Seventy-First Year
r EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL:
Examination of Growing Needs
AY, OCTOBER 22 1960
NIGHT EDITOR: SUSAN FARRELL
Calendaring Changes
And Conservatism
[ANS for re-organizing the, University
calendar crop up fairly frequently, raise
ertain amount of fuss, and die down again,
the University, with a minimum of change,
btles back into its accustomed pattern,
'hese plans are all developed to provide
re of something: educational quality,
ntity, efficiency, speed. The latest kick
he trimester system, designed for maxi-
mn space use and the quickest effective
dent processing. But this plan is' just one
the more recent of a long line of ideas.
'he University has had a long history
calendaring squabbles-with Study Com-
tees, extensive reports, and a good deal
lwill on the part of many of the factions
cerned.
HE MOST recent controversy was in 1958,
when, after considerable wrangling, a
endar Study Committee came up with an
borate report recommending fairly drastic
,nges in the calendar. They wanted to
k to the semester system, changing it
t enough to eliminate the "lame duck"
dlon, between Christmas vacation and
ins. This would have required beginning
first semester on Sept. 1, and shortening
exam periods by a week in order to com-
te the first semester by Christmas. They
:wanted to lengthen the mid-term vaca-
i to one month, and finish the second
ester by the end of May.
EIS PLAN was to have gone into effect
next fall. But numerous groups com-
ined bitterly-intercollegiate activities felt
s change would ruin their schedules, stu-
ts said they could not get summer jobs
t ended so early, the forestry department
I the committee that their student jobs
i Sept. 15, and no earlier.
o, in the end the plan was junked, a
r committee was appointed and the pre-
t calendar was passed, with no change
In the old one, except for a slight length-
ng of the lame-duck session. The Univer-
's conservatism won out again.
UT THE same inadequacies in the semester
system that plagued the past Calendar
Committees, and originally aroused the plea,
for change have remained unchanged over
the years. Teachers still complain about the
awkward length of the lame-duck session,
the 15-week semester is still usually either
too long or too short for the kind of subject
matter covered, and the two-week examina-
tion period has neither the advantages of
Harvard's 20-day reading period, nor the
efficency of the one-week session recommend-
ed by the 1958 calendaring report.
The problems remain, and new solutions
are being worked out yearly. Michigan State
is quite successfully using the quarter system;
perhaps a like organization could be worked
out successfully here, making up for the
shortened course length by an increase in
the number of courses in continutity, like
the present History 33, 34 series. This would
both break the semester at a logical place,
and allow for longer and shorter courses
which would better suit the needs of the
individual professor and student.
TFHE TRIMESTER system has various ad-
vantages-the availability of the long
third semester which students could take
off for independent scholarship or tuition-
earning, the conservation of space and time
could all be quite workable if handled with,
great flexibility and good administrative
sense.
Colleges and universities across the coun-
try have experimented with these and other
plans since 1958. New ideas arise continually,
pressure for admissions and for educational
differentiation increases. And yet, with the
current calendar about to run out, in June
of 1962, the University has made no plans to
set up a new Calendaring Committee to
study these new ideas. A Study Committee
must be set up by Spring, 1961, if it is to
be effective for the 1962-63 calendar. Sec-
retary to the University Erich Walter said
that it would be set up again only if there
was considerable demand for change. Con-
siderable demand for change, or at least
for study of new ideas, is vitally necessary
for the University's institutional progress.
--FAITH WEINSTEIN
By CAROLINE DOW
Daily Staff Writer
Education shall forever
be encouraged."
Students and homecoming
alumni may recall the ending of
the inscription on Angell Hall.
This is taken from the North-
west ordinance written in 1787,
it is still true. "An institution of
higher learning cannot long sur-
vive unless it anticipates to-
morrow's needs today." President
of the University, James B. Angell
said this to the Detroit alumni in
1902. This is still true.
This University's needs are
large and growing, as is its re-
sponsibility to educate thinking
citizens for tomorrow. Good
faculty and experts must still be
paid, buildings still have to be
built and books bought. These
needs are the responsibility of
every citizen.
How are these met?
It costs the University, on the
average, $1,000 to educate a fresh-
man or a sophomore, $2000 for a
junior or a senior and $4000 for
a graduate student for one year.
The University makes up the dif-
ference between this figure and
tuition fees.
The University budget, includ-
ing self-supporting projects such
as the residence halls, is around
$100 million. The state gives about
$30 million and 1958-59 student
fees came to almost $10 million.
More money than is provided by
the state and students in needed
to uphold University standards
and keep good faculty here while
keeping tuition costs within range
of most students. This deficit is
partly made up by the responsible
community of alumni and friends
of the University.
Actually more than one half
of the University's plant and
equipment (about $120 million)
have been obtained from sources
other than state appropriations,
through gifts, bequests and self-
liquidating projects.
* N
ALMOST $9 MILLION was given,
in gifts and grants during the
year 1959. Each year the giving
grows, costs rise and the need for
trained personnel and educated
citizens grows.
To keep its high standards, the
University needs support in two
ways. It needs advice and evalua-
tion from alumni to keep curricula
up to date, and it needs money
to attract and keep good faculty
and students and keep the physi-
cal plant equal to the growing
needs of the University.
* * *
TWO ORGANIZATIONS are
directly concerned with meeting
these needs, the Alumni Asso-
ciation and the Development
Council. The Alumni Association
keeps alumni in contact with each
other and encourages them to
keep up their interest in the wel-
fare and doings of the "alma
mater".
The Development Council ac-
quaints alumni and friends of the
University with the growing needs
of education and asks help to
meet them.
Programs sponsored by the
Development Council include stu-
dent aid (such as the loan fund),
scholarships and fellowships, re-
search and research equipment,
recognition of distinguished,
teaching, the President's Fund,
the Phoenix project of peacetime
atomic energy research and a
foreign student exchange program.
FOR THESE and general sup-
port of the University the Deve-
lopment asks alumni and others
to give. Alumni especially should
feel conscious of the need for
minimally maintaining the same
standards they enjoyed while at
the University. These cannot be
maintained without the continued
and growing support of alumni.
The Development Council and
the Alumni Association are two
separate organizations with slight-
ly overlapping interests. The
Council, an outgrowth of the fund
drives for the Phoenix project, is,
a University organ under the
directorship of Vice-President for
University Relations Lyle Nelson.
The Alumni Association, while
part of its budget comes from
the University, is an independent
organization of-alumni for alumni.
Both organizations are in per-
sonal and written communication
with the world-wide scattered
alumni. There has been some
question whether the two organ-
izations should be joined to avoid
duplication of communication ef-
forts and appeals from the Uni-
versity.
* * *
LAST JUNE A study group of
the Alumni Association came up
with four general objectives of
the Association. They included the
public relations functions of
directing good students to the
University, and interpreting the
University to outside communities.
The other two objectives- were
to encourage alumni to provide
professional and general advice
to maintain the balance and
direction in policy and curricula
and to raise funds. A question
arose on how the Association
should add to University revenue.
One group felt they should co-
operate with existing fund raising
organs and another felt,. the As-
sociation itself should raise funds,
since it was already in contact
with Alumni.
The question is one of policy.,
Should the Alumni Association
oconcentrate on the social and
public relations side, or should it
become concerned with fund
raising? Would the two different
philosophies, of fund raising and
encouragement of social contact
among Alumni, impair each other
when under the same direction
and staff?
A SUB-COMMITTEE of the
study committee was formed last
June to examine the relationship
of the Association to the Develop-
ment Council. This sub-committee
is composed of both Alumni As-
sociation and Development Coun-
cil members. Although the sub-
committee has not reported yet,,
the existence of the committee is
a point of positive progress to-
ward a solution of the conflict.
Its very existence potentially
brings a solution of the. conflict
closer.
As it now stands, the Council is
a University organ and the Alumni
Association is independent. If the.
Alumni Association were to raise
funds for the University, would
the University or the Alumni As-
sociation have control over the
funds? Assuming that the Uni-
versity is in the best position to
allocate funds wisely, should not
the University have more control
over the funds?
The question then is: is the
duplication of efforts and funds
used in supporting two overlap-
ping organizations necessary for
each to perform their major tasks
of public relations and fund rais-
ing to best advantage? At any
rate, both the funds and good
relations are needed.
an off-beat.
with other,
ment.
t . *
THEREFORE, there is a "pres-
sure of publicity" through the
galleries and mass media, forcing
the artist to do something new.
Critical approval is also neces-
sary for art artist to sell his work,
Calkins added.
"But the artist believes in the
new. The artist is the foe of the
mundane; he is always experienc-
ing things, like facets of character
and truth, and the,. meaning of
color, and exploring brushstroke,
illusion, and paint.
"Although the artist is more in-
troverted in creation than the
critic," Calkins said, "he is also
dependent on experience. The art-
ist must find himself, in giving
forms to his opinions, experiences,.
and dreams. Ex'amples of this are
Renoir's view of the good life,
and Van Gogh's pictures of his
confinement.
* *
"THE.bARTIST looks at the
world about him," and is involved
in the question of where his. art
is, in relation to others."
Calkins also pointed out that
artists are concerned with newt
developments both in thought and
technique. "Critics and artists are
in two camps: those concerned
with taste, or good design and
techniques, and those concerned
with 'guts' or expression."
Several types of influences on
artists were singled out by Cal-
kins.
NEW PHILOSOPHIES interest
the artist; in our time, the exis-
tentialist philosophy has been ex-
pressed in the "sad, bitter atti-
tude, and crumbling eroded feel-
ing" of the work of painters like
Bernard Buffet, and deKooning.
Developments in technique are
of constant interest to artists. In
the past such men as Leonardo
and Durer were greatly concerned
with technique, and today we have
artists which arrange bits of bur-
lap on canvas for new visual ef-
fects.
Substitution of the experiencing
of the materials of art for experi-
encing of the object" is another
! interest of the creator, Calkins
said.
* * *
FINALLY, the "search for self-
identity and a unique style, in
which .he finds himself in his
work, is vital to the aritst." But,
he added, an artist can become
stuck with a novelty which be-
comes popular, and so stagnate.
The one condition necessary for
successful art, in this multitude of
concerns, is "sustained aware-
ness," the artist insisted. "This
arouses a responsive awareness in
the observer. The end of art is
this crystallizing of the state of
awareness.'
fame, like a one-man
forms of entertain-
circus; however, he must compete
AT THE CASS:
Raisin
RadianFtt
WARMTH, humor and gentle
dignity-these are the quali-
ties of Lorraine Hansberry's play,
"Raisin in the Sun." They are also
the qualities of its star, Claudia
McNeil.
On stage at the Cass Theatre in
Detroit through next Saturday the
drama spins a- delicate web of
laughter and pathos that arrests
and charms its audience.
The story of a Negro family in
Chicago, it is perhaps the great-
est tribute to the author and cast
that "Raisin in the Sun" is neither
social document nor anguished
protest. It is a simple history of
people.
* * *
THERE is the man with great
ambitions who Is saddled, he
thinks, with a woman "who tells
you to eat your eggs. and go to
work." There is the college girl
flitting from one form of "expres-
sion" to another-acting, guitar
lessons, Nigerian folk dunces.
There is the mother who sees
her values -rejected by her chil-
dren.
All of these are played with
tremendous vitality and under-
standing and all of these charac-
ters are made more complex by
the fact of their color. It is just
because the play concentrates on
the human conflicts that its point
about racial conflict is so poig-
nantly made.
4' *
AUTHOR AND CAST delicately
balance humor with violence con-
fIlict and probing character analy-
sis. Unfortunately the audience
did not always understand where
one began and the other ended.
Douglas-Turner, as the 35-year-
old son who uses his race as an
excuse for money-worship, was
not consistently convincing in his
serious scenes. He became, rarely
but damagingly, a caricature.
But a little overzealous acting
can't entirely explain the mis-
placed laughter from the audience
that marred some of his most pas-
sionate speeches.
CLAUDIA McNEIL, with a sen-
sitive and beautifully timed
performance, conveyed all the
strength and pride of the mother
with all of her sorrow and her
hope. She> was a joy to watch.
From first curtain-a bustling
comic opening-to the last glimpse
of Miss McNeil, "Raisin in the
Sun" is a simply stated lesson
in love, lovingly acted,
-. A. H.
FORSYTHE GALLERY:
Artist Searches
For Innovations
By JUDITH SATTLER
Daily Staff Writer
"THE ARTIST is always trying to make something brand new," said
King Calkins, chairman of the art department of Eastern Michi-
gan University, in a talk at the Forsythe Gallery Thursday.
Discussing modern art from the artist's standpoint, Calkins as-
serted that with the rise of the merchant middle class, culture fell
below the level of the artist, and so- he became independent and,
bohemian, turning away from the public.
As an independent, the artist experiments, and sometimes achieves
r
PROVED AT PITT:
Trimester Calendaring Works
TODAY AND TOMORROW
Diplomatic Infighting
By WALTER LIPPMANN
E LATE John Foster Dulles used constant-
y to preach that the cardinal rule in diplo-
y was, as he put it, to seek "to prevent war
preventing miscalculation by a potential
'essor. "This, he said, meant a "policy of
ing clear our position in advance ... We
learned by hard experience that failure
hake our position known in advance makes
more likely because then an aggressor may
.alculate." He was thinking, of course, of
Kaiser in the first World War, Hitler in the
rd, and of the Soviet and its North Korean
lite in the Korean war.
hy is it then that during this campaign we
being told by Mr. Nixon's supporters that
opposite is true, that it is often better not
raw the line at which you intend to fight,
it is often better to keep the adversary
sing? This is the thesis which Mr. Lodge is
ounding and this, is the question taken by
e" magazine in discussing the lamentable
noy-Matsu issue. Was Mr. Dulles wrong
a he called upon the country "to make
r our position in advance" of a potential
ession? What has happened to make it a
ie to keep the adversary guessing about
her you will or whether you will not de-
a particular territory?
ERE is a strong case to be made that John
'oster Dulles was wrong in his doctrine.
that is not what has brought about this
rsal of the Republican doctrine. What has
>ened is that Mr. Nixon has chosen to "ex-
"-the word is from "Life" magazine-the
uncomfortable predicament in which,
rist our will and judgment, we are trapped.
955, when we made the treaty guaranteeing
niosa and the Pescadores, President Eisen-
er and Secretary Dulles refused to include
noy and Matsu. They tried to persuade
,ng Kai-shek to evacuate those islands, and
n he refused, being supported by powerful
es both inside the Administration and in
Senate, President Eisenhower and Secre-
Dulles invented a formula, deliberately
.e, as a face-saving compromise.
1e formula was to satisfy Chiang and his
ids who wanted a guarantee of the offshore
ids, and it was to satisfy a majority of the
te who did not wish to guarantee the off-
t islands.
E WHOLE THING is a monument to the
ailure of the Eisenhower administration to
y through its own policy, and to define can-
r and openly the commitments of the Unit-
to negotiate with Chiang in order to disen-
tangle us, and he would try to do what the
President himself wanted to do, to do what the
principles and convictions of John Foster Dul-
les called for. He would like, if he can induce
Chiang to agree, "to make clear our position in
advance" of hostilities. It is slanderous to call
this appeasement and surrender.
ALONG THIS LINE of campaigning there is
something more to be said about Mr. Nixon's
many references to "regrets" about the U-2. To
hear Mr. Nixon talk, one would suppose Sen.
Kennedy had said that the President should
don sackcloth and ashes, and go barefoot and
on his knees up the steps of the Kremlin. To
hear Mr. Nixon talk, one would suppose that
the formal expression of diplomatic regrets
about the violation of another country's terri-
tory was something that no loyal American and
no genuine anti-Communist would ever dream
of.
Mr. Nixon does not have much diplomatic
experience and he has very little knowledge of
the history and practices of diplomacy and no
accurate knowledge of the diplomatic record of
the Administration to which he belongs. For in
1958, according to the "New York Times" of
Feb. 2, the United States sent apologies to the
Soviet Union because a United States Air Force
jet made an accidental flight over East German
territory. In June 1958, when the Soviet Union
shot down an unarmed American transport
over Soviet Armenia, the United States in a
note to the Soviet government, denied that the
transport had deliberately violated Soviet ter-
ritory. But it added, "If, in fact, the aircraft
.. inadvertently . . . crossed the Soviet fron-
tier, the government of the United States re-
grets that fact."
This year, moreover, the Eisenhower-Nixon
administration expressed its "sincere regrets"
to Castro's government because a private plane
of Castro's Cuban enemies had taken off from
American territory, eluding our airport patrols.
SO WHAT IS THE POINT of making such a
fuss about Sen. Kennedy's point that he
would have liked to settle the U-2 affair by
expressing the regrets which are normal diplo-
matic practice? Mr. Nixon talks as if, by not
expressing regrets, we had avoided an "intelli-
gence gap," had protected ourselves against a
Pearl Harbor. But have we? The U-2 flights
have been suspended, and moreover, now that
the whole affair has been blown up to an un-
forgettable importance, they can never be re-
sumed.
By PHILIP SHERMAN
Daily Staff Writer
THE trimester system appears
to be better than most Univer-
sity people concerned with cal-
endaring seems to be ready to
admit. At least, their comments
which have appeared in The
Daily's news columns seem to
indicate they are objecting to
aspects of the plan, pioneered by
the University of Pittsburgh,
which do not exist.
Here is a comparison of com-
ments by the University officials
and Pitt officials who talked about
the same problems:
Item: "As a teacher, I don't
think a 15-week semester is an
adequate substitute for the pres-
ent length. You can't get that
much done-there is only a cer-
taini amount of course content
you can fit into a shorter time.
"We might raise the semester
length by cutting down on the
final exam period, but the Uni-
versity's traditional emphasis on
final exams would tend to make
the faculty reject this idea."
A PITT OFFICIAL has said the
compression from 16 to 15 weeks
is "minor with no educational
values lost. . . . We don't think
education is a function of hours.
and experience to date indicates
we're right."
Pitt has also projected abolition
of the final exam period com-
pletely, hoping professors will
"grow out" of this method of
evaluation while admitting some
sort of compromise in the offing.
(There is something to be said
for both positions, but a small
shortening of the semester might
cause professors to tighten their
presentation a little, possibly im-
proving it, though this would de-
pend on the course. And to say
an emphasis on finals is tradi-
tional as an argument to retain
them seems unnecessarily conser-
vative.)
ITEM: THE MAIN reason for
trimesters is to increase output.
Pitt's reasons included this ob-
jective, but Pitt administrators
say they had better ones. They
would have adopted trimester for
the following "philosophical rea-
sons" even if "output" would not
have been increased:
1) "We feel our objective at
Pitt is to cater to a student public
interested in both liberal and pro-
fessional degrees but it takes too
long to do both. We had to re-
duce the time.
2) "In many fields the scope of
knowledge has expanded so much
that even in the customary time,
.+uidn+~ .n't+ nno a wi+h h.
(IT IS UNFAIR OF THE Uni-
versity people to ascribe solely the
crass reason to Pitt's program.
The second philosophic reason is
at best tenuous, unless expand-
ed, but at least the first and third
are reasonable basis for a new
calendar.
(The first reason is to an ex-
tent pragmatic, but its objective
is to increase arts study. Both
the first and the third partially
ignore the fact that a four-year
college experience embodies more
than classroom experience. But
because of the increasing pressure
on universities, a compromise on
this line may be altogether rea-
sonable.
* . -
ITEM-"THERE IS A danger,
though, of assembly-line educa-
tion. There are frightening paral-
lels between higher education and
industrial processing-"just listen
to the trimester phrases-like 'ef-
fective use of plant.' How can you
judge educational efficiency with
the standards of business?"
Pitt people didn't answer this
directly, mainly because the re-
porter didn't think to ask them.
But, it is obvious from their tone
that they consider educational
and business efficiency as two
different things. There is no ex-
cuse for treating them the same,
but there is also no excuse for
inefficient business operations if
efficiency in this area does not
handicap education.
State money is hard enough to
get as it is.
ALSO, ANYONE WHO has been
through registration notes some
already existing parallels to in- ,
dustrial processing which hints
this may be a difficulty associat-
ed with size, not ealendar.
Item-Trimester will cost more.
Pitt administrators say "trimes-
ters are a matter of increasing
production without increasing
overhead proportionally."
(This issue is hard to resolve
for the two groups seem to be
talking about two different things.
But Pitt has trimeser, and it does
keep expense accounts. It gets no
royalty for "selling" the idea.)
Item - Evtra faculty will be
needed to teach the extra time
periods to accommodate the ex-
tra students.
PITT'S PLAN INCREASES fac-
ulty output by having teachers
teach more people during a year,
not by adding teachers.
(By increasing the capacity of
the third term of the year, and
consequently altering the vacation
schedule. this is done. Where a
program, and many types of ex-
perimentation going on; this is
left out of trimester.
Pitt says the summer sessions
are little more than "extra" for
"traditional grinds" and people
catching up. They need added
spark, which is what the trimes-
ter does.
(Besides, why can't experimen-
tation and special programs be
carried on during the year?)
Item - Trimester goes against
the prevailing social patterns of
American society-the summer va-
cation.
* * ,*
PITT REPORTS 3,200 FULL
equivalent students, double the
hoped-for number for the first
year. More are expected, - until
capacity is reached.
The conservative argument is
again invalid-if there is absolute-
ly no reason for the sanctity of
present social patterns if other
conditions, like educational needs,
demand their change.
What does all this add up to?
Not that the University should ac-
cept trimester scheduling, but only
that its representatives take time
to focus their opinions on the real
issues involved. Based. on their
comments, it appears doubtful
that they have.
AT CINEMA GUILD:
Fields' 'Bank Dick'
Classic Slapstick
AS EGBERT Souse, W. C. Fields
directs the filming of a motion
picture, unwittingly traps a bank
robber, and becomes a bank dick-
all as a result of one day's worth
of shenanigans. At his favorite
DAILY OFFICIAL BULLETIN
(Continued from Page 2)
ates: Any major. Openings: Revenue
Officers (anymajor) and Revenue
Agents (Accounting).
2) Railroad Retirement Board-Grad-
uates: Mathematics. Openings: Statisti-
cians (men & women), Actuary (men).
3) Social Security Administration -
Graduates: All majors. Openings: Claims
Representative Trainees (men & wom-
en). Student Assistants, junior (men &
women).
4 U.S. Civil Service Commission --
Graduates: All majors. Mr. Butterbach
will represent the entire Civil Service
Commission and will provide informa-
tion about the various departments and
position for placement anywhere in
the U.S. Graduates who pass the gen-
eral test under the PSEE may be quali-
fied for the new salaries effective this
date. (GS5, $4,345/year, GS-7, $5,355/
year.)
Procter & Gamble (Sales Division),
Detroit-Graduates: Feb., Jun., Aug.
General Liberal Arts. Location: Any-
where in U.S. The ;Sales Division of-
fers opportunities to men who have a
basic interest in selling and - the ca-
pacity and abilities to enable them
with hard work to progress to posi-
tions of management responsibility.
On-the-job training is stressed.
WED~, OCT. 26, 1960 A.M.-
Ohio Oil Company (a.m.) Lansing
Sales Division-Location of work: Ohio,
Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Kentucky,
available to students. Applications for
these jobs can be made in the Non-
Academic Personnel Office, Room 1020
Administration Building, during the
followng hours: Monday through Fri-
day, °8:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Employers desirous of hiring students
for part-time worlq should contact Bill
Wenrich, Student Interviewer at NOr-
mandy 3-1511. extension ,2939.
Students desiring miscellaneous odd.
lobs should consult the bulletin board
in Room 1020, daily.
MALE
3-Salesmen --graduate students pre-
ferred, comnission basis.
21-Psychological subjects, hours to be
arranged.
3-Meal jobs,
2-Waiters (mean and evening hours),
2-Bellboys-Busboys (hours to be ar-
ranged).
2-Experienced clothing salesmen (1-5
p.m., Monday-Friday).
1--Apartment in exchange for jani-
torial work (married couple).
3-Rooms in exchange for light work,
part, payment.
1-Married couple to do light work in
exchange for room and board.
3-Load and unload boxes of books
(Friday morn.. Oct. 28).
1-Porter (4-10. p.m. Monday-Friday,
all day Saturday).!
2-Stock boys (1-5 p.m.. Monday-Fri-
day. and all day Saturday).,
1-Snack-Bar helper (Saturdays, from
10 p.m.- a.m. and 10. a.m.-1 p~m.).
hangout, the Black Pussy Cafe, he
meets the typical villain, a charle-
tan who has worthless stocks for
sale. He then convinces his future
son-in-law, a teller, to "borrow"
$500 from the bank to invest in
the stock.
The resulting escapades in "The
Bank Dick" are all classic slaV-
stick humor. When the bank ex-
aminer comes to look at the books,
our hero, Egbert Souse (perfect
pun on the name if you leave off
the French accent) slips the un-
suspecting, dignified bank exami-
ner a mickey, then leaves him, in
a hotel room to the mercy of his
stomach. When that doesn't work,
a heavy foot on the poor man's
spectacles is tried. The plot pro-
ceeds, and so does the examiner.
* * *
AT THIS POINT, the second of
the original bank robbers comes
back and forces our inebriated
bank dick to accompany him on
another classic; the chase. An old
open car, shooting cops fast be-
hind and the proceeding goose
chase uphill, downhill and all
around the town. There is the
scene where an engine drops out
of the moving car, the.brakes fail
going down a narrow mountain
road, and so on.
Of course the humor is slap-
stick, but of the best, so if slap-
stick is what you like, then you
should enjoy "The Bank Dick."
However, to those of us who gre-
fer more sophisticated comedy,
stereotyped actions of an inebri-
ated souse are a mite trying.