Friday, February 10, 1978
University Daily Kansan
Staff Photo by TIM ASHNER
Trite love
"In honor of the occasion we wrote you a song. We got it from the screen, so it can't be wrong." Cast members make fun of title love songs in a scene from "Gershwin. They are: (top to bottom) Dong Appleff, Falls City, Neb., sophomore; Judine Deltes, Wakeeen junior; Anne St. Pierce, Chicago freshman; and Greg Hunt, Chicago freshman.
A taste of metropolitan madness will come to the University of Kansas Thursday when SUA presents "Gershwin," a musical revue of the lives and music of George and Ira Gershwin.
'Rhapsody' tops Gershwin revue
By PAM EKEY
Entertainment Editor
"We're doing a 1970s version of a 1920s musical review," said Howard Collinson, Lawrence senior and fine arts representative to the SUA Board.
representative to
representatives.
The show also include 25 songs composed by George
Gershwin with lyrics by Iris Gershwin. Those pieces represent
the best of the Gershwins' work, Lambrinny Hedge, one of
the directors, said.
The revue includes Gershin favorites such as "Foggy Day," "Fasinatin" Rhythm, "Embraceable You," and "Rhansody in Blue" on the piano.
THE SONGS for the revue were selected from more than 1,000 pieces composed by George Gershwin during his lifetime. Hedge said the production started when he was 25 and that she thought were the most representative of his work.
Collinson said that George wrote the music first and gave it to Ira to write the lyrics.
"So the music by George and the lyrics by Ira combined to make Gershwijn," he said.
to make Gershwin he said the Gershwin fascinated him because they were cherished by the creators could be.
George was an egomaniac who would play the piano for hours at a party, whether the host asked him to, Collinson said. Isa was a quiet man who preferred to stay at home and read.
COLLINSON SAID the SUA production would weave the songwriters' music with their personalities.
the music is loosely connected by dialogue. Collinson said there is no plot, the dialogue attempts to evoke an image in the listener.
Directors Hedge and Anne Abrams wrote the script. All the dialogue is taken from quotes made by or about the
"The whole show could be footnoted," she said.
Although "Gershwins" has no definite plot, it does have a purpose, Collison said. That purpose is to tell a little about the Gershwins, as well as provide an evening that is "just fun."
"Gershawin" is loosely centered on city life. All the scenes have city settings—the theater, streets, parks and storefronts. The scenes form a chronology of George Gershawin's life and his success, climbing with "Rhapody in
"THE THING I like best about Gershwin is that he had the ability to make him of his own work," Hedge said.
One section of "Gershwain" is devoted to his love songs, including "Blah Blah, Blah Blah," that makes fun of every song that he sang.
Abrams and Hedge grew up in Brooklyn, where the Gershwins also grew up. The two received their M.A.'s in theater at the University of Kansas, and are on a leave of absence from Uptown Dinner Theatre in Wichita to produce the show.
They both call themselves Gershwin fanatics. They said they began planning this show a year ago, after producing their own material.
Collinson said that the KU production was the only revue of Gershwijn music that was being done in the United States. "Warner Bros. Music told us they're not in the habi of giving out the rights, but for us they'd make an exception," he
COLLINSN SAID that KU probably received permission to use Gershwih's music because the production is not professional. SUA chose the Gershwih revue, Collinson said, because it had not been done before.
"Gershwin is a uniquely American composer," he said. "He wrote in almost every musical style."
"Gershwin" will perform at 8 p.m. Thursday at the Wooldorf Auditorium in the Kankakei site and at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Kankakei site.
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Cast, members include Sean Murphy, Topea senior; Chris Kahler, Lawrence graduate student; Judith Dinees, Wakeeney, Lawrence graduate student; Jennifer senior; Doug Fells, Falls City. Neb., sophomore; St. Anne, Sr. and Greg Hunt, St. Charles, III., freshmen.
Arts & Leisure
The University of Kansas Chamber Music
Series will present the Montagnana Trio in
two concerts on Monday and Sunday in Swarth-
ford at 3:30 p.m. Sunday and 4 p.m. Monday.
Concerts scheduled by Montagnana Trio
Raymond Stuhl, professor emeritus of performance, said the Montagna Trio is one of the few successful trios that has specialized in a clairinet trio repertoire. The group also specializes in performing recent compositions and has been involved with new Music Foundation to commission new works. Fifteen composers have written works for the trio.
This activity has led to the group's receiving grants from the American-Scandinavian Foundation and the Rockefeller Fund for Music.
The group is composed of John Gates, clarinet, Caroline Worthington, cello, and Delores Stevens, piano. Stevens is a 1952 KU graduate.
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
This Week's Highlights
Exhibits
The 767 GALLEY will feature the sculpture of William Crittain beginning tomorrow. A reception will follow.
Concerts
THE LAWRENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY is featuring four exhibits throughout the month of February by Lubia March; watercolors and silken tapestries by Jude Embrey; Carmine Cormby and weaving by Diane Engle.
THE KANSAS UNION GALERY has native American Costume Art on display from Feb. 20.
THE HELEN FOREMAN SPENCER MUSEUM OF ART
Holds artworks from the East Room and Paintings from the Collection in the Raymond
Museum.
NORMAN PAIRE, GEEN, will present a faculty recital at the Iowa State, toward Recital Hall. HARVARD NORMAN
STILL WATER will appear at night at the Rock Pavilion in Kuala Lumpur.
THE MONTAGNA TRIO will perform at 3:30 p.m. Sunday and at 8 a.m. on Wednesday in Baworthville.
Visiting artists
"This isn't supposed to be a teaching experience, really," Kuzmanovic said, "This is supposed to be enjoyable. We would like people to come in and enjoy the. interplay of colors and design in contemporary Indian art."
Kreipe and Kuzmanovic said they hoped the photographs and objects in the exhibit would be appreciated by students.
Polyester, velvet and felt, for example, are substituted for the traditional hand-woven and home-dyed cloth. Glass and plastic beads sometimes replace ornaments of pottery or bone. Fabric is obviously done by hand, is now made easier by sewing machines.
Kreipe, who is part Potatowati Indian, said that she and Kuzmanovic hoped to show that Indian art, instead of being outmoded by technology, has thrived on recent innovations in machinery and fabric production.
American Indian display features varied techniques
modern materials and techniques were combined with ancient North American Indian designs to create the colorful dresses, cloaks, headpieces and toys currently on display in the Kansas Union Gallery.
The various robe-shawls and ribbon-boners in the display are examples of the harmony between the old and new. The diamonds, triangles, concentric circles and snake patterns commonly seen in Indian work are present, but the lines are crisper and the corners are sharper than the sewing machine. Free from the distraction of uneven edges and loose threads, the eye is able to clearly see the rhythms and proportions of the design.
THE ARTWORK on the clothing does not suffer from these changes. The brighter colors and improved craftsmanship enhance geometrical geometric patterns in the pieces.
Reviewer
All of the objects displayed were made by members of the Lawrence Indian community and are worn by their designers on special occasions.
The objects are part of a show produced by Marty Kreipe and Natala Kuzmanovic, Lawrence seniors. The show opened Feb. 6 and will run until Feb. 18.
The Montagnana Trio will perform at 3:30 p.m. Sunday and at 8 p.m. Monday in Swarthout Recital Hall. They are: Caroline Worthington, cello; John Gates, clarinet, and Delores Stevens, piano. Stevens is a 1952 KU graduate.
By SARAH ILES
The robe-shawls and ribbon-bones are made of polyester and felt. The tomato paste is mixed with the robes.
The photographs were taken to accompany a book Mason is writing with Larry Emerson, a graduate student in Albuquerque, N.M. "The Navaho History Book" will document the daily life, the traditions and the history of the Navahos.
The jacket was made of one-fourth inch to one-inch square pieces of colored cotton sewn together in mosaic patterns reminiscent of Indian pottery designs. Store-bought ric-rac was added between the lines of the patterns.
fabrics glow more brilliantly and last longer than would the hues obtainable in home dyes.
Two pieces of twine, each a foot long, hang from a chunk of wood. Dangling from each piece of twine are small, drum-like objects covered with the fur and bends. Although its appearance is unusual, it is 90 x 90 cm and is used in a game involving the swirling or balancing of the drums.
MINE WAS combined with purple velvet, purple glass beads and pink seashell disks by Patricia Bird, 1306 W. 22nd Terrace, to create a pair of assinine Soxi hair ties.
AN ESKIMO YO-YO covered with short-haired fur and small glass beads is one of the more unusual objects on display. The yoyo was made by Linda Benda, 1923 Tennesse
The Montagnana Trio is affiliated with the Columbia Concert Series in Los Angeles. Stuhl said the trio averaged about 75 concert dates each year.
A Creek Seminole patchwork jacket,
made by Luther Narcomey, 2820 Barker
Court, is another successful juxtaposition of
old and new.
*Photographs of Indian life taken by Gary
Brown, professor of journalism,
also on display.
Since its inception 10 years ago, the trio has made five European tours, seven tours of the United States, radio and television appearances in seven countries, has recorded three record albums and has performed more than 500 concerts.
Stuhl said the concert was part of an effort by the School of Fine Arts to have successful KU graduates return to the school to perform.
NAZARETH & WET WILLIE and SAMMY HAGAR
The Montagnana Trio will play three major works during their concerts here. Grand Trio, opus 36, by Anton Eberl was composed in 1806. Johannes Brahms wrote two vocal and "Concerto Three," was written especially for the Trio in 1877 by Paul Cooper.
will appear Sunday at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Ct.
You will also have a chance to attend a Tuesday at the Uptown in Kansas City.
Theatre
TRANSMORPHIA, dance theater interpretation
of the musical "Avenue Q." on Saturday and
Saturday in the William Ion Theatre. Murphy
Tickets for the Montagana Trio's performances are on sale in the University Theatre Box Office in Murphy Hall. All seats are general admission and cost $3.
GERSHWIN opens at 8 p.m. Thursday in Wood-
ford Auditorium in the Kansas Union.
Nightclubs
J WATSON's will present Limousine tonight and tomorrow. Shopping Stars will appear Thursday.
THE LAWRENCE OPERA HOUSE will have the Port County Pork and Bean Bain Brewing Company on Wednesday.
the 77TH SPRING club of the Lawrence Opera trio with pianist Jack Caron later, and Bob Gessner
Lectures
The Unavailable and the Unspeakable: Language and Society in Literature” will be the topic of AY MARTIN at 8 p.m. Tuesday in the Forum Room of the Kansas Union.
Laws don't stop movie collectors
By JERRY JONES
Staff Writer
For "Star Wars" enthusiasts who would like to have their own copies of the film, videotape copies and $1mm reprints can be purchased for about $50 each. There is a phone number for about $50 each.
It's against the law.
Yet the risk of arrest would not be enough to deter an ardent film collector from getting the movie he wanted, according to a group of lawyers who identified and will be referred to as "Jaws."
"I know a few (film collectors) who say, 'I can't do anything,' he said. They all may price it."
Because "Star Wars" is a hot picture and closely watched by the 20th-Century Fox legal department, it is not a high priority item for the typical collector right now.
"He'd like to have one," Jaws said, "but he knows how grossly illegal it is."
negal or not, collecting motion pictures for private use has become a growing national pastime. Jawaharlal Nehru National Park, 150,000 people are collectors in the United States.
Other films can be purchased because the producers have sold the rights to the film to private distributors, allowing the film to be copied and sold.
But most collectors do not limit themselves to legal films. They have their collective eye on other classics, and those choice films remain the property of the producing
some films are perfectly legal to own and exhibit, he pointed out. These include films in the public domain—mainly films with exoried copyrights.
WHEN A FILM becomes surplus, or becomes so scratched and spliced that it is not desirable for theater audiences, it is never sold. It is destroyed.
WHAT BOTHERS these collectors is that many of the choicest films are not legally obtainable. That they are collected in spite of that. That Jury Jaws preferred to remain anonymous.
Usually, the surplus film is shipped to Film Salvage in Mountain City, Tenn., where the film is meted out and then distributed. By intercepting these junked films before they hit the
Native dress
An unidentified spectator tried to get a better angle while he looked over the Indian garments on display in the Kansas University Gallery.
All of the garments are made of modern materials using modern machinery. They are owned and worn by Indians living in the Lawrence area.
The reason, Jaws suggested, is that col-
made by the foreign to the ranks of the
military industry.
melting vats, collectors can obtain the pictures they want.
Jaws said the studies took two positions on film collectors. Officially and legally, the studios are opposed to film collectors. Unofficially, they often look the other way.
"You'll find a good number of people in the film companies are film collectors," he said. "I'd say a good 60 percent of the people who watch films are in Los Angeles, have film of their own."
"Jack L. Warner (studio head of Warner) has probably the biggest collection in the work."
BUT OFFICIAL policy is based upon a very real fear—the fear that someone may pirate a film, duplicate it and distribute it in foreign markets. Estimates from the film industry on losses because of unauthorized distribution have ranged as high as $2 billion.
What prompted the investigation, Jaws said, was a sudden reversal in attitude by the studios brought on by blatant wheeling and dealing.
"That's bull," Jaws insisted. "They might lose as much as $20 million or $30 million."
Nevertheless, the studios backed an FBI crackdown on film collectors three years ago, which was designed to curb the loss of revenue.
Until 1974, the film companies had largely ignored the collector. As a result, the results of the survey were
"For a while, the people in (Mountain City) Tennessee were selling film," he said. "They were getting this junk film down and getting together good prints and selling them."
"THE FILM COMPANIES got wind of it because they (Mountain City) got greedy."
THE FBI, using mailing lists obtained from dealers of legally collectible films, began to seek out collectors and confiscate films.
Jaws took no chances with his own collection, which he normally kept in his home.
"I buried it," he said.
Today, he noted, the FBI seemed to be making a distinction between the collector and the film pirate. A profit motive is the key to that distinction.
Still, Jaws is not yet confident enough of the PHT distinction between collector and player.
The main worry in getting caught is loaing a collection, "Once you lose it", Jaws said.
The BI, a collector may be okay with the TBI, he said but that doesn't mean they're怕痛. "I don't want to hurt him," he said.
So he maintains a low profile with his collection, protecting his investment, which includes a stereophone print of "West Side Street" and has refused an offer of $2,000 for the film.