THE MICHIGAN DAILY
T.TxTn A 1W
QP
iAY,
Arts and Letters
Dirty Shirt
Program Notes
STARTING DIAL
N
By CAROL LEVENTEN
A ,rhinocerous and meaningless
dlots characterize the contempor-
ary French theatre.
Yet the art of the proscenium in
Prance ,is in a better state now
tihan at any time since the 17th
entury, the age of Cornele and
Racine, Jean Carduner of the
omance languages department de-
elared recently.
Tracing. the development and
peculiarities of modern French
drama, he cited a return to "the
ssence of theatre," a movement
bn which Giradoux and Claudel are
tow'eing far above any other dra-
natists of this era."
Many Currents
But many currents of influence
mark the modern scene and it is
hard to attribute one prevailing
school of thought to the Gallic
amalgam.
Claudel, for example, belongs to
he generation of Gide and the
symbolist poets; although he wrote
nost of his plays before the first
World war, none were produced un-
il the forties. His diamas are
narked by a completely new poetic
style, highly symbolic and in-
ensely religious and, although the
symbolists whom he followed en-
Ioyed a great public, a large gap
appeared in that tradition, not to
be closed until Claudel was ac-
;ually produced.
As a reason for this' Carduner
gave the end of Positivism, the
noment of writing coinciding with
he moment of separation of
rhurch.and state, and a total lack
of interest in religious drama. But,
o understand the recent apprecia-
ion (and almost deification) of
Claudel, it is necessary to examine
he influence of Giradoux on the
ontemporary scene.
Giradoux, Carduner said, is in a
arge part responsible for the
E'rench revival of drama. He, in
urn, was influenced by Pirandello
nd, although basically non-re-
igious, shares with Claudel the
dea of theatre as religious essence
and non-realistic style and poetry;
'they both worked in the same
lirection," Carduner commented.
Wrote for Theatre
More important; Giradoux wrote
lays with the object of having
hem produced, something not
ontemplated by Claudel, who had
io sense of the proscenium. Where
3iradoux created his work for the
tage, Claudel wrote all his plays
efore he had an audience, before.
mny of his plays were produced and
hus had no knowledge of what
ould be done in an actual presen-
ation.
Because Giradoux plays were
asy to produce (he was aided by
rouves in developing a technical
racticality) and 'because of the
ime in which he wrote, poetry was
nce again brought back to thea-
re.
By the forties the influence of
he symbolist poets was completely
ncorporated into the theatre. The
eligious and spiritual atmosphere
tad changed and Giradoux' talent
timulated an interest in poetic
nd symbolic ratier than realistic
rama. Claudel continues to be
erformed today.
Not Performed
Carduner suggested that if Clau-
el had been performed, he might
ave written for production and,
Become the Shakespeare of the
1th century. "He was definitely
ifluenced by Shakespeare and
red the same thing from a Chris-
ian point of view." He and Gira-
oux tried to create modern trag-
edy; their efforts are illustrated in
"L'Annonce Faite A Marie" and
"La Guerre de Troie N'Aure Pas
Lieu."
The "intellectual theatre" of
Sirtre" and Camus appeared in the
later forties',opening with Sar-
tre's "Les Mouches" which was
written in answer to Giradoux'
"Electra." Giradoux' approach to
drama included the revival of
Greek myth and "Les Mouches" is
the same story with a different
philosophy opposed point by point.
, The third main current of French
theatre is rooted in the avant-
garde dramas of Beckett, Ionesco
and Adamov, who started writing
before the influence of the Claudel
and Giradoux tradition. The new
theatre is based on voluntary ab-
sene of technique and totally ab-
surd or meaningless plots and
characters; "it corresponds to the
existential philosophy of the ab-
surd, although it is different from
Sartre," Carduner explained,
Prospect Solitude
"Ionesco, whose plays were at
first to tally unsuccessful, is espe-
cially good in projecting the mod-
ern feeling of solitude," Carduner
said. As an example, he said that
Ionesco's "The Rhinocerous" will
strike people as absurd and ridicu-
lous.
It takes place in a city where all
men are changed into rhinoceri,
and one man keeps fighting, refus-
ing to be changed. "It brings Nazi-
ism to mind," Carduner reflected.
"Anyone can be reached by this
type of evil; even those who reject
it are more or less corrupted by the
dominant philosophy.
The public is the French thea-
tres major problem today, accord-
ing to Carduner, and it is more
vital to theatre than to any other
art.
Also he gave an experimental
theatre to Camus and somewhat.
freed theatre from the task of
money-making. The problem of
"audience .determinism" of what
was to be produced was getting so
bad as to be comparable, to the
situation on Broadway,'j he as-
serted.
.'But all the best plays achieve a
certain poetry of their own, wheth-
er through style, plot or imagina-
tion." Ionesco's flat style and Clau-
del's poetry on the extremes, Sar-
tre and Camus in the middle; the
main currents of French thought
all come together in a dynamic and
reevitalized theatre.
By MILDA GINGELL
This weekend's attraction at the
Ann Arbor High School Aud. will
be the noted Spanish Gypsy fla-
menco guitarist, Carlos Montoya.
The Ann Arbor Folk and Jazz So-
ciety is presenting the show at 8
p.m. Saturday.
Montoya will play flamenco mu-
sic which is based on the folk mu-
sic originating in the provinces of
southern Spain. With his guitar,
Montoya can suggest the presence
of singers and dancers although
his performance is completely solo.
* * *.
Choral Union Series opens Mon-
day, Oct. 12, with the celebrated
young Canadian pianist, Glenn
Gould.
"Gould is the possessor of a tre-
mendous pianistic technique. . .
He also has the kind of authority
that indicates a, profound knowl-
edge of the art of music... ." said
Winthrop Sargeant of "The New
Yorker."
Now students can listen to a
complete Shakespearian play with-
out leaving the comforts of their
room.
Atr1:30 p.m. each Sunday, the
University radio station, WUOM,
will present a performance of one
of Shakespear's plays. "Measure
for Measure" is scheduled for toe
day. Next Sunday "Much Ado
About Nothing" will be broadcast.
Each of these productions are
preceeded by a brief commentary
on all aspects of Shakespear's life
and work.
* * *
At 4:15 p.m. today and next
Sunday the University organist,
Robert Noehren, will give an organ
recital at Hill Aud. Today's recital
will feature some of the composi-
tions of Johann SebastianpBach.
* * *
Season tickets to Playbill will be
available until Oct. 28, the opening
night of "Horse Eats Hat."
Meanwhile, the speech depart-
ment is preparing a Playbill extra,
Sean O'Casey's "I Knock at the
Door," which will be presented as
a concert reading; on Oct. 16 and
17.
Theatre goers may purchase
tickets by mail (Playbill, Lydia
Mendelssohn Theatre) or from
salesmen on the corner of North
U. and State St.
STARTING iADIAL
TODAY 2-3 136
THE SCREEN EXPLODES
DIRTY SHIRT-Lynn Bartlett, State Superintendent of Public
Schools, congratulates Bill Schultz, the first of the Gomberg men
to wear one white shirt. Every day the shirt is passed on until the
only one left brave enough to wear the shirt wins the pot that was
chipped in when the contest began.
JOURNALISM SEMINAR:
Lindstrom Discusses Trends
By KATHLEEN MOORE
The trend toward one-newspaper
cities and ever-expanding chains
of papers with a single owner re-
flects an "erosion of freedom of
choice"' in all aspects of American
society, Prof. Carl Lindstrom of
the journalism department said
last week.
Prefacing the Student Govern-
ment Council Reading and Discus-
sion program seminar on ."Jour-
nalism: Its Social Relationship"
with a glance at our mass-produc-
tion economy, Lindstrom said,
"you've got to be average, whether
you like it or not."
This pattern of the public get-
ting mainly what the producer
wants to give it is also found' in
the realm of journalism, he de-
clared.
"A redefinition of what makes
the news" frequently results, the
journalist commented, when a
newspaper monopoly is established
in a city. The result, he admitted;
may be a sudden decision to print
only important people's obituaries
or social items, with the news-
paper deciding who is important--.
a situation fairly nonexistant when
two or more papers compete for a
city's readership.
Lindstrom found it "kind of
pathetic" that the "local press is
frequently the oldest piece of ma-
chinery in town." Characterizing
the linotype machine for type-
setting as a "rube goldberg" affair,
he emphasized , how little it and
the rotary printing press, the
staples of the printing process,
have been improved since their in-
vention in the 1870's.
More research (only $200,000
was spent last year) into improve-
ments of current equipment and
the possibilities of totally new
techniques such as photocomposi-
tion rather than typesetting meth-
ods of reproduction could lead to
drastic cost reductions with an
accompanying resurge of competi-
tion, he pointed out.
Lindstroni predicted a journal-
istic "revolution" in the near fu-
ture to pave the way for modern-
izing techniques, subsequently
countering the spread of monop-
olies and generally revising 'some
of the newspapermen's standard
ideas.
An'"optimist at heart," he sees
the present journalism schools as
a more likely spawning place of
revolution minded newspapermen
than those currently on the job.
Describing journalists as "pretty
thin-skinned," he claimed they re-
serve the right to "no holds barred"
criticism of everybody else but re-
fuse to accept criticism of them-
selves-an indication, according to
Lindstrom, of a "lack of self-as-
sessment" within the newspaper
realm which will eventually lead
to reexamination by reforms.
To clarify his stand, he delved
into the way newspapers are cur-
rently "kidding themselves" that
competition from other communi-
cations media does not exist.
As evidence of its existence andi
potency, he turned to the raft of
magazines now focusing moreonI
interpretive and analytic news
articles than on their old stand-
by, short stories. Newspapers, he
explained, "left a vaccuum and the
magazines simply moved in" to fill
it with closer looks at the world.
of news.
j Watch this Page for an
FXCITINLI NEW FEATURE
I
ORGANIZATION NOTICES
(Use of thin column for an-
nouncements is available to offi-
cially recognized and registered or-
ganizations only. Organizations
planning to be active for the fall
semester should register by Oct. 10.
Forms available, 2011 Student Ac-
tivities Building.)
Alpha Phi
ty), Formal
5, 7:15 p.m.,
Omega (Service Fraterni-
Piedging Ceremony, Oct.
3524 SAB.
* * *
Am. Chem. Soc.-Stud. Affiliate, Week-
ly Luncheon Meeting, Movie "Death in
thegArena," Oct. 6, 12 p.m., 3003 Chem.,
Bldg.
* * *
Congregational, Disciples, E & R Stud.
Guild, Morning Seminar "SymboI, Sign
and Myth" at 9:30 a.m., 524 Thomp-
son; Speaker: Preston Slosson, "What
Made You. That Way?" on Oct. 4 at 7
p.m., Congregational Church, Mayflow-
er Rin.
* * *
Congregational, Disciples, E & B
Stud. Guild, Guild Council, Oct. 5, 9
p.m., 524 Thompson.
* * *
Graduating Outing Club, Hiking.
Oct. 4, 2 p.m.,! Meet in back of Rack-
ham (N.W. entrance).
* * *
Kappa Phi Club, Rose Tea, Oct. 4, 2-
4 p.m., Wesley Lounge, 1st Methodist
Church.
* * *
Luth. Stud. Center and Chapel (Nat'l
Luth. Council), Stud. Supper at 6 p.m.,
Program at 7 p.m.-"A Study of the
Luth. Liturgy, Its Origin, Theology and
Use." Rev. Stanley Yoder of Toledo
assisted by Win. Osborne, Chapel Or-
ganist. Location: Corner of Hill St.
and S. Forest Ave.
Mich. Christian Fellowship, Oct. 4, 4
p.m., Lane Hall. Speaker:. Dr. G. Mac-
Donald, "Can Christians Change His-
Unitarian Stud. Group, Meeting,
Oct. 4, 7 p.m.,. 1st Unitarian Church.
Speaker: Dr. Redmond, "What Is Re-
ligion?"
Ginema j~dW
TONIGHT at 8:00
Treasure of the
Sierra Madre
with Walter Huston
and Humphrey Bogart
ACADEMY AWARD
ARCH ITECTURE AUDITORIUM
50 cents
e
Subscribe to
The Michigan Daily
_
U. of M. Platform Attractions.
0
Distinguished Celebrities
ST
JDENTS!
A
JL
TI
IS
1oRI
* Great Entertainment
O NLY $300 (2nd:Balcony
OI'UiJ.Unreserved)
OR-30% REDUCTION ON ALL RESERVED SEATS
BET TE DAVIS and GARY MERRILL
With William Wintersole and guitarist Clark Allen in an exciting stage presentation
"THE WORLD OF CARL SANDBURG" . November 19
JULIEN BRYAN JOYCE GRENFELL
Noted world traveler & photographer presents his new motion picture England's top comedienne In her hilarious one-womar
"POLAND, THEN AND NOW"... October 22 "AN EVENING WITH JOYCE GRENFELL"
SIR DONALD WOLFIT and ROSALIND IDEN
Two of Britain's greatest Shakespearean actors present, in costume
"SCENES FROM SHAKESPEARE" . . . . . . . January 9
W-AI LJIlDw"1CV "A SIXTH ATTRACTION
show
Feb.12