EIGHT
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
SUNDAY. NOVEMBER 12, 1922
THROUGH THE =
OPERA GLASSES
SL. L. N
: l11itii i l11141illll rtrl rrl Cri;lilU
COMEDY CLLB
Comedy Club, the oldest of Michi-
gan's dramatic organizations, has of-
fered opportunities to students inter-
ested in work in the drama since 1885..
Unlike.Masques or the Opera, Comedy
Club has none of the problems of find
ing a girl masculine .enough to be the
hero or a man with those indefinable'
qualities of a heroine, for its member-
ship includes both men and women.'
Members are chosen by a system of
competitive tryouts intr.oduced in 1908.
Because the membership is limited to
forty, members must be chosen as to
type in order to keep a well-balanced
club,
A history of Comedy Club is spotted
with dates of reorganization. This
may be accounted for by the shifting
student membership. In 1885 Profes-
sor du Pont assisted them under the
name of "The' University Dramatic
Club." A comedy entitled "The Ser-
ious Family" and other similar plays
answered the dramatic needs of the
day. For some time after that the
club ceased to exist. It was organized
as Comedy Club in the early nineties.
Professor Louis A. Strauss, who has
always taken a kindly interest in the
club, was responsible for effecting a.
iuch needed rejuvenation in 1908
when an attempt was made to change
the entrance qualifications from the
personal basis, then in use, to a more
impersonal interest in dramatic ability.
It was in 1908 that the club produced
"The Recruiting Officer" by George
Farquhai', first given in 1705, and re-
hived for the use of Comedy Club by
Professor Strauss.
Other plays which have been pro-
duced by the organization are "The
Admirable Crichton," by J. M. Barrie,
1909; "The Inspector" by Gogol, 1910,
"The Title Mart" by Winston Churchill
1911; "The Magistrate" by A. W. Pi- I
nero, 1912; "Money" by Bulwer Lyt-
ton, x913; "The Scarecrow" by Percy
Mckaye, 1914; "Pomander Walk" by
Stuart Louis Parker, 1915; and J. M"
Barrie's "The Professor's Love Story,"
191G.
During the war Jerome's "Miss
Hobbs" and Mason's "Green Stock-
ings" were given by those meibers,
of the club who were in school. In
1920 "Alice Sit-by-the-Fire" .WJ..M.
Barrie; 1921, "Bunty Pulls the
Strings" and last year Shaw's "Pyg-
malion" were the work of Professor
J. Raleigh Nelson. This year another
S. M. Barrie play i§ being considered
"WhatFvery. Woman.Knows." Those
who.,ave. seen Professor Nelson's.
work think that anything -he attempts
last year has been praised as-his .most,
finished work, while the success of.
some of his otherundertakings chal-
lenge that statement.
H'ortenso Q0. MIller'.
A REVIEW OF CHIMES
(Continued from Page Three)
Perhaps I know some girl he hasn'tt
been out with.
For fiction, Chimes has "The Noble,"
by Lawrence H. Conrad, a short story
in Conrad's usual style, and "Fulfill-
ment," an 0. Henryesque story by
Ruth Lechlitner. I have read better
and worse stories by both writers. In
Conrad's story, Mrs. Garber, to me is
imperfectly drawn. She is untrue to the
original delineation of her character.
The story "Fulfillment" is quite con-
ventional, with no deviation into the
unexpected from start to finish. It is
a type of story much read.
'The verse in this issue is found .in.
"Thoughts in Autumn," by Jack Jay,
and "Renascence," by N. E. Martin.
The first-mentioned is in iambic penit-
ameter quatrains, and deals with a
subject which caused much worriment
to nineteenth century poets-the dead
summer idea,iwith winter at hand and
spring in the offing. The piece is as
good as anything of Jay's I have read,
and is better than much similar mat-
ter for which good money was paid
in the past century.
"Renascence" is better. It is in dac-
tylic tetrameter, with truncated lines
to relieve tbe monotony, and lacks
the conventional tenor of Jay's poem.
What is still better, it has no didactic
touch, but is purely descriptive, and
moves along easily. This with the
exception of one line, where the, writ-
er slipped and fell into a trochaic pud-
dle. The rhyming scheme is wortht
mentioning-aa, bb, cde, edc, ff, aa. i
The editorials in Chimes discuss a
Michigan press bureau, band uniforms
and the passing of "Hot Off the Diag-I
onal." This last is significant. "Hot'
Off the Diagonal" was originally thel
dominating purpose of Chimes, and
j now the editors admit that it has died
from lack of sustenance. They be-
come sarcastically funny, and the ed-
itorial in question is without doubt
the most humorous touch in the en-
tire issue-in fact, almost the only one
but it loses its humor when you con-
sider the reverse side of it. ChimesI
has been the only publication on thel
campus which has had as its avowed
purpose the expression of student. o-
pinion on either side of a question,
and on general topics, and it is 0o- say'
the least unfortunate that this phase.
of the magazine is forced to lapse. It
has been the breath ?f the publication,
and breath has been considered-neces-
sary to life.
CONTEMPORARY ART AND VERSE
(Continued from Page Five)
all the circumstances being consider-
ed, with European products of similar{
type. Most of those things, as we
should expect, are done by older men,
who have reached maturity after long
struggle.
While we wait for something really
characteristic and important to appear]
on our rustic continent perhaps the
best thing to do is to read the maga-
zines. Soweone must, though the only
really difficult thing to understand
about them is, who does? But new
forms are- slowly evolving here and a
nation's literature is undergoing its
parturient pangs. It probably has be-
come only a uestioan of time-we
know the young p'eople are trying hard
enough.
EDITORIAL STAFF
Delbert Clark, Editor
Donald Coney, Literary Editor
Leo L. Niedzielski, Dramatic
E 'ditor
Max Ewing, Music Editor
William M. Randall, 'Exchange
Editor
Bethany Lovell, Staff. Artist
aisames House, Jr., Caricaturist
Virginia Vaughn Tryon
W. Bernard Butler
Saul Carson
John P. Dawson .
Howard A. Donahue
Jane Ellingson
M. A. Klaver
Helen G. Lynch
Hortense O. Miller
Dorian G. Sayder
Regular staff _meetings wilI be
{ held at five o'clock every Mon-
day. Attendance of all Maga-
zine writers on these meetings is
imperative.
SUNDAY MAGAZINE
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1922
W at.'s Wrong .Wioth ,Colleges
G
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A'Pid h3ze yu isenmat tyre Pala~e of Swets-
and ivasn 't it :splenddhere?-
At
I my
CONCERWINiC THE AMERICAN
COLLEGE
President Burton:. The heart I
functions only when it is a part
of the body. Unify the curricu-.
lum.-
Professor Vernon, Carleton: It.
is time to abolish fraternities
and intercollegiate athletics. .
President Meikiejohn, Amherst:
It teachers think in fragments'
they cannot teach in wholes.
President; Chase, North Caro..
lina: There is an amazing lack
of unity in college courses.
Professor Moore, Harvard: Sen-
iors must pass a general final
' examination to obtain a degree.
(Howard A, Donahue)
On rare occasions a reader may find
the thoughts of two or more men,S
thoroughly acquainted with a particu-j
lar topic set down in neighboring col- ;
umns. But when a publication gath-
ers the words of ten of America's
foremost educators into one issue, the,
reader may justly conclude fiat b6th
the material and their respective pur-
poses are worthy of investigation.
In a recent issue of the New"Repub-
lie, ten college presidents and profes-
sors tell what they know about the
short-comings and the advantages of
the American college and its curricu-
lum.
More than one half of each criticism
contains constructive suggestions, de-
veloped in the main by. examples X
successful procedure in the writer'
own institution. Only one paper might
be termed "radical" and a very small
part of the m'aterial is vague and
idealistic. Each of tlie ten writers
submitted a paper on a subject vital:
in academic organization, and the ten
were .grouped under the title "The
American College and Its Curricu-
that social prestige attaches to the
man who achieves intellectual distinc-
tioin?"
Prof. A. W. Vernon, Carleton Col-
lege,.offers vigorous support to they
"liberal college." .He would also rid
American institutions. of three
classes of students-i. Those 'wvo
"prostitute their college careers by a'
ilarrow' adherence to professionalism.'
2. "holiday seekers." 3. Those who
seek out the college as a disciplinary I
institution. Professor Vernon would'
also abolish fraternities and iner-
collegiate athletics because, as "cor-
rective medicines they have served
their purpose."
Professor Carl Young, University of
Wisconsiii,-"Hope for the College"-
praises the attitude of the modern stu--
dent comparing him with his early'
New England ancestry, andi disagrees
slightly with .resident Burton whenj
he says that the antagonistic campu'
attitude toward good scholarship has'
cdme to be a trifle "old-fashioned."
President William A. Neilson, Smith
College,-"Special Honors at Smith"-
describes a measure designed to cor-{
reet "aimlessness" in selecting cours-'
es. During the last two years of her'
college' life the Smith student has free'
rein in choosing courses, attending,
lectures at .will, and devoting every;
hour possible to reading and studying.'
During the last semester long papers
on the two years work are prepared.'
Preparation is then made for "drastic"
The Result of
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compulsory chapel. T
' Sym osst'udies are not social
When students begin a
final examinations which cover the 'with each other on subj
course studied for the past two years.to the campus, the cour
President Neilson says that the s'ys education will be rebo
tem has, in a great measure, corrected Erskinc.
the path of the wanderer who former- Prof. Stuart A. Sherma
ly got "a little of everything and not 'of:Illinois, tells of the tw
much of anything." j course used in prenaratic
A similar procedure is described by sional work. The syst
Prof. Clifford H. Moore, Harvard Uni- known in mid-western u
versity,-"The General Final Examnin- a "broadener" for studen'
2tion at Harvard"-The senior is re- medicine. Professor She
quired ,to take examinations in the hcwever, that the 'two
courses .n which he has specialized. course has its vilnerable
If he does not obtain a satisfactory of the most obvious is
grade on this general examination he, through which the "loafe
is refused his degree regardless of educational machinery,"
how highly he has scored' in his in-- nois professor, "i's loafe
dividual courses. Harvard adopted by the skillful use of hi
the plan to counteract the evils pat- the loafer may get throw,
ent to the American college custom mre than the first ee
of counting h'onors and credits for a rigid specifications of rel
degree, would prevent this campt
"General Honors at Columbia" by filling his election blank
Pros'. John Erskine, tells of a plan seeimg' courses.
smacking somewhat of the Woodrow Prcf. H. B. Alexander,
Wilson group plan. A limited number Nebraska, also deplores
of upperclassmen are enrolled in a students may get degre
class in' literature which requires ing up hours acid credits.
close personal association of the tem he says reflects "into
members and attention to intimate lessness" in our student
discussion "of the authors whom they writes at length on the s
study. lege" administration and
This invention like all of the others astute official who looks
is f r one purpose, a reversion t'o the tions proposed by faculty
cultivotion .of common intellectual in- tical gestures.
terests. "Now," says Professor Erb- President Alexander
kimne, "students discuss what tley all Amherst College,. favors a
have in common-girls, athletics or ilar to the Harvard
courses for upper-classn
' duction of every course
I trapscheme, instead of
ie Ma ~fl learning.
The ' outstanding impr
a ~reading these ten' article;
educators from widely di
of the country agree upc
ment. of one definite gosa
ofmthe curriculum=-cen
Dldald~on)' forces to bring about "so
several operas- of Sergey Diaghilev's a little of everything. A
production and for plays at the Mos- have assured themselves
cc-w Art Theatre and Ancient Theatre, shoud hae a tlas worr
to which he has recently- added the rhw
scenery for Rimsky Korsakov's "Tsar sam timethey must n
Saltan neither ust they -"pr
: There is no museum or art gallery .
in-Russia which does not own an ex-. There are an d always v
ample of his work. From-his brush "breadt andbutter" age
have come over seven hundred paint-. J come to college for the
lugs.. . They may be seen in the Na-f pose' of girding themnse
tional Gallery in Rome, the Louvre long-hard journey" in.sa
(PavilloM'arsan) and Luxembourg in In' fadt they are told i
Paris, the public art galleries of Vi- ment addresses- in higl
enna, Prague, Venice, Milai, Malmo, freshmen in college, as
Brussels, Stockholm, Copenhagen, San acid' thiroughout their' u
Francisco and Chicago. His murals years, of the battle of af
are to be found in the leading Russian in the comnifercfalized'
cathedrals. Itoday, they may easily it
Roerich is a connoisseur, artist and "battles" as segments c
archaeplogist. His private collections war in which they arE
include some seventy thousand objects broiled
(Brce M. 0
America has for years been subjetJ
A. movement-_sanctioned by the ma-
jority of New 'York playgoers-is now
on to squelch the late'\comers. It has
become quite a habit to sit lohg at
the dinner table and to enter the play-
house just about' the middle of the
first act, at a time whe the situation
are so shaping themselves or the
young ladies of the chorus are cut-
oung up in such a manner that an in-
terriunti- ci;a curse.-Various exper-
iments hve been tried, such as rais-
ing the curtain at a late hour, refrain-
ing fro seating the tardy ones, etc.,
bt- all with little effect. Now the mat-
ter of following the rules in concerts,
ofr-holding them in the lobby until the
end of the act, is being discussed.
6, i
Here is a story that is going the
rounds. It seems that one of the
charmers of the Winter Garden chorus
feeling that her beauty gave her cer-
tain privileges, skipped a performance.
When she drew her pay envelopse she
was certain that she would be docked.
But when she finished counting over
the returns and found her salary foi
the entire week she burst into hys-.
terical tears. "Theynever even missed
me,"' she walled. The manager holds
this is the best cure he has discovered.
lum." to periodic invasions of foreign artist-,
As the title would imply, the papers ic products. The French, Englisli,
discuss in detail the curriculum, and 'German, Spanish, Belgian, and Scan-
particularly the curriculum c± the dinavian artists have exhibited their:
college of Letters, Science and Arts. , canvases and .bronzes in our leading'
museums and' galleries. For th'e
President Marion L. Burton-"T- e n an aleris. Forts e
Undegrauat Corse-rcgi~ze~present,, at l-east, -R ussian artists .-are'
Undergraduate oure"rcnze oldig e b an. Two "one mans us-
the necessity of correlation in depart- 1hI scngehtionsvar' woe"ng sman in,-
mental work;, to form a commo~n back- inehbtosaeenghwni
Michigan during the m th of Noven-
ground of knowledge to which ad- br TedurigtheIntte f.Asi
vanced study, and efforts In .later'.life br h-Dtot-lslit fAt e
maycerelated.a presenting fifty examples of the work
may be r of Alexander E. Iacovleff and the- Ann
Maladjustment between high sc1aools Arbor Art Association the remarkable'
and universities, President Burton ;cllection of the paintings of Nicholas
says is another stumbling' block to R'oerich.
college endeavors. The failure of the A few words ,about the artist may-
two systems to dovetail. results in un- be of i'terest, - N.. K. Roerich is de-
fairness to the public, the student and scende fron. a Scandinavian family -
the educator. President Burton would which settled in Russia in Peter the
have each and every course represent Gre s time. He was born in 1874.'
a part of the student's education. In Fromi 1893 to' 197 he was 'a student at
this he says the undergraduate course the Petrograd University and at the'
has not unqualifiedly failed, but the same time in Professor Kuindji's class
"richness of offering has produced al at the Academy. In 1915 Russia cele-
curious dearth of mental fucundity, or brated the twenty-fifth anniversary of
rather 'has failed to (evelop minds the academician's artistic activity.
springing and germinent with life." - Long before that time he was elected'
In another part President 'Burton first president of the society or grou-p'
says, "Education is a spiritual pro-. called "The World of Art," among the
cess," and it may not be directed by leaders of which were Serov, Vroubel,
mechanical devices, such as entrance Bakst,, Benois and other artists well
rulings and group requirements. knowi in Eurone. Roerich is also Di-
President Burton probably never had rector of the Society for the Encour-
a caricature of the much despised agement of Arts; member of the Paris
"grind" hanging in his study room "Salon d' AUtomne" and the Rheims'
during his undergraduate days. "To , Academy and was for a while mem-
be a highbrow is fatal to campus re- F ber of the Vienna Secession.
cegnition!" he writes. "So long as In 1907, he was first inspired toI
students either as a pose or actually, compose scenery for Wagner's Val-
take the attitude that intellectual mer- kyrie, not as a commission, but "forj
it is not among the highest values o,' himself." Very soon he became a
college life, we are not liable to ac- past-master in that branch of art, har-,
complish much by our complicated or- monizing his creations with the music
ganizatior curricula. Can it be c' the opcras and' the spirit of the
brought about in American colleges dramas. His were the scenic sets for
I
if1t:l Ul.l'C. S.iJi1lG i3G YCil 1. J' 411vuaSLliu. va c4 a
.
illustrating- the Stone Age of which' Such a conclusion m.
he has made a profound study. corrected or if not it w
As a painter' of landscape, Roerich obstacle to proposed 1:
brings something into' his interpreta- tion.
tions as new as it is old. He has, as If a man must fight
an artist, many of those highly dra--himself for the cavalry,
matic, realistic, poetic, emotional at- or aviation. So will the
tributes which we have come to re- dent elect a prepondera
cognize as typical of Great rfussia. economics courses in ord
lie= has enormous power and force. a business man. There
yet without ever "forcing." Few ; those students, a surpi
painters have ever handled color as number, who lean towarc
he doss. His drawing has the, same ture."
,remarkable power and breadth and is None of the ten articl
intellectual as well a's emotional. His a symposium of studen
painting may be described as at once anything to the write
scholarly, scientific and fearless; add- wouid be impertinent to
ed to this is the poetry of a mystic students are equipment
who is a worshipper of nature. He tory of educational exper
draws from the sky, sea and land those dissatisfied youth put
unseen forces of Fatalism and Dest- a symposium of 'student
my which are found in Shakespeare. the subject of curicula,
His use of materials is that of a mas- nterst in the problem,
tor craftsnan, proficient, in oil, tem- co-operation where it
per. and pastel. needed?
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11