THE MICHIGAN DAILY THURSDAY, JULY 15, 1937 _________________________________________________________ I _--- ----'- .A- First Lady, a comedy by Katherine Dayton and George S. Kaufman. Presented by the Michigan Repertory Players, under the direction of Valentine B. Wndt. Settings by Alexander Wyckoff. Cos- tumes by Evelyn Cohen. At the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre. By JOSEPH GIES This frothily amusing little play is fortunately more than a satiric glimpse of behind-the-scenes Washington. It is quickly apparent that the Dayton influence in the authorship was properly salted down with the never-miss Kaufman com- edy technique. The result is a theatre piece of just enough punch to make good entertainment -in the hands of a capable cast. And the cast, led by Sarah Pierce and Virginia Frink Harrell, does an excellent job with pre- cision and confidence, and succeeds in bringing out the best in the play's good lines as well as managing to hold up the weak ones, which are somewhat in evidence during the first act. To Miss Pierce, who in the role of Lucy (Alice Roosevelt) Chase Wayne, gives that feminine character a certain robustness which furnishes a unity for the entire vehicle, and to Miss Frink, whose portrayal of the classicly hypocritical Irene Hibbard makes a rather typed character vicious- ly and satisfyingly authentic, must go the lion's share of the laurels. If either of these parts had developed the slightest touch of amateurish in- sipidity the the comedy would probably have been sickening, but both of them succeed in sustaining that charged atmosphere so essential to light comedy without break. But the excellency of the leading parts by no means overshadows several really brilliant per- formances in the minor parts. Nancy Bowman, as the president of the Women's Peace, Purity and Patriotism League, the show's approximation of the D.A.R., which can always be counted on for a laugh, does her usual fine work in what is doubtless her funniest role. Betty Spooner, with another part that might easily fall into the rut of triteness, the southern ingenue, is deftly and appealingly humorous. Edward Jurist handles a straight sympathetic role as Secre- tary of State Wayne with sufficiency, while Law- rence Olson is pleasant as the bluff and western Senator Hardwick, but chief masculine honors must go to Charles Harrell for getting everything possible out of the part of Ellsworth T. Ganning, nom de piece for William Randolph Hearst. Richard Orr is convincingly Babbittesque As Su- preme Court Justice Hibbard, offered the nomin- ation for presidency. Other minor parts are uniformly well done. ITHLE FORUMI Letters published in this column should not be construed as expressing the editorial opinion of The Daily. Anonymous contributions will be dsregarded The names of communicants will, however, be regarded as confidential upon request. Contributors are asked to be brief, the editors reserving the right to condense all letters of more than 300 words and to accept or reject letters upon the critera of general editorial importance and interest to the campus. John Q. Public Speaks To the Editor: Allison Ind's editorial of the July 9th issue of Ind-X should be answered by at least one mem- ber of "old John Public" whose attitudes he wil- fully misrepresented. He identifies "John Pub- lic" with "vigilance committees, law-and-order groups, battling Tom Girdlers . . ." Unfortunately he is partly right, for some members of John Public are happy to be identified with such extra- legal groups. But shame be to any intelligent or even literate individual who assumes that we are all that sort. The principles of democratic action have taken hold on some of us. Allison had better not overlook the fact. Unless we, John Public, should once more for- get the lesson we have been laboriously learning, that a capitalistic industry allowed to resume its romping "all over the ring" will inevitably again precipitate a depression, we are not all going to join with the Allison Inds in vigilante organiza- tions. Some of us believe our governor has acted with much more wisdom in his use of the National Guard to present brutal action on either side than would be shown if he were to follow Mr. Ind's manifest wish to call it out to abet unreg- ulated industry and its vigilantes. We have been encouraged by the accomplishment of labor in biting deeply into the earning of General Motors, as Mr. Ind put it, because we believe that labor must get more than mere nibbles of the profits from their own and the corporation's earning power if more depressions are not to be en- countered. But to express this conception of the cause of depressions is to be platitudinous, be- cause it has long since filtered into the public consciousness. If Mr. Ind wants to risk encouraging "snarling in the pack," just let him try to herd us into his vigilantes. -Elmer Akers. Our School Of Education To our Editor: I should' hesitate to define what is meant by "news," but I am sure the following item, which appeared in The Daily of July 13th, is NOT "news": "Forty-four books and 22 articles have been written by members of the staff of the School of Education since the begnnning of 1935, the school's monthly bulletin, off the press yesterday, revealed. The books total 10,980 pages, and the articles total more than 1,146 nave. mking ltogefnrther 12.126 nages." On The Level By WRAG SCENE: Downtown drug store. Characters: a middle-aged Negro woman, and a man, ap- parently her husband. The action took place around the penny weight machine in the store, where the huge colored lady mounted the scale and inserted her cent. Meantime, her husband had quitely slipped up from behind and placed his foot on the scale also. When the penny clinked and the arrow started on its long trail around the figures, the man pressed down with his foot. "Lawd," said the woman, "I knowed ah was gainin' weight, but dis is de fust time ah evah put on thuhty pounds in one week!" We wanted to tell her about the extra foot on the scale, but her husband was enjoying his little joke too much. WE RAN INTO a peculiar sign on the out- skirts of Ann Arbor yesterday. A none too imaginative bill poster had glued a political plug- ger on to a real estate sign-board, and the results were quite humorous. By reading the entire sign, one gets the fqllowing buildup, which ought to have reelected the politician very easily: RE- ELECT JUDGE TO THE PROBATE COURT-HOT AND COLD RUNNING WATER - NATURAL GAS - ELECTRICIT Y--PAVED STREETS. * * , , PLEASE PARDON the above "chestnut," but it helps to lead us onto the next in- cident which happened when Shakespeare's "Othello" was playing on Broadway. A huge electric sign was advertising the play above the New York skyline, and one night a short circuit put out the lights in the letters "T" and "O," thus leaving the shocking phrase "O HELL" starring down at New Yorkers from the heighth of some hundred feet. * * * * WHILE GETTING a book signed out of the Main Library last night, we noticed a stu- dent who was obviously in the middle of an all- week inebriation. He tottered over to the files, filled out at least 10 blanks, and then meandered over to the circulating desk to wait for the books he had ordered. He could hardly stand up, but when the nine or 10 books came at his call, he tediously piled them into his arms, and bravely staggered out of the place. We wonder how he will feel when he comes to sometime today to find about 10 library books piled up around him. * * * * CURIOSITY got the best of us yesterday when we saw a woman write a note and pin it to the mail-box at the corner of Washtenaw and South University. After she had driven off, we sneaked down to the mail-box, cautiously looked around, and then read the paper attached. It read- * * *I * "Mailman, I dropped my driver's license in the mail- box by mistake. Will you please send it to: Gloria Rettich, 536 Walnut St., Ann Arbor, Mich." We hope Miss Rettich doesn't mind us reading her notes, but we couldn't resist. We also hope she gets her license back before they ,pinch her for driving around without one. SINCE OUR LITTLE ITEM on the adjacent A furrier and dog and cat hospital in Dearborn, Mich., we have received contributions on several funny signs, etc., that have been spotted. One turned in to us concerned a sign that hangs on McNichols Rd. in Detroit. It merely says, HARRY ARMZ-CARPENTER. %f I. * * W ITH MID-SEMESTERS coming up only too soon, we thought we'd borrow the following attempt at poetry from the University of Illinois newspaper: JE ME LAMENTE Oh, if I'd less joie de vivre, If only I'd cracked a livre, Quite a few less tall libations, Several self-imposed privations- There'll be rumblings from le pere, And blurby blurbings from la mere, A note brule-pourpoint from the dead, A tearful adieu from the queen. Now I'm full of peur de vivre, All I do is read my livres. La raison for these lamentations? Zaminations! Zaminations! ten 12,126 pages"-as if the duty of the teacher was to keep the wheels of the press grinding, instead of the wheels of the students' minds, or of his own. This item is not "news" because it is an ad- vertisement. As an advertisement it has its value-and the School of Education well knows it. It advertises that the staff of the School of Education is "up and coming," "on its toes," and concerned with greater things than merely teach- ing teachers how to teach, let alone what to teach. Third, the item is not "news" because it is scandal. It should have been suppressed at i+s source; since it wasn't, The Daily committed a breach of good taste in casting before the public eye the sins and weaknesses of some other per- son-or department. In another sense, however, The Daily was certainly justified in printing the item--it is, I take it, a sign that The Daily has not stopped crusadng for what is worthwhile and honest; that it has not stopped telling the DAILY OFFICIAL BULLETIf Publication in the Bulletin is constructive notice to all members of the University. Copy received at the office of the Summer Session, Room 121 A. H. until 3:30; 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. !' At 4:05 p.m. this afteernoon Dr. H.I of the Theory of Probability." C. Hutchins of the Staff of the Edu- ______ cational Policies Commission of the Linguistic Luncheon Confer National Education Association will Dr. Zellig Harris of the Univers speak on "The Significance of R - Pennsylvania will speak at cent Reports Relating to America s p.m. today at the Michigan 1 Youth Problem." The lecture will be on "The Alphabet and its Re in the Auditorium of the University to the Morphologic Structure o High School. mitic." Non-members of the The 5 o'clock lecture in the Na- tute are invited also to the lun tural Science Auditorium will be by at 12:10 p.m. Prof. Clark Hopkins. His subject' _I will be "Parthian Influence in Far Graduate Students in Educe Eastern Art," and will be illustrated. Students who have completed at - -one term of graduate study ar Michigan Repertory Players: "First dially invited to a tea to be hel Lady" will be presented tonight in afternoon between 5 and 6 p. the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre at the University Elementary S 8:30 p.m. This comedy will continue Library. through Saturday night. There are still a few good tickets available for A luncheon for the Women's all performances. The theatre box cation Club will be held Friday office is open daily from 10 a.m. to at the Women's League. Each 9 p.m. son should get her lunch in the -- teria and take it to the Alcove Luncheon Department F: There Dining Room. All women ii will be a luncheon for all students School of Education as well as enrolled in Department F courses at interested in Education are inv the Michigan Union today, at 12 o'clock. Dean Edmonson will speak All wives of students and in to the group. are -cordially invited to a tea given by the Michigan Dames Stalker Hall: Swimming party and Garden Court of the Mi picnic today. Meet at Stalker Hall League, Friday, July 16. 3:30 at 5 p.m. Please make reservations p.m. before noon by calling 6881. Small The activities of the Mi charge for supper. In case of rain Dames, an organization of wi we will remain at Stalker Hall. University students, give max - --opportunity to become acqua Southern Club: Miss Ethel Mc- During the Summer Session Cormick, Social Director for the will be bridge parties every W Summer Session, will entertain the day afternoon and several fami members of the Southern Club at a nics. The time will be announ watermelon cutting in the garden the Daily Bulletin. of the Michigan League at 7 p.m. this evening. All Southerners on the Public Evenings at Angell Ha campus are cordially invited to be servatory: The 10-inch refractc present. the 15-inch reflector, locatedc fifth floor of Angell Hall, w hemisry oloquium4wl mmet available for Summer Sessior this afternoon at 4 p.m. in Room 303 dents from 8 to 10 .p.m. l Chemistry Building. Prof. O. K. Rice evenings during the current s of the University of North Carolina These evenings are: will be the speaker. Subject: "Re- marks on the Liquid State and the Theory of Fusion.C a H.M.S. Pinafore: Final tryouts for all those interested in principal parts in this operetta will be held on Thursday afternoon at 5 p.m. in the Place advertisements with Clas Mendelssohn Theatre. Chorus re- Advertising Department. Phone The classified columns close at hearsals will continue as scheduled o'clock previous to day of insert with the exception of Thursday. All Box numbers may be securedi parts, principal and chorus, will be Cash in advance only ic per re cast by the end of the week. line for one or two insertions. 10 a iin lin tnthrpnrm n inC~ N1 3 ence: ity of 12:50 Union lation of Se- Insti- cheon cation: t least "e cor- d this, m. in School Edu- noon h per- Cafe- of the in the those ited. ternes to be in the chigan 0to 5 chigan ves of my an ainted. there ednes- ly pic- ced in ll Ob- or and on the will be n stu- seven; ession.' Friday, July 16. Saturday, July 17. Friday, July 23. Friday, July 30. Friday, August 6. Friday, August 13. Saturday, August 14. On the first two and last two eve- nings, the moon will be shown in both telescopes; on the intervening three evenings Jupiter, Mars, and double stars will be shown as available. Take the elevator to the fifth floor of Angell Hall. It is useless to come, of course, on stormy evenings or when the sky is entirely overcast; limitations of space make it neces- sary to restrict attendance to those enrolled in the Summer Session. In addition, the staff of the De- partment of Astronomy will be at home to Summer Session visitors from two to five p.m. on Thursday, July 29 and Thursday, August 5, for the benefit of those who desire to in- spect the apparatus in the Univer- sity Observatory, located on East Ann Street, just in front of the University Hospital. Women Students in Department F: All graduate and undergraduate women students majoring in Depart- ment F. course are cordially invited to attend a supper at the Women's Athletic Building on Saturday eve- ning, July 17 at 6:30 p.m. Reserva- tions most be made by Friday eve- ning at Barbour gymnasium. Swimming: The Physical Education faculty is sponsoring an open swim- Saturday evening from 8 until 9 p.m. Both men and women students are invited. Students, College of Engineering: Saturday, July 17, will be the final day for dropping a course in the Summer Session without record. Courses may be dropped only with the permission of the classifier after conference with the instructor in the course. A. H. Lovell, Secy. Phi Lambda Upsilon: There will be a picnic for all members on the cam- pus this summer on Saturday after- noon, July 24. Members of other (Continued on Page 3) d DirectoryJ ssified 2-3241. Lt five ion. at no ading Oc per ting FOR RENT reading lne or t ree or mored nserton. (on basis of five average words to line). FOR RENT: Cool first floor adjoin- ing rooms for two or three girls or young couple. Also single room and garage. Cooking and laundry priv- ileges is desired. Continuous hot water. 426 East Washington. Phone 8544. LOST AND FOUND LOST: Kappa Delta sorority pin. In- itials M.S.A. Reward. Call Betsy Barbour House, 2-2591. . .626 Mathematics Club: Summer Ses- Minimum three lines per insertion. sion students are invited to attend the meeting of the Mathematics Club LAUNDRY on Thursday, July 15, at 4:30 p.m., in Room 301,7 Angell Hall. Professor LAUNDRY. 2-1044. Sox darned; Copeland will speak on "Foundations Careful work at low price. 1x 11 11