" f THE MICHIGAN DAILY SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1922 SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1922 THE MICHIGAN DAILY PAGE a r r. ....®._.. r : . : . . ..._ . , . 9 - illfilitillili tiltil Ift|$ [C AND 1 ICIANS =3 C EWING = I wonder whether anyone can ima- gine what sort of uproarious commo- tion would ensue if the Actors Equity Association should suddenly take it upon itself to prescribe the menus of all meals for every household in America. Everyone would ind such a thing too preposterously Glbertian to be even comprehended let alone tol- erated And yet no one seems to find. it in any way extraordinary that the newspapers of the country Should have assumed thetresponsibility of se- lecting and providing the musical fare which is sent out nightly over the radio to countless households. Think this over for a moment and see if itI does not appear so colossally absurd as to be almost delightful. But while it is to laugh, it is also to weep a little. I am sure that during the past year I have greatly grievd more than one of my radio-infatuated friends by not entering with any abandon into their riotous enthusiasm over the new in- strument. I have the greatest respect for the radio per se, but I have been unable to wax ecstatictover it because' I have only the slightest respect for the kind of stuff which, save in the rarest instances, is sent out over it. And I really do not see why I or any-, one else should become entirely upset4 with joy over a device which, even in the rarest instances, under present conditions, provides nothing that can not be obtained with infinitely greater comfort and satisfaction from a Vic- trola, an Encyclopedia Britannica, and a daily newspaper. From these last three one can. at least choose what material he wants instead of being compelled to take what is given, and one is harrassed by no static disturb- ances! It may as well be said her that in this article I have none to offer of what is known as "constructive criti- cism." It has struck me as being highly curious and not a little deplor- able that the Detroit News for in- stance should have become a provider of the public's music. But if you should suddenly point a rigid finger at me and demand just exactly who should have charge of the radio music I would be quite bewildered, and would probably stammer the Geolo- gists, or the Mounted Police, or per- haps the Musicians. I am not one to attempt to suggest what is the impec- cably correct entertainment to be sent to the radio-listeners or who are the impeccably correct persons to send it. Of course I have my ideas of what I would like for myself, but I shrink from uttering these for publication. The Great Public would consider them quite unworthy of being considered at all. But if there are any readers who are curious to know what I would.say on the subject not as criticism for pub- lication, but as bavarderie at an Edith Dale salon evening, I will whisper a few words to these alone if the Great Public will kindly turn over the page. Since the radio is something new under the sun, I would that it might be used as a sort of Hermes for all the other new things which are wast- ing their sweetness on garret air. There is something a little sad in see- Ing a brand-new invention, perfectly expressive of the mood of the hour and brimful of promise, being burd-1 ened from its very birth by having toI carry to the ends of the earth the dis- molest accumulations 'of.the whole past. Why in the name of all that iso "en rapport with the spirit (Vfthe age"l should the radio be used to broadcast the now almost unendurable "Poet j and Peasant Overture" instead -of the l Strawinsky "Ragtime," a character- istic product of the time, but onei which is shunned alike in the concert. hall and on the vaudeville - stage be=- cause it is too wild"'t The radio, would be a most appropriate vehicle for Strawinsky's music, but it is not j for, the classics. Haydn's "Surprise1 Symphony" over the radio is quite as, incongruous as Saint Francis of Assis- i in a Pullman, or Joan of Arc in an1 Ert6 gown. Nothing could be more; inconsistent, unless it were perhaps, Strawinsky's "Ragtime" on a; harpsichord! If I were King of Radio I would say o' all mature and silver-haired co:n- positions that over my domain "they shall not pass!" I would wavo them and their creators a respectful, even worshipful dismissal, and I would calla in Ornstein, .,Prokofeiff, Malapiero, Milhaud, Goosens, Korngold, Satie, and Schonberg, and all the rest of the nad, modern crew, and bid them do their worst! I would provide strange vew auditory sensations from strange' n ew music over the newest and strangest of all mediums. In short, I would reserve the radio for only those new things which are existing, but of whose existence half the world knows nothing. And in so doing I would do the classics not an injury but a prodigious service. After a mad and hectic revel in radio-cacophany, the cool, clear dawn of a Mozart sym- phony would be more gratefully re.. freshing than it had ever been before. I would simply provide the opportun- ity-now lacking-of going on a caco- phonic spree when one so desired. In dreaming such an idle, futuristic dream, I am well aware that I am beat- ing in the void my luminous wings in vain. If there is a day coming when Strawinsky's "Ragtime" will be famil- iar radio property, it is a day still so far off that by the time it arrives, thej "Ragtime" will have lost all its power to intrigue, and will have become as harmless and matronly as Darling Nellie Gray. And, what's worse, Strawinsky himself, and =all the rest, of the noisy Advance Guard of 1922 will be resting quietly "sans 'Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and sans End." work done by psychologists every- where. In these 'particular experi- ments of learning, education profits f ostly. But psychology contributes equally valuable matter to medicine, law, the social sciences; it provides1 new methods' of manufacture, assists in the teaching and theory of .music, lays down the principles of salesman- ship and advertising, and spreads out into many other fields of human en- deavot. In spite of the fact (or perhaps be- cause of the fact) that it is the -new- est of experimental sciences, dating back only to the middle of last cen- tury, psychology is rapidly becoming an invaluable aid to many of the old- er established sciences, and some of the arts. Whereas as short a time ago, as falls within my memory, psy- chology was considered merely an adjunct-and a somewhat unwelcome, intrusive adjunct-to the study of philosophy, it has 'now amassed a wealth of knowledge that entitles it to stand on its own legs as a true sci- ence. There are still to be found some conservative little "fresh water" col- leges wbhrein psychology is consid- ered an art, rather than a science.{ Our own still catalogs the subject ofi psychology under the general head- ing of Philosophy. .But in equipmentj of laboratgries and in the faculty of its psychology department, Michigan; fortunately has the best. It isn't often we find things to be thankful for. This is one of the rare occasions. Eleonora Duse -j (Continued from Page One.) j of her face feels and suffers: the haunting glance is turned inward, the caressing touch of her beautiful hand is athirst and yearning; the audience senses the darting pulse beneath the immobility of rhythmic gesture. None can resist her magnetism; no one could wish to resist it. .Her pres- ence attracts; she need resort to no devices. She does not pose, she has :1a. no artifice:- -Eleonora Duse is like life. inponderable, omnipotent, but she is always sincere :Effort and constraint have no meaning for her; she is a.re- alist. Although seldom carefully at- tired and usually with hair disorder- ly and indifferently arranged, she is beautiful. She goes before, ler audi- ence without make-up, for sjie is at one with Rodin in this, his statement. "When an artist,..intending-. to im- prove upon nature, adds green'to the springtime, rose* to the sunrise, car- mine to young lips, he creates ugliness because he lies." Eleonora Duse's originality as -an actress, and her creative power as a genius, lie in complete devotion to truth, her realism. With^Hamlet she might say: "Seems, madam! 'nay, it is, I know not "seems" * * * * * * these indeed seem For they are actions that a manynight play But I have that within which pass- eth show, IOhese but the trappings and the suits o. woe." It, has become a commonplace among the critics to say that no play Is great enough to bring out Duse's whole powers. Many mediocre plays and several exceedingly poor charac- ters in dramas have been made things of transcendent beauty merely by the magic spell of her presence. And now the report is abroad that Signora Duse is coming to America, hed came here long ago, before Paris 'had invested her with laurels, and now we can anticipate nothing finer than a return in the fullness of her maturity. The "Autobiography of Countess Leo Tolstoy" will be issued immediately by B. W. Huebsch, Inc. The book has a full introduction and many notes and appendices which add invaluable and much new material to the story of Count Tolstoy's life with his family.. 4 death of her father, Barbara assumes 1 istin thisbook his style resembles the name of Fancy Telling and a that of the American journalist, clear, minor part- in a prominent musical direct. unequivocal. revue. The slight talent inherited from Elizabeth Davis Ornduff. her mother would be insufficient were . it not for the patronage of - George Champneys, the -popular comedian and. ReM.tnsCenceSof manager of the revue. Barbara's con- tacts with men, during this period,; leave her. cold. Emotional. demonstra- By Gorky, Kuprin and Bunin- -tions excite only a . physical nausea. (Huebsch)I Her experience in. life is yet super- 4 In the foreground of realists that ficial -when she marries Champneys. Russia -has produced since the middle Her husband promises that love will of last century, stand Maxim Gorky come to her after marriage. It does, and Anton Pa-vlow-itch- Chekhov. They but not for him. -Her surreptitious are often spoken of, in one breath, as passion for Champneys' secretary re- being very much alike in their art. sults in the lover's murder by the hus- Both are masters of the short story. band. And -the last part of the book( Both draw their characters chiefly is replete with incidents which would from the oppressed, and therefore the be distinctly melodramatic were they ( more sordid, classes of society. And depicted in a less restrained manner. each of the has produced literature A child is born, starvation threatens, that has in it all the elements of per- the child is "given as a sacred trust manence. As artists, each is the par- to a better woman who can provide allel of the other. But there the sim- the true environment," a new liaison ilarity must end. is formed, on a strictly business basis; II doubted very much, previous to even a vision of the future greatness reading this book, whether Chekhov1 of her son appeare to the mother. In wlleled Gorky's atti- this is the book least convincing, oth- !tudetoward the Russian revolutions erwise it is the daily case of the one of 1917 and the consequent attempts woman in ten, who commits adultery at reconstruction, had he lived that within the marriage bonds and islong. I rather thought that Chekhov caught. The other nine are a shadowould have stayed on in seclusion more discreet, or more fortunate. The awaiting results, instead of helping to 'long arm of coincidence' 'is employed brin themlnsandIo dthat- a little too obviously in supplying thet rbring them on. And I hopedt philanthropic Mrs. Myrtle to take thee pe the o t C metho child. The diverse and temperamental from the pens of three itnimate persons of the theatrical coterie are fins ofbthe authr ws clsar treated with incisive penetration. But those doubts. In that, I was disap- psychology seems to be the author's pointed. sole scientific forte, for he defies sci- Alexander Kuprii attempts to clear ence tby denying heredity, even of Chekhov o theicharge of "aloofness physical attributes, except by sugges- Rutowards' events which agitated the tion, and sponsoring the old fallacy .eRussiany telligentsia." But he suc-- of maternal impression. ceeds only in fastening the guilt upon The curiously insistent motif of tri~ Chekhov in a way that leaves very niity recurs in the three phases of the little doubt. One is quite firmly con woman's development-Barbara Pow- vinced, after reading Kuprin's feeble erscourt, Mrs. George Champneys, and defense, that Chekhov would have act Fancy Telling; her three major affairs ed in true Chekhovian style had he du coeur; and again in Caleb's defini- lived fifteen years longer. le would tion of life. "We are too apt to look have "suffered in silence," as Kuprin at things in terms of duality, whereas tells us he always did when it came everything is a trinity. There is ac- I to politics. Personally, I should cre- Here,- as -in the, two other- short memoirs, -one sees a- Chekhov quite different from the general impression' o , an author - whose chief stock-in- trade is banality. For Chekhov, the worst evil in the world was- the com- m6nplace and the trite in the life of the masses. It pained him because; he saw it in all-its drabness, and he, felt the forlorn nature of that life. His -method, then, was to show up that banality to a self-admiring world and leave it to formulate its own con- clusions as-to the ways of making the3 world a better place in which to live. Maxim Gorky speaks- of Chekhov as having. been beautifully simple, genu- ine and sincere. He possessed the rare ability, in a great man, of mak- ing other people feel simple and en- tirely "at home" in his presence. And, in spite of dealing in his works withj the dreary things in life, Chekhov was ( far from a pessimist. Gorky, who tells us more about Chekhov the artist, as well as Kuprin and Bunin who knewr him in the- greater intimacy of his home, speak of his untiring optimism. In private life, Chekhov never wearied talking of "the joyous future which is awaiting mankind." -Both Bunin and Kuprin tell of Chekhov's encouragement to young writers, and of his bitterness toward the Russian critics who had attacked him in his youth. When some of his friends suggested to Chekhov that they might celebrate his jubilee, he objected strongly. "I know your ju- bilees," he complained. "For twenty- five years they (the critics) do noth- ing but abuse and ridicule a man, and- then you give him a pen made of alu- minum and slobber over him for a whole day, and cry, and kiss him, and gush'!" He might have added that when it is all over, they go back to their abuse and ridicule., A word must be said about the translation which was done so admir- ably by S. S. Koteliansky and Leon- ard Woolf. On the whole, they seem- ed to have preserved the flavor of the Russian sketch. -Especially notable in the translation of C recollections, which is rema well done. Several minor mi occur. The most flagrant of t1 the use of the word "small," oz 39, where the use of "petty" have made the sentence muc ambiguous. Though a thin volume, the co ation of the three Russian autho the two translators has given appreciation of Chekhov which : worth the reading. When the hl that followed the World War ha sided entirely; when Russia longer looked upon as a a wherewith to conjure fear in the of the mischevious child and tb lible adult; when America has h fill of hounding imaginary "ener alien birth"; in other words, America once more regains he ity, Americans will turn again reading of the splendid literatui duced by the Russian school o ists. And a better knowledge ton Chekhov's life will be cons valuable. Saul Cai 'Books Rveceive The Penitent, by Edna Wo Underwood. (Houghton, Mifflij Love Conquers All, by Robi Benchley. (Henry Holt & Co.) Signs of Sanity, by Stewart (Charles' Scribner's Sons.) $1.50 Thb Family Tan, by John worthy. (Charles Scribner's Loyalties, by John Galsw (Charles Scribner's Sons.) $1.0 Lc-ttrs of J,ames tibbo-s siI (Charles Scribner's Sons.) $3.5 IKing Arthur's Socks and Oth lage Plays, by Floyd Dell. (I $-.50. Swinburne's Atalanta in C and Erechtheus, with notes, by ion Clyde Vier. (Wahr). $2.0 - I DIAMONDS RESET TO GREAT ADVANTAGE In Platinum or White Gold Settings In Our Own Shop - One Day Service tion, reaction, and the spirit. it in_- vokes." One wonders if Caleb is voic- ing Aumonier's philosophy. "He de-t scribed himself as an agnostic, with( a sneaking regard for theosophy and a confirmed belief in reincarnation.I 'Because it confirms my faith in there, being no such thing as retrogression. e If you believe in physical evolution, you must believe in spiritual evolution. Everything is emerging-going for- ward'." Or is the book a refutation t of this theory? Barbara's child is in the same situation with which she, herself, began life; rather more like aJ diabolic cycle -than a beneficent pro- gression.( Stacy Aumonier's literary style is simple and unadorned. There is none of the romantic exoticism, nor the! scintillating repartee which is charac- teristic of many contemporary novel- dit Anton Pavlowitch Chekhov with being above participation in the in- tellectual sabotage which smeared blood-red the hands of so many Rus- sian professors and writers, while the revolution was in danger. But the best with which one can credit Chek- hov is indifference to the ,cause of Russia's emancipation. And with that ends the only impres- sion of a negative nature gained from the reading of these "Reminiscences." With the exception of this single fail- tire, which is attributing to Chekhov himself rather than to his friends, the 110 pages present a sympathetic, well handled, and well balanced sympo- sium on one of Russia's great masters of literature. Two years after Chekhov's death,' Maxim Gorky wrote the fragment which is included in this volume. G ood A PracticalPsychology (Continued- from Page One) intends to use in experimenting upon -monkeys, This will help science to draw conclusions as to how much closer to the human is the monkey, as compared with other animals. These experiments are indicative of only a small portion of the important PRICED FROM $7.50 TO $75.00 SCHLANDERER & SEYFRIED JEWELERS 113 East Liberty Street; Appearance The aim of every college man is to present a good pearance. It is part of his education. His standards of di become revised and the necessity of well kept clothes becoi apparent. I I 19)(./KODAK.A5 YOU GO . KODAK 1 Pictures about the Campus-- our classmates, fo r example, with their snug sombreros that grow smaller with each rain--are h oQpe PROF. WALTER A. TERPENNING "To, Russia aild Rcturn" $1.25 "THE AVERAGE AMERICAN READER WILL FIND IT AN INTERESTING AND ENTERTAINING -NARRA- TIVE." C. L. 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