"Now Let's Try This One"
4t 91-01-igan Daily
Seventieth Year
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AT LYDIA MENDELSSOHlN:
Osborne's Dillon
Unsympathetic Hero
I I
"When Opinions Are Free
Trut wil Prevan-
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must ke noted in all reprints.
URSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1959
NIGHT EDITOR: JEAN HARTWIG
Renewal Group
Faces Problems
rVHE ANN ARBOR City Council has outlined
a difficult task for itself by attempting to
treat the problem of urban renewal through
the efforts of a citizens' committee rather than
through the services of a professional firm.
A professional firm, more experienced in
making such investigations, could analyze in-
formation about the area's needs more effi-
ciently than a committee of untrained citizens.
The professional survey would be more accu-
rate and complete, since it would be based
upon a strong foundation of -technical knowl-
edge.
The disinterested, professional attitude with
which a hired firm would look at the situation
would be beneficial to the city. It definitely
would not be thrown off by political maneuver-
ing, excessive concern for individual rights, or
technical ignorance. Its suggested methods for
improvement and rehabilitation would serve
for the general welfare of the people living in
the area and for the appearance of the city as
a whole.
COUNCIL MEMBERS themselves expressed
their doubt of the ability of a committee of
citizens to fulfill its function. Several support-
ed the suggestion that the committee start
Eisenhower Assi
PRESIDENT EISENHOWER'S goodwill trip
this week, to eleven nations of Western
Europe, South Asia, and North Africa is one
example of a general situation of which Ameri-
cans have become increasingly aware: the
President has become virtually his own Sec-
retary of State. While Christian Herter sits to
the side nodding, Mr. Eisenhower has ap-
parently been pulling all the strings.
Although it is perfectly natural and advisable
to expect a certain degree of direct Presidential
action on matters of state; past Secretaries
(including John Foster Dulles' have seemingly
had much more influences and jurisdiction
within their'sphere of duties than has Christian
Herter.
In plannnig his present "world mission,"
Eisenhower was carefully briefed by his son
John, Press Secretary Jim Hagerty, and Ap-
pointments Secretary Tom Stephens. He went
over his proposed schedule with these men in
detail, partly approving and partly modifying
it. But Secretary of State Herter apparently
took little, if any, part in the matter.
IT IS POSSIBLE that Eisenhower's personal
trip will accomplish much in the way of
strengthening friendships abroad, and that his
recently revived role in foreign policy matters
has been beneficial. But, if -so, why do we need
a Secretary of State? If the Secretary's duty
is to oversee' the managing of foreign affairs
and relations, and if the President can handle
this all himself, he really need not appoint
someone else to -do it.
This consideration might seem silly, but it
is no more silly than the President's thinking
that he can handle both domestic and foreign
affairs himself in anything more than a general
working, and that if it encounters difficulties
with which it can't cope, then outside help
could be summoned. Judging from the atti-
tudes of the Council members, the idea of hir-
ing a professional group*seems not to have
been dropped completely. Their opinion of the
success of the committee seems to be influenced
by the slowness with which Mayor Creal's Vol-
untary Committee for Rehabilitation has thus
far operated.
Not hiring a professional firm is an unfor-
tunate thing, because it would be more capable
than a committee of local citizens. But the die
has been cast. Now the mayor and the City
Council must appoint especially capable, in-
telligent and interested people to the commit-
tee.
They will still be harrassed by difficulties
and obstacles, but in spite of them they could
produce a thorough study and suggest worth-
while, feasible plans to rehabilitate and main-
tain the area at accepted standards. These
people must be practical, but they must also
have a strong interest in the welfare of the
inhabitants and the condition of the city.
Let us hope that the new committee produces
more results than we have seen so far,
--DONNA MOTEL
umes New Role
capacity. Certainly affairs of state should be
of great concern to him, but a vast preponder-
ance of work in this area must be handled by
the Secretary of State in order that the Presi-
dent have the time to handle effectively all the
important duties of his office, both foreign and
domestic.
THE ABSENCE of a powerful Secretary of
State will probably have its repercussions
on the GOP bid for the 1960 elections. For the
past eight years the Republicans have relied
heavily on Mr. Eisenhower's domestic personal
popularity. He has 'accomplished much largely
because of his great respect and prestige.
But now that Eisenhower is about to leave
office, who will the- Republicans have for a
Secretary of State? It seems their only hope
is that the Republican presidential candidate,
if elected, might be able to play this same dual
role of "President-Secretary of State" that
Eisenhower is attempting. But it is questionable
whether this could be done, especially when Mr.
Eisenhower-even with all his personal popu-
larity and prestige-still did not enjoy the
greatest success.
Although it is important that the chief
executive exercise a certain authority both in
foreign and domestic affairs, when his concern
with one area becomes disproportionate to his
actual duty in that area, government becomes
handicapped with inefficiency and mis-spent
effort. This is what has happened to the Eisen-
hower Administration.
Though President Eisenhower may be effec-
tive abroad, perhaps more of the work in this
area ought to be done by the Secretary of State,
who is actually delegated and trained to handle
it.
-SHERMAN SILBER
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DUAL LOYALTY:
Birth Control and Kennedy
By JAMES SEDER
BIRTH CONTROL nearly did to
Sen; John F. Kennedy what
liquor did to Al Smith.
Like Kennedy, Smith was an
Eastern, big-city Roman Catholic.
To win the Presidency he faced a
tough uphill fight. Smith killed
whatever chance he may have had
when he disregarded his own po-
litical maxim "first get elected,
then fight crusades" and advo-
cated ending Prohibition.
This was the straw that broke
the camel's back-he was over-
whelmingly defeated.
Kennedy faces the same ob-
stacles Smith faced; healso faces
two Smith-created obstacles: the
theory thata Catholic can't win,
and the current game of con-
sidering every event in the light
of the Catholic candidate's sup-
posed dual loyalty.
Kennedy has worked hard, and
seemingly successfully, to dis-
credit the "a-Catholic-can't-win"
theory, by rounding up strong
grassroots support. t
* * *
BUT THERE WAS no way for
Kennedy to go out and meet the
dual-loyalty charge: he had to
wait and see what developed'
Recently, a "dual-loyalty issue"
did develop three events concern-
ing population problems and arti-
ficial birth-control made national
headlines.
The problem of the "population
explosion" is not a new one. The
United States and most of the
other countries of the world have
been studying the problem for
many years. The State Depart-
ment set up a committee headed
by retired Maj. Gen. William
Draper to study the population
problem in under-developed na-
tions.
The first public focus on the
problem came as a result of the
statements of two prominent Brit-
ish biologists, Sir Charles Darwin
and Julian Huxley, who came to
this country to attend the Dar-
winian Centennial Celebration at
the University of Chicago. In their
speeches at Chicago and in articles
stimulated by their talks in the
mass - circulation magazines the
danger that the day might come
when the earth's resources will be
drowned in a sea of human beings
was vividly brought home to the
American public.
Then, the Draper committee
submitted its report. The report
pointed out that population ex-
plosions in underdeveloped coun-
tries were seriously undermining
the attempts of those countries to
raise their standards of living.
* *. *
THESE TWO events might very
well have caused Kennedy some
political embarassment, but the
Roman Catholic Bishops of Ameri-
ca took the element of doubt out
of the situation. They chose to re-
iterate the position of the Roman
Catholic Church on artificial birth
control. This put Kennedy on the
spot. Did he agree with the experts
or his Church?
Kennedy's answer was sound
politics and also a sound program
for the government. Kennedy an-
swered that birth control mea-
sures should not be undertaken or
sponsored by the United States
government. Any birth - control
programs should come from pri-
vate groups. The nations needing
to control their populations are
predominently Negroid and Mon-
goloid. No one should be able to
deduce from the actions of our
government that the United States
wants to reduce, destroy or "con-
trol" the world's non-white popu-
lation.
Kennedy avoided answering the
question of conflict between his
moral beliefs and the needs of the
country by denying that such a
conflict existed.
* * *
MOST commentors on Ken-
nedy's answer, including the anti-
Kennedy Mrs. Eleannor Roosevelt,
agreed that Kennedy had spoken
wisely.
But the moral problem still re-
mained.
Kennedy was saved politically
by a Protestant Republican. Presi-
dent Eisenhower told newsmen
that he would never, so long as he
were President, allow American
funds to be used for birth-con-
trol purposes. President Eisen-
hower silenced the dual loyalty
aspect of the question by indicat-
ing that he too was bound by cer-
tain moral convictions. This basi-
cally squelched any potential
criticism of Kennedy's position.
One question still remains un-
answered: why did the Catholic
Bishops decide to make the state-
ment when they did?
There are three possible an-
swers:
1) They were afraid that Ken-,
nedy's nomination would raise
anti-Catholic bitterness and they
wanted to prevent the nomina-
tion, or if Kennedy were elected
and turned out to be a poor presi-
dent it would hurt the Church.
2) They wanted to demonstrate
that the Church would in no way
foster or protect Kennedy's presi-
dential drive.
3) They felt that public discus-
sion of birth-control compelled
them to reiterate and make clear
its position and it was determined
to fulfill its role of moral advisor
to its members irregardless of the
political consequences of its moral
views for any individual Catholic.
IT IS OBVIOUSLY impossible
to know what the Bishops thought
-or even if they all were mo-
tivated by the same reason. But
there is no particular reason for
supposing that they were doing
anything extraordinary. There is
no evidence to suppose that the
Bishops did any more than they
have ever done-speak out about
a moral question about which they
were morally concerned.
It would seem that there would
be more danger of a merging of
church and state if a church group
were to endeavor to protect one
of its member's political future
at the cost of prostituting its
moral values.
"EPITAPH FOR George Dillon"
concerns the spiritual death of
a struggling, conniving actor-play-
wright whose inability to sym-
pathize with the greater mass of
humanity leads to his ultimate
compromise with public taste. At
least, I think that this is what
"Epitaph" is about. As a play it
has many shortcomings, not the
least of which is Osborne and
Creighton's failure to delineate
successfully the complex person-
ality of its main protagonist.
If I am right (and we will mud-
dle through on the assumption
that I am) "Epitaph's" unre-
deemable flaw is its inability to
generate the necessary sympathy
for Dillon. We feel no sympathy
for Dillon, in turn, because he feels
no sympathy for anyone else. He
is the calculating intellectual
wriggling helplessly in the self-
woven web of his own egocen-
tricity. Although he possesses deep
insight upon which he bases his
artistic hopes, he lacks compas-
sion.
Thus, he realizes that Mrs. Elliot
befriends him-takes him into the
Elliot household-not because of
any deep appreciation of art, but
because she is hoping to replace
her only son, killed in the war.
At the end of the first act, as he
views the portrait of this dead
son, he can only exclaim, "What a
stupid-looking bastard!" We feel
that in all probability his observa-
tion is correct, for he does under-
stand.
* * 4.
THE WORLD, insofar as Dillon
is concerned, owes him not only a
living, but an apology, and he has
no qualms about leeching off the
Elliot's. Feeling secure in his artis-
tic integrity, he battles his way
through rejection slips until, fi-
nally, he popularizes one of his
plays.
In the final act, when he re-
turns home to the Elliot's after a
bout with Tuberculosis (an obvious
symbol for his greater, inner ill-
ness) Mrs. Elliot is overjoyed with
his popular success. Dillon, swoon-
ing in her arms, is overwhelmed by
the inevitability of his "successful"
failure.
Fulfilling their roles as "carica-
tures" admirably, the cast at-
tempts to define for the play-
wrights the conflicts which are, at
best, vague.
HOWARD GREEN who played
another Osborne character in the
summer production of "Look Back
in Anger" portrayed him again.
Osborne's two heros, Jimmy Port-
er and George Dillon are very
similar interpretations.
Although Dillon hardly spends
the time wallowing in his own
joyous misery that Porter does, he
is the same bombastic and simul-
taneously self - abnegating char-
acter. Dillon, as Osborne, has the
rare ability to catch himself in
his own absurdities.
Green struts his two hours upon
the stage perhaps a'bit more than
the role of Dillon requires. But he
is fascinating to watch with his
rapid alterations of mood, his
generally keen sense of timing,
and a grace of movement that is
rare if not always controlled.
' *
NANCY ENGGASS as Ruth, the
woman who has loved a man like
Dillon and knows him too well -
and loves him too well, is extremely
sensitive to her role. It is her char-
acterization, more than any other
that gives the play a sense of direc-
tion and relevance. Ruth is "Epi-
taph's" one sympathetic character
and Miss Enggass gains and holds
this sympathy throughout.
The second act scene between
Miss Enggass and Green should
be far more significant to audi-
ence understanding than it ap-
pears, however. It is the one "dra-
matic moment" in an essentially
plodding piece, but it fails to ful-
fill its potential chiefly because of
the, author's inability to stop
laughing at his own creations and
the actors' occasional failure to
achieve the split-second timing in
mood' change necessary to cap-
ture the meaning as well as the
motion of the scene.
carriage volumes that could not
have been stated in words. Miss
Gee's painfully thin, slumped body
and indescribable walk is a mas-
terpiece of expression.
If the play is interesting, it is
because Osborne has something
interesting to say. It is, however,
never a gripping experience, and
the ironic ending is intellectual
when it needs to be emotional.
-J. L Forsht and
Jo Hardee
New Books at Library
Leech, Margaret-In the Days of
McKinley; N.Y., Harper & Bros.,
1959.
Mailer, Norman-Advertisements
for Myself; N.Y., G. P. Putname's
Sons, 1959
Peyrefitte, Roger -Knights of
Malta; N.Y., Criterion Books, 1959.
Phillips, John-Odd World; N
Y., Simon & Schuster, 1959.
Rise, Elmer-The Living The-
atre; N.Y., Harper & Bros., 1959.
Robbins, Roland Wells and'
Jones, Evan - Hidden America;
N.Y., A Knopf, 1959.
Shimer, John A:-The Sculp-
tured Earth; N.Y., Columbia Uni-
versity Press, 1959.
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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1959
VOL. LXX, NO 65
General Notices
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(Continued on Page 5)
Playing the senseless and over-
sexed young woman whom Dillon
gets "in the family way," Estelle
Ginn is all animal. She is, as Dil-
lon says just before seducing her,
"characterless"-intentionally so.
GIVING performances that re-
quire high degrees of characteriza-
tion with little dialogue, Tom Leith
and Anne Gee were admirable.
Both conveyed by posture and
HOWARD GREEN
... s Osborne hero
MAX LERNER:
Make, Believe in Italy
ROME-A friendly man stepped off his Air
Force plane in a driving rain at the Ciam-
pino airport and received a friendly welcome.
The officials and people here were all ready to
like Ike.
Even the Communist leaflets proclaim "wel-
come" in English in their homage to the man
of Camp David. Having said this I must also
say that the Italian part of the President's trip
seems an exercise largely in make work and,
make believe. Nothing will be decided in the
talks here that will shape the world's history.
HISTORIANS may some day say that Eisen-
hower chose Italy as his first stop because
whe'n Segni and Pella came to Washington late
in September the President had a cold and
went off to Arizona. The Italians were furious
at what they considered a slight.
One of Eisenhower's aims may well be the
healing of Segni's hurt. Another motive may be
to discuss with President Gronchi what he will
carry with him on his coming visit to Moscow.
Yet these are minor matters. The major fact
is that Italians of every class and party are
both hopeful and puzzled about the Khrushchev
visit to America and the thawing out of the
cold war. This is the only really new theme
I have heard discussed here since my last visit.
The Italian Communists gave it a name, "de-
tensione," for which there is on one word
English translation. It refers to the easing of
tensions between America and Russia and has
become a staple in all the newspapers.
A number of Christian Democrats and Social
reliance on world "detensione" may sap the
militance of Italian Communists.
V THIN THIS frame President Eisenhower
dare not be glowing about the chances of
world peace lest he feed the current Communist
propaganda line here. Yet neither can he risk
being pessimistic about it and thus give the
Communists a handle for attack. Yet to evade
or straddle it would be to evade or straddle the
onlyy big issue that has some spontaneous
appeal.
I may be wholly wrong about this. I come
here from India where there is a sense of crisis
and urgency because of Chinese aggression.
There is little sense of crisis and urgency here.
Italy is old and beautiful and beyond ruin.
ITALY IS enjoying some prosperity now, with'
rising living standards for the middle classes
and the employed workers, and with a good
balance of trade and a stable lira. But it is also
true that the spread between the prosperous
bourgeoisie of the north and the landless and
jobless farm workers of Apulia, Lucania, and
Sicily has grown greater rather than less.
Industry is still dominated by big companies
that have developed little of the outlook of the
American welfare corporation. Agriculture is
weakened by an uneconomic and heavily sub-
sidized wheat production ,the government is
run by a right wing faction of the Christian
Democrats, whose alliance with other parties of
the right is qualified only by the support of
Saragat's Social Democrats.
If the Segni government has managed to sur-
I
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
W ters Discuss Messiah Review, Movie Critic
To the Editor:
UNDER NORMAL circumstances
I would not feel moved to reply
to the letter of Mr. Felix A. Pap-
palardi, Jr., SM, but since he feels
moved to impugn my qualifica-
tions to review a performance of
Messiah, an answer forces itself.
While I would 'not pretend to be
a judge of my journalistic compe-
tence, I do feel that I know a little
about the score and techniques of
Handel's Messiah, even though
Mr. Pappalardi might think oth-
erwise.
First of all, I have some back
ground in music (MM, University
of Michigan, plus eight years of
vocal training and more than a
decade of choral experience)and
I hae stn in rfnma-n c
years behind the times," as Mr.
Pappalardi says it is, might I re-
mind him that puts me right in
with Handel (died 1759)?
Since Handel's forces for per-
forming Messiah consisted of an
orchestra and chorus of about
equal numbers - somewhere near
30 each - it would be my opinion
that in order to maintain those
proportions, as Mr. Pappalardi
says is done here, the orchestra
should have numbered around 300
players. Of course, this is prepos-
t e r o u s, but reduction of the
chorus is very practical.
*4* *
THE FACT that many noted
choral societies have made a tra-
dition of performing Messiah with
mave c~u~ hoirs tviLhf. mit TMr ?.n-
musicology and is a vocal matter,
has long been debated. But I in-
sist that the use of It is admitting
defeat in the battle to articulate
such music.
* * *
IF MR. Pappalardi would ob-
serve the performances of really
fine singers in music of this florid
nature, he might realize that the
use of aspirate "h's" is not "the
only way to produce clear articu-
lation in rapid eighth and six-
teenth note passages." If he
doesn't hear it there, he might
consult any cop etent voice
teacher.
I can only say that Mr. Pap-
palardi's insistence on my abys-
mal ignorance of these matters is
Angry Young Woman
To the Editor:
THE REVIEW of "Look Back in
Anger" left this reader with a
vast feeling of nausea. Aside from
the inane and incorrect remarks
about snarls pouts and scowls the
reviewer seems to have entirely
missed the point of the story with
wondrous facility.
If the necessary information is
lacking, it is true that American
audiences might have difficulty in
discerning the basis for the bitter
sarcasm of England's Angry Young
Men. The screen play does leave
something to be desired on this
point.
The raillery against Allison's
middle class background has its
There is no hint of self-pity in
either the portrayal of Jimmy Por-
ter orf the interpretation of the
role by Richard Burton. In fact,
the impression I received was a
distinct lack of pity for anyone
and certainly none for himself.
It follows without saying that
Jimmy did not feel himself "re-
duced to running a sweets stall." I
do not know where the reviewer
received this bit of misinforma-
tion, but clearly not from the pic-
ture.
BURTON NEITHER mumbles,
squirms or sweats in the well-
known "innermost me" method
acting of Brando. Jimmy is pos-
sessed of marked energy, action,
and (compared to Marlon Brando)
i