KANSAN REVIEWS
BOOKS: Post-war games
By MIKE SHEARER Arts & Reviews Editor
A very, very modern adventure story about life after World War III, "The Big Win" combines some of the more traditional adventure devices with some of the fantasy techniques used by Hermann Hesse, Terry Southern and William S. Burroughs.
"The Big Win" is about two young men and a young woman who band together to hunt down Suan New York, a Chinese war criminal responsible for many deaths in World War III. He is not being hunted for humanitarian purposes, but rather for gaming purposes, because society after the war is slightly degenerate.
The three hunters come from three different post-war societies. Gerry comes from New York, where everyone is either a Richy or a Poory. Poory Gerry hopes to become a Richy and not face the possibility of being one of the Poories killed by New York Richy games.
Nicole is from Paris which is the center of hedonism and incest. She becomes bored with the parlor games of Paris (patterned after the Marquis de Sade) and decides to see the world via the hunt.
The third hunter is Franky. Retrieved from a hippy colony on Venus where everyone uses enough drugs not to mind the lack of atmosphere. Franky comes back to earth hoping to find that society wasn't as rotten as he remembered it.
The adventure leads the trio through Central America, where they meet strange situations and strange persons, to Mercury, where Suan New York lives among wretched prisoners, all suffering from the most unbearable psychological strains possible.
While Miss Miller's depiction of these three representatives of a world made worse by man is sometimes undynamic, her writing style is never dull. Her imagination is always vivid.
Not a great book, but a good book, "The Big Win" shows enough of the author's talents to let everyone know there is a writer emerging from the imagination we have now seen. Had Miss Miller concentrated a little more on persons and a little less on societies, "The Big Win" might have been her big win.
Best sellers
BEST SELLERS
(UPI)
(Compiled by Publishers' Weekly)
Fiction
THE GODFATHER—Mario Puzo
THE LOVE MACHINE—Jacqueline
Susann
THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN—
Michael Crichton
CARS AND BABIES
AMSTERDAM (UPI)—Holland, with 12.5 million inhabitants, may expect to get more cars on the roads than new babies in the homes. While about 400,000 new passenger cars and commercial vehicles will be sold only 250,000 babies will be born this year, according to statisticians.
Dec. 5
1969 KANSAN 5
THE HOUSE ON THE STRAND
Dunno du Mauleur
THE POUSE    THE STRAND
-Darlene du Maurier
THE PROMISE    Chaim Potok
NAKED AMES    THE STRANGER
-Ponelol Asha
THE PRETENDERS    Gwen Davis
PORTNOY'S COMPLIANT-Philip Roth
THE SEVEN MINUTES-Irving Wallace
A PLACE IN THE COUNTRY-
Johnathan
Nonfiction
THE PETER PRINCIPLE—Laurence
I. Peter and Raymond Hull
Mary Bardell, Jr.
KENNEDY—Mary Barell Gallagher
THE KINGDOM AND THE POWER
Sai Tales
THE KING OF THE PRESIDENT
1968—Theodore H. White
PRIME TIME—Alexander Kendrick
THE SELLING OF THE PRESIDENT
BETWEEN PARENT AND TEEN-AGR—Dr Halm G. Ginott
MISS HBCIES—Jeane Dixon with Rene Neubourger
PRESENT AT THE CREATION—Dean Acheson
AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE—William, "toris, editor-in-chief"
The atmosphere and actualities of the Restoration invade University Theatre with the opening of "The Country Wife" by William Wycherley.
By GENELLE RICHARDS Kansan Staff Writer
With a cast of 34, the play opens Dec. 10 and runs through Dec. 14, directed by Jack T. Brooking, professor of speech and drama
Play to recreate restoration mood
"The plot is very complicated because the people of the time liked them that way," said Brooking. "So it is our job to make it absolutely clear."
The plot revolves around three basic threads, the first of which concerns a middle aged man who decides to settle down and get married. But, since most of the wives in the town "play around" he decides to beat the system by marrying a country girl who will be so happy to live in the city that she won't think about straying.
The second thread involves the rake of the town whose main preoccupation is seducing women. He plans fantastic schemes to seduce the wealthy ladies of the city. One of his schemes includes the creation of a rumor that he caught venereal disease in France and is now a eunuch. So, he has a field day when the men of the town think he is safe to watch over their wives.
The third thread has a man falling in love with the only decent girl in town. But by arrangement of her brother she is to get married the next day.
The leads include: Mr. Herner, William Kuhke, associate professor of speech and drama; Mr. Harcourt, John Myers, Springfield, Ohio, graduate student; Mr.
"It is a brilliant play written for a specific time," said Brooking, "It is necessary to adapt this to modern audiences so there is lots of cutting. We are working for the spirit of the time and not so much for historical accuracy." he said.
Paperbacks
THE SALZBURG CONNECTION, by Helen MacInnes (Crest, 95 cents) - A new thriller, much more sophisticated than the Gothic glut now appearing, in which a young American becomes involved in intrigue in Europe, and of course falls in love with a beautiful woman. This book helps the author keep her standing as a first class writer in this modern spy genre.
Dorilant, Chris Schoggen, Nashville, Tenn., junior; Mr. Pinchwife, Eugene S. Casassa, assistant instructor of speech and drama; Mr. Sparkish, Earl Trussell, Kansas City senior; Sir Jasper Fidget, Peter Clough, Portland, Me, graduate student; Dr. Quack, Art Sloan, Norton sophomore; Mrs. Margery Pinchwife, Irene Ballinger, Shawnee Mission senior; Althea, Onnalee Zimmerman, Ford senior and alternating the part, Debbie Daniels, Leawood senior; Lady Fidget, Rhonda Plymate, Topeka junior; Mrs. Dainty Fidget, Cheryl Burnett, Oklahoma City, Okla., senior; Old Lady Squeamish, Billie Dawn Wolfe, Lomira, Wis., graduate student; Lucy, Molly McCray, Shawnee Mission junior; and Mrs. Squeamish, Cathy McIntyre, Kenilworth, Ill., sophomore.
Costumes are designed by Chez Haehl, associate professor of
December 10,11,12 & 13 8:20 p.m.
University Theatre Murphy Hall
December 14, Matinee at 2:30 p.m.
For Ticket Reservations Call UN 4-3982
Paramount Pictures Presents
Alan L. Polkula
KUCI Production
The Sterile
Cuckoo
Eve. 7:15 and 9:15
Mat. Sat.-Sun. 2:15
THE Hillcrest
speech and drama; sets are designed by James Hawes, associate professor of speech and drama; and lighting is designed by Jerry Davis, visiting assistant professor of speech and drama.
The Film that shocked the readers of Playboy (June issue)
JAMES H. NICHOLSON SAMUEL Z. ARKOFF
by William Wycherley
University of Kansas Theatre
THE COUNTRY WIFE
presents
NIGHT PEOPLE'S SPECIAL Fri. and Sat. Night Only presents "MIRACLE OF LOVE"
Show at 11:45
THE Hillcrest EZ
"Battle of Britain"A Harry Saltzman Production
COLOR BY Technicolor
FILMED IN Panavision
NOW SHOWING
Eve. 7:00 - 9:30
Mat. Sat. - Sun. 2:00
Adult $1.50, Child $.75
"BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID"
HAVE STOLEN THE Hillcrest FOR A 10TH WEEK!
HILLSBURY SHOPPING CENTER, 917-423-0165
Eve. 7:15 - 9:15
Mon Sat - Sun 2:15