PAGE FOUR
THE * MICHIGAN DAFL Y
SUNDAY, MAY 20, 1934
- -
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
the individuals with which it has to deal. Since,
as President Ruthven points out, students can
hardly be expected to get knowledge without el-
fort, and no two students will show the same ef-
fort in a common direction, the result can scarcely
be unexceptional and uniform brilliance among
all graduates.
The university's duty can only be to make knowl-
edge available, and its goal to make that knowledge
as complete and easy of access as possible. To the
University the student must come in search of
that which he desires. And the degree must be
interpreted not as a money-back 20-year guaran-
tee, but as an indication that the possessor has de-
voted a certain amount of energy to the attaining
of his educational goal.
Screen Reflections
The rating of motion pictures in this column is on
the following basis: A, excellent; B, good; C, fair; D,
poor, E, very bad.
AT THE WHITNEY
"BOMBAY MAIL"
C--
Edmund Lowe
Shirley Grey
Yuoished every morning except Monday during th
University year and Summer SessiOn by the Board in
Control of Student Publications.
Member of the WesternConference Editorial Association
and the Big Ten News Service.
i
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n
n
The Theatre
_ r s
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ftr republication of al news dispathoes credited to it or
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offices: Student Publicatins Building, Maynard Street
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EDITORIAL STAFF
Telephone 4925
MANAGING EDITOR.............WILLIAM G. FERRIS
CITY EDITOR... ...... ...............JOHN HEALEY
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR...........RALPH. COULTER
SPORTS EDITOR.......... ...... ARTHUR CARSTENS
WOMEN'S EDITOR....... ............ELEANORBLUM
NIGHT EDITORS: Paul J. Elliott, John J. Flaherty, Thomas
A. Groehn, Thomas H. Keene, David G. MacDonald, John
M. O'Connell, Robert S. Ruwitch, Arthur M. Taub.
SPORTS ASSISTANTS: Marjorie Western, Joel Newman,
Kenneth Parker, William Reed, Arthur Settle.
WOMEN'S ASSISTANTS: Dorothy Gies, Florence Harper,
Eleanor Johnson, Ruth Loebs, Josephine McLean, Rosalie
Resnick, Jane Schneider, Marie Murphy.
REPORTERS: Donald K. Anderson, John H. Batdorff,
Robert B. Brown, Clinton B. Conger Robert E. Deisley,
Allan Dewey, John A. ole, Sheldon M. Ellis, Sidney
Finger, William H. Fleming, Robert J. Freehling, Sherwin
Gaines. Ralph W. Hurd, Walter R. Krueger, John N.
Merchant, Fred W, Neal. Kenneth Norman,,Melvin C.
Oathout, John P. Otte, Lloyd S. Reich. Marshall Shulman,
Bernard Weissman, Joseph Yager, C. Bradford Carpenter,
Jacob C. Seidel, Bernard Levick.
Dorothy Briscoe, Maryana Chockly, Florence Davies, Helen
Diefendorf,' Marian Donaldson, Saxon Finch, laine
Goldberg, Betty Goldstein, Olive Griffith, Harriet Hath-
away, Marion Hoiden Beulah Kanter, Lois King, Selma
Levin, Elizabeth Miller, Melba Morrison. 'Mary Annabel
Neal, Ann Neracher, Elsie Pierce, CharlotteMRuegerDor-
othy Shappell, Carolyn Sherman, Molly Solomon, Dor-
othy Vale, Betty Vinton, Laura Winograd, Jewel Wuerfel.
BUSINESS STAFF
Telephone 2-1214
4BUSINESS MANAGER............ W. GRAFTON SHARP
CREDIT MANAGER..........BERNARD E. SCHNACK
WOMEN'S BUSINESS MANAGER ....................
...................... .,......, CATHARINE MC HENRY
DEPARTMENT MANAGERS: Local Advertising, Noel Tur-
ner; Classified Advertising, Russell Read; Advertising
Service, Robert Ward; Accounts, Allen Knuusi; Circula-
tion and Contracts, Jack Efroymson.
ASSISTANTS: Milton Kramer, John Ogden, Bernard Ros- :
enthal, Joe Rothbard, George Atherton.
Jane Bassett, Virginia Bell, Mary Bureley, Peggy Cady,
Virginia Cluff, Patricia Daly, Genevieve Field, Louise
Florez, Doris Gimmy, Betty Greve, Billie Griffiths, Janet,
Jackson, Louise Krause, Barbara Morgan, Margaret
Mustard. Betty Simond.l
FRESHMAN TRYOUTS: William Jackson, Louis Gold-
smith, David Schiffer, William Barnt, Jack Richardson,
Charles Parker, Roert Owen, Ted Wohgemuth, Jerome
Grossman,tAvnr, Kronenberger, Jim Horiskey, Tom
Clarke. Scott, Samuel Beckman, Homer Lathrop, Hall,
Ross Levin, Willy Tomlinson, Dean Asselin, Lyman
Bittman, John Park, Don Hutton, Allen Ulpson, Richard
Hardenbrook, Gordon Cohn
NIGHT EDITOR: JOHN M. O'CONNELL
Senior Sing Revives
An Old Tradition.. ..
HE SENIOR SING will take place
Tuesday evening. As a revival of an
honored tradition of bringing the students on the'
campus together for an occasion other than a foot-
ball game it has a significance that is basic in the
philosophy of education and in the purposes of the
University.
Because of the interest of a few students and
members of the faculty the Sing will come into
being again after a lapse of two years. The interest
of the few, however, will not put over the Senior
Sing. What is required is the interest of the
campus as a group - an interest that will man-
ifest itself only by the presence of the student body
the night after tomorrow in front of the Library.
Group participation is an event on the Michigan
campus. It happens so seldom that it should be
welcomed with open arms. The only other occasion
in which students participate as a group is an
athletic event - and then they join in only as
spectators.
The University, a State institution, was founded
on the ideal of democracy; it offers equal oppor-
tunity for an education of all who apply. How may
this ideal be better expressed than on an occasion
when the entire campus body can take part in a
group fete to the outgoing senior class?
Turn out for the Senior Sing Tuesday evening
in front of the Library.
Higher Education
And The Individual ...
PRESIDENT Alexander G. Ruthven,
in a recent talk before the Insti-
tute of Adult Education, declared against the wide-
spread popular nation that one can catch culture
by contact or by some other method realize intel-
lectual development without applying one's self to
the testing of knowledge as it is acquired.
Generally recognized as this fallacy now is
among educators and other thinking people, it is
needful of even more frequent reiteration before
the public which is sending its sons and daughters
to college and which must deal with college men
and women after they have graduated.
AT THE LYDIA MENDELSSOHN
"AND SO TO BED" - A Review
By JOHN W. PRITCHARD
CONVENTIONAL COMEDY of situations trans-
posed to the year 1666 is seen in "And So To
Bed," James Fagin's comedy of the doings of that
amateur musician (flageolet and fiddle), Samuel
Pepys. The script itself is very funny during th
last two acts, although there is nothing really
different about it; yet the comedy is made up by
the excellent work of the two principals, Rollo
Peters and Eugenie Leontovich, as Samuel and his
wife. They played last night at a high pitch and
tempo,' making amusing certain portions of the
play which had no right to be so, and intensifying
the laughter in other parts to which the writer had
really done justice.
Prospective attendants are warned that this play
is not written as a comedy of manners, although
its locale, subject matter, and time would indicate
that it is. It is situation comedy, with some very
good lines and a number of excellent two-dimen-
sional characters. It glitters as did the real Res-
toration comedies, but its technique differs - there
is not the involvement that has to be unravelled,
for one thing, Mr. Fagin has, to a certain extent,
inserted the ingredients of comedy of manners, and
some of the characters - Pelham Humphreys
(Robert Henderson), the Frenchified fop, for in-
stance - give the idea that the playwright has at-
tempted in a superficial way to work in the ele-
ments that have made Restoration comedy fa-
mous. In general, however, "And So To Bed" has
made a careful selectaion and complication of some
of the most approved methods of tickling a twen-
tieth century audience's ribs, and transferred these
methods to the dress and language of the century
under his consideration.
The high spot of the comedy is Act II, when most
of the data which have been disclosed with seem-
ing irrelevance in the earlier part of the play are
brought together to compromise simultaneously
Pepys, Mistress Pepys, Mistress Knight (Katherine
Wick Kelly), and Charles II (Donald Randolph).
The low point is the whole of Act I, which displays
some of the most odoriferous dramatic technique
on the part of the writer that I have ever seen
inserted in a play written for general consumption.
As I have pointed out, the work of the principal
pulls this act up to the entertainment level, and
thereafter the play can proceed on its own merits.
Pepys is presented, at the outset, as a man-
about-town who is married to an attractive, jealous,
and shrewish woman. He saves (by proxy) the life
of Mistress Knight, a singer, and loses no time
in appointing a rendezvous with her. Mistress
Knight has had her moments with the king. Mis-
tress Ppys suspects her husband's plans for the
evening( which are, ostensibly, togo to the navy
office and work), and follows him. Thereafter peo-
ple concur most inauspiciously in their arrivals at
the same place.
Mr. Peters is his old self - wholly at home in the
role, deft, urbane, allowing his language to flow
with just an agreeable suspicion of a squeak and
stutter. It is a role of a type which is second-nature
to him to play. The real acting is done by Mme.
Leontovich, who shrills her lines, tosses her skirts,
and cavorts about the room in anger that is beau-
tiful to watch; yet here one feels that the part does
not reach her talents, and that she wastes great-
ness (I am told she is great, although I have
never seen her before) on frothy .comedy of this
ilk. Mr. Henderson lisps his mincing, ridiculous
lines to good effect, and Miss Kelly glows efful-
gently as the witty, glamorous Mistress Knight.
Mr. Randolph admirably depicts regal rakishness
as King Charles.
"And So To Bed" is exceedingly light and un-
pretentious entertainment.
Collegiate Observer
"Who is the murderer of His Excellency and the,
Maharaja?" Here in a sentence is the theme of
"Bombay Mail," a picture which is built on niuch'
the same lines as was "Shanghai Express." How-
ever, in this version of an eventful train ride in the
mysterious East, the excitement is provided not by
the wiles of a Marlene Dietrich, but by the solu-
tion of a series of murders on the tain during the
course of the journey. Edmund Lowe, as the inspec-
tor, is very much in charge of the proceedings, and
his job is to find as many suspects as possible in
order to baffle the audience. This is accomplished
with a fair degree of success, but the process lacks
the power to arouse enough interest to be suffi-
ciently entertaining. The story is typical of the or-
dinary murder mystery, and the attempts to elevate
it above this level are quite insufficient.- For ex-
ample, the dialogue employed is so artificial that
the characters have no realness. The settings in
which they are placed are equally unnatural and
decidedly unlike a train interior, even if most of
the action does take place in a sumptious private
car. However, some of the photography is praise-
worthy, and some good effects have been achieved
by such elements as the continual, unceasing
sounds of the train, the rapid shifting of scenes,
and the lack of a super saturating amount of sex.
"Bombay Mail" could be a lot worse, but also could
be a great deal better than it is. -C.B.C.
.
Hot Weather
That's the weatherman's prediction
for you to start thinkig abot sum-
mer clothes. Don't swelter in that
hot winter suit-be cool-enjoy the
weather. Let Ann Arbor merchants
show you the smart suits of linens-
and gabardines that will be so much
in style this summer. Watch for their
advertisements on the sport page of
The DAILY in the near future.
There's More
"Tod- Come
AT THE MAJESTIC
"WE'RE NOT DRESSING"
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Stephen ..................Bing Crosby
Doris ...................Carole Lombard
Hubert .....................Leon Errol
Directed by ............ Norman Taurog
Norman Taurog, famous for his work on the two
pictures, "Skippy" and "Sooky," has been turned
loose on Crosby. But the effect is not so happy.
Bing Crosby, Carole Lombard, Leon Errol, George
Burns, Gracie Allen, and Ethel Merman have all
been brought together. The parts they contribute
are good, but that still doesn't make a film. There is
a story which one is not supposed to take too ser-
iously, and there is some humor which often
makes one laugh. But all these still do not make
a film. "We're Not Dressing," then is not a film
but a lengthy sound and visual record of the
singing of Bing Crosby. If it were to make this
claim, it would be successful in its attempt, but
since it claims to be a movie, one must measure
it -by movie standards.
The idea of the story is patterned after that of
"The Admiral Creighton." -"A shipwrecked party
consisting of two society girls, two gigolo fortune
chasers, one amiable uncle, and one sailor, try to
make life pleasant on a Southern Pacific island
until they are rescued. Since the sailor is the only
one who knows how to work, and since one must
work in order to eat, it is he who takes command.
On the same island they find a naturalist and his
wife (Burns and Allen). They quarrel, make love,
and sing until they are picked up, there being
an overabundance of the last.
Bing Crosby sings well, is a pleasing comedian,
and in general carries himself faultlessly through
the film. Miss Lombard was obviously miscast as
his leading lady. The part required someone who
could sing and act as a foil for Crosby. Miss Lom-
bard does none of these and further adds to the
film's detriment by being a poor actress. Burns and
Allen are crazy. But they get paid for it and the
public always laughs at them, so I guess they're
O.K. with me too. Leon Errol and Ethel Merman
would have greatly aided the film if they had been
given more footage. There are many, many songs in
the film that have already become hits, especially
"Love Thy Neighbor." They are all tuneful and
entertaining but their overdose begins to become
annoying toward the end. On the whole "We're Not
Dressing" is an entertaining hour of singing a la
Crosby. As a moving picture it is fair.
-J. C. S.
.4
By BUD BERNARD,
At Syracuse University a professor fell asleep
recently at the beginning of a short class assign-
ment. The students thoughtfully refrained from
awakening him until the end of the hour.
* * * *
Here are the qualifications to become a high and
mighty senior in the estimation of the Los Angeles
Junior College Daily. Imagine these embryonic col-
legians calling a college a "super high school !"
1. Use the word "proletariat" in a sentence at
least three times a day.
2. Remain cynically disinterested in the face of
all enthusiasm.
3. When-'disappointed merely remark, "Oh, what
the hell."
4. Call all women of all ages by their first names
and refer to them with a suggestive smile.
5. Pretend to see economic or sexual reasons for
everything including wars, movies, colleges,
churches, and football games.
6. Have on hand a stock of stories of a more or
less personal nature concerning the drunken antics
of friends and especially of the more popular people
age-old questions of astigmatism, color blindness,
and other forms of visual aberration.
* * - *
Here is a thought from a student at the Uni-
versity of Maryland:
Modern experts lately find
That love is just a state of mind.
Lover's ways and coquetry
Partake of physiology.,
But do those with this learned mania
Osculate with just their crania?
* * * *
A dean at the University of Minnesota re-
cently told the story about the co-ed who was
questioned as to what she would do if she and
her boy friend were snowed under while in an
automobile out in the prairies.
"That's simple," the co-ed replied.
"Why?"
"Well, you see, within an hour we'd be able
to swim out."
When a clerk in a drug store at the Uni-
versity of Illinois asked what sort of toothbrush
a customer wanted, the Greek letter pledge
replied, "a large one - there are 80 men in my
fraternity."
- ~ * * *
There is a ruthless, cruel man on the faculty of
Syracuse University. Even while recovering from
an operation for appendicitis, this gentleman gave
1.934 Ensiani Distribution conitm-
nes at the Student Pub1ieations
Buildin at 420 Maynard Street.
All Ia ets must 1e made be-
fore opies fimay be received.
A few copies are still availab le at
f
ar
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