The Michigan Daily-Thursday, November 10, 1977-Page 5
ARS ARCADE. . a weekly roundup
Holiday in Rome
NEW YORK - Public television is
offering a Roman holiday for its
viewers in the next 13 weeks as the
ancient empire is recreated with its
intrigue, murder and decadence.
The show is I, Claudius, which
begins its Masterpiece Theater run
on PBS stations Nov. 6 at 9 p.m.,
Eastern time (see local listings.)
Based on the novels by Robert
Graves, I, Claudius puts Roman
Pearl Bailey
Singer Pearl Bailey, who has an
honorary degree from Georgetown
University, is enrolling as a full-time
student to get the real thing.
Emperor Claudius (Derek Jacobi) to
work in his old age writing a family
history, and the scene immediately
shifts back four Caesars to Augustus,
who defeated Antony and Cleopatra
at the battle ofrActium to unite Rome.
White Christmas?
ST. JOHN'S, Antigua - An Angli-
can clergyman wants Caribbeans to
stop singing British Thanksgiving
and Christmas hymns about snow
and cold weather.
Hilton Carty, the dean of St. John's
Cathedral, complained in his Sunday
sermon that the traditional hymns
"all tell us to give thanks to God but
are mostly written for people accus-
tomed to colder climates."
He urged Caribbean composers to
write religious music "which would
be more appropriate to the aspira-
tions of West Indian life."
Looking for Leonardo
FLORENCE, Italy - A lost mas-
terpiece by Leonardo da Vinci prob-
ably lies hidden under another fresco
in the Palazzo Vecchio, says a report
by researchers to a commission that
will decide next month whether to
look beneath the second painting.
A research team financed by
American philanthropists has deliv-
ered four volumes of findings to the
commission appointed to find Leon-
ardo's Battle of Angiari, commemor-
ating a 1440 Florentine victory. The
commission will meet Dec. 12 to
decide what to do next.
The research team, using high-
frequency sound and infrared heat
probes, worked for a year before con-
cluding that Leonardo's fresco is
under another battle scene with
which Girogio Vasari covered a third
of one wall in the Palazzo Vecchio's
Great Council Hall.
"We found that from both acousti-
cal and thermal tests, this spot shows
a different behavior from any other
layers of sub-surface plaster in the
whole hall," said Maurizio Seracini,
the scientific director of the project.
He said the next step would be to
make a small hole in the Vasari
painting to sample the pigment
beneath it.
American industrialist Armand
Hammer, who shared the cost of the
search with the Kress Foundation
and the Smithsonian Institution, has
said he would provide more funds if
permission is given to look behind the
Vasari.
DelsIca 's 1947
BCYCLE THIEF
The so f a poor man's desperate
search for his stolen bicycle that is
essential to his livelihood becomes,
in Desica's hands, an illumination of
the extraordinary dimensions of an
apparently ordinary life. One of the
The later fresco could be trans-
ferred to canvas and the layers of
paint beneath it uncovered.
Leonardo completed his painting
in the early 16th -century during
Florence's years as a republic. The
fresco disappeared after the Medici
family regained power and had
Vasari remodel the hall in 1563.
Some art historians believe Leon-
ardo's painting faded away, as his
Last Supper has done, because he
used an impermanent fresco tech-
nique. Others believe the mural was
painted over because it glorified the
republic.
Travers Newton, an art restoration
expert from Los Angeles, came to
Florence in 1974 and deduced from
historical evidence that the Vasari
painting covered the spot where the
Leonardo was most likely to have
been painted. He did not have the
equipment to check his conclusion.
Seracini, a native of Forence who
studied engineering at the University
of California in San Diego, went to
work with his team in October 1976.
Simply 'Winston'
LONDON - A landscape painting
started by Sir Winston Churchill in
the south of France in 1930 and
finished by five other artists will go
for auction Nov. 16, a representative
of the auctioneers, Sotheby's, said
Thursday.
Julian Barran, a picture expert at
Sotheby's, said Churchill was staying
with artist Paul Maze at the time and
four other artists had been invited to
lunch. They included Andre de
Segonzac and Edouard Williard, the
post impressionist who died in 1936.
Barran said Sir Winston asked the
guests to finish the picture as he was
having difficulty doing so. The guests
finished the painting, entitled "In the
Park oft the Chateau at St. Georges"
and afterwards all six signed it.
Churchill wrote simply "Winston."
The picture is expected to bring
$8,400-$9,350 when it goes on sale,
Barran said. It had been sent for sale
anonymously by a woman, but a
salesroom spokesman said it was not
Lady Churchill, who recently sold
some of her husband's pictures to
meet living expenses at her London
home.
Barran said: "This picture is quite
unusual. It is the only painting of his
that I know that was finished in this
way and of course it is from his best,
early period."
In addition to De Segonzac and
Vuillard, the picture is signed by
Maze, Simon Levy and Ivor Balsan.
Eton quits again
LONDON - Rock singer Elton
John says he is giving up live per-
formances, which have helped make
him Britain's richest pop music
figure.
John surprised a concert audience
of 12,000 Thursday night with the
announcement of an end to his road
career.
"It's been a painful decision for
me," John said. "I really enjoyed to-
night, but this is going to be the last
show. There's a lot more for me than
playing on the road."
The singer said he has no inten-
tion of giving up recording. A new
album is due for release next year.
Crossword addicts delight
BRUSSELS, Belgium - A Belgian
crossword fanatic has unveiled what
he calls the biggest, toughest puzzle
in the history of the game, 25,000
squares with 7,748 definitions.
Henri Blaise, a 38-year-old expert
from Liege in southern Belgium, said
Wednesday that his French language
puzzle took him eight years to com-
plete. The Guinness Book of Records
lists the "largest' crossword ever
published" as one created in 1975 by
Hank Koval, an American television
producer, with 5,553 definitions and
clues.
Blaise said he hopes to cut a big
swath among eight million French
crossword addicts in Belgium,
France, Switzerland and Canada.
"But there are some 40 countries in
the world where French is spoken, so
it could develop into something big if
it catches on," Blaise said.
Interested fans will need space to
pin up the puzzle. It measures 3.61 by
5.58 feet. The definitions come in a
170-page book, and Blaise charges
$28 for a copy of the book and puzzle.
"I estimate it would take a
beginner about two years to finish the
puzzle. An average crossworder
Recent deaths
HOUSTON - Band leader Guy
Lombardo died Saturday from pro-
gressive hardening of the arteries
and kidney problems. He underwent
major arterial surgery five weeks
ago.
Lombardo's "Auld Lang Syne" has
been a mainstay of New Year's
revelers for years..
LOS ANGELES - Silent screen
actress Florence Vidor, once mar-
ried to director King Vidor and then,
to violinist Jascha Heifetz, has died
at age 82 in her Pacific Palisades
home.
Her silent-era films included A
Tale of Two Cities, Grand Duchess
and the Waiter, The Patriot, Magnifi-
cent Flirt and Chinatown Nights.
Florence and King Vidor came
from Texas to Hollywood as a young
couple in 1928. He worked as an actor
and director, while she started out as
fixed to a sloping side is wired to an
organ oscillator board inside. Only the
numerals and 26 letters are wired. The
operator cannot backspace if a wrong
note is hit.
Carmichael developed a code to write
sheet music for MACKS, providing a
letter or number equivalent for each
note in a range of three chromatic oc-
taves. On his sheet music "F-W-0-W"
are the first four notes of "Amazing
Grace.
Here 'spapa
NEW YORK - Francis Ford Coppola
took the two Godfather films, cut them
apart and pasted them back together in
chronological order for a four-part tele-
vision mini-series that has a different
texture than the original.
The nine-hour result will be broad-
cast by NBC in four parts Nov. 12
through 15, with the first three seg-
ments running 9-11 p.m., Eastern time,
and the finale going 8-11 p.m.
There is about an hour's added
material in the television version, ac-
cording to NBC - takes that previously
had hit the cutting room floor and some
that were newly shot. But for this
viewer, the patches didn't show nor was
it possible to differentiate the new
material from the old.
NBC calls the show "Mario Puzo's
'The Godfather.' The Complete Novel
for Television," and it differs markedly
from the original.
College, careers
and conflicts
LOS ANGELES-Christina Raines,
Laurie Heineman and Season Hubley
star in "Loose Change," from the novel
by Sara Davidson about the turbulent
1960s and 1970s.
The NBC six-hour film follows the
women from the college protest era, to
their chosen careers and their resolu-
tion of personal conflicts in the '70s.
Chris ranks with Can Can
ST. PAUL, Minn. - The opera Chris-
topher Columbus was written by Jac-
ques Offenbach to celebrate America's
Centennial in 1876, but only now is it
getting its world premier.
The opening of the unlikely opera -
with more improbabilities than a Marx
Brothers' movie produced by Monte
Python's Flying Circus - was perform-
ed by the Minnesota Opera Company
Friday night at O'Shaughnessy
Auditorium.
The production will be in English, but
that is no guarantee Americans will un-
derstand the madcap goings-on 'or the
non-household word "quadrigamy,"
which is the underpinning of the plot.
Christopher Columbus is the story
history overlooked about the voyage of
Columbus and the discovery of the New
World.
The music by the composer of Can
Can is lilting and swinging, but Offen-
bach was not satisfied with the-libretto
when he read it, and the opera was
shelved.
The work was re-discovered by the
Opera Rara in London, which gave a
concert version of it after Donald White
rewrote the libretto. But the show never
has been produced in opera form.
It opens with Columbus whooping it
up in the square of Cordova to celebrate
his engagement to a local belle. He con-
fides to the young bucks that the way to
successful seduction is marriage.
"
Modern not
necessarily better
STONINGTON, Conn. - The harpsi-
chord, which reigned supreme among
classical musicians for 300 years before
being usurped by the piano, is popular
Guy Lombardo
sound like the composer intended.
"We finally began to realize that
modern wasn't necessarily better,"
said Way, referring to contemporary
modifications in the instrument, in-
cluding the use of metal and plastic.
Prior to the 19th century, the orches-
tra was centered around the harpsi-
chord, Way says. It wasn't until the
1800s that the conductor moved from
the harpsichord keyboard to the podi-
um..
But by then, the piano had begun to
take over as the basic instrument of
European music, Way says. A history
of the harpsichord compiled by Zucker-
mann says production had ceased by
1800. By 1816, the French were burning
harpsichords for firewood.
"We've had to retrain young artists to
play the instruments - the technique is
much different from that of a piano a
With a harpsichord the body stays
quiet."
Way believes his assembly kits, de-
signed for people with minimum exper
tise, result in better instruments than
the mass-produced version.
"This isn't really a kit, you see. It's as
though we stopped the manufacturing
process and said, 'Hey look, we need a
lot of handworkg here'," he says.
The instruction booklet, written in a
breezy, personal and non-technical
style, has elicited compliments as well
as acid remarks from all over the
world. A mechanic for Volkswagen in
Germany wrote Way suggesting he give
all the parts a number.
"I wrote back, a'No! No, damn.you!
You're building a fine instrument
Everything has a name, no numbers;"
Way says.
t
The Arts Arcade was compiled by Michael
Baadke, Wendy Goodman, Renee Shilcusk.,
Mike Taylor, and Tim Yagle from the AI
and UP! wires.
TONIGHT AT 8 P.M.I
(Gctting November
Nlarried 10-12
A disquisitorv Play by Bernard Show
University Showcase
Productions
November 9-12
Arena Theatre, 8 p.m.
Tickets $2 at P. T. P. Office
in the Michigan League
764-0450(313)
Mon. -F~ri., 10-1, 2-5 p.m.
Trueblood Box Office: 6-8 p.m.
764-5387(313)
Tickets also through all Hudson's
again, says one maker of the venerable
instrument.
David Way says many classical mu-
sicians are demanding instruments
constructed as they were in the 18th
century or before, so compositions
Probing possible da Vinci
should take three to four months."
Blaise said he also wants the
launching of his puzzle to coincide
with the beginning of a competition, a
kind of world championship for
French crossword experts, opening
Nov. 17.
The first to turn in the correct
solution to his puzzle will be declared
champion.
Spain loses footage
MADRID, Spain - Once the west-
er world's favorite movie location,
Spain is rapidly losing that status
because of sharply increased costs.
In a country where the making of
films ranging from the classic Doctor
Zhivago to Italian spaghetti westerns
once was a business involving hund-
reds of millions of dollars, no foreign
movie has been made in months.
Producer Stanley O'Toole has just
moved the location of The Boys From
Brazil from Spain to neighboring
Portugal.
"Only 10 years ago, moviemakers
flocked to Spain because costs were
so low that they practically ruled out
any other country," he said. "Now
the costs are prohibitive. Moreover,
you're never quite sure what's going
to happen next in Spain."
a film extra and rose to stardom
shortly after her cart ride with actor
William Farnum in A Tale of Two
Cities.
She divorced Vidor in 1925 and
married Heifetz in 1928, at which
time she quit acting, saying: "My
husband is my career."
Typewriter tunes
BATON ROUGH, La. - Musician-in-
ventor Charlie Carmichael has made
music as simple as ABC.
His marriage of a typewriter key-
board to an organ-like device enables
just about anyone to play a recogniz-
able song at first sitting.
A touch-typist becomes a virtuoso.
"If you can type, you can play," Car-
michael said.
It may be the perfect instrument for
would-be musicians with songs in their
hearts but blocks in their heads when it
comes to reading musical notes.
Carmichael calls it (MACKS) - Mu-
sical Alphabet Code Keyboard System.
His prototype is housed in a portable
sewing machine case he bought from
the Salvation Army. A 10-inch speaker
produces the music from one end.
An ordinary typewriter keyboard
m
S9
Eae p tlons
NOON LUNCHEON
Homemade Soup & Sandwiches 50t
Friday, Nov. 11
PROFESSOR ZELDA GAMSON
CENTER FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
"The Political Economy of The University, 1970's"
at GUILD HOUSE
802 MONROE (corner of Oakland)
POETRY READING
Thursday, Nov. 10-7:30 P.M.
DAVID VICTOR and JOSEPH ROSEVEAR
reading from their work
at GUILD HOUSE
802 MONROE (corner of Oakland)
Refreshments
ptpA
N THE POWER CENTER-
F OR THE PERFORMING ARTS
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Compa y
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' Have You
Heard the
Latest?
SUBSCRIBE to the
DR. ALBERT FEUERWERKER
Director of the Center for Chinese Studies
will present a lecture an
Friday, Nov. 11-8 p.m.
tthi in the Lasty Q rte r
of the 20th Centuy
the third in the 1977 Distinguished Faculty eries
-~rA l l+ ;%r k'
in
Nov. 11& 12
Chapeau
by Alfred Uhry & Robert Waidma
A Musical Based Upon Eugene Labiche'
Italian Straw Hat
Nov 13 mat. & eve
MO7YZ'FR
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