THE MICHIGAN
DAILY
THURSDAY.MAY 7.1931
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MANAGING EDITOR
Chairman Editoria Board
HENRY MERRY
FRANK E. COOPER, City Editor
.ditor............... Gurney Williams
1 Director. ...........Walter V. Wilds
t City Editor........Harold 0. Wa1rre1n
Editor ..............Joseph A. Jtussell
's Editor.............Mary L. Behnyer
Drama, Books.......W m...Gorman
Reflections..........BeSrtramt J. Askwith
it News Editor .......Charles R. Sprowl
ph Editor.............eorge A. Stauter
Iditor..................Wmn.'E. Jhyper
NIGHT EDITORS
h Conger Charles R. Sprowl
Forsythe Richard L. Tobin
Nichol Harold 0. Warren
Reinde
Sports Assistants
i C. Fullerton J. Cullen Kennedy
Charles A. Sanford
REPORTERS
M. CooleyE RobertL. Pierce
Frank Richard Racine
. Glbreth 1Carl Seiffert
edberg ,Jerry E. Rosenthal
Goodman George A. Stauter
Helper John W. Thomas
ones John S. Townsend
J. Meyers
presented by campus dramatic
organizations, and the Choral Union
gives its series of concerts during
the year, climaxing its presenta-
tions with the annual May Festival,
the oldest of its kind in the coun-
try.
Good music cannot be heard
everyday by the average college
student. But the School of Music,
in bringing to Ann Arbor interna-
tionally known artists, affords an
opportunity for even the student of
most modest means to obtVin some-
thing incidental to an education
which cannot be obtained easily
from books or lectures.
Dr. Sink and his assistants are to
be congratulated for having suc-
cessfully continued their enterprise
for 38 years. They have helped to
make Michigan more than a center
for solely scholastic achievement in
the narrow sense.
IMusic and Drama
yer
mes
Mary McCall
Cule Miller
Margaret O'Brien
Eleanor Rairdon
Anne Maraaret Tobin
Margaret Thompson
Claire Truss(Ali
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Department Managers
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vertising......... .....Thomas M. Davis
vertisig . ..William W. Warboys
ivice .............Norris J. Johnson
iblication........Robert W. Williamson
culation .............Marvin S. Kobaer
counts .................Thomas S. Muir
siness secretary ..... Mary J. Kenan
Assistants
irry R. Begley Noel D. Turner
monBshop Don. W. Lyon
illiam Brown William Morgan
burt Caahan Richard Stratemeer
illi1am W. Davis Keith Tyler
les Hosington Richard I iller
le Kightlinger Byron C. Veder
in W. Verner Sylvia Miller
rian Atan Helen Olsen
len Bailey Mildred Postal
sephine Convisser Marjorie Rough
aine Pish grund Mary E. Watts
rothy LeMire Johanna Wiese
rothy Laylin
THURSDAY, MAY 7, 1931
ight Editor -DAVID M. NICHOL
TAXI RATES
Aninterim of two metings of the
ty council has elapsed since the
aestion of taximeters on the Ann
rbor taxicabs was first taken up.
estimony of students, University
1icials, and the townspeople was
Bard, discussed, and it seemed as
iough some action were to be
,ken at the next meeting. Nothing,
date, however, has been done by
te Council, and apparently there
no prospect for a future definite,
and.
Far be it from us to urge hasty
:tion in the matter of legislation.
utt a month's time would seem to
e ample for councilmen to have
abated the matter and settled it
. their minds, either pro or con.
i view of the fact that numerous
implaints have been . made from
me to time of unfair rates, the
ounil might at least have author-
ed an investigation, a favorite
ick lof procrastinators. But even
le Senate investigation commit-
es consume less than a month in
aking their reports. Apparently,
ere exists no remedy for those
udents who think they have been
eated unfairly by cab companies.
The city Council has authority to
gulate cab companies, and to
sue ordinances to carry out their
ishes. It should be the duty of the
embers to provide a remedy for
e situation that' exists at present
Ann Arbor, or else state their
asons for not doing so. The stu-
lnts, under the necessity occurred
r reason of the auto ban, have had
> submit to what they have con-
lered unfair treatment. Since
eir presence, contributes much to
le economic welfare of the city.
>th to private and municipal ven-
res, it is high time that action
as taken on this matter, which the
auncil alone can initiate.
The taxicabs do not constitute
ch a "vested" interest that it
ight be dangerous to take steps
ward their further regulation.
ue enough, the Council not so
ng ago ordered the police to have
I cab company extension phones
moved from telephone poles. To
te, that order has not been re-
inded, yet the telephones are still
operation. We can only hope that
e Council will soon vote on the
I Editorial Comment I
TRUE CHILDREN OF THE D. A. R.
(From The Daily Princetonian).
The daughters of the American
Revolution held another one of their
annual and generally uproarious
get-togethers in Washington last
week. The Children of the American
Revolution tagged along at their
skirts and also had a session. The
Children, spoonfed by the Daugh-
ters, had to have their say about
something like that, so they passed
a resolution not to eat any candy
which, to their knowledge, was
made in Soviet Russia.
The farciality of such stuff as
this is excelled only by the religio-
fanatical seriousness with which it
is accomplished. Anything that
smacks of communism or liberalism
or pacifism or' almost any -ism is,
of course, forthwith taboo with the
reactionary Daughters. Worship-
ping revolutionaries of a century
and a half ago, these over-patriotic
ladies boast of their descent from
those who were plain or-right
rebels and violent critics of a gov-
ernment which they thought could
be improved upon.Yet the spectacle
of the D. A. R. parading and pur-
porting to carry out the spirit of
such descent and then denouncing
communists who, like the revolu-
tionaries, are rebels and critics of
a government which they think can
be improved upon, is nothing short
of hldicrous to anyone outside the
sphere of the narrow Americanism
of the D. A. R. And the syncophan-
tic Children passed their resolution
probably because the Daughters
managed 'to convince them that
communists are bad, bad men who
carry bombs, run around Union
Square and eat good little children.
Well, Soviet Russia, we sppose,
will have to get along as best it
can now. The Daughters and the
Children have spoken. All those
who are afraid of communism can
thank God that there are still
some 100 per cent red-blooded
Americans left in the country who
are doing their bit to keep our
homes safe for democracy and free
from communism.
HOUSECLEANING
After several months of rather
intense bickering on the part of
civic organizations, churches, press
*nd other similar organs of publie
>pinion, the investigation into the
affairs of New York City is at last
to become a reality. Tammany, on
the defensive for the first time in
some years, is preparing at least to
be aggressively so; Mayor Walker
has loudly proclaimed his defiance,
Ind the various Democratic organ-
izations throughout the city are
gathering together their cohorts
and organizing to defend from vile
slander the fair name of Tammany
call. An exciting battle is in the
>ffing.
It goes without saying that the
orces which were most influential
n engineering this investigation
were not inspired solely by altruistic
notives. Despite statements to the
ontrary, the ensuing embarrass-
nent of Governor Roosevelt as
:egards his Presidential aspirations,
ind his semi-estrangement with
Tammany Hall, must have afforded
nembers of the Republican party
.onsiderable satisfaction. Also, Sen-
'tor Westall's explanation for his
and Senator Mastick's action in
lelaying the passage of the bill
authorizing an inquiry-that they
nerely wanted assurance of its
)eing an entirely impartial affair
conducted by Mr. Seabury-is du-
bious at best.
For these and other reasons, it is
the more remarkable that a fair,
inprejudiced investigation is to be
'he result. Mr. Untermeyer's asser-
tions notwithstanding, Referee Sea-
)ury seems to be the man in all
respects qualified for the job of
THE FARCE OF"
MASTER PIERRE PATHELIN i
A Pre-view by Prof. C. A. Knudson
At no time has the theatre-going
French public displayed more en-
thusiasm for dramatic entertain-
ment than at the end of the Mid-
dle Ages. Profoundly ignorant of
classical drama, the society of the
fifteenth and early sixteenth cen-
turies applauded serious drama
principally in the form of the
mysteres, of which our Passion
Plays are feeble survivals. Satire it
had in the sottie, allegory in the
moralite, broad humor and uproar-
ious comedy in the farce, at that<
time the chosen province of l'esprit+
gaulois.1
Like all plays, farces were per-1
formed by amateur actors, in this
case students and subordinate em-
ployees of the law courts. The ex-
uberance of these young men found
sympathetic response in a sensa-
tion-loving middle-class public.
Were we to attempt a reconstruc-
tion of the theatrical conditions of
the year 1464, we should have to
present the farce on the steps of
the library, or perhaps on a tempo-
rary platform in the Yost Field
House. The spectators would stand
or take advantage of such perches
as might offer themselves. The
farce would be only an intermezzo
in a performance of sacred and
profane works lasting all day, if not
longer; the whole prefaced by a
parade of the actors in costume.
We of Ann Arbor are to see Pathe-
lin indoors, from the comfortable
seats of the Lydia Mendelssohn
Theatre, yet we shall have some
illusion of another age in a novel
stage setting devised by the Com-
edy Club. Across the mediaeval
stage was aligned a series of sets,
or mansions, representing in sum-
mary fashion the several scenes of
the action, the one to be under-
stood at a given moment being in-
dicated by the appearance of the
actrs through the appropriate
mansion. We shall find a modifi-
cation of this scheme, well within
its spirit, in two simultaneous set-
tings, one above the other, allow-
ing immediate change of place.
Although we must classify Path-
elin among the mediaeval farces, it
is an exceptional member of that
rollicking company. Even the best
of the others, such as Le Cuvier,
recently performed here by mem-
bers of the Cercle Francais, seem
trifles by comparison. The typical
farceeis very short, the action sim-
ply, the comedyr obvious and un-
polished. Most frequently the stor-
ies hold up to ridicule women and
the institution of marriage with a
boldness of language to which even
the current stage and motion pic-
ture have not yet accustomed us.
Pathelin is something sharper,
more subtle, far less facile. Its ac-
tion carries well-defined characters
through an ascending series of hi-
larious episodes to a logical con-
clusion. There is nothing like it in
French comedy before Moliere. Its
perennial favor is .the tribute to
these qualities, and it has contrib-
uted a metaphor "Revenons a ces
moutons," to the French language.
It is sure to contribute to the gay-
ety of this May week-end.
Charles A. Knudson.
STRICTLY DISHONORABLE
With the distinction of having
broken all house records in the his-
tory of the forty year old Broad
Street theatre in Philadelphia and
with a successful run in New York-
behind it, Brock Pemberton's play.
"Strictly Dishonorable" comes to
Detroit and the Lafayette theatre
with the Philadelphia special cast
intact to begin an engagement at
summer prices next Sunday eve-
ning, May 10.
The cast includes Elizabeth Love,
Cesar Romero, Willard Dashiell,
and Rudolph Padaloni. The play is
a comedy centreing about the ex-
citements in a blind pig in the
"fiery forties" (New York).
MORSELS FROM BACK-STAGE
Rosamond G Ider, well known
daughter of the equally well known
Richard Watson Gilder whose let-
ters she recently edited is repre-
sented on the spring lists of the
Houghton Mifflin company with
"Enter the Actress" a series of all
time. Beginning with the priestes-
ses, who in this book are called the
first actresses of Ancient times,
considering the actress-courtesans
of Rome (who were as good actres-
ses as any), the strange case of
TONIGHT: The last performance
in the Laboratory Theatre by Play
Production 0c:THerman IHeijerman's
"The Good Hope."
AMERICA AND THE ARTIST.
An Article by Virgil Geddes
l m'm1'lrs tit'FIs Virgil Geddes, oe or
th emost import t of the younger Aiern-
faii drinatists, is at'pres'~ent leetni ing ii
D e troit a well as supervising the first 11-
d1ioii of his new pay, "So Date Begins,''
whicjh is to e prodred by te I e tit
Payhiouse a: hetro i I nst.hd ite of Ats
inextI.weekl.
I want to say a few words about
the artist, and his position in so-
ciety. In the first place, I want to
make it clear that I consider the
artist a normal and essential part
of any civilization. Any civilization
that does not so consider the ar-'
tist is barbaric and subnormal.- Al-
so I regard the artist as a normal
person, in contrast to the more
conventional notion that he is a
freak, and an odd person amidst
people who do not consider them-
selves at least quite so queer.
'Now it: is only fair, I suppose, to
define what I consider to be a nor-
mal person, and while this will be
touched upon again a little later,
let me say at the start that a nor-
mal person to me is a person who
allows his five original senses and
t h e compound of those senses
(which some prefer to call the sixth
sense) a free and proper chance to
undergo a normal development. I
am speaking of course, when I say
"the artist" of a type, the creative
type, the type whom we call an in-
dividual. Usually he is known as
the person who works in the fine
arts of poetry, drama painting eac.
After a number of years living in
Europe, and again in this country,
I have come to feel that American
civilization is facing an intellectu-
al 'crisis owing largely to the fact
that she is not encouraging suffici-
ently the creative person in her
midst. By not giving free enough
'play to creative ideas, and more
important still by making it, so
'hard for the creative person to earn
a living here, many of the most
sensitive Americans are leaving
America and living in spiritual ex-
ile. This is not a healthy condi-
tion for any nation. The artist, be-
ing by nature the most sensitive
of. 4people, senses first and most
acutely what is actually going on in
the spiritual evolution of a people
and for this reason other sensitive
people look to him for guidance.
Now an artist's place is at home,
in his own country; and if we al-
low him to leave, sooner or later
we must regret it. Occasionally he
will leave, naturally;. but under
present conditions he leaves in a
huff and with an unfriendly feel-
ing toward his native land. It was
not so long ago that the govern-
ment sent important writers
abroad, not only to give them'leis-
ure but to represent the intellectu-
al life of the country to other coun-
tries. Hawthorne and Howells, to
name only two writers, at one time
in their careers held consular posts
which served as a sort of endow-
ment in appreciation of them as
writers. Today it is impossible to
name a single writer of conse-
quence who is receiving such na-
tional support. As a result, he not
infrequently stands out against his
country without sufficient and pro-
found reasons; he stands out rud-
gingly because his country failed
:td give him a hearing and to sup-
him in a leisurely enough fashion
to allow him to carry on his work.
To go back to the older civiliza-
Mons, the more compact and pro-
found that civilization was, the
more active was the mind of the
artist engaged in its important af-
fairs. In the days of ancient Greece
this was nearly always so and it
would-easy enough for you to name
plenty of examples. In Greece the
artist was often consulted in poli-
tical matters and his mind and
temper were considered an asset
to the nations health, instead, as
he is too frequently considered to-
day, as a mere nuisance, as a man
who stands in the way.
FESTIVAL ARTISTS
Among the lesser known artists
appearing in the May Festival next
week are Eleanor Reynolds and Nel-
son Eddy. Miss Reynolds is an
American artist who has spent
most of her artistic life in Ger-
many. She left America after some
very stirring engagements with the
Chicago Civic Opera on what was
to be merely a European tour. Her
appearances in eBrlin under Karl
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