PAGE six
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
SUNDAY, OCTOBER Z4, I954
New Theatrical Plans
Drama GroupReveals
With Sidney Howard's ingenious
comedy, "The Late Christopher
Bean," the Wayne University The-
atre will open its 1954-55 season
Oct. 8.
Scheduled ,for performances on
Oct. 8 through 16, the play was
first produced in New York in
1932 and was an instant success.
It is based on a French piece by
Rene Fauchois with the story
adapted to a New England setting.
Pulitzer Prize Winner
Howard's play documents the
confusion resulting from the dis-
covery that a village doctor's fam-
ily has some old masterpieces hid-
den in the garage and attic. Art
critics swarm over the premises,
injecting discord and hilarity into
the surroundings.
A Pulitzer Prize winner, Howard
has written numerous plays which
have won acclaim for their author.
"The Silver Cord" and "They
Knew What They Wanted" are
among his major successes.
Presented from Nov. 5 through
13, the second production of the
Wayne University Theatre will be
Gabrielle Colette's "Gigi." This is
the play which was made into a
hit French movie. On Broadway,
the play introduced last year's
Academy Award winning actress,
Audrey Hepburn, to American aud-
iences.
Shakespearean Play
For its annual Shakespearean
production, the theatre will pre-
sent "The Taming of the Shrew."
The long-popular farce will be pre-
sented on Dec. 3, 4, 9, 10, and 11.
Plays to be given next year in-
clude Aristophanes' classic "Lysis-
trata" and George Bernard Shaw's
"The Man of Destiny." Both come-
dies debunk popular notions, the
first romantic heroes and the sec-
ond Napoleon.
Later next spring, a modern
operatic version of the Greek trag-
and Cocteau, and Richardson and
Berney's "Dark of the Moon" will
be presented.
The theatre will also produce a
special Children's play, "The Sev-
en League Boots," which will tour
Detroit and surrounding communi-
ties under the sponsorship of the
Parent Teachers Association.
Robert Davis,
To Give Show
Robert Davis' films, "Iceland,
Capri of the North," will be pre-
sented at 3:00 p.m., Nov. 14 in
Pantengill Auditorium of the Ann
Arbor High School.
The World Travel and Adven-
ture Series films include shots of
Reykjavik, Iceland's capital city,
as well as scenes at the famous
Icelandic hot water springs.
Tickets, priced at $1, may be
purchased at the door. Future pro-
grams will include film trips to
Mexico, Columbia, Italy, and
Africa.
French Art
An exhibition of French prints
is now on view at the Detroit In-
stitute of Arts.
The display, which runs through
Dec. 31, includes 175 prints in all
mediums which critics have call-
ed "the best to be assembled in
nearly 50 years."
Included in the exhibition are
all of the important French 20th
century artists who have worked
in graphic arts-
Reknowned
To Give Cot
By DAVID KAPLAN
For almost 70 years the Amster-
dam Concertgebouw Orchestra,
which will appear here on Wednes-
day, has been a mecca for noted
conductors, composers and solo-
ists.
The long list begins with Edvard
Grieg, at whose request the or-
chestra made a tour of Norway.
When the orchestra was only ten
years old, Grieg exclaimed, "Nev-
er have I heard a better perform-
ance.",
Vincent D'Indy, Arthur Nikisch
and Richard Strauss appeared on
its podium before the turn of the
century. In 1899, Strauss dedicated
his tone poem "Ein Heldenleben"
to the Concertgebouw.
Personally Conducted Works
In the early years of the 20th
century, Gustav Mahler, Claude De-
bussy, Maurice Ravel, Paul Hinde-
mith and Sir Edward Elgar per-
sonally conducted a large portion
of their works.
Guest conductors at various
times have included Karl Muck,
Pierre Monteux, Bruno Walter, Eu-
gene Ormandy and Leopold Sto-
kowski.
Founded in 1888, the Concertge-
bouw has had only three major
conductors. William Kes directed
it for the first seven years of its
existence and was followed by Wil-
liam Mengelberg, who held the ba-
ton from 1895 to 1945.
Edward Van Beinum, the pres-
ent conductor, assumed his posi-
tion in 1945 after being with the
orchestra since 1932. The 100-man
symphony is regularly conducted
by Van Beinum and Rafael Kube-
lik, who will alternate in appear-
ing with the organization in the
United States.
Local Concerts
In their home recital hall in
Amsterdam, .t h e Concertgebouw
gives 45 subscription and 42 popu-
lar concerts. They perform three
times weekly to an audience es-
timated at 200,000 during their win-
ter season series.
Outside the capital, the orches-
tra gives concerts in The Hague,
Rotterdam, Utrecht and Arnheim.
The annual Palm-Sunday perform-
ance of the "Mattheus-Passion"
combines the talents of the orches-
tra and the "Toonkunst," the Am-
sterdam Vocal Society.
Every year the orchestra per-
forms a Beethoven Cycle, includ-
ing performances of all the sym-
phonies and overtures, and occa-
sionally the "Missa Solemnis."
Their first American tour start-
ed Oct. 12 and will continue
I Orchestra
ncert Here
A Time to Love and a Time to
Die by Erich Maria Remarque,
translated from the German by
Denver Findley. Harcourt, Brace
and Company, 378 p.
In this novel Remarque, using
the framework of Germany just
beginning to realize defeat in
World War II and the love story
of a private on furlough, attempts
to solve the problems of individual
responsibility in mass action-the
guilt of the soldier acting under
orders-and the validity of private
happiness in generalmisery.
On leave from the crumbling
Russian front, Ernst Graeber re-
turns to Werden. Instead of the
settled familiarity he had looked
forward to, he finds another front:
his home in rubbles, his family
gone, landmarks of his childhood
reduced to a. maze of scrap and
bomb craters.
Despairing, Graeber can "no
longer feel appropriate panic, re-
volt, a cry of existence for flight,"
but only "a tugging, cold, imper-
sonal dread." He wanders around
the city searching for his parents
and "something to hold fast to."
Love Like Tree
He finds Elisabeth. In his love
for her, he can feel a second life,
"warmer, more colorful and easier
than his own, without boundaries
and without past, wholly present
and without any shadow of guilt."
They create a microcosmos in the
blasted city rather like the tree
they see brought into forced bloom
by heat from a burning building.
Yet, they marry and seem to
have .some sort of chance for a
normal life in spite of the war.
There is a disturbing emphasis by
Remarque on the idea that if
they could just live for the sake
of life as a tree all the disturbing
problems would dissolve away.
In the meantime, Graeber con-
WAR NOVEL:
Remarque Book Reviewed
tinues prodding his fitful con-
science. Looking for answers, he
visits his old teacher Pohlman,
now fired for his liberal views and
living in a hut in the rubble. An
obvious mouthpiece for Remarque,
he helps Graeber muse on guilt,
makes a few thematic statements
and when no longer needed, is
heroicly hauled off by the Ges-
ta~po.
Function of Pohlman
While perhaps Pohlman is meant
to bring to life his own abstrac-
tions, he is too much an abstrac-
tion himself (kindness - toler-
ance - knowledge) to really act in
the story. "You must believe. In
God and what is good in man."
"When one despairs for a time of
his own coutry, he must believe in
the world."
At the end of his three-week fur-
lough, Graeber returns to Russia,
although he realizes he is only
fighting to enable the state he
hates to prolong its existence. Back
on the battlefield, his certainty in
his love and happiness with Elisa-
beth seems to exaporate.
"He had wanted to put up a
light in order to find his way back,
but he had put it up before the
house was built. He had placed
it in a ruin; it did not adorn it,
it only made it more desolate."
Real Ruin
The real ruin seems to be in the
essential weakness of Graeber, not
in his answer. The only positive
act he can perform, the shooting
of an S. S. sadist and the freeing
of four Russian farmers, is blunt-
ed by being done in a moment of
semi-hysteria, without delibera-
tion.
Shot by the fleeing Russians
with his own gun, in death he
finds peace. But the peace he
winds seems only that of escape
from a problem he, and probably
Remarque, is unable to solve.
The characterizations of a few
party officials, devotees and sold-
iers are sharp and apt. But, Elisa-
beth herself is the tawny, pas-
sionate, fine-spirited abstraction
of femininity always turning up
in the works of male novelists;
and another heroic character, Jo-
sef, is a grim cardboard Jew,
stemnunflinching and unreal.
War Scenes
For the most part, considering
his material, Remarque escapes
the infatuation with scenes of vio-
lence, mangled limbs flying, black-
ened scorched flesh, and ripped
intestines, that overload so many
war novels.
In the sex scenes, though, Re-
marque sometimes lapses into a
type of intoxicated rhetoric like
the following. "He drew her down
to him and the tree was suddenly
there, very big, the tree that reach-
ed for the red sky and its blossoms
seemed very close, and it was the
linden tree and then the earth,
and it arched and became field and
sky and Elisabeth." This is a
meaningless projection, Graeber
staring over her shoulder, at all-
encompossing trees. It's neither
accurate nor poetic.
On the whole, the novel is best
when dealing with the reactions
of its characters to each other,
the sense of loss and confusion,
of despair which permeated Ger-
many. When Remarque attempts
to solve his theme with his mater-
ial, he not only fails to make any
sort of a positive statement, but.
leaves the reader dissatisfied with,
the curiously blurred ending, they
hero dying in unfounded peace,
staring at a flower which repre-
sents it.
-Marge Piercy
EDUARD VAN BEINUM
through Dec. 3. Van Beinum and
the orchestra will travel 5,800 miles
in the 54-day tour, giving 44 con-
certs.
In 1946, t h e Concertgebouw
toured Sweden and Denmark to
thank those countries for their
contributions to the Netherlands
during the famine the previous
winter.
Edinburgh Appearances
The orchestra has appeared
twice at the Edinburgh Music Fes-
tival, in 1949 and 1952, and in 1953
they performed in Germany and
Switzerland.
The Swiss tour was made as a
token of gratitude for the aid of
the Swiss people during the North
Sea floods in 1953, with proceeds
of the tour going to victims of
the flood.
Wednesday's performance in Hill
Auditorium will be the second in
a four-stop program planned for
Michigan. The Concertgebouw will
appear in Detroit on Tuesday and
after their local performance will
play in East Lansing and Grand
Rapids.
Their program here will in-
clude : Beethoven's "Symphony No.
4," Debussy's "L'Apres-Midi d'un
Faune," Escher's "Musique pour
l'esprit en deuil" and Stravinsky's.
"Firebird Suite."
Tickets are available at the of-
fices of the University Musical So-
ciety in Burton Tower.
I I
Artist To Give
Guest Concert
Detroit Music Festival
To Feature Organist
Italy's leading organist, Fernan-
do Germani, will perform as guest
soloist in the Fifth Annual Fall
Music Festival in Detroit.
With performances at 8:15 p.m.
on Oct. 24, 25, and 26, the festival
will be held at St. John's Episcopal
Church, Woodward and Vernor
Highway.
Germani, who is often termed
the "wizard of the organ," has
performed over 300 times in this
country since his American debut
in 1928. His sensational career is
considered an example of Italy's
"current renaissance in the arts."
Child Prodigy
As a child prodigy, Germani be-
gan piano at three, composing at
eight, and became a church or-
ganist in his early teens. At the
age of 25, he took a position as
department head at the Curtis In-
stitute of Music in Philadelphia.
The 48-year-old organist has per-
formed in many churches through-
out the world. In 1947 he played
the complete organ works of Bach,
Franck, and Reger in Rome's mag-
nificent St. Ignatius Church. Sanc-
tioned by Pope Pius XII, this
"first-time" in Italian organ his-
tory was a great success.
Germani is the author of a com-
plete "Organ Method" in several
volumes whichhasrecently been
translated into English. In addi-
tion, he has a great many pub-
lished compositions and record-
ings.
American Tour
Only on tour in the United States,
Germani makes his home in Rome,
where he lives with his wife and
three children.
The festival's musical director,
August Maekelberghe, will conduct
the Oct. 24 program in varied
works for choir, organ and string
combinations. The Oct. 25 pro-
gram will feature Germani in an
all-Bach performance. Included on
the final program, Oct. 26, will be
the premier of Maekelberghe's new
Impromptu-Etude.
By The Associated Press
Republicans have called up their
biggest campaign gun-President
Eisenhower-in an effort to blast
what appears to be a Democratic
trend in the making.
Returning from a two-month
vacation in Denver, the President
stopped off in Indianapolis to
sound the call that will be key-
noted again and again before Elec-
tion Day, just a week from Tues-
day: Elect a GOP Congress to con-
tinue enactment of the adminis-
tration program.
Republican candidates for House
and Senate were saying, "A vote
for me is a vote for Ike," regard-
less of their individual voting re-
cords in support of the President's
program.
Last week's Democratic landslide
in the Alaska territorial legislative
elections added one more straw
against Republicans. The Alaskan
territorial vote his been a baro-
meter of statewide voting trends
for 20 years.
GOP Loss in Maine
Last month, Democrats won the
governorship of Maine and cut Re-
publicansstrength 12 perecent in
what has been considered the
backbone of GOP territory.
Democrats worked hard to capi-
talize on Defense Secretary Wil-
son's remarks about jobless work-
ers and dogs, particularly in areas
where unemployment was a prob-
lem.
The outlook for Republicans on
retaining control of the House and
Senate is dim on the basis of sta-
tistics from previous off-year elec-
tions.
Not since 1934 when Democrats
picked up nine seats has the con-
trolling party gained in an off-
year election.
Since 1922 the ruling party has
lost an average of 45 House seats
in mid-term elections and four
Senate seats.
Small Margin in House
In the House, Republicans now
have a margin of four seats; in
the Senate a margin of three.
Of the 37 Senate seats at stake,
22 are held by Democrats and 15
by Republicans. Maine has al-
ready re-elected Republican Mar-
garet Chase Smith.
Eleven of the 37 seats are in the
Democratic South. Six appear to
be in Republican territory-two
each in New Hampshire and Ne-
braska and one each in South Da-
kota and Kansas.
The balance of power thus rests
in the remaining 20 states which
are closely contested.
Democratic Chances Good
If the Democrats should win in
14 of these races-and they ap-
pear to be running strong-they
would pick up three seats in the
Senate-enough to reorganize it as
I the majority party.
9,
PRESIDENT SPARKS FIGHT:
GOP Candidates Seek Votes
To Support Ike's Program
1'
FI
t
I~i
Due to circumstances beyond our control,
the Brunch and Supper Club
Previously scheduled for today
have been cancelled
Supper Club Will Resume Next Week
',
HILLEL FOUNDATION
1:1f
'V:?.
lace-etched satin brocade
low pointed square neck, a
border trio of pert satin
string tied bows call
attention to the dolt waisted
PERSONALIZED
R CHRISTMAS
CARDS
Order EARLY!
14 companies represented
OVERBECK
a BOOKSTORE
1216 South U. Ph. NO 3-4436
"W" SWEATERS n
for children a
Order now for Christmas C
YARN GOODS 0
All colors for sweaters
and argyles
11
bodice..This sleeveless charmer with trumpet flared skirt
is V-cut at the back to make the most of your.exits.
Belt optional, side seam pockets. Champagne,
Blue, Pink. 7 to 1.
$2445
II
I
I
i