Saturday, February 14, 1973
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Three
Saturday, February 101 1973 THE MICHIGAN DAILY
ail iberA long-awaited motion
picture classic will be
shown today at 1-3-5-
"IT IS A MISSING CHAPTER FROM
'THE GRAPES OF WRATH'
AND OF EQUAL STATURE."
-Judith Crist, NBC-TV
..Jaadnitz / MATTEL Productions STARRING
Phesenms
l SOUNDER" CICELY
A Robert B.Radnitz/Martin Ritt1 P" mTYSON
,
MIDNIGHT SNACK!
Play It
Again,
Sam
Alas . .. good
intentions, but a
poor production
Play it Again Sam, a comedy in
three acts, presented by the Mich-
mimers, produced'by Mark LoPatin
and Anne Martin, directed by Tom
Katosic,
Cast: Allan Felix Roby London
Nancy Shelly Brown
Bogart Pete Firehammer
Rick Christie Chris Daniels
Linda Christie Chris Daniels
Sharon Sheila Heyman
Sharon Lake Diane Landay
Gina Joan Edwards
Vanessa Linda Feinberg
Intellectual Girl Pan Cherney
Barbara Joan Edwards
By ALVIN CHARLES KATZ
Play It Again, Sam, the first
offering of Ann Arbor's newest
theatre company, UAC Michmi-
mers, opened Thursday night at
Mendelssohn Theatre. The com-
pany is part of the Cultural Af-
fairs committee of the Univer-
sity Activitie Center, formed to
produce a series of non-musical
plays in order to give more stu-
dents, particularly non-dama
majors an opportunity to work in
theatre. Producers Mark LoPatin
and Anne Martin have worked
hard to get the company going,
and its inception fills a void in
the Ann Arbor theatre scene,
providing an opportunity for
nonmusical students to get in-
volved in a production.
Sadly, Michmimer's production
is as bad as their intentions are
good. The play, a typically in-
sane Woody Allen product, deals
with the Allenesque hero, Allan
Felix, who may be the ultimate
neurotic. A varitable ganglion
of psychological hangups, neuro-
ses, and feelings of inferiority,
he is so hyper that when a gun
is pointed at him, he cries "Don't
pull the trigger. I'm a bleeder!"
His life is characterized by re-
jection, Allen seeks a new girl
after his wife leaves him. De-
spite the attempts of his belt
friend Dick and his wife Linda
to fix him up with an assortment,
of cuties ranging from intellec-
tual to kinky, he is a failure. He
turnstto his movie idol, Hum-
phrey Bogart, for coaching, and
under Bogey's guidance manages
to have an affair with his b e s t
friend's wife, the result b e i n g
more self-recrimination and
more neuroses. Tying all this to-
gether are some of the best mon-
ologue style one-liners to be
found in any play.
Whether or not there is act-
ing to be reviewed in Play It
Again, Sam is a matter of some
doubt. Roby London, in the lead
role of Allan Felix, looked dis-
turbingly like he was trying to
to look like Woody Allen, a n d
managed to maul jokes that I
previously believed were too fun-
ny for even his delivery to de-
stroy. The character he develop-
ed was wholly one dimensional,
and made no progress in the
course of the play, as a success-
ful portrayal must.
Charles Wolfson, as Allan'
friend Dick, portrayed the char-
acter with all the intensity of a
potato, and Chris Daniels was so
marzipan and unconvincing as
his wife Linda that her perform-
ance would have gone unnoticed
on a Lassie episode. Pete Fire-
hamer, who looks less like Hum-
phrey Bogart than I do (which is
not very much), managed to look
out of place wherever he stood,
and sounded very little like Bo-
gart the few times his lines were
loud enough to be audible. The
bevy of beauties who comprise
the rest of the cast all managed
to look and sound wrong for their
roles, and the entire cast with-
out exception read their lines
with all the enthusiasm one as-
sociates with a shopping list.
Director Tom Katosic's block
ing was stifling, and if in fact
he did any directing, the fruits
of it were not to be seen. En-
semble and comic timing were
totally absent. Perhaps the best
thing about the productipn was
that, despite the tedious tempo
the play moved at, at an hour
and forty-five minutes it was
mercifully short.
Not all of the blame for this
poor show belongs to the pro-
duction. The choice of play, I
think, was a poor one. Play it
Again, Sam was written by
Woody Allen. Any attempt to
substitute another actor merely
calls attention to the fact that
the actor, no matter how formid-
able his alents, is not Woov
Allen. The play offers little dra-
matically, and was conceived
mostly as a vehicle for Allen's
rambling monologue style to be
brought to the stage. It worked
on Broadway and in the movies
because it had Woody Allen to
play himself (and Jerry Laey
to play Bogey), and failed here
because it did not.
Hopefully, UAC Michmimers
will continue to stage produc-
tions. Doubtless, as the company
matures and gains experience,
the quality of its efforts w i II
improve. As far as Play It Again,
Sam goes, it is best chalked up
to experience.
t.ve
tonight
6:00 2 News
9 This Is Your Life
50 Star Trek
56 Thirty Minutes With
000 "
By SARA RIMER
Watching young Detroit artist
.Gary Smith demonstrate his art
of vaseline-painting at the Lan-
tern Gallery earlier this week, I
couldn't help but be reminded of
children playfully sketching de-
signs on foggy windows.
A mere jar of vaseline be-
comes a serenely beautiful work
of art in his hands. He applies
the greasy, slimy ointment with
his fingers and wooden tools to a
large window glass. Working in-
tiiitively and without prepara-
tion, he produces a large rec-
tangular pattern of grids filled
in with vaseline design.
Smith's creation quickly be-
comes a totally involved, serious
experience. It must be examined
from all sides, since the work
changes according to the re-
flected light and passersby.
Smith is interested in percep-
tual ambiguities, trying to deal
with a picture plane that oper-
ates on many different levels.
Perception becomes more im-
portant than content as "how"
we see interests us more than
"what" we see. The grid at-
tempts to reinforce the picture
plane, emphasizing its flatness.
The varying thick and thin ap-
plication of vaseline both ne-
gates and reinforces the picture
plane, creating a sense of action.
Smith's lack of color also allows
him to concentrate on the pic-
ture plane.
Smith, whose rather conserva-
tive appearance clashes with his
striking work, which he regards
as a "cerebral, uncompromis-
ing" statement. "People can
read it a lot more emotionally
than I intended it to be," he
says. For observers tempted to
indulge in a little vaseline finger
painting, he warns, "Once I've
made a statement, I want it to
exist as my personal state-
ment." He does not want others
to change it.
Smith sees things in the con-
text of art history. He' spent
much timerdeveloping an aware
ness of his place in its progres-
sion. He considers any good
work of art to be a comment on
what has gone before it. But, he
is critical of artists who work
in a vacuum unaware of why
they are creating. Although he
deals with issues that other
people have been concerned
with, he does not want to re-
peat what has been done, em-
phasizing, "I don't want to waste
my time on dead issues."
He is trying with object art to
deal with the issues of non-
object art. When pressed to ex-
plain these issues Smith says,
"One issue is how we perceive
things, but to pin them down
more concretely would take a
lot of their mystery away."
Other artists who have dealt
with similar issues are Robert
Morris, Eva Hesse, Lucas Sa-
maras, and Carl Andre.
Smith is more concerned with
personal than with popular suc-
cess. Obviously, with its limited
life span dictated by the medium
of vaseline, Smith's work is not
marketable. Having seen artists
tailor their work to what a
gallery can sell, he does not
want to depend primarily on art
as a means of support. Instead,
he has a B.F.A., with distinction
from Wayne State University
and will be able to teach after
he receives his M.F.A. from
Cranbrook Academy of Art.
Until recently he has been in-
volved primarily with plastic
sculpture. He describes those
works as "very slick, finalized
Look now before it disappears.. .
that greasy, slimy Vase line art
art objects: very 'beautiful' and
relevant." Since he had already
been working with transparency
in his plastic sculpture, it na-
turally occurred to him to ex-
periment with vaseline.
Unfortunately on1y photo-
graphic records will remain of
Smith's asthetic statement after
Feb. 28 when the exhibition will
close. He himself does not con-
sider permanence as a measure
of importance. "It is sort of like
a theatre performance. At a
given time it's over," he says.
And as in a theatre perform-
ance, we give an ovation and
hope for an encore.
plus
FLASH GORDON
We have the entire 13 weeks of the Buster
Crabbe classic. This weekend we will be show-
ing both Chapters One and Two, for the bene-
fit of anyone who may have missed the First
Chapter last weekend.
LATE SHOW-Fri. and Sat. Midnight
DOORS OPEN 11:45-ADMISSION $2.00
NEXT WEEKEND'S LATE SHOW-Feb. 16 & 17
Santana in "Stomping Ground" plus Chap. 3 "Flash Gordon"
I
~7O O0 0 iI
Subscribe to The Daily
Phone 764-0558
Daily Photo by JOHN UPTON
Gary Smith peers through his translucent work of art
50 Movie-Thriller
9 NHL Hockey
56 Movie
"Beauty and the Beast"
50 That Good Ole Nashville Music
8:30 2 Bridget Loves Bernie
7 A Touch of Grace
50 Nitty Gritty
9:00 2 Mary Tyler Moore
4 Mozie-
"The Andromeda Strain"
7 Julie Andrews
50 NHL Hockey
9:30 2 Bob Newhart
10:00 2 Carol Burnett
7Assignment: Vienna
56 Hollywood Television Theatre
10:30 9 Document
50 Movie-Thriller
"House on Haunted Hill" (1959)
12:00 4 Johnny Carson
1:30 2 Movie-
"Shoot Loud, Louder.. .. I
Don't Understand" (Italian;
1966)
4 News
7 Movie-
"Murder, Inc." (1960)
3:00 2, 7 News
wcbn
a
6:30 2
4
9
7:00 2
4
9
50
CBS News
News
What About Tomorrow?
Untamed World
Truth or Consequences
George Pierrot
News
It Takes a Thief
Hee Haw
7:30 2 Young Dr. Kildare
4 Adventurer
7 Town Meeting
56 Eye to Eye
8:00 2 All in the Family
4 Emergency?
7 Here We Go Again
11:00 2, 7, 9 News
11:15 7 ABC News-Sam Donaldson
9 Provincial Affairs
11:20 9 News
11:30 2 Movie-
"Nevada Smith"
4 News
7 Movie-
"The St. Valentine's Day
Massacre"
9 Movie-
"Marnie"
listings
9:00 Maranatha Music
12:00 Radio Prison
2:00 Basketball: UM vs.-MSU
4:00 Jazz
7:45 Hockey: UM vs. Minn-Duluth
10:30 Progressive Rock
11:00 Potato Show
_._____ _
CULTURE CALEINDAR
C A P R A FESTIVAL - Cinema Guild shows Frank Capra's
Meet John Doe tonight at 7, 9:05, Arch. Aud.
FILMS-India Students Assoc. shows S. Roy's Uphaar tonight
at 6:30, Aud E, Phys-Austron; Cinema II shows Kuro-
sawa's Lower Depths tonight at 7, 9:30, Aud A; Couzens
Film Co-op shows Something Big, tonight at 7, 9, Cafe-
teria; New Morning Films shows Klute tonight at 7, 9,
Aud. 3, MLB; Rugby Club Film Benefit shows Hitchock's
Rebecca tonight at 7, Psycho at 9, Dial M for Murder at
11, RC Aud; Bursley Hall shows Bullitt tonight at 9, W.
Cafe.
DRAMA-Professional Theatre Program presents the Jul-
liard Company in School for Scandal tonight at 8, Power;
UAC-Michmimers present Woody Allen's Play It Again,
Sam tonight at 8, Mendelssohn.
MUSIC-Eastern Michigan University presents Miles Davis
in concert tonight at Pease Aud.; University Music School
presents Contemporary Directions: The Blackearth Per-
cussion CGroup, in residence, U of Illinois, tonight at 8,
Rackham Aud.
DETROIT MUSIC - Elephants Memory in concert Sunday
at Ford Auditorium; Tribe perforni tonight at the Strata
Concert Gallery.
UPCOMING CONCERT TIP- Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks
appear in concert February 17 with Bob Seger at De-
troit's Masonic Temple at 8.
WEEKEND BARS AND MUSIC-Ark, Lou Killen (Fri., Sat.)
Admission; Blind Pig, John Nicholas accompanied by
Fran and Sara (Fri., Sat.) cover, Classical (Sun.) no cov-
er; Del Rio, Jazz Music (Sun.) no cover; Golden Falcon,
Phase II (Fri., Sat:) cover; Mr. Flood's Party, Brooklyn
Blues Busters (Fri., Sat.) cover, Diesel Smoke and Dan-
gerous Curves (Sun.), cover; Odyssey, Locomobile, for-
merly Bad Luck and Trouble (Fri., Sat.), cover, Okra
(Sun.) cover; Bimbo's on the Hill, Epic (Fri., Sat.)
cover; Bimbo's, Gaslighters (Fri., Sat., Sun.), cover;
Rubaiyat, Iris Bell Adventure (Fri., Sat., Sun.) no cover;
NOW!
Liv Ullm
Voted "
'' f e l
Get to know the two of
you be fore yoqu become
the three of you.
Get to know what you both really like.
What you both really want out of life.
Get to enjoy your freedom together until you both
decide you want to let go of a little bit of it.
But make it your choice.
Research statistics show that more than half of all
the pregnancies each year are accidental. Too many
of them, to couples who thought they knew all about
family planning methods.
Get to know how the two of you don't have to
become the three of you.
Or the four of you. Or.-_
PInr'ed Parwntnhand
"MASTERFUL !
OF A SECUREI
LISTS OF C I
GREAT FILMS!"
Wins
"One of the
best movies
in years!
A rare gem!"
Family Circle
AA FILM
WORTHY INTEGRITY
PLACE ON AN ARTIS
N E M A' S MENT AS
THIS YEAR
ton, N.Y. Post T
- - E
Max von Sydow-Liv Ullmann
The Erirantis
Technicolor From Warner Bros AWarner Communications Company
on...
Best Actress"
N.Y. Film Critics
OF IMMENSE
Y, AS CERTAIN
TIC ACHIEVE-
~I HAVE SEEN
R !"
he Notional Observer
"A historical
pageant ..-
undeniably
great."
Vincent Canby,
N.Y. Times
-. ---------- -----
it
I
I
SAT. 10 FEB.
LOWER
Pretzel Bell, RFD Boys
Jack's, Rockets (Fri., Sat.,
MARX BROS.
IN
~Cocoanut"
ANDP
(Fri., Sat.); cover; Mackinac
Sun.) cover.
RIO DE JANEIRO (A') - Rio's
Botanical Garden gave up the
fight to save its most famous tree
-the 127-foot "Mother Palm,"
planted in 1809 by King Joao VI
of Portugal. The tree was struck
by lightning last October.
DETH
III