THE MICHIGAN DAILY t Published every morning except Monday during the University year the Board in Control of Student Publications. Member of the Western Conference Editorial Association. The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use forire; lication of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise lited in this paper and the local news published herein. Entered at the Post Office at Ann Arbor, Michigan, as second is matter. Special rate of postage granted by Third Assistant tmaster General.. Subscription by carrier, $4.00; by mail, $4.59 Offices: Ann Arbor Press Building, Maynard Street, Ann Arbor, :higan, Phones. Editorial, 49211; Business, 21214. EDITORIAL STAFF Telephone 4925 MANAGING EDITOR RICHARD L TOBIN y Editor .......... .... ...........Carl Forsythe toral Director............................Beach Conger, Jr. fs Editor ..«........................ David M. Nichol rta Editor ....................... ..Sheldon Q. Fullerton men's Editor..........................Margaret M. Thompson, stant News Editor....... .... c............ Robert L. Pierce smugglers complicate the plot considerably, as does the presence of Miss Velez, who later becomes the wife of the expatriated hero. The real difficulty comes when friends arrive from England to take the little son away to be educated, and we were afraid for awhile that nearly everyone was going to get shot when the {crooked sheriff and his gang showed up at the same time, but everybody is saved except the Indian wife, who was heart- broken over the loss of her child anyway. The two lead parts are characterized by unusually intelligent handling, and, in spite of a rather simper- ing story, the audience is sympathetic throughout the picture. Baxter, who has not enjoyed particular prominence of late, is an extremely forceful hero, playing successfully a part that few actors could handle. Charles Bickford, known chiefly for his parts as a member of racketeering gangs, shows his versatility by fitting perfectly into the part of the Bad Man of the Great Western Plains.' He is even better in "The Squaw Man" than he has been as a gangster. Raymond Hatton, who virtually dropped out of pictures when. Wallace Beery stopped being a comic, comes back with this show and does a small bit, though bothing to be compared with his past per- formances. THE FAR-OFF HILLS 'rank B. Gilbreth' Boland Goodman Karl Seifert NIGHT EDITO (AOulen Senn RM nedy. James Inglis Jerry E. Rosenthal George A. Stauter Ints John S. Townsend Charles A. Sanford er . .Myers n Jones Sports Assista John W. Thomas Stanley W. Arnheim Lawson E. Becker Edward C. Campbell . Williams Carpenter rhomas Connellan Samuel G. Ellis Dorothy Brockman Miriam Carver Beatrice Collins Louise Crandall Elsie Feldman Prudence Foster REPORTERS Fred A. Huber Norman Kraft Roland Martin Henry Meyer Albert H. Newman E. Jerome Pettit Georgia Geisman Alice Gilbert Martha Littleton Elizabeth Long Frances Mrnchester Elizabeth Mann John w. Pritchard Joseph Renihan C. Hart Schaaf B~rackley Shaw Parker R. Snyder G. R. Winters Margaret O'Brien Hillary Rarden Dorothy Rundell Elma Wadsworth ' Josephine Woodhams A Review by, Barbara Wright It is with an attitude of humility that we attempt BUSINESS STAFF Telephone 21214 AARLES T. Kline........ . .......Business Manager RRIS P. JOHNSON .......................Assistant Manager Department Managers vertising...... ....................Vernon Bishop lertising Contracts .................................oetClaa *rvI.'II. :IIIIIIIII.I....Robert Callahan lvertising service............................. Byron C. Vedder blications . ...................... William T. Brown culation ... ......... «...............Harry R. Begley !counts ..................................Richard Stratemeir :men's Business Manager .........................Ann W. Verner Assistants vil Aronson John Keyser Grafton W. Sharp lbert E. Bursley Arthur F. Kohn Donalo A. Johnston II len Clark James Lowe Don Lyon ibert Finn Bernard E. Schnack6 Bernard Ii. Good inns Becker Anne Harsha May Seefrled rtha Jane Cisrel Katharine Jackson Minnie Seng nevieve Field Iorothy Layin Helen Spencer xine Fischgrund Virginia McComb Kathryn Stork n Gallmeyer Carolin Mosher Clare Unger ry Harriman Helen Olsen Mary Elizabeth Watts NIGHT EDITOR-JERRY E. ROSENTHAL THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1931 idge or iblicity? E are reminded, as we write, of the song en- .. titled, "Gee, But It's Great to be Crazy." very once in a while some person gets a foolish otion and attempts to play it before the public's res, meanwhile calling into being the corps of iblic relations experts-the ballyhoo artists-as ey are called. First, we think of Mah Jong, then Tom Thumb golf, and again of Eugenie hats. ow it's bridge. Not that we object to bridge; we, ke the game. What we object to is the limit to hich it is being carried. In particular we refer to the contest between ie Culbertsons, on the one hand, and Mr. Sidney enz and Mr. Oswald Jacoby, on the other. The atch is to be 150 rubbers, nine of which so far ave been played. The Culbertsons have wagered ,000 to the $1,000 put up by Mr. Lenz that their ethod of play-the approach-forcing system-is etter than the 1-2-3 system developed by Mr. enz. The losers are to give the sum they put ; to charity. Which is all very nice. Football imes have been held for charity, too. The point is this: Is there any great difference the rival systems? The contest is being held, it said, to decide this issue. But after thinking rer the subject, we fail to see where the differ- ice exists. Both, obviously, attempt to attain one >al-the defeat of your opponents. But back of .is, it seems, is something more. Both the Cul-' rtsons and Lenz are experts, we will admit. hey also have books on bridge. The publicity ists nothing. Therefore, why not resort to an d American custom and put one over on the iblic? adequate criticism of the Abbey Players' matinee per- formance of "The Far-Off Hills." To witness a per- formance so near the ultimate in artistic perfection is to experience first an indefinable satisfaction, and then a feeling awe. -In this mood, to praise is to risk being fulsome, and to risk heaping the stigma of amateurism on the critic's head; but any hesitation on this score to remark the unalloyed magnificence of yesterday's performance would leave the critic open to the charge of consummate triviality. It is seldom vouchsafed one to witness a drama perfect from every viewpoint. Especially is this true of comedy where the slightest degree of over- or under-emphasis may throw the entire play out of focus. But it may be said without danger of exagger- ation that "The Far-Off Hills" maintained this finely modulated tenor throughout, which extended from the larger effects to the minutest detail. The play was so well balanced that even this perfection of detail, which in itself is not uncommon, did not dis- tract attention from the whole; detail was a factor of the play and attuned to it rather than having central importance, which latter so often occurs when a play is over-directed. The play itself is a lovely, delicate thing that not only credits the author with a sense of fine distinc- tions, but indicates him a master of stage technique. The humor is the whimsical irony of culture and restraint. Light and airy, it is of the quiet, effective sort characteristic of Irish and English people. The action is unified and extremely lucid, the characters distinctly individuals, convincing with but one ex- ception. Marian undergoes a complete transforma- tion that is bewilderingly sudden. There is perhaps too slight motivation and explanation of this abrupt change. Mr. S. Lennox Robinson is noted for his excellent dialogue, which reputation is completely substantiat- ed by this play. It has not the brilliance of super- sophistication, but is written with a sure, swift stroke, having at the same time the charm of simplicity. Mr. Robinson hates sham, has discarded all stage tricks, which he considers essentially artificial. In this re- spect he has invested drama with a new vitality, lost in recent years through excessive use of the tradi- tional artifices that are the property of ,the play- wright, and have become sterile. This play, delight- ful though it is, would be completely ineffective if handled by an unsympathetic cast; its very highly tempered qualities make it incumbent on the cast presenting it to treat the play with as great, if not greater delicacy, shading, and nuance than did the author in writing it. And this is precisely twhere the Abbey Players' artistry lay. Finished actors as they are, they have been allowed the greatest lattitude in the interpreta- tion of their characters according to the traditional policy of the company inaugurated by Mr. Yeats. Each member of the cast was sensitively aware of his part, which he enacted with the dignity it deserved. This approach to the piece with a feeling for its harmcly and lightness is remarkable; in this the players have evidenced their histrionic skill as well as their intelligence. A cast automatically following direction could never have maintained this even, farcical vein. Neither vehicle nor sympathetic interpretation of it, however, can have much significance without a third element, direction. And it is through fine di- recting that the ultimate perfection of the play was reached. Mr. Robinson has skillfully emphasized main currents of interest, and brought out innuen- does of meaning. Technical elements of the directing were excellent. Exits and entrances, for instance,; were managed vWith a smoothness and unobtrusive- ness that was no less than astounding; characters were dispersed and assembled to meet the demands- .of the action with no straining of the audience'sE credulity. These were in marked contrast to theE awkward and noticeably manipulated exits and en- trances in "Juno and the Paycock," which were at times painfully self-conscious. In tribute to Mr. Robinson, he has trained to finished, subtle acting, a cast accustomed to portraying the awkward and obvious motions of the Irish peasant. This is their forte, for the Abbey Players choose their actors and actresses for ability to imitate the peasant. However,r in this play we have them producing an entirelyp different sort of effect, and doing it as ably as they take their more accustomed roles. Both actor andc director exhibit versatility in this respect. DRAMA JOHN FERGUSON A Review by William J. Gorman With a problem of the Christian conscience-Job's problem-as his focus, St. John Ervine wrote in his "John Ferguson" a forceful tragedy, rich in implications, ruthless in its bare presentation, yet complete in understanding. The struggle to ac- cept human suffering; the effort to think destruction the will of God, to avoid' the temptation to usurp the privilege of judgment, to refuse the dictates of human passions; the struggle to be humble-these are as rich tragic issues as the tra- gic issues of either the Greek or Humanistic world. St. John Er- vine's play proves that, I think. It would prove it more clearly if it were a poetic tragedy-that is, if it were less brutally plain and rep- resentative, emotionally and intel- lectually more explicit, emotional- ly and intellectually more height- ened and less oppressive. If these characters were given poetic speech -that is, if thy were presented as capable from moment to moment of magnificent expression of their experience-"JohnFerguson" would be a great tragedy. The sonorous statement of their own complete self-awareness would mitigate for us their suffering and our experi- ence of the play would be less over- whelming. I mean to say that ca- tharsis wasn't achieved by last night's tremendous performance of "John Ferguson" not because it is a Christian tragedy, but because it is a naturalistic, not a poetic, trag- edy. The performances last night of 'he Abbey players -as they have all been, with two minor exceptions Tuesday night-were splendid. F. J. McCormick-George, Joxer, ind Harold in previous appearances -played John Ferguson with extra- >rdinary sympathy and tat. The >id man's patience and charity had i tinge .of fanaticism in them (just as, under another system, there was fanatacism in Electra's desire to preserve her response to a horrible leed until the Gods, by a deed of revenge, should purge her of it). rhe old man insisted the more on mis faith aid his certainty, the more the world seemed to deny them. Mr. McCormick's slow, care- ful approach to the part gave real power to that moment when John Ferguson, stricken by a father's ove for his son, denied his princi- :ples; in this, his hardest moment, he talked and acted excitably and violently. The slow, level tone of Mr. McCormick's address was John Ferguson's certainty. Barry Fitzgerald (perhaps the "star" in a company so uniformly good and mutually sympathetic as uo make that vicious term less so) gave the fine performance of James caesar. St. John Ervine, in this part, had a rough, understanding grasp on cowardice. Mr. Fitzgerald gave every impulse in the weak- ling's petty emotions reality. Michael J. Dolan -quite badly miscast as Charlie Bentham the evening before - gave an intense, rendering of "Clutie"-an interest- ing variation on that familiar fig- ure in all literatures-the wise fool. The loss of his "wits" sharpened Clutie's intuitions;and his cruel play with the mind of Andrew :nade a notable scene. The two children-resenting their father's religion, impulsively hu- man, unwilling to negate them- selves, making their own the task of revenge and atonement-were sensitively done by Kate Curling and Arthur Shields. The wonder- ful tact of Mr. Robinson's direction became most clear when these play- 3rs were allowed to do full justice to their parts, while keeping John Ferguson all-important. That last scene threatens to be Andrew's; Mr. Shields kept his attention fixed on his father all during it, reminding as that the youth's decision should oe seen as the climactic event in 'he father's life. Maureen Delaney-for all her richness as Aunt Ellen, the least flexible actress in the company- gave the mother's puzzled simpli- city quite adequately. The visit of the Abbey Players, I think all agree, has been the most exciting theatrical event in recent years. As a company of play- ers; they have reaffirmed what the existence of our own Theatre Guild constantly affirms-'repertory's the thing.' The quality of their plays ("Juno and the Pavcock" is cer-, IB For all kinds of Hair and Facial work consult STODDARD BEAUTY SHOP The exclusiveness of our work at a reasonable price keeps us within the reach of everyone. Permanent Waving. Wigs rented for theatrical work. 317 S. 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(Farrar) $2. t SC'REEN REFLECION- J I AT THE MAJESTIC' "The Squaw Man," with Warner Baxter, Lupe Telez, and some other people, brings back the old- ype western to the screen with a bang; for those vho like two-gun bad men,-and who doesn't-this how offers something that has been missing from iictures almost since sound came in. Warner Baxter's nerformance is flawless through- It is just possible that Senator Moses is getting a lot of fun over all the row about keeping him or firing him as president pro tem. George may be cheerful and affable, but he is deliciously hard boiled. Down in Galesburg, Ohio, they have sold two eighteen-vear-old zoo bears to the butcher because I n r e e c t: t I I