THE MTCHIGAN DAILY The Theatre ANNA CHRISTIE - A CRITICISM BY PROF. OSCAR J. CAMPBELL Eugene ('Neill's Anna Christie represents the dramatist in his most humane mood. In' his latest works, notably Strange Interlude and Mourning Becomes Electri, he has often assumed a cruel and slightly contemptuous attitude toward his characters and their fates. They are often neu- rotic, . even pathological, persons whose" deeds, through usually of absorbing interest, alienate them from the sympathy of an audience. Such F characters are slightly distorted representatives of hUmanity. - r.e cept Monday during th Session by the Board in aference Editorial Assoca- service. OCIATED( PRESS titled to the use credited to it or U the local news ation of special rights of reps Post Office at Ann Arbor, Michigan, as ;ter. Special rate of postage granted by Postmaster-General. wring summer by carrier, $1.00; by, mall, gular school year by carrier, $4.00; by t Publications Building, Maynard Street, igan. Phone: 2-1214. College Publications Representatives,, irty-Fourth Street, New York City; 80 Boston; 612 North Michigan Avenue, EDITORIAL STAFFP Telephone 4925 [OR...............FRANK B. OILBRETH .....................KARL SEIFFERT '. ' : ..JOHNW.,THOMAN )kR............. .MARGARET OTBRIEN dFN'S E6ITOR......MRIAM CARVER i'Thbimas bonnelian, NormaA ,. Kraft, ard, Joseph A. Renlhan, C. Hart Schaaf, Glenn R s.Winters. 'ANTS: L. Ross Baln, If'ed A. Mibuer, istam, Charles Baird, 'A. James L. Bauchat, Donald anon, Arthur W. Carstens, iFerris, Sidney Frankel, b.t B. Hewett, George . , Edwin W. Richardson, eck, Guy U. Whipple, Jr., le B. Beck,) Jane Cooley, ne Dlunbar, Helen Levi- hy, Eleanor cker, Harriet dIn SINESS STAFF lephahe 2-1214 ............BYRON C. VEDDER ........... HARRY BEGLE'Y ANAGER......DONNA BECKEB ERS: Advertising, Grafton Sharp; , Orvil Aronson; Advertising Serv- counts, Bernard E. Schnaeke; Cir- flursley; Publications, Robert E. oylan, Allen Cleve- in, Fred Hertrick, Read, Pred Rogers, obert Ward. Ii Chapman, Doris t, Catherine Mc- de, May Seefried, (, JAN. 11, 1933 . , e . AN EDITORIAL in The Daily Iowan, student newspaper of the Univer- of Iowa, a few days ago urged immediate m by the Western Conference eligibility com- ee in the case of Ivan Blackmer and Edward These observations are not true of Anna Christie. The play has in it what O'Neill calls "sincerity of life," largely because the main char- acters are drawn from his own experience. The drama in its earliest form was a character study of an old Swedish sailor named Chris Chris- topherson. He had been O'Neill's roommate when he lived in a"hell-hole along the water-front in New York, in the saloon, which is the original of the place presented in the first act of Anna Christie.O'Neill learned to know every corner of his nind and every rhythm of his speeches. Later the central person in the drama became Chris's daughter '-AnnA, and the plot now deals with her regeneration under the influence of the sea' an'd the love of a romantic Irish sailor. The play is distinguished among his dramas by its happyending. Critics have found fault with this on the ground that the author in writing it hais sacrificed character to theatrical effect. O'Neill says' he intends this happy ending to. mark not a period but only a comma in Anna's existence. In fact, he once thought of calling the play Comnia. But the audience inevitably takes it as a happy- ever-after ending and discover in it one of the few moments of tenderness which O'Neill has ever shown to his creations. Por all these reasons, O'Neill has created in Anna Christie two of the most vivid and appealing of his characters. They are set against the back- ground of the sea, which is here presented with both realistic fidelity and imaginative reach. Small wonder that the simple story of the prin- cipal characters develops so inevitably in this atmosphere of realistic fact and romantic over- tone that it' has becooe to many critics O'Neill's most natural and effective play. -Oscar James Campbell: Screen Reflection s Four stars. means extraordinary; three stars very good; two stars good; one star Just another picture; no stars keep away from it.'a AT THE MICHIGAN wSON-DAUGHTER" * CHINATOWN DRAMA; LITTLE STUDENT APPEAL Lien Wha............Helen Hayes Tom Lee..... . Ramon Noarro Fen Shu............Warner Oland Dr. Dong Tong...... . Lewis Stone Wha's protectress .. Louise Closse Hale Sen Li .......... ........ . H. B. Warner "fori-Daughter" is a story of Chinatown in- trigue,. with a cast that at first glance seems weirdly unsuited for their task. The average stu- dent nmovie-goer will find little appeal in this filh, opening as it does with a well-known newsreel shOt of 1932 5mb-Japanese conflict, closing with a faked shot aboard a liner bound for China, and seemingly a definite slip in Helen Hayes' assault an Hollywood's stardom heights, aided so recently by th'award to her'of the Motion Picture Acad- emy of Science's "best actress of the year" cup. Hands in kimono sleeves, the characters mince about in accepted fashion, letting compendious snatches of Chinese proverbry drop here and there. Warner (Charlie Chan) Oland is the only one who seems in his element here. A faulty mix- ture of the old and the new of Chinese life in West-coast America is injected into "Son-Daugh- ter," as in Helen Hayes' line, "Then the gods must be very old and very mean," when contrasted with her medieval fear of and prostration before Ra- mon Novarro, her prospective groom. "Son-Daughter," you may or may not agree, suffers because it tries, at some length, to be ooth piquant and stilted. The story concerns the auctioning off of four roung and beautiful Chinese iaidens for $25,000 xpiece in order to gain $100,000 for use against he malign Minchu despotism. Warner Oland is 3ast as the grasping man-of-chance who bids for Lien Wha's hand; Ramon Novarro is the Chinese Southern California student to whom her heart is given; Lewis Stone is Wha's overburdened father; od H. B. 'Warner rounds out the list of prin- sipals as an ill-fated tong member. Easily the best scene is the gambler's death by strangulation on his wedding night. The motive, _ncidentally, is revenge, Added attractions: "Babes in the Wood" is a most refreshing color cartoon and was well re-' 3elved; Paramount News (Rose Tournament, Prof. Piccard, Dog Teams, Hoover Fishing, Italian Horsemen, Calvin Coolidge, and U. S. C.-Pitt.); an entertaining short, sung by Reinald Werrenrath, is the Glee-Clubbish tour of the Michigan carp- pus. Several campus satellites were used as "at- mosphere" in the filming, although individual identities are not revealed because of the distance of the shots. President Alexander G. Ruthven's home, the Library, the Stadium, and other typical scenes help the Michigan's bill along. A letter received here recently by William H. Rodes, '33, Art Cinema League official, from King Michigan on a subject dealing with the cinematic arty I' am quite flattered by an appreciation of my work that would prompt such a request. However, it so happens that at this time I am completely interested in making a picture in which I have high hopes and: which, must' be produced as quickly as possible. That is, I am more interested at the moment in doing a picture than talking abot them. This is not always the case, and when this job is finished I may gladly welcome the op- portunity to talk about what has been done or may be done, rather than the actual doing of it. So I can only suggest that I -write you again when this situation occurs or that you write me again whenever you feel so inclined. Thanking you again and hoping that some day I may be able to enjoy the privilege of meeting you and the members of your Art Cinema League, King Vidor Material relevant to "The Cabinet of Dr. Cali- gari," to be presented in the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre Jan. 18, 19, and 20 will appear in this column soon. -G. M. W. Jr. ~e I CampusOpinion Letters publihed in this column should not be construed as expressing the editorial opinion of The Daily, Anonymous communications will be disregard- ed. The nimes of communicants will, however, be re- garde asoconfidential upon request. Contributors are asked to be brief, confining themselves to less .than 300 words if possible. MISSION OF THE CHURCH To The Editor: In reply to the question, "What is the mission of the church?" found in the column "Campus Opinion" of this morning's Daily: L. If you were to kill one person in anger, or because you wanted his money, or for some simi- lar reason, you would deserve to be punished. If you we'e to kill him in self-defense, or to protect some helpless person, you would prob- ably be acclaimed as a hero. 2. When any army sets forth, it is with the purpose of protecting the helpless inhabitants of its country. The killing of the enemy is not wished, but it is an unavoidable consequence of the act of protection. An act which has two ends, one good and one bad, occurring unavoid- ably and at the same time, is still a licit act. 3. Granted that war is an unspeakable evil, by reason of is unavoidable consequences, why blame the church for praising one of the few entirely unselfish impulses of human nature? A. C. T. THE HORROR OF IT To The Editor: There is 'a little book bearing the title: The Horror of It, being camera record of war's grue- some glories. By Frederick A. Barber Brewer, Warren, and Putnam, New York, 1932).-The bobk' consists of illustrations, interspersed with prose and poetry. But what is more striking than either poetry or prose are the illustrations. The first picture that meets the reader's eye is a muti- lated hand severed from the body of a soldier. That hand lies on a piece of desolate ground near a stump of a tree. The middle finger of the dead hand seems to point to something . . . The well-known lines accompanying the grue- some picture of the disfigured hand reads as follows: "The Moving Finger writes; and having writ, Moves on; nor all your Piety or Wit Shall lureit back to cancel half a Line, Nor all your tears wash out a Word of it." M, Levi, Professor Emeritus. & STRIPES By Karl Seiffert Says George Bernard Shaw: "Enlightened In- dians have a great power of speech. Scratch an Indian and he reels off seventeen volumes of Herbert Spencer." All we can say is: let that be a lesson to you, Mr. Shaw. The fact that the late Ivar Kreuger, Swedish "match king," was able to appropriate more than $115,000,000 of investors' funds to his own uses is laid largely to bad auditing. A really great man never gets credit for -his ability. 12 CON6RESSMEN ESCAPE AS HOUSE ELEVATOR DROPS -Headline Horrors-are they still at large? The consumption of sauerkraut in the United States is increasing, says a news item. That in spite of all this agitation in favor of patronizing domestic, industries. A Washington correspondent writes of "a roar of approval" from the public ii response to Rep- resentative Rainey's statement against increased taxation. If you ask us, that was just a chorus of groans from the House budget committee. BENEFIT PERFORMANCE WILL AID GUARDIAN ANGEL HOME -Headline' Well, if he needs that kind of help its no wonder that everything ilas gone io blazes. - Just when the increasing popularity of the coupe and the roadster seems to have done away with the back-seat driver, we learn that the tan- ,, CCLASSES Ir NOW FORMING STENOTYPY SHORTHAND TYPEWRITING BOOKKEEPING CALCULATOR DICTAPHONE SECRETARIAT. TRAINING Day and Evening Classes OnlyI /A Hlamilton usiness College f State & William Sts. PHONE 7831 17th Year SCHOOL OF NURSING of YALE UNVERSITY A Profession for the College Woman The thirty months' course, providing an intonsiive and varied experience through th ease study method, leads to the degree of Bachelor of Nursing Two or more years of approved' col- lege work required for admission. Beginning in 1934 a Bachelor's de- gree willbe required. A few scholar- ships available for students with advanced qualifications. For catalogue and information address : The Dean, Yale School of Nursing .New Haven, Connecticut or $2:50 Till June HAve You Your Ticket for Anna Christie FRIDAY and SATURDAY Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre Tickets 50c Box Office Open 11 A.M. to :00 P.M. Phone 6300 If you'want to -n-ail it home it's only 25c extra .\ Not quite - but we almost feel so - for we're offering for a semester price our paper MICUIGAN DAILY For the Balance of the School Year If you write, we have It # Correspondence Stationiery, Poumtaiin Pena, Inzk, etc. Typ~ewiters a3l1zpalms. Greeting Curds for bogy, '. D. MORRI LL E a' ----:_.. committee, and inquired if Iowa'were to be perpetual goat of Conference athletics. Ap ently the- answer is yes, for Break and Black- r have been ruled "technically ineligible" and red from further conference competition. 'he term "technically ineligible," it is explain- means "absolutely ineligible," the former term ag used "because it is euphonious," in the 'ds of Prof. Thomas E. French, chairman of Big Ten's eligibility committee. 3oth Blackmer and Break are victims of a tech- ality calculated to facilitate action upon cases, doubtful eligibility. The 'technicality provides t players who play with teams not members the Conference, when admission is charged, 11 no longer play with Conference teams. ether or not the player in question 'has re ved financial reward, "expense accounts," or' participated in a shady dealing of any kind d not enter the question. t is certainly to be regretted that a basketbali in with the fine prospects which are Iowa'. uld be decimated by a provision which cover: blanket fashion a question that should be ther explored in order to find' out the true it in which Blackmer and Break acted. Black- r was not even a student at Iowa when he yed on the Cedar Rapids, Ia., basketball team act which brought about his downfall. He had y matriculated.-Break was actually in school at time. t cannot be denied that Iowa has had More n its share of athletic black sheep in recent ,rs. Perhaps this has brought the University o such unfavorable repute .that the recent'in- tigation has been more searching and more' ere than the average eligibility inquiry. A defi- e "inferiority complex" apparently pervades the. ra campus today; in the words of a metropoli- i newspaper, they "feel as though they were. ked on." Iowa's point-of-view is a normal one. has, in the past, developed some fine athletes; I probably will continue to do so, in spite of eligibility hang-nail which seems to make a ciality of camping in Iowa City. But to have- istant doubt as to eligibilities, and even as to advisability of remaining in the Conference, is ta happy situation. Editorially the Daily Iowan has' openly approved ession from the Conference if existing condi- All VIP- 14 ..State d per Day St., Ann Aror ' II k I, Ifi Illu MICHIGAN BELL TELEPHONE CO. C When you haven't time to write.. . TELEPHONE .. . Let the Daily Classi- fieds find your room for There are. days when every student feels that "I should write the folks, but I just haven't time." Why not telephone to Mother and Dad? It is quick and inexpensive. And, if you desire, you can reverse the charges to your home telephone. Rates for Station-to-Station calls from Ann Arbor to representative points are shown below. next seiester.... CALL AL TheA-ae Ann Arbor to: Day (4:30 A.M.- 7:00 P.M.) Evening (7:00 P.M.- 8:30 R.M. $ .30 .35 Night 8:30 P.M. 4:30 AM. $ .30 .35 Birigngham ......$ .30, Flint ............45 at Lansing:...........45 .35 .35 Monroe . ... . . .30 .30 .30 ,Pontiac ... ....30 .30 " .30 Toledo ....40 .35 .35 01.,