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VOL. XXXVI. No127 ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, FRIDAY, MARCH 19, 1926
TWELVE PAGES,
JUNIOR
GIRLS
PRESENT "BECKY
BEHAVE"
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Twenty-second Annual Production
Prevalent In Musical Show
Faces Curtain After; Months Of
Preparation
Collegiate Atmospher
4 Senior Women To Be Guests Of Juniors At Opening Performance
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By Gertrude :Baly
In the heart of every grownup is an idealized
picture of college life, a college of pennants, sera-
nades, collegiate sweaters, of canoe rides and boule-
vard strolls. A college of happy-go-lucky, care-free
existence, where everyone knows everyone else from
the greenest freshman to the biggest B.M.O.C. on the
campus. A college where occasional lovers' quar-
rels, moments of financial embarrassment, are the
only blots on an otherwise perfect existence.
In this present day of "assumed" sophistication
we stell quarrel with our best girls, get broke, and
all that. But raccoon coats have taken the place
of collegiate sweaters, and dilapidated flivvers have
made canoe rides out of order. Eight o'clock class-
es, endless bluebooks, and warnings make college
an apparent "not what it used to be."
Junior women expected to give a delightful pic-
ture of idealized college life, as those who have
graduated now fondly picture :it to be. But uncon-
sciously realistic bits from everyday life on cam-
pus have crept in their efforts to make "Becky Be-
have." So the twenty-second annual production of
Junior women is a combination of collegiate life as
A Preview
The following preview is reprint'ed
from The Daily of Sunday, March 14:
I wish I could write a million-dol-
lar story of the show. "Becky lBe-
have!" they call it-a bad title--but
the production is splendid. Such love-
ly ladies: it seems hard to believe
there are as many on the campus.
They are beautiful--all of them, it
seemued-and clever and half-explod-
ing with a certain personality.
'here is, for example, a little girl
the second from one end in the chorus
that wears the green velvet pony-
gowns, who does the most magnificent
things with her eyes, a sort of happy
gesture, and and again, with her
mouth. She has black hair-the
skirts stop above the knee-and a
style about her that makes the gentle- ti
men squirm.
Further down the same line is a
peroxide blonde who smiles. This
year they are largely cutting out the
idea of girls as men, with forms that
somehow cannot fit tuxedoes, and ex-
ploiting them plainly for their own
appeal---girls as ladies of the ensem-
ble. . . What should a boy do when
a peroxide blonde smiles so lushly?
I may be mistaken, but I keep on
feeling that somehow they have the
w
seen on any campus and delightful impossibilities
that are typical of musical comedies.
Sheer entertainment, fun for its own sake, lend
the carefree charm to the production, Retaining
the desired "amateurish" atmosphere the play at
the same time is not lacking in smoothness. There
has been no effort to introduce any propaganda or
further any particular cause. Rather the appeal
lies in a wealth'of local color and college humour.
Two innovations are evidenced in "Becky Behave."
The play, written by Margaret Lord of Owosso,
Michigan, marks a return to the very earliest type
of Junior production, the local campus setting. The
first act takes place in a campus bookstore, any
campus bookstore. The second act is laid in the
garden of a fraternity, The second innovation is
the exploitation of feminine talent as such. Just
as the Union opera has come to place importance
in male roles, so the Junior Girls' play of '27 is em-
phasizing girls' harts.
Everyone, including the faculty, will be delighted
to learn that the hackneyed chorus of professors
will be missing in "Becky Behave." For years it
has been thought absolutely essential to pull in
these august characters by their reluctant coat tails.
At last they are to be given a much needed rest.
Although more than 100 girls are taking part in
"Becky Behave" the cast proper is unusually small.
The parts are evenly divided among the characters.
Following is the list of the major participants:
Becky, Minerva Miller; Bill, Angeline Wilson; Bob,
Doris Selleck; Jerry, Margaret Sherman; The Twins,
Marion Leland and Ruth McCann; Chloe, Emelie
Oppenheim; Mr. Pipp, Elizabeth Anderson; The
Freshman, Ruth Kahn. Becky is full of pep and a3
manager of the bookstore comes to be the advisor
for the troubled students in matters ranging from
finance to love. Chloe, the petite colored helper at
the book shop, gives a performance all her own,
from her abandonment of jazz dancing to her wist-
ful interpretation of "Working Goil Blues." Jerry,
a happy-go-lucky spendthrift, finds himself broke
and minus his best girl on the day of the formal
party. Jerry Iras a guardian in the person of Bill,
an impatient bachelor lawyer who falls madly in
love with Becky. Then there are the twins, that is,
they look enough alike to provide for many entang-
ling situations. Mary, wistful and appealing, and
Tdillicent, quite blase and sophisticated, are the red-
headed duplicates. With a book shop setting the
the character choruses which have been large part
of former plays have been cut down. Emphasis has
been placed on specialties rather than a large num-
ber of choruses.
Any Loomis, '22, is directing this year's play.
Miss Loomis' previous experience in directing last
year's production makes it even pore possible for
her to command the co-operation of the junior wo-
men who have responded heartily. After having
created a definite reputation for herself and her
dramatic work here on the campus sh'e went to New
York where ahe attended the Academy of Dramatic
Art, for a year, later becoming a part of the Mon-
tauk Stock company of Brooklyn.
In the twenty-second year of its life the Play is
still an amateur production and plans to remain so.
It has become a stable institution, one that is looked
forward to by seniors and juniors alike. Because
it is the most uniting activity during the four years
of college, the play includes as large a group as
possible.
Traditionally the first night is presented in honor
of senior women. Growth and tradition have gone
together through the twenty-two years of the play's
existence. Three years ago it was opened to the
general public, prior to that time -only women were
allowed to attend. In addition to the traditional
performances of "Senior Night" and "Formal Night"
the junior women are attempting to establish a new
tradition in the form of "Alumnae Night" to take
place at Saturday night's performance. An effort
has been made to secure the cooperation of sorori-
ties and dormitories in entertaining guests for a
group and class homecoming. A number of sorori-
ties will entertain at week-end parties and occupy
special sections for "Alumnae Night." A sextette of
Juniors will offer selections reminiscent of former
Junior Girls' plays for "Alumnae Night." An in-
formal welcome by Chloe in dialect form 'will be
given the guests, as well as a special clog dance be-
tween acts.
The music for the production will be flayed by a
professional orchestra with Phil Diamond, well-
known Ann Arbor musician, directing. With eight
pieces in his ensemble and the music especially or-
chestrated for him by a prominent professional, he
should contribute a great deal to the success of the
show. The melodies have been composed by mem-
hers of the junior class. The names of Catherine
Buhrer and Gladys Schraeder appear most frequent-
be a publication of single copies of "Becky Behave,"
"Just Because," and "Lilac Time Lady." The ma-
jority of songs are popular dance tunes, of the type
of "Tea for Two." Those who have heard the vari-
ous pieces predict particular popularity for the love
song, "Just Because,'
Irene Field, chairman f the play, instituted try-
outs and rehearsals at the beginning of the second
semester. Helen Reece, business manager, has com-
plete charge of the ticket sale. Advertising was
placed' under the direction of Helena Knapp; prop-
erties, Mary Allshouse; and ushers, Ruth Hirsch-
man. Marion Daniels has sponsored the designing
and making of the costumes and Catherine Buhrer
has directed the writing and harmonizing of the
music.
For the first time in the history of the play mov-
ing pictures have been taken of selections which
will be shown in forty showhouses throughout the
state. The movies were made by the Reogram com-
pany and will have a premier showing Sunday night
at the Arcade theatre. It is expected that these pic-
tures, which feature the "Russian" and "Red-head-
ed" choruses together with a few specialt fes, will at-
tract out-of-town pat rons to the "Alumniae Night"
performance.
.I
The Director
As an act ress Amy Loomis has what
the profession calls "style." It is a
certai i manner id coniidence that
allows her to dominiate a scene, even
by her pantomine. It is her carriage,
ler rather insinuating dignity; it is
lte same presence ihat makes her
seem) very tail when in tact she is
quite short.
She has, again, wxvhat tihe profession
calls "stage beauty." Far from the
impertinence it suggests, the term
designates a kind of sharpness or ful-
ness ot feature that holdsi make-up
and carries through the d istances of
a theatre. It is a- virtueI 'm-' which
every actress gives tihauLs to her
parents and their rods.
Miss Loomis has a luvi ttiful diction,
a very clear cnuuieiutn. 1' roagh
her long training in elurhtuuniai she
is a model of grae a d est ure, her
blody in perfect con rol, iut a niove-
mnent mnisplaced near a postunre uuac-
coil inted tar. She uhas, in 0ueFt, -a
rare subtlety to all her work that is
both her talent -j h ir flaw. It is he r
talent, of coarse, in that it. filla each
character wit h a fine fl avr m shad-
ing that is stiniulal ing tot hose who
are willing to analyze its technique.
It is her fault in that it occasionally
hardens and intellectualizes a part.
Sometimes, perhaps, she plays Ito:)
much within herself, a nd a udiences
too frequently are un illing to seek
out a hidden aler.nt.
To her- work a~s direct or, whei~t her it
gowns. Though the material may be cambric in-
stead of satin the effect of the costumes is equally
satisfying across the footlights. While lacking the
elaborateness of a spectacular revue, the creations
are umique in their originality and harmony with the
settings. The scenery this year was also designed
by junior women, and the sets made in Ann Arbor.
Norma Snell, chairman of the dance committee,
1'as assisted Amy Loomis, '22, in the directing of
the choruses, as have several of her committee
members. With a "Slicker" chorus as the initial
group presentation, the play will range from a Rus-
sian national dance to a garden ballet. A riot of
color will ullher in the Russian chorus, in connec-
tion with which there will also be a Russian ballet.
A garden scene with! the dancers costumed entirely
in white will be t lie setting f the ballet of toe-danc-
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