TWOI
T11 MICHIGAN DAILY
TWO THE MICHTGAN nATTY
r Z ..WAZ .5. 1LI £4.
3frp jan rBai#
Sixty-Fifth Year
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
_ UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
STUDENT PUBLICATIONS BLDG. * ANN ARBOR, MICH. * Phone NO 2-3241
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily are written by members of The Daily staff
and represent the views of the writers only. This must be noted in all reprints.
GUN-MOLL MACBETH:
Films, Need
Their Own Writers
THE PLIGHT of the serious fiction writer at- Paleface speak with forked tongue. Medicine
tempting to invade the film field was made man say paleface must die ...
very evident in a motion picture playing in MONSTER FILMS: Think me a supersti-
town over the past week. The movie, "Land of tious 'old fool if you wish, but certain events
the Pharoahs," bore the name of Nobel-Prize- have occurred which lead me to believe we are
Winner William Faulkner as one of the screen dealing with someone-or something-not of
writers connected with the spectacle, this world . . . That's strange, except for these
Filmed in Egypt at a cost known only to two tiny puncture marks on the throat, the
producer Howard Hawks, and employing the body bears not a single sign of violence . .
services of Mohammedan pilgrams on their SOUTH SEA FILMS: How innocent and
way to Mecca, "Pharoahs" was a work con- carefree they are, dancing in the semi-nude,
ceived in circus-tent terms, where the more unhampered by the raiments and inhibitions
the viewer has to see, the better the box office of civilization ... Little Taloo is fast approach-
intake and the more satisfied the customers. ing womanhood. Watch how she does the Dance
Granted that Faulkner only writes screen- of Awakening .. .
UNDERDOG FILMS: People like to push you
plays because he finds the job financially lu- around. You gotta push back. That's Johnny
crative (Edgar Wallace once boasted, "I write ar's mott-push back
a scenario in a couple of days and get paid a LOVE FILMS: Don't tell me this gorgeous
fortune for it"), his attempt at writing a serious creature standing before me nowis the Sally
story of ancient Egypt pointed out rather clear- Bixby T used to know years ago? Don't tell me
ly that some triers have no business whatso- BxyIue oko er gDnttl e
ever In Hollywood: they lack the necessary tal- this is the pug-nosed little tomboy with braces
eve int olyr wrod:theygacdtheinecesary tai-aon her teeth whose pigtails I dipped in inkwells
t for screen writing and their literary posi- in old Miss Pennymire's class in the fourth
tion is enhanced very littleigrade? .. .
Obviously, almost no one will ever know how SCIENCE-FICTION FILMS: Sometimes I ask
much of "Pharoahs' Faulkner wrote and how myself-are we doing right? Should we go on
much his co-workers revamped. But Faulkner with this experiment or should we destroy it
is no dramatist, and his "Requiem for a Num," here and now?
partially conceived in the dramatic idiom, BAD GIRLS (With Hearts of Gold) FILMS:
clearly displayed his ignorance of what makes They call me Rose-shanghai Rose. Parents
good theater were missionaries-killed by bandits when I
Hollywoodi has always been in need of ma- was eleven months old: Been on my own ever
terial to fill its exhaustive production schedule. since ... Men-you're all alkie. Park Avenue
In the past it has turned more often to novels or Skid Row, you all got one track minds-
and established Broadway musicals and dramas and brother! How often I've traveled that
for story matter. But its transcriptions of these track ...
works have.been, for the most part, disappoint- PHILOSOPHY FILMS: Sometimes it makes
ing and ridiculous. Who can ever forget "Hem- you stop and wonder what it-. all about ...
ingway's "The Snow of Kilamanjaro," turned AS PURVIS has pointed out, in rather ex-
into a travelogue for Ava Gardner and Greg- treme form, what Hollywood needs now is
ory Peck; and the unreleased production of not wide screens, new color processes, more
"MacBeth," something in which MacBeth is stars, or a few thousand more extras-but in-
a gangster and Lady MacBeth his gun-moll. telligent screenwriters who turn out mature
As for original screen writing, there is very work.
litle of any sort, although the screen offers an Hollywood does not need plays which are
unlimited world of possibility. Perhaps what prudishly censored, photographed nearly intact
screen writers really need is an expanded hori- with a few extra exterior shots. It does not
zon in which to move, the cessation of censor- need Broadway musicals with additional songs
ship problems that border on the absurd, and and a 15-minute ballet thrown in for good
the realization that the caption "cast of thou- measure. It does not need to be an outlet for the
sands" is not the qnly way to sell a picture. July Book-of-the-Month selection. All of these
HARRY PULVIS, writing in the June-July things have, it is true, been done well at one
issue of "Films in Review," has clearly fo- time or another, but film making is a definite
cused upon this problem in an article entitled, artistic medium, it is not a channel for works
"Sure Fire Dialogue." Writer Pulvis provides conceived for the printed page or the stage. It
some cliched phrases that have haunted cine- has possibilities and limitations that are its
ma patrons since the days of the early talkies. very own. And it is about time that it begin to
A small part of his categorization is provided produce more works that are conceived solely
below: for its own proportions: it needs better writers,
PIONEER FILMS: Rake, you're the only man and it offers to .the talented opportunities for
in the valley who knows this territory well both professional and financial satisfaction.
enough to get the wagon-train through . . . --Ernest Theodossin
CURRENT MOVIES
The Other Summit
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
The Eggheads .. .
To the Editor:
I SHOULD LIKE to make a few
comments about the intolerant
articles and letters that have re-
cently appeared in the Michigan
Daily. All seem to be in favor of
intellectual freedom, and then
give their definition of it. From
this it is apparent that there is
little if any difference between
the Communists, the Fascists, Zi-
onists, ADAer, the CIO, Socialists,
Pacifists, New Dealers; and a
great many professors in the Lit-
erary College who should know
better. They all wish to impose
their prejudice upon society, and
then call it democracy. These
groups are all totalitarian; that is
why they cannot get along with
each other. If any of them ever
gained the upper hand they would
impose a brand of slavery as cold
as the ice of Siberia itself upon
the rest of us.
The eggheads in the Lit School
tell us that intellectual freedom
means a man has the right to be a
Communist. This is sheer non-
sense, for no one has the right to
enslave his fellow man. However,
if one does take the stand that a
person has a right to be a "red"
because of intellectual freedom
then -in order to be conssV m ;e
must grant certain other righ Ls
such as: the right to be a Fascist,
Nazi, McCa'thyite, re ctionary
( l'atever that is) etc. This is
something the liberals, and left
'ingers, etc., (although they m.,
occasionally pay hypocritical lip
service to it) would never grant
Those who cry the loudest for civ-
il liberties, and intellectU il f-ce-
dom de(Nne neither. ro they
would deny octh to others if they
had the power.
It is not surprising that so many
liberals are in favor of co-exist-
ence with the Communists, but
not with the Republicans. They
have more in common +with the
former, and of course dislike them
less.
--Mike Ullanov
9 . 4.*
To the Editor:
THE FOLLOWING bit arose
from an inner feeling of ten-
sion that comes with finals. I hope
that you will consider it for pub-
lication.
IF
(With apologies to Kipling)
If you can keep cool when all
about you
Are cracking up and 'screaming'
all on you.
Or take in stride each examina-
tion
While Schnooks around you get
frustration.
IF you can muster up each nerve
and sinew
Without a capsule of dexadrine
or two,
And still be heavy when comes
the hour
To mark it false instead of true.
IF you can walk with 3.5's
Perceiving things from glassy
eyes,
And still worry not too much
As each second and minute
swiftly flies.
IF you can fill each fleeting
bluebook,
With bull your Prof. has issued
by the ton,
Yours is the course and the three
hours credit in it
And, what is more, you'll get
an '?, my son.
-Maurice Martinez
ti
:.
I l
BOOK REVIEWT
U.S. Defense of Europe
On a Flimsy Foundation
How Not to Write a Play by
Walter Kerr, Simon & Schuster,
244pp, $3.50.
THIS IS a book with a thesis.
It runs something like this:
the theater is dying, it no longer
attracts large audiences; people
are staying away now because in
recent years when they went to the
theater what they saw didn't en-
tertain them; they weren't enter-
tained because the playwrights
didn't want to write about the
things that would entertain their
audiences; and finally, the play-
wrights have chosen not to write
about popular themes because they
are obstinately seeking their in-
spiration in the outdated theater
of Ibsen and Chekov. So, in the
final analysis, it is the playwright
himself who is to blame for the
present state of the theater.
That, in a nutshell, is Mr. Kerr's
answer to the perplexing problem
of the languishing legitimate stage.
From his vantage point as drama
critic for the New York Herald
Tribune he ought to be qualified
to comment with some authority
on the subject.
Certainly the truth of his basic
assumption can be easily demon-
strated. The theater is dying a
slow but recognizable death. In
our immediate area, substantiating
comment was recently made by
Russell McLauchlin, for many
years drama critic for the Detroit
News. In summing up his observa-
tions on this phenomenon, Mc-
Lauchlin writes: "Back at the
beginning of the Great Depression,
there were four - and briefly
five - large and comfortable
theaters in Detroit, housing tour-
Ing attractions all season long,
There were two stock houses .. .
And there was a Keith Circuit
vaudeville theater . . . Those ran
profitably for 50 weeks out of the
52. This was a drama editor's
beat, a quarter century ago. And
what is it now? The downtown
theaters have shrunk to two: the
Cass and the Schubert. Their
season's record, as these lines are
being written in April, is: The
Schubert has been lighted for a
total of 24 weeks, since Labor Day
of 1954, and it has housed 14
shows of all kinds. The Cass, over
the same period, has had the lights
on for 23 weeks and its show
total is 12."
Granted, then, the validity of
the book's premise, what of Mr.
Kerr's placement of the guilt?
In the past, the public, the
producers, the critics, and now
the playwrights have all taken
turns at being singled out as the
cause for the decline of the thea-
ter. Not too long ago, Dr. Carl
Grabo placed the stigma on the
mass audience which demanded
(he argued) constant repition of
formula drama, with only a few
minor plot alterations here and
there. In his scheme, a "creative
critic" would set things right.
Mr. Kerr, however, seems to have
faced up to the problem with
more force and directness, and he
ends up opposing Dr. Grabo's
views. Mr. Kerr's argument sounds
convincing - what's wrong with
the legitimate stage is what is
shown on it.
Once we are in agreement with
this, we have joined Mr. Kerr in a
movement to revolutionize the
theater, to return it to the source
from which, as he points out, it
first emerged and 4ained stature
-the mass audience.
In effect, Mr. Kerr would like
to shut the door op an era, on
a type of play which he claims
has outlived its popularity but re-
mains in vogue among the creators
of drama. Action, emotion, vio-
lence he would like to see returned
to the stage, in spectacular
amounts, these being the basic
things to which an audience faith-
fully responds. Mr. Kerr concludes
that their return would signal the
beginning of a ne wera of dramatic
experience.
How Not to Write a Play is an
important book whose intent is to
accelerate the slackening heart-
beat of the American theater. It
stands as a sizeable contribution
toward the achievement of this
invigorating effect.
-Donald A. Yates
Poliomyelitis has been discussed
in medical iterature since ancient
times. The name stems from the
Greek words polio ("gray") and
myelos ("marrow"), to indicate an
inflamation of the gray matter of
the spine. Since it has s6metimes
involves paralysis and the out-
breaks were largely confined to
young children it was commonly
called "infantile paralysis."
But paralysis is the accident of
polio-the uncommon manifesta-
tion of a common disease. Indeed,
four out of five of us have had
polio without knowing ,it and de-
veloped natural immunity. When
one considers that polio virus en-
ters through the nose or mouth
and leaves by way of the stools,
it is easy to understand how the
disease can be widely transmitted.
Usually the symptoms are no worse
than those of a mild cold.
In very rare cases, the virus at-
tacks nerve cells, destroying them
and short-circuiting the muscles
dependent upon them, causing
them ti wither in paralysis. If the
virus travels upward toward the
brain, it produces bulbar polio,
paralyzing the respiratory and at-
tendent muscles; if it remains in
the spinal cord, the limbs become
paralyzed. No one knows why the
virus occasionally turns crippler,
but we do know that this happens
most often in countries where san-
itary standards are high.
.-The Reporter
Architecture Auditorium
DIAL M FOR MURDER, with Grace Kelly
and Ray Milland.
THE JOYS of seeing an Alfred Hitchcock
movie twice in a short period are decidedly
limited: one can pick up the small tricks of the
director's particular technique, and pay closer
attention to the problem of seeing which scene
Hitchcock will grace with his own portly
presence.. But the story, once known, ceases
to be very interesting, and the acting style de-
manded by Hitchcock is all of a piece.
Dial M for Murder was quite a success on the
stage, and probably an even greater box-office
contender when it appeared as a movie last
year. Like so many of Hitchcock's films, it
rests pretty heavily upon gimmicks and camera
angles. The story is about an aging tennis
star (Ray Milland) who plots the murder of his
wealthy but wandering wife (Grace Kelly), and
about how he fails to pull off the job.
There are minor plots about Miss Kelly's
affaire with an American detective-story writer
(Bob Cummings) and about the history of the
hired assassin, but these do not delay the sus-
pense more than is necessary. The ingenuity
given to the police inspector (John Williams)
is perhaps the most charming part of the film,
though it too smacks of the heavy-handed
methods so often employed by the director.
AS TO THE actors themselves, one continually
wonders about the fame of Miss Kelly. She
has a kind of individuality rare on the screen,
and makes the best of it in all her pictures.
But whether it may be classified as acting talent
is another matter altogether. Miss Kelly gen-
The Daily Staff
Managing Editors ........ ...... Cal Samra
Jim Dygert
NIGHT EDITORS
Mary Lee Dingier, Marge Piercy, Ernest Theodossin
Dave Rorabacher.................... .....Sports Editor
erally wears less make-up, or uses make-up
intended to look like less make-up, and this
constitutes her "naturalness."
Ray Milland and Bob Cummings seem to be
dangerously miscast. Milland is too suspicious
from the start, obviously because he wants ii)
be; his is the sort of mistake that Hitchcock
should have been able to catch right off, ex-
cept that suspicious characters are Hitchcock's
bread and butter. Cummings plays Cummings,
and no director on earth has been able to stop
him from that.
But then, if you haven't seen it yet, Dial M
is a good one-time show.
-Tom Arp
At the State .. .
How To Be Very, Very Popular, with Betty
Grable, Sheree North and Bob Cummings.
DESPITE THE appearance of two under-
clothed, peroxided females, "How To Be
Very, Very Popular" never gets its comic foot
out of a cement vat.
The story of two burlesque cuties (Betty
Grable and Sheree North) who run away from
the scene of Stripper' Cherry Blossom Wang's
murder and hide out in college, "Popular"
attempts to poke fun at the internal workings of
college life, but the material it works with and
the presentation it gives of higher educational
institutions are both too stereotyped to be very
much fun.
Structurally "Popular" relies on old-time-
burlesque routines to spark interest, but it has
been some time since hitting people on the
head with heavy instruments could sustain
laughter and enjoyment. What "Popular" needs
most badly is a few song-and-dance numbers.
It has been advertised with strong emphasis on
its title song, but the only thing musical about
the picture is its heavily-orchestrated stereo-
phonic-sound background, and it remains a low-
budget CinemaScope effort that should arouse,
very little enthusiasm.
Both Miss Grable and Miss North seem ill
By DREW PEARSON
PARIS-The time is approach-
ing when Congress will want
to take a penetrating look at the
flimsy foundation on which is
built our so-called defense of Eu-
rope. If a Congressional commit-
tee sholud probe a little deeper
than shopping tours along the Rue
De Rivoli, lunch at the Ritz and
an evening at the Casino De Paris
it would find a condition of neu-
tralism and fair-Veather friend-
ships that would persuade some
Congressmen we should pull out
of Europe altogether.
This alarming statement is not
Written by one who believes in iso-
lation, but rather by one who be-
lieves the cultural, economic and
friendship ties.with Europe should
never be severed. Defense, howev-
er, is something else again. And
there is no use guarding your
bank or business with a rusty re-
volver in the hands of a night
watchman who sleeps most of the
time and who couldn't bear to pull
the trigger if he did find someone
robbing the place.
This sounds like a. pessimistic
picture. However, here is a fac-
tual report on what the USA faces
in regard to the defense of Eur-
ope:
NATO, the North Atlantic Trea-
ty Organization is a praiseworthy
but none too successful attempt to
make nations work together, whose
main military spark is Gen. Al
Gruenther - brilliant, indefati-
gable commander of NATO's mili-
tary organization. Gruenther has
labored valiantly to whip together
in fact an organization which two
years ago existed only on paper.
He has increased NATO bases
from almost zero to 140. He has
built miles of pipeline to bring
oil and gas to these bases and he
has materially improved the good
will and cooperation know-how of
the 14 NATO nations.
Eisenhower himself would be
the first to say General Gruenther
has done a better job than did he,
Ike.
BENEATH SURFACE
H OWEVER, when you probe be-
neath the surface of NATO's
defenses here is what you find:
1. Most of the 140 bases are Am-
erican, paid for by the USA and
manned by American troops.
2. The French, who were sup-
posed tQ supply the backbone of
NATO's manpower, have fizzled.
Two French divisions which had
been equipped by the USA were
suddenly pulled out of NATO with-
out a word to Gruenther and sent
to North Africa-American equip-
ment and all. Two additional divi-
sions supposed to be mobilized by
the French still aren't. That's four
divisions minus.-
3. The Norwegians are building
NATO bases to protect them from
Russian attack-and they need
protection, for one Russian base,
Lubbeck, is only 26 minutes away.
Bu1t under Nrweg-ian law Ameri-
the "modern" equipment to be or-
dered would be out of date. The
French military budget has not
even been voted for 1955-56.
5. Marshal Tito, with one of the
toughest armies in Europe, has
gone neutral. He did this. after
visiting Premier Nehru of India,
not after the Kremlin leaders
came to Belgrade. It was after
they heard he had gone neutral
that they were encouraged to
come. The Turks rushed to Bel-
grade to urge Tito to go ahead
with the three-power Balkan De-
fense Pact-Greece, Turkey and
Yugoslavia-but he said no.
6. As a result of Tito's neutral-
ism, the Greeks are beginning to
talk about it.
WAVE OF NEUTRAL[SM
7. Neutralism is strong in Ger-
many, the country we are de-
,pending on to. bolster European
defenses. A recent civil-defense
test of German defenses showing
that, as in the United States, Ger-
many was wide open to hydrogen
warfare, brought forth a panic of
neutralist press lament. German
editors wrung their hands over re-
arming Germany, claimed that the
American weapons to be used by
the new German Army were ob-
solete.
The neutralist compaign reach-
ed such a fervor that American
authorities had to drop hints to
the Germans that the "obsolete"
weapons were the same as those
used by American troops in. Ger-
many and if Germany thought
American troops should pull out,
we would be glad to consider it.
After that the hand-wringing
stopped.
But the fact remains that two
world wars plus the dread spectre
of the hydrogen bomb have madek
Europe overwhelmingly neutral-
neutral and pacifist. Sweden is of-
ficially and completely neutral.
The left wing of the British Labor
Party and the German Social De-
mocrats are neutral.
In brief, the Defense of Europe
in case of war would boil down to
the United States, Canada and
England-with the Turks doing
what they could in the Mediter-
ranean.
DIFFICULT ALTERNATIVES
THOSE ARE the facts which any
Congressional committee dig.
ging beneath the surface would
find in Europe.
As to the alternatives and re-
medies, frankly there are no sure-
fire remedies and the alternatives
are not happy ones. Here are some
of them:
A. We could pull out of Europe
altogether, which would turn Eu-
rope very sour and eventually per-
haps Communist.
B. We can try to strengthen our
patchwork quilt of alliances - a
difficult job at best-with only
the British being really depend-
able.
C. We could rely on Eisenhow-
er's new and none too certain pro-
t.- no _ .. i lrt tinnn-- -- 4+1~ Di-
t
r"
'
_,
t
r
.
",Y
DAILY OFFICIAL BULLETIN
The Daily Official Bulletin is an
official publication of the University
of Michigan for which the Michigan
Daily assumes no editorial responsi-
bility. Publication in it is construc-
tive notice to all members of the Uni-
versity. Notices should be sent in
TYPEWRITTEN form to Room 3553
Administration Building before 2 p.m.
the day preceding publication (be-
fore 10 a.m. on Saturday). Notice of
lectures, concerts and organization
meetings cannot be published oftener
than twice.
FRIDAY, JULY 29, 1955
VOL. LXVI, NO. 27
Notices
Regents' Meeting: Friday, Sept. 30.
Communications for consideration at
that meeting must be in the President's
hands by Thurs., Sept. 22.
Veterans who expect to receive edu-
cation and training allowance under
Public Law 550 (Korea G. I. Bill) whose
courses end on July 30 must fill in
monhlynat.fnnfn-XTmVnm 7_10,as
needs Chemists, Chem. Engrs., Phar-
macists, and Physicists.
Parke Davis & Co., Detroit, Mich., has
an opening for an Export Service
Man who is a language graduate with
English and Spanish, and some training
in export or foreign trade and interest
in utilizing the two fields.
Nat'1 Gypsum Co., Detroit, Mich., of-
fers a position to Salemen to work
in the Muskegon district.
Wright Air Development Center,
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio,
is looking for Research Historians.
For further information contact the
Bureau of Appointments, 3528 Admin.
Bldg., Ext. 371.
Lectures
Department of Astronomy. visitors'
Night, Fri., July 29, 8:30 p.m. Mr.
Robert C. Bless will speak on "Radio
Astronomy." Following the illustrated
lecture in 2003 Angell Hall, the Stu-
dent's Observatory on the fifth floor
will be open for telescopic observation
of Saturn and the Moon, if the sky
is clear, and for inspection of the
Pressures on Nucleate Boiling," Sat.,
July 30, 3201 East Engineering Bldg.,
at 10:00 a.m. Chairman, J. T. Banchero.
Doctoral Examination for Hans Paul
Guth, English Language and Literature;
thesis: "Threat as the Basis of Beauty:
Pragmatist Elements in the Aesthetics
of Richards, Dewey, and Burke," Sat.,
July 30, East Council Room, Rackham
Bldg., at 9:30 a.m. Chairman, A. J. Carr.
Concerts
Student Recital. Wayne B. Gard,
graduate student in the School of
Music,a program of compositions for
percussion instruments at 8:30 p.m.
Sun., July 31, in Aud. A, Angell Hall.
He will be assisted by Benjamin Gray,
piano, Frank Baird, Jack Snavely, clari-
net, and Burton Jackson, Alfred Marco
and James Salmon, percussion. Gard
studies percussion with Mr. Salmon,
and presents the recital in partial ful-
fillment of the requirements for the
degree of Master of Music (Music Edu-
cation Instrumental). Open to the
public.