picture "the distor- tion of the male-female rela- tionship and its destruction by false values." On the surface, this is a clever, often hilarious, monologue liberally sprinkled with those same four letter words even the kids in the alley didn't use. For those of you who are bored by Playboy, but not by its philosophy, there is a good deal of very explicit frontal nudity along with the humor. That, however, is only the tip of the iceburg. The comic energy of the film's early parts is indeed exhilerat- ing. But somewhere toward the middle, my light-hearted mood changed. The jokes were still coming fast and furious, but I wasn't laughing anymore. The pubic hair was still prominent- ly displayed, but I wasn't titil- lated. It had suffused into my brain that I was laughing at the tragic consequences of fol- lowing a meaningless value sys- tem; their games of easy sex were really sick and pitiful, not funny or exciting. To show how effective the film is, it had me wishing that the partners would leave their boudoir, sit down in chairs and relate to each other as human beings instead of ob- jects. Henry, played with great wit" by Rip Torn, goes through the same process. His recognition of the sad state of mind is loosely set within a framework of gain- ing - losing - mourning - loving - deciding. He meets his wife after separation. She forces him to choose between his writing, without her, and a higher pay- ing, less creative job, with her. He chooses writing, and she chooses to leave. Dejected, he seeks through love-making to regain the love he has lost. The futility of the task becomes evi- dent; but instead of seeking re- demption from his awful life, he admits that he is just as much a bastard stud as anyone else. The carousel keeps going round, and Henry stafs for the ride. I have a fear that Tropic of Cancer will be thought of as a daring skin-flick rather than as an intelligent ,diatribe against love without beauty. There were shades of that attitude on Sun- day. One fellow asked Strick why he didn't cast Dustin, Hoff- man or someone similarly pathetic, if the film's goal was pathos. What this poor. mis- guided soul didn't understand was that a pathetic character, doesn't make pathos any more than nudity makes a .nudie movie. I don't think that a film like this can get its proper recog- nition until the signal system- happy character signals happy movie-is destroyed. and feeling is seen as a chemistry between film and audience. The good director can make the viewers' experience parallel that of the main character. I was sated by the endless assault of breast and vaginas; so was Henry even though, in the end, he decides to go back for more. We shared a common reaction, and his job as protagonist was to define what occurred. That's what the 4> new cinema is all about; films are relating to our reality, not keeping within their own tinsel world. The reality of Tropic of Can- cer is the failure of lives. The Parisian expatriots are sad, im- potent people. Some, like Henry, see through the brash boasting. Others push on in ignorance. They are the kind of people who would go to see Tropic of Cancer and laugh. But in the end, it is themselves, ourselves, who are being laughed at. ENACT TRANSPORTATI ON SEM INAR MR. ROBERT STEVENS "Transportation and Land Use" Ip GUHILD FEBRUARY 24-TUESDAY American Film Studies GRAND HOTEL dir. Edmund Goulding (1952) A film classic starring Greta Garbo, John and Lionel Barrymore, Lewis Stone, J o a n Crawford, Wallace Berry. MR. JOHN ROBBINS "Transportation Operations of Ann Arbor" " DR. DONALD CLEVELAND "What's in Store for Tomorrow" " MR. QUY LARCOM, JR. MR. GEORGE BACALIS TODAY 7:30 P.M.-10:00 P.M. Rackham Amphitheatre ENDS WEDNESDAY I a AMAD INN ENTERTAINMENT BEGINS AT 8 P.M. - PRESENTING "THE GUILD" and JOE DICK WINGFIELD 2800 JACKSON ROAD COCKTAILS AND GOOD FOOD 1-94 at Exit 172 * No CoverCharge *i I1 Ir Ir 7:00 & 9:05 662-8871 75c ARCH. AUD. "FUTZ" Will shake the very foundation of motion picture morality MUSKET All Campus Theatrical Company Presents ANlwlqpmpplk I I TODAY AT 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 P.M. WILL CAPTUREYOUR HEART! COMMONWEALTH UNITED pxemts A MAR(CARINER PRODUMON PETR IPAMELA USTINOV TiFFIN JONAHAIJOHN WNTERSAlN EastmanCOLOR NEXT: CACTUS FLOV "3 DIAL 5-6290 -.O V SeYnmoinM, hunited pmmnts s Guwor Prodi~on GEORGE*** c ;ow DAY Groove Tube is under- ground TV. It's what TV could be without censors and sponsors. Come prepared to laugh a lot. .and blush a little but come " Presented by KENNETH N. NEMEROVSKI Thurs. & Sun.: 7:30 & 9:15-$1.75 Sat.: 8:00, 9:45 11:30-$2.50 NO FRIDAY PERFORMANCES THE VIDEO GALLERY in the HILLEL SOCIAL HALL 1429 Hill Street March 1014, 1910 Lydia Mendelssohn % Theatre WER I I 1I The Merry Widow I Ticket Sales BEGIN FEB. 25: aIs p Operetta by Franz Lehar MICHIGAN UNION Conductor: JOSEF BLATT Stage Direction: RALPH HERBERT FEBRUARY 27 and 28 MARCH 2 and 3 Mendelssohn Theatre U Phone Reservations: 769-0130 Tickets at the door at showtime Reel..1t . Unit Join The Daily Sports Staff I 8P.M. A1 Admission $3.00 Ticket Information 764-6118 BOX OFFICE HOURS: FEB. 23-26, 12:30-5 P.M.; FEB. 27-28, MAR. 2, 3, 12:30-8 P.M. (CLOSED SUNDAY, MARCH 1) School of Music and Department of Art 0 University of Michigan \EUROPE 70 I " GET ATTENTION OPENS TONIGHT 2 PERFORMANCES ONLY ARTHURMILLERS I Try Daily Classifieds 8:30 POM. I " / , !. .! , . f '',w. w«rn.. . "N: FEB. 4-25 * * -1 - RADICAL FILM SERIES} presents DUTCHMIAN' Written by: LeROY JONES Directed by: ANTHONY HARVEY Starring: SHIRLEY KNIGHT and AL FREEMAN, JR. "BEST ACTRESS" VENICE FILM FESTIVAL ". ..a mythic train of some sort, a Flying Dutchman of the underground. A blond succubus, with mini-skirt, darting tongue, tousled hair, and infinitely provocative man- ner, sits besides a Brooks Brothers Negro, flirts with him, embraces him, teases and torments him, and finally goads him into an explosion of violence against the whites. Having forced him to reveal his interior hate, she stabs and kills him. So the white race, forever fascinated (sexually) by the Negro, forever forces him to affirm his Negritude and then forever lynches him."-Vogue " +.erifvina-r ervinan' Inlk of cnncern for his fellow man."-Commonweal FLIGHT NO. 1: Windsor to London Brussels to Windsor AIR CANADA JET Detroit to London Paris to Detroit TWA JET May 3 June 1 May 7 June 26 FLIGHT NO. 2: $210.00 4 SUMMER CHARTER FLIGHTS 41 Sponsored by the University of Michigan ONLY Charters from the campus which are regularly scheduled I.A.T.A. Carriers First Class Service; Free, open bar Possible rebate if plane fills Sponsored by UAC-a NON-profit organization *Returns from the Continent Sign Up at the UAC Travel Committee Desk, UAC Offices, 2nd Floor Union $210 00 0 i ; %i P t :.... r i" . . f I I II