Manchester
hears Paxton
By WENDY GOODMAN
and MIKE TAYLOR
"You're a person first, a musician
second, and a political View third," Jim
Post reminded Tom Paxton after their
successful performances Monday night
at the Black Sheep Repertory Theatre,
located in downtown Manchester. It
was the first time either musician had
played at the converted 1800's opera
house, which combines professional
repertory theatre with folk and blues
musical performances.
Post, a muse with an energetic per-
forming style, got the crowd into a spir-
ited mood. "This is a test to see if you're
a real folk audience or not," Post noted
as he taught the chorus to one of his
songs to the audience; happily, the
folks in the seats passed the test. His
biggest crowd-pleaser was a gospel
tune done holy roller style, teaching the
lesson of humility.
As a performer, Post was as fun to
watch as to listen to. Occasionally, he
would step back and into characteriza-
tions of back-up singers such as 'the
Pips' (of Gladys Knight fame). To do
Dancing in the Wind, Post came into the
audience to do just that. He finished the
song and the set by dancing away; it
was quite an exit.
Paxton began his set with an amusing
tune about Saturday night in a bar. He
then changed the pace masterfully with
the beautiful, lyrical Can't Help Won-
dering Where I'm Bound.
"The next couple of songs I'm going
$10,000 fingers.
Steven DeGroote, of Bloemfontein, South Africa, is the latest winner of the
Van Cliburn International Quadrennial piano competition, winning $10,000 and
a worldwide concert tour.
MacArthur
New fall TV show
features Betty White
It's hardly the easiest cinematic un-
dertaking in these post-turbulent, cyni-
cal days to attempt a biography of an
authentic American legend, especially
of the political or military ilk. Since the
era of overtly pseudo-ecclesiastical
homage to historical luminaries seems
behind us, the biographical filmmaker
now appears duty-bound to throw an ob-
ligatory bone to both the smugly dur-
able anti-hero crowd and the recently
and fashionably re-insurgent Panama
Canal-Orange County gang.
Thus it is with the film MacArthur,
which' right off the bat asks in bold-
typed prologue, "Was he a dangerous
demagogue or one of the greatest men
in the world?" MacArthur was, of cour-
se, both, and Hollywood's obliquely sta-
ted admission of such, however com-
mercial in motivation, would hopefully
give promise to a genuinely shades-of-
gray depiction of one of the most
notable - and one of the last American
superheroes of the century.
Unfortunately, the biographical
genre still suffers from what might be
termed de facto reverence, which
creeps and plods its way into the best-
intentioned efforts and results in a kind
of righteous atrophy, withering reality
into a pseudo-saintly paralysis in which
the protagonist's triumphs and failings
both seem cast in the same bronzed
bigger-than-life stardom of the old Abe
Lincoln-Tom Edison vintage.'
So on the one hand we get MacArthur
the military genius masterminding a
brilliant stroke in Korea to cut the ene-
my in half; on the other we see Mac-
Arthur the supercilious egomaniac de-
manding photographers shoot him
solely from an upward angle.
MacArthur doesn't distort as much as
it omits. The film limits itself to a ten-
year period of the general's career,
from his forced retreat from Japanese-
beleagured Corrigidor in 1942 ("I shall
return") to his abrupt but inevitable
dismissal by Harry Truman in 1951 for
disobeying orders in Korea. Had the
time-span been broadened, the picture
might tjave given some domestic scope
to this complex aristocrat, such as his
brutally cavalier dismantling - with
aides George Patton and Dwight Eisen-
hower - of the Washington Bonus Mar-
chers in 1932.
As it is, MacArthur sticks to foreign-
based strategisms, taking the General
through his triumphal return to the
Phillipines near war's end, his five-
year reign as governor of occupied
Japan, the triumph and disaster of
Korea culminating with Mac's hero's
welcome home only to, in his own wor-
ds, "just fade away." A history or mili-
tary buff could probably groove on all
of this, but the rest will probably find it
less than stimulating. The Japanese oc-
cupation segment provides the most
genuine interest, with MacArthur quiet-
ly exhaulting in his virtual king's role
over his conquered subjects, even
proving something of a closet liberal as
he dictates reform after reform into the
newly-created Japanese Constitution.
Always merely a competent actor at
best and cursed with an eternal Lin-
colnesque sonorousness that blunted his
most diverse characterizations, Peck
tries hard but can never make you
forget that this is simply good old Greg
imitating a famous person. In MacAr-
thur he's atmhisbest when recreating
the general's various speeches, stirring
the masses from Corrigidor to West
Point. But Peck always sounds like he's
delivering a speech even in quiet con-
ersation, and after a while the effect
becomes simultaneously lulling and
maddening.
MacArthur is a cinematic history
book, and as such an enterprise to avoid
unless you enjoy the privilege of paying
money to do homework.
By NINA SHISHKOFF
There's something that clicks in a
truly good TV show. After good writing
and good acting, there's still some mys-
terious quality that meshes the story
and characters, and gives the show its
distinct personality.
One show that "had it" was "The
Mary Tyler Moore Show." Perhaps
more than any other situation comedy,
the comedy centered around charac-
ters, not situations. The newsroom bun-
ch was a "team," a "family." The de-
parture of Rhoda and Phyllis didn't
even slow it down. The subsequent spin-
offs "Rhoda" and "Phyllis" didn't have
it. The jokes were there, but not the
spirit.
This season, two more "orphans" .of
the "MTM" show try to make it on their
own. "The Betty White Show," Monday
nights on CBS, stars Betty White and
Georgia Engles, better known as
MTM's Sue Ann Nivens and Georgette
Baxter, playing essentially the same
characters. Carrying on where the
"Mary Tyler Moore" show left him,;
fired from the newsroom job, "Lou
Grant" goes back to his first love -
newspaper editing. Asner can be seen
in the newsroom Tuesday evenings at
10 p.m.
"The Betty White Show" has every-
thing going for it; Betty White, for
starters, good acting, good writing, and
the usual MTM productions' broad
framework, suited to its cast. But the
'something' isn't there.
Betty is supposed to be Joyce Whit-
man, an actress who stars in "Under-
cover Woman," an idiotic police show.
Her ex-husband directs the show, and
as the episodes go by, we see they have
a love-hate relationship that fuels most
of the plots. When Joyce isn't insulting
or being insulted by him, she is insult-
ing or being insulted by a young actress
on the show. Betty White's Sue Ann
Nivens was perfection in bitchiness, but
here Joyce Whitman recites her insults
hollowly. There's no spirit in the show;
characters talk past each other, and the
relationships aren't convincing.
Perhaps the show still needs to find
itself. If it does, it ought to be a success;
thA ingredients are all there.
When a show has it, it's not hard to
see. Lou Grant has it. As Lou enters the
newspaper building he hopes to work in,
a surly guard hands him a number.
"Stick this on .your pocket, and don't
take it off. It authorizes you to be on the
4th floor." Lou takes it and gets into an
elevator. A woman stares at his pocket.
Lou stares back. "Someday I hope to
become a five," he confides.
Sitting uses eight per cent less
energy than standing.
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