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THE MICHIGAN DAILY
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PAGE FIFTEEN
OGDEN NASH?-
Secretary Turns Poet
For TroubledApplicant
By DAVIS CRIPPEN
That literary inspiration in the University is not confined exclus-
ively to English I classes was proved this week in the Office of Student
Affairs when Miss Edith Gowans took pen in hand.
Miss Gowans, administrative assistant in charge of men's residence
halls, felt prompted to write a poem in answer to a letter received in
OSA.
A PROSPECTIVE student had written the office that he had mis-
takenly mailed in his application for housing without filling out about
half of it.
The student, in his letter, called this "the biggest boner I have
over pulled in my life. You cannot estimate," he wrote, "what a
beating my mental rump has taken."
He then asked that his application be returned so that he could
complete it.
Miss Gowans thought that more could be done than just that. "It
was a challenge to my sense of humor," she said. "I wanted to prove
the people in our office weren't stuffy."
SO SHE SAT DOWN and answered him in poetry, which she des-
cribed as "a very poor imitation of Ogden Nash. The sort of poetry that
a person writes who has never made the New Yorker but wants to."
It goes like this: .
Your letter was a "pippin'
Its content sure was "grippin'"
And I'm very sympathetic to your cause
But don't let it depress ya
The application's to impress ya
Don't let it distress ya, kid-just pause.
Reread the umpteenth question
And take time out to answer in detail
For the questions call for thought
And if that ain't what you've got
Then do the best you can, put down, and mail.
We want you to be happy
So get busy, make it snappy
Answer every single question on the form
Or I promise you my pet, and this ain't an empty threat
That I'll put you in the newest Women's Dorm.
West Berlin
Citizens Set
For Winter
Face Easy Going
Without Blockade
BERLIN-() West Berlin's
rugged citizens await the approach
of winter with pardonable smug-
ness.
Last year they stubbornly with-
stood a Russian blockade that
meant short supplies, little fuel
and constant worry.
* * *
WINTER 1950 looks as if it will
be a breeze.
The Western Allies don't expect
the Russians to institute another
blockade, at least in the foresee-
able future.
But if they did, the Airlift for
food would begin within 72
hours, and inside of 90 days big
cargo planes again would be
spewing coal at West Berlin air-
ports.
In addition, the Western Allies
have laid in a thumping backlog of
supplies.
* * *
W. T. BABCOCK, Deputy Direc-
tor of Berlin, High Commission
Element, says there are 985,000
tons of coal in reserve. This is a
five-month supply at full use.
Last November, when all coal
came by Airlift, there were only
394,000 tons in reserve-a 60-
day supply at strict rationing.
There is no regular rationing of
fuel today. Last year it was doled
out over five months in carefully
conserved amounts on the basis of
family size.
S* * *
BERLINERS who don't feel the
present supply is enough can buy
plenty of brown coal briquettes on
the open market. The city govern-
ment has set out 250,000 tons of
brown coal for sale and also has
begun free distribution of brown
coal briquettes to needy families.
The food outlook is comfort-
able. There is a 68-day supply of
all foods, plus a 110-day supply
of flour.
Last November there was enough
food on hand for a month, and the
Western Allies watched the flying
weather with daily concern.
Germans, and Western nation-
als too, won't have to grope
through the gloom of power ra-
tioning this winter.
THIS YEAR, even with a block-
ade, the Western Allies could
supply power up to 80 per cent of
the total required. In the block-
ade they limped along at 40 per
cent of normal.
This is the big difference: Ber-
lin West, a big, new power plant,
came into service Dec. 1. At peak
it will supply 1,100,000 kilowatts of
power daily.
QFF '(HE RECORD
By AL SILVER
IF THE VACATION spirit moves you to a lukury item, be sure to in-
vestigate three stunningly engineered HMV discs containing the
climactic Immolation Scene from Wagner's Die Gotterdamerung. Kirs-
ten Flagstad sings, with Wilhem Furtwangler directing the Philhar-
monic Orchestra.
Flagstad's contribution is all but above criticism. In a manner
hardly comparable to her mediocre pre-war recording of this
music, her voice effortlessly switches from the tragic to the heroic,
encompassing the huge range with rich coloring. Conductor Furt-
wangler draws from the Philharmonia a marvelously clear state-
ment of the score, climaxing in a great inundation of tones to go
with that from the Rhine.
Only competitor in the field is the compact, well-integrated
Traubel-Toscanini album for RCA-not nearly as well recorded, but
boasting the Maestro's over-powering dramatic impact. If you've been
weaned exclusively on Toscanini's Wagner, try the HMV import for
another slant on things.
* * * *
FOR THE UGH! category, we nominate an unimaginative, crudely-
phrased thing by Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra that
passes for Brahms' Variations on a Theme of Haydn (Columbia X-322).
It must take some special sort of genius to transform the top-notch
Philadelphia ensemble into so plodding and listless a group, but Or-
mandy seems fully qualified for the task. Reproduction matches the
performance-dull, though acceptable by pre-LP standards. If you
want Brahms as he can be played, the old but superbly vital Toscanini
version for RCA is still available.
* * * *
TURNING from variations to the original, this month brings us two
of the master's symphonies, presented on domestic RCA and Decca
LP.
Guido Cantelli, the new Italian conductor introduced to America
by Toscanini last season, makes his local recording debut leading the
NBC Symphony in Haydn's 93rd Symphony (RCA 1323). It seems that
Cantelli has all of his renowned sponsor's vigor and drive, without
Toscanini's saving maturity.
Haydn's permeating good humor in livelier passages of an-
dante and minuet seems to get submerged in over-forceful, often
hectic playing, while the gaiety of the finale is choked in unsym-
pathetic precision.
Moments of well-balanced music making are further offset by
occasional Wagnerisms, but there is no denying Cantelli's enthusiasm
and fine potentialities.
Reproduction: above the usual studio 8H standard, but shame-
fully inferior to those of RCA's competitors. Our choice in this work:
a sophisticated Beecham-London treatment for Columbia.
.i * * *
THE MORE FAMILIAR "Clock" Symphony (No. 101) is essayed with
happier results by Ansermet and L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
for Decca FFRR (LPS 54).
Not that we are in accord with the entire presentation-Anser-
met's prosaic second movement reminds one forcefully of the
magical New York strings intoning the theme under Toscanini in
an ancient RCA set.
But enough of Haydn's robust spontaneity is captured to make
this an acceptable substitute, though a full-frequency recording merci-
lessly exposes the orchestra's undistinguished tone quality. We, how-
ever, will continue to brave surface noise and worn masters for a hint
of Toscanini's exquisite insight into Haydn's masterpiece.
* * * *
A RATHER SOMBER novelty for this time of year is Mozart's rarely
heard Masonic Funeral Music (K. 477), in which von Karajan and
the Vienna Philharmonic perform expertly and are well reproduced on
a noiseless Columbia single (C-72846-D).
If you have any friends still infected with the "carefree, merry
Mozart" stereotype, try springing this inexpensive tale of misery on
them for a quick enlghtenment.
Auto Sales Reach New High
Pearl Harbor
Ready Now
For Attacks
Port No Longer
Center of Activity
PEARL HARBOR-(R),-There
couldn't be another Pearl Harbor
today, eighth years after Pearl
Harbor became a date to remem-
ber.
Navy men say that for two rea-
sons. The first, today's prepared-
ness. The second, there is no
mighty fleet here to blow up.
Swooping Japanese planes that
blasted the United States into
war that peaceful December 7
morning in 1941 trained their
sights on capital ships of one of
the mightiest armadas of their
day.
* * *
TODAY Pearl BHarbor rarely
sees anything more martial than
a military transport loading sur-
pluses.
Pearl Harbor, 1949, 'is a
sprawling, bewildered giant. Fed
by four years of war, it girew
tenfold. Its postwar diet, cut-
back after cutback, has reduced
it to a military husk.
Eight years have erased most
traces of the disaster that smashed
the backbone of a proud Pacific
fleet.
Gone, too, is the glory that was
Pearl Harbor at its wartime height.
Six hundred warships filled the
mighty harbor then. Fifty thou-
sand civilian workers, 80,000 navy
personnel swarmed about their
duties.
* * *
PEACE AND the implications
of the atom bomb have drained
all the glory out of this throbbing
wartime nerve center of the Pa-
cific.
If you're looking for scars of
America's worst military disas-
ter, ride out to that empty string
of buoys, where battleship row
once gleamed in the Hawaiian
sun. There's nothing there now,
just the waves and, next to buoy
F7, a heap of scrap iron brown
with rust.
The rust is all that's visible of
the once proud battleship Arizona
and 900 bodies are still entombed
beneath it.
They and 2,395 of their coun-
trymen died that early December
morning eight years ago.
.
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Remember
FISCHER'S
HARDWARE
is a good store
to find
Dishes
Tooaste rs
. . .
Glassware
I rons
Carving Sets
Hunting Supplies
Golf Clubs
Fishing Equipment Tools
Fireplace Utensils
A
{
4
S
yU
R
^f
S k
t
,S
Skates
Sleds
Ski s
Toys
BRENTWOOD
-:r..Slip-over
NYLON
SWEATERS
8.95
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This garment needs no
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There is no shrinkage and
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Colors are MAIZE,
MAROON, TAN, GRAY
STADEL & SONS
205 South Main Street
Electric Train Accessories
Be sure to visit
Fischer's Hardware
Corner of E. Washington and 5th Av.
before you go home
for the holidays!
--a"
i ,.
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.' . i ..1
DETROIT-(IP)-The demand
for new passenger automobiles
apparently still is far from satis-
fied.
Automotive industry statisti-
cians, report that October new car
sales may have established a new
industry-wide record.
BASED ON registrations in 36
states, the agency says new car
sales for the month should exceed
485,000 units when all states are
tabulated.
The greatest number of new
car sales in the industry's his-
tory for a single month was 478,-
556 registered in August of this
year.
The figures show that in the 36
states tabulated 300,005 new cars
were registered.
* * *
THIS COMPARES with 180,000
new cars registered from the same
states in October, 1948.
Still Standing
Ruins of the oldest church in the
Americas still stands in Panama.
The church was built in 1537 and
was destroyed in 1671 by the pir
ate, Henry Morgan, and his band
of buccaneers.
.1
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