PAGE TWO
THE MICHIGAN DAIL;Y
1?D tT~ A ~.' ~'I~I~TI A ~ I 4 An~
Ri J.BALF~1 J., 5' £.jJzi.utlK~, x ii, t~nio
PULITZER WINNER:
'Roses' by Gilroy
~Loved One' More E ndears
Than Offends, Grossity Aside
By PAUL SAWYER
"The Subject Was Roses," the
Pulitzer prize winner by Frank
Gilroy from the 1965 Broadway
season, brings together into one
play all the cliches we have ever
heard about sagging marriages,
inadequate fathers, and alienated
sons.
For two hours it sloshes through
a series of petty quarrels and
agonized reappraisals, then flees
fromi whatever complexities it may
have raised to proclaim trium-
phantly that a little bit of love
can resolve anything. . ,
Yet for some reason, last night's
performance of this play at Hill
Auditorium was strangely affect-
ing in its own little way. It made
one glad that it is not a total
failure-.
Home from War
The turmoil begins when the
only son returns home in the
Bronx from the war and finds
that his mother and dad have not
been getting along any better than
they had for the last twenty years.
John Cleary, the father, is a
coffee salesman clearly mnodeled
after Willy Loman. He drinks
beer, likes good times, abhors sen-
timent, and spend the rest of his
time secretly regretting the failure
of his childhood dream of becom-
ing a millionaire.
There is the inevitable bit about
the flowers: father and son buy
her a bouquet of roses; they make
her cry, stir "'vague hopes" within
her; then in a rage, she throws
them on the floort (this is the third
broken vase I have witnessed on-
stage in two weeks).eics
Then thear i a quarrel about
religion: the son has become a
"free-thinker," and the father is
not about to let him. The rest of
the play attempts to be theatrical
by using Albee-esque devices-
duken soliloquys, dreams relt-e
After two hiours of this, the son
lays his hand on the crux of the
matter: "First I thought father
was to blame; then I 'thought it
was all your (mother's) fault; noW
I don't think it's anybody's fault."
That's the substance of it, and
it's about as deep as Gilroy wishes
to go.
Really the only redeeming as-
thefahe. eni Oeef blus-
ter's about like an irascible George
Allen, with his voice coming most
of the time from low in the throat.
For much of the time he is too
languid and ordinary to be of
much interest. But as the play
progresses, his inability to express
affection threatens to deprive him
of whatever happiness he has.
Reconciliation
He comes to feel this lack most
acutely by the end of the play,
and- one's sympathies are suffi-
ciently aroused to be prepared'for
the end, when the final reconcilia-
tion comes.
O'Keefe's acting is largely re-
sponsible for creating this interest
and making John Cleary an al-
most tragic figure.
The characters of the wife and
son come off less well. In spite of
some competent performances by
Liz Ross and Peter Duryea, they
do not emerge with sufficient
clearness from Gilroy's pen, nor
are they the center of much in-
terest in themselves. ,
It is also to the credit of the
cast that they were able to sustain
the entire drama among the three
of them. It is a shame that the
play itself is not better than it is,
since O'Keefe in particular was
able to generate a good deal of
interest. But too much of It is
either superficial or just plain bad
writing. There is no chance that
'The Subject Was Roses" will ever
become a permanent part of the
stage repertoire.
By DAVID KNOKE
AtTe Campus Theate
Tony Richardson's "The Loved
One," self-proclaimed motion pic-
ture with "something to offend
everyone," instead of disgusting
the audience as its seems to have
tried to do, ends up endearing
itself in a rather unusual manner.
Adapted for the screen by Chris-
topher Isherwood and Terry
Sothern ("Dr. Strangelove") di-
rected by Richardson ("Tom
Jones") and backed ,by an all-
star cast, "The Loved One" takes
flight from British novelist Evelyn
Waugh's creation, .
Dennis Barlow (Robert Morse)
arrives penniless from England in
Los Angeles and seeks out his
half-forgotten Uncle Sir Francis
Hinisley, who inopportunely gets
fired from the movie studio for
his ineptitude and subsequently
hangs himself, leaving Morse in
the lurch.
Morse mugs his way around un-
til he lands a job as caretaker in
an animal cemetary. During his
arrangements for Sir Frank's fun-
eral, he meets and falls for a
sweet young morticianne at The
Whisper Glades, Aimee Thanato-
genesis (Anjanette Coiner) whose
affections are also pursued' by
chief embalmer, Mr. Joyboy (Rod
Steiger).
Morse copies Edgar Allen Poe's
poems, signs his name and sends
them to Aimee, but won't tell her
where he is working. He asks her
to marry him, says they can both
live off her salary. "No decent
American would ask such a thing
of his girl," she screams outraged.
"That's all right," comes back
Morse, "I'm British."
Well, there are a few bad parts
in the movie; come to think, it is
pretty well spotted with trite sight
gags, atrocious puns, and jokes
in the grossest taste. But the over-
all impression is like the delight-
ful eye - and -intellect shocking
paintings of Heironymous Bosche.
Coming to the screen in the
wake of Jessica Mitford's "The
American Way of Death," "The
Loved One" plays to full advan-
tage the pomposity and hypocrisy
surrounding upper-crust funerals.
The Whispering Glades, presum-
ably modeled after the real Forest-
lawn Cemetery in LA, was founded
for eternity by The Blessed
Reverand Wilbur Glenworthy
(Jonathan Winter). The crucial
point of the plot comes when The
Blessed Reverand decides that
eternity is not long enough for
him to make a quick buck. He
decides to turn the cemetery into
a resting home for the droves of
elder citizens retiring on Social
Security. "The only problem," he
says, "is how am I going to get
all those stiffs of f my property."
Finally his brother (also played
by Winter) who runs the pet
cemetery at which Morse is em-
ployed, comes up with a spectacu-
lar solution. "We can put them
into orbit," he gloats, as only
Jonathan Winter can gloat. The
Blessed Reverand decides to resur-
rect a corpse, known as the Con-
dor, a short-lived astronaut, and
blThe hcomedy, bold, Rabelaisian,
comes from the absurd juxtaposi-
tion of the trite and the solemn at
inappropriate moments. Like Lib-
erace flashing his smile and his
suavity- as a coffin salesman. Like
Aiee' prudishnes whe con
fronted with sex, and her equal
but opposite casualness when con-
fronted with death.
"The Loved One" has been poor-
ly received by many critics who
took a dislike to its heavy-handed
attempt at humor and its artless,
tasteless treatment of one of the
few sacred cows left in America.
However, if the film serves a
purpose at all, it is to remin~d us
just how closely interwoven are
life and death, tragedy and
comedy.
SATCH MO
SATC HMO
SATC H MO
COmes to the U of D
Memorial Bldg.
All-Strsn
0
TICKETS: $5, 4, 3, 2 at
the J. L. Hudson Co.; and
U. of D. Memorial Bldg
Box Office, phone 342-
1029.
1:04:08:0P.M.
Matinees-$1 .25
Eves. & Sun.-$1.50
NOW EVERYONE CAN SEE
THE MOST LOVE RLY
MOTION PIGTURE OF ALL TIME I
includ ig Best Picture-
TON IGH T
DIXIELAND
by the fabulous
NEW WOLVER IN E
JASS BAN D
OL D H E IDE LBE RG
211 N. Main
PH. 482-2056
FREE IN-CAR HEATERS
NOW SHOWING
AT
i 9:00 Only
2ND ACT ION H IT
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SHOWN AT 7:00 & 11:00
BOX OFFICE OPEN 6:30
g
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FEB. 16 & 17 Only at
TICKETS ON SALE NOW!
AN ACTUAL FERF0RMANCE OF THE
NATIONAL\THEATRE OFGREAT BRITAIN
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A 8BHE PRODUC1iON
MAGGIE JOYCE FRANK
SMITH 'REDMANad FNLAY
JOHN BRABOURNE
RCuNIOtOr PAAI3Jr Fielma WARNR
10 Shw......$15
4:30 Special Student
Show .. .. . .....$1.00
8:00 Show......22
Purchase Tickets in Advance! Be
sur ofa"Sat
TICKETS NOW ON SALE at the
Campus, Michigan & State Box-
of fices.
4'
*
4
Read and Use
Daily Clasifieds
I
NOW
Dial
8-64 16
Across Campus
Use
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Ads
M-G-M end FILM WAYS present MARTIN RANSOHOFPS PRODUCION.
AARNG
ANJANETTI CME
A ODSTIGER a~ ~r oby
TONY ICHARSN PRM HEMA WO
A
FRIDAY, FEB.11
4:15 p.m.-Prof. Martin Hoff-
man of the psychology dept. will
speak on "Child Rearing Practices
and Moral Development" in Aud.
7 nd 9 p.in.Cinema Guil pre-
Thief" in the Architecture Aud.
SATURDAY, FEB. 12
7 and 9 p.m.-Cinema Guild pre-
sents Leni Riefenstahl's "Tri-
umph of the Will" in the Archi-
tecture Aud.
8 p.m.-The speech dept. will
sponsor a free performance of
"Waiting for Godot" in Trueblood
Aud.
' and 9 p m-inem Guild pre-
sents Leni
umph of the
tecture Aud.
Riefenstahl's "Ti-
Will" in the Archi-
8 p.m..-The Newmen Center will
present a showing of the classic
rected by Feerico Fellini Amis
sion will be 50 cents. A discussion
of the film is included. The New-
man Center is located at 331
Thompson St.
DIAL 662-6264
ENDING TODAY
"BOEING BOEING"
In Detroi
CONCEPT EAST THEATER 401 E. Adorns
presents
Harold Pinter's "THE CARETAKER"
Fri., Sat., Sun.-Thru FEB. 8:30 P.M.
CINMAGID
FILM DISCUSSION
TRIUMPH OF THE WILL
Saturday, February 12 at 9 P.M.
Martha Cook Lounge
Discussion Leader: Prof. Iglehart
9.
STRDAY
never *
start ~
laughing
at
I
PETITION NOW
for the
CINEMA GUILD BOARD
Sign up on the Cinema Guild off ice door,
2538 S.A.B. until February 12
UNIVERSITY PLAYERS
Department of Speech
0
9
9
9
9
0
0
0
S
4
MITCHELL
0 February 19, 19660e 8:B
T R IO tickets: applications to s.G
Thursday, Feb. 10th at 3:C
vidual ticket sales: Hill A
Monday, Feb. 14th, 8:00
P.M. 0 price $2.00, $2.25,
wlbe notified by telepho'
day, Feb. 14th about block
pen
STARR2NS U
4
0
0
0
9
0
9
4*
9
0
e
NEXT WEEK !
CASSAN DRA
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U
Iii
By C. B. Gilford and Elizabeth Gibson
PAUL CONNIE MAUREEN
and JIM jAN HER
H~lON WYAT'JONES ad
LLOYD wemaawme
NOLA ** **
IECINICOLOR FROM WARNER BROS
Samuel
Beckett's
The Aganemnon legend-reinterpreted
WAIIN
FEBRUARY 16-19
8 P.M.
Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre
FOR
Box office open Mon. and Tues. 12:30-5,
Open Wed.Sat. 12:30-8 curtain
YES REBECCA, THERE IS
GODO
KOSHER CORNED BEEF IN ANN ARBOR
I
TOMORROW, FEBRUARY 12
8:00 P.M. TRUEBLOOD AUDITORIUM
Sponsor3eUnivityEPlayers
As we were saying:
TONIGHT AT 7 and 9 P.M.
RON RICE'S
THE FLOWERI
I THIEF I
wil l ife of a present-dy pe
*starring T aylor Mead, Big Daddy Nord,
* and a cast of San Francisco beatniks
ALSO SMOKED HAM
0 DANISH PASTRY
0
FRIDAY AND SATURDAY: 8:30-12:30 P.M.
SOB
ERANKE
0 GOOD HOT COFFEE AND TEAS
CANTERBURY HOUSE
AND
WILL PLAY:
GU ITA R * BANJO * H ARMONICA
ED REYNOLDS
ivill be
SINGING (AMONG OTHERS) :
DIRTY SONGS
(functioning
folk singing)
U
! ~ ab.~W0* * ~ 1 E~ *A~ J?,E £ * Ab~* ~b EM *.Jhft~
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