THE MICHIGAN DAILY
SUNDAY, MAY 29, 1932
Published every morning except Monday during the University
year by the Board in Control of Student Publications.
Member of the Western Conference Editorial Association.
The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for re-
publication of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise
credited in this paper and the local news published hehein.
Entered at the Post Oice at Ann Arbor, Michigan, as second
classmatter. Special rate of postage granted by Third Assistant
Postitnaster General.
Subscription by carrier, $4.00; by mail, $4.50#
Offces: Ann Arbor Press Building, Maynard Street, Ann Arbor,
1%1ichliga:n. Phbones : Editorial, 4925 ; Business, 21214.
- - - -
EDITORIAL STAFF
Telephone 4925
MANAGING EDITORI
FRANK B. GILBRETH
CITY E ITOR ........................... KAR, SVIFRLThvr
Sports Ed itor............... .................. John W. Thomas
Woen's Editor............f.a................. argaret 07,rien
Assistant Women's Editor........................E.sie Feldman
Telegraph Editor............................. Georgc A. Stauter
John W. Pritchard
Brackley Shaw
Fred A. Iluber
stanicy W. Arnheim
Edwkvard Andrews
llyman 3. Aronstan
A. Ellis Ball
Charles G. Barndt
ames Bauchat
onald 1R. Bird
Donald F. Blandkertz
Willard E. Blaser
Charles B. Brownson
C. Garritt Bunting
Arthur W. Carstens
jcssic L. Barton
Eleanor 1. l
Jane I. Brucker
!1liriam Carver
Beatrice Collins
Mary J. Coxmluan
Louise Crandall
Mary M. Duggan
NIGHT EDITORS
Glen R. Winters
Thomwlas Connellan
C. hart Schaaf
Sports Assistants
Roland Martin
REPORTERS
Theodore K. Cohen
Robert S. dcutsch
D onald Elder
Robert Engel.
Albert FYriedman
Edward A. Genz
Harold Gross
Eric Hall
John C. Healey
Robert P., ewett
M.. B. Iiggins
Pruience Foster
Alice Gilbert
Carol J. Jmianan
Therese R. herman
)Frances ailanchester
3'lizabetlh Mann
Edith E. Naples
Marie Mctzger
BUSINESS STAFF
Telephone 21214
Joseih bW .Renihan
E. Jerone IPettit
Albert Newman
Alexander iirschfeld
Walter E. Morrison
Ward D. Morton
Robert Ruwitch
Alvin Schicifer
G. Edwin Sheldrick
Iobert W. Thorne
George Van Vleck
Cameron Walker
Robert S. Ward
Guy M. Whipple, Jr.
W. Stoddard White
Marie J. Murphy
'argaret C. Phalan
Sarah K. Rucker
Marion Shepard
]everly Stark
Alma Wadsworth
Mlarjoric Western
Josephine Woodharns
ultimately empirical: that is good which gets across;
and reading, even by a person theatrically trained, flIAGOC KIAL
never proves conclusively what will get across. If ,
anyone were an infalible judge of the merits of a
play on the basis of a simple reading-knowledge of Racketeering Ruth en.
it, Hollywood and Broadway would endow him very Charitable Cornelius.
comfortably for life. As yet, I believe, they are still:
searching for such a person. Hence the reader must Steam-Tamer Rovillain.
remember that I offer this critical appraisal tenta-
tively, quite willing to admit that it is the most B vyBarton Kane
slippery sort of impressionism on my part. '
The plays which seemed to me to possess the
closest parallel betwen reach and grasp were Mr. P r e s i d e n t Ruthven the other
Pogue's "Translated" and Mr. Sissman's "A Doctor to night unwittingly was party to de-
Be." The first is capital rural fun, just skirting the frauding the senior ball committee.
borderline of caricature. Its homely humors are in President Ruthven stayed for the
the rich tradition of Lowell's "Bigelow Papers"- Grand March, saw counciman Mc-
whether Mr. Pogue has read them or not-and I am micn ha nouallobx with
reminded, too, of the Abbey Theatre folk-comedies. Cormick had no ballot boxes with
Mr.' Pogue's spinsters and deacons are full-blooded him, went downstairs to go home
rustics; not the rubber-stamped zanies of "Way Down and retire. On the way out he re-
East' nor the egregious Jonesport Neighbors of Mr. ceived, as did all out-going guests,E
Seth Parker. a check to enable him to return
. Mr. Sissman's "A Doctor to Be" is a substantial later on should he desire to do so.
genre study of a Jewish family revolving around the An alert senior spotted the check,
professional ambitions of the son, whom his mother asked President Ruthven if he
feels destined to become a doctor. Each member of might have it as a souvenir, got it.
the family is vital, easily distinguishable from the A loyal fraternity brother was the
others-no little triumph for any playwright, be- recipient, enjoyed the dance as a
ginner or old hand. The pathetic note of the de- "guest of Prexy's."
nouement is genuine and unforced; what one may- Valor vincit onia.
call, in general, the Fannie Hurst Note, is happily
absent. I do not know Mr. Sissman's milieu-but I I* *
feel perfectly convinced of its truth to actuality. His Not so long ago we printed an
reportorial sharpness and sympathy suggest the it a gt Kp ppa an
similar virtues of Mr. Elmer Rice.
"Half-a-Stick," by Mr. Rosenthal, I found more ma burglar scare. The next night<
interesting than satisfactory. It falls-if I may be the Kappas retired at an earlyc
pardoned another classification-between the sto hour, apparently with burglars on
of Dreiserian sociology ("The Hand of the Potter," ir minds. One member, retiring
etc.), and sheer- Grand-Guignol thriller. I mention ( lteard a
this because in production, the very uncertainty of by, heard a piercing shriek, was
, pshed downstairs. P o 1 i c e werek
emphasis seemed to inhibit the audience's response called before the matter was clear-
to the piece. Were we to take the lovers, with their ied u earche te hos found
somehow rather casual murders, as two pitiable no burglars.u
products of Zolaesque environmental forces-or were night long the Kappa grounds
we being requested to forget ethics in response to the carefully watched by the Law,
mere thrill of a shocking situation? I am not sure weread cars paed by the0Lmn ,t
-nor, I suspect, is Mr. Rosenthal. On the other side passed by at 1Q minute
of the ledger, I enter to the author's credit his Mr. intervals, flashed spotlights on
Weeks, an amazingly malevolent creation-reminis- Kappa walls. -
Cherchez la femme. l
cent, in fact, of the noble line of Old Fagin and the
dwarf Quilp.* * *
To skip through the volume to another melo-
drama, I confess I could wish for a bit less action Play-producer V a 1 e n t i n e Bar-
in Mr. Nestle's "Between Winds"-or perhaps the thold Windt beamed when he took
same action better arranged, with less confusing over the Mimes theatre a year ago
technical jargon. The cinematic climax in which the last fall. At last Play Productionr
-- - 4 -.OT) +n hn+7 nr 1271+/1" shad its own stagOe. costumes. eauip-
Mui and Drama
SOME RAMB).INGS
by Philip Barry
Editor's Note: The following ar-
ticle, printed by personal permis-
sion, is by Mr. Philip Barry, author
of "The Animal Kingdom," now in
rehearsal for the 1932 Dramatic
Season and currently running in
New York as one of the leading
successes. Mr. Barry is among
America's foremost dramatists, and
has twice been awarded the Pulit-
zer , Prize. His plays include "You
and I," "Paris Bound," "Holiday,"
"White Wings" and "The Young-
est."
Some time ago I had a letter
from Mr. George Pierce Baker, now
of Yale University. It said, "What
I should like to have you talk about,
is what, as a working dramatist,
you have felt is ill-adjusted, or
might be better or more helpful in
the relations between the profes-
sional theatre in New York and the
theatres spread throughout the
country. What can be done to unify
these two worlds?"
Mr. Baker could not have come
to a better man. I know both worlds
and know them intimately. In the
course of two terms spent in the
47 Workshops at Harvard, I wrote
some, acted hard and shifted scen-
ery briliantly. Once I acted and
shifted together, and at the risk of
being considered over-proud of my
gifts in these two major depart-
ments of dramatic art, I must tell
you that I am certain that even to
this day there are still people who
remember my work in the second
act of a play we gave at Cambridge.
It was a play of live and lust in
modern Spain. The heroine, Donna
Duenna, or something of that sort,
clung in terror to a frail balcony,
while a herd of nasty bulls charged
crazily through the street below,
five minutes late for their appoint-
ment with her lover in the bull-
ring, far out in the wings, I had
not only lashed down the back-drop
any sweater
cleaned and finished
any
cleaned and factory
cleaned and form
pressed
m%.
I
1
CHARLES T. KLINE ........................ Business Manages
NORRIS P. JOHNSON...................... Assistant Manages
Department Managers
,Advertising..... ............... .................. Vernon Bishop
Advertising Contracts............................HarryR. Begley
Advertising Service.............................Byron C. Vedder
Publications..................................William T. Brown
Accounts.....................................Richard Stratemeir
Women's Business' Manager.......................Ann W. Verno
rvil -Aronson
Gilbert E. Bursley
Allen Clark
Robert Finn
Arthur E. Kohn
Bernard Schnacke
Graf ton W. Sharp
Donald A. Johnson,
Dean Turner
Assistants
Don Lyon
Bernard If. Good
Donna Becker
\l axine Fischgrund
Ann Gallmeyer
Katherine Jackson
D~orothy Layin
IlVirgihia AMcCromb
Laroline Mosher
Helen Olson
Helen Schmude
May Seefried
Helen Spencer
Kathryn Spencer
Kathryn Stork
Clare Unger
Nlary Elizabeth Watts
Night Editor-THOMAS CONNELLAN
SUNDAY, MAY 29, 1932
PVWiscon sin: a
Political .Football
T HE attacks upon the University of Wisconsin
by editor John B. Chapple and his political
patriots have stirred up a fight which should at
last open the eyes of supposedly intelligent voters
as to the methods and caliber of state politics and
state politicians.
Chapple, who expects to be elected United
States senator next fall, has used the university
as an attacking ground in order to place himself
in the full glare of the political spotlight. He has
stopped at nothing in his defamations of the uni-
versity and his absurd charges of the attempts to
stimulate atheism, socialism, and communism
there.
But Chapple has overlooked many things in
his weird struggle for publicity. He has failed to
remember that a few years ago, he invited Dr.
lyax Otto, of the university faculty, to come to
Ashland, where he publishes his anti-La Follotte
Ashland Daily Press, and deliver a speech on i-eli-
gion. . Dr. Otto came and spoke. . Editor Chapple
was considerably put out because, in his opinion,
Dr. Otto's speech was not radical enough. Now
he denounced Dr. Otto as the instigator of a hot-
bed of atheism at the university.
This is not the only blemish. Chapple has
admitted that he has been asked to create 'his
disturbance in other states. He demands the ex-
pulsion of every faculty member not having sworn
allegiance to the United States. He brands these
inen as inciters of communism. Some of the most
learned and successful men of the university are
included in this group.
These baseless attacks stand as a challenge to
party supporters who wish to protect their organ-
izations from degradation and ruin. They will,
furthermore, only serve as an example of the
cheapest methods of attaining political recognition
and voters will realize the importance and neces-
sity of electing those men who are worthy on their
own merits.
B _ _ _ _
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN PLAYS: Book
III, Edited 'by Kenneth T. Rowe, Introduction by
Lennox Robinson; $1.75. Ann Arbor: George
Wahr.
f
i
}
I
J
girl pulls the lever is almost too easy to bother wit;ju
in its place I should prefer a distincter characteriza- ment. To publicize the change, the which depicted so beautifully the
tion of the girl, and a bit more dialogue to emphasize home of many Union operas was brooding terror which lay over the
the setting-to give us a sense of the lookout station renamed Play Production Speech one of the bulls. My performance
and its isolation-something, really, of the poetry of Department Laboratory Theatre. was magnificent. The author her-
the scene, call it what you will. Save for the practical Advertisements featured this titl., self admitted that the difference
references to "cables" and "No. 4," we might be in reporters were requested to respect between me and an actual bull was
some prosaic flat. A setting so unusual deserves to Belasco Windt's wishes. slight as to be practically negli-
be exploited in dialogue as well as on canvas. The campus persisted in callingsgta
Both Mr. Levy's "Go Down Moses" and Miss Price's the place Mimes theatre, however. gible.
"The Eyes of the Old" are vivid sketches of negro University maps, always of ancient But even after such a signal suc-
life, which wisely refuse to rely on mere strangeness vintage, did likewise. Last week competent to speak about acting.
and vitality. The theme of "Go Down Moses," the Play Production surrendered to tra- About directing, I know next to
inevitable frustration of the Negro's vague but pow- dition and popular demand. notig.Ating, cIngw nxtn-
erful aspirations, runs contrapuntally through "The Advertising placards carried the nothing. Aer watching, in con-
Eyes of the Old," also. Miss Price's "The Bright ;nscription: Laboratory (Mimes) and Winthrop Ames achieve su-
Medallion," in its extraordinarily rapid succession of Theatre. perbly beautiful results for me by
major climaxes, has something of the naive charm * * absolutely antithetical methods, I
of "Green Pastures"-a charm, perhaps less calcu- can only suppose that the one rule
lated and conscious than that of Connelly's play. Cornelius Henry Beukema, local that applies to all directors is to
Mr. Compton's "The Provider" presents a situation news dissemination tycoon, kindly work very hard, according to their
of considerable pathos against a well-defined farm- informed twenty youngsters yester- lights, and smoke a great many
background. His heroine's competence and stability day they might occupy the press cigarettes.
might have been better demonstrated than by the box at the ball game, it being the Since leaving the Workshop eight
final stoicism, I think-as a demonstration of char- last game of the year at home. An years ago, I have become what Mr.
acter, it is dubious in much the same way as the irate fan soon came up to inform Baker terms "a working dramatist."
familiar instance of Hemingway's hero simply walk- Mr. Beukema that his proteges And now, as Marc Connelly so pa-
ing home in the rain after his sweetheart's death, is were spitting into the crowd. thetically says of himself, I sup-
dubious in "Farewell to Arms." The news man admonished the pose "I'm not a man at all-I'm
"Masquerade," by Mr. Tobin, is a pretty fairy-tale boys, obtained promises to refrain 'just a thing."
of the Hans Christian Anderson order. To become firom spitting, let them stay. I In 1922 I left the non-profession-
more than a pleasant fancy, it would need far greater 4 . al theatre and received my profes-
distinction of style than the author brings to it, a sional rating with a handicap, ac-
jewelled sort of writing more nearly in keeping with While we're on Beukema, we cording to Broadway experts, of the
the perilously delicate theme. might mention the ahonor guard 47 Workshop. My first play ran
In my last analysis, I must first remind the reader drill Thursday afternoon. At five six months. With that production
of my indubitable limitations of taste-and then o'clock, Beukema's c a m e r a man behind me, and armed with the in-
proceed to say that, to me, Miss Symons' "Beer Gar- was due to take pictures of Hop- valuable professional experience I
den" is a very fragile anecdote indeed. It concerns wood prize winners. Seniors had had gained in the course of it, I
a little group of determinedly bright youngsters, who been requested to wear caps and set to work with a will. I determin-
seem to find themselves a great deal more amusing gowns for this picture. ed to write plays at once better and
than I did. The manner is This Side of College At five thirty, the drill, was over, more successful. The results of that
Rumor, with more than a dash of Philip Barry; and Dr. May asked news-tycoon Beuk- determination are now history. I
the people are the sort of people who say "Never be ema about the picture. Latter gave1 tell you, industry and experience
a grown-up" (p. 12),-and indeed manage to continue!up hoping the camera would show are what count in the theatre. My
in their desired state of bouncing infantilism almost up, squinted at the windows, an- next play ran three monthsmy
without effort. (See "Holiday"; see also Mr. Wynd- nounced it was too dark to take I next two months and the one after
ham Lewis on The Cult of Childishness.) I do not pictures. that, "White Wings," three weeks.
care for the manner, although I grant it is well Seventy seniors departed bearing Now none of us who knows New
sustained. But perhaps I am what Miss Symons' the useless caps and gowns. Beuke-, York audiences wants his work to
characters would undoubtedly call an Old Meany. ma likes rainy weather, latest press be limited solely to them. Our one
But enough of critical categories and pigeon- reports say. certain hope for a larger hearing
holes: the reader must buy the book for himself. The rep
Antioch Press has made it a handsome volume-the y lies in the possibility of production
by groups throughout teetr
plays will grace the library as agreeably as they do Iteetr
y gProfessor Joseph Ralston Hay- country. To grow quite serious, as
the boards. "University of Michigan Plays: Book III 'den, popular political scientist, was a point of conclusion, the hope of
is a volume which no one interested in the creative scheduled recently to m a k e a the so-called "dead" road is the
arts at Michigan can do without. speech at 2 o'clock at a women's encouragement and nuturing of
club meeting in a nearby town. Af- such outlying companies. We know
I ter lunch, by dint of skillful and this, and appreciate it, and there-
E1DRTORI AL COMMENT rapid driving, he arrived on the I fore it is our endeavor to make our
!dot, afraid he might be late. Af- relations with such groups of the
ter all the trouble, he had to sit friendliest.
ACRES FOR BAD DEBTS through a forty minute business
(The Daily Dartmouth) meeting before permitted to start JANE COWL IS STARRED IN
Some months ago the Canadian economist Mt. his speech. I ROMANTIC COMEDY
Stephen Leacock put forth in a newspaper article the i*I
fantastic scheme of paying off European war debtsII NEW YORK, May 28.-(A)-Jane
to the United States by turning over to this country Eugene Rovillain, French profes- Cowl plunged through spring dol-
the full title to various large chunks of Africa. And sor, proved himself a hero and drums to present Broadway with a
now, as it daily seems more obvious that payment plumber extraordinaire when a cri- refreshing romantic comedy called
will be difficult to secure when due, and that the sis arose in the Romance Languages "A Thousand Summers." It was
temper of the American people is hardly such as to building. Two students, to whom the high light of the dramatic
sacrifice present cash for future goods, we are tempt- the weather was too much of a week, and certainly, with the ex-
ed to consider Mr. Leacock's adventurous notion half- temptation, twisted a safety valve ceptioniof "Another Language," the
seriously. out of a radiator before FrenchIcrown point of this post-season.
1
A Review
by Robert Wetzel
The new volume of "University of Michigan Plays"
furnishes considerable variety of interest, ranging
all the way from polite comedy to melodrama, to
folk-comedy, folk-tragedy, domestic pathos and fan-
tasy. Indeed, the reviewer's catalogue reads a little
like Polonius's, with his "pastoral-comical, historical-
pastoral, tragical-historical, tragical-comical, histor-
ical-pastoral"; and its variety is an evident tribute
to the range of Professor Rowe's sympathies as a
teacher of playwriting. Taking it as a whole. I think
the volume offers a more various and playable collec-
I II