Page 2
University Daily Kansan Tuesday, March 13, 1956.
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS by Dick Bibler
'Bridey' Epic—
Nothing New Under Sun
It's official now.
This week's issue of The Saturday Review finally acknowledges the existence of a book entitled, "The Search for Bridey Murphy." One might infer that SR has had to make this concession since the meteoric rise of the tale of the "discovery" of a former Irish existence of Mrs. Ruth Simmons, Denver housewife, under the ministrations of one Morey Bernstein, Colorado businessman and amateur hypnotist.
"Bridley" now leads the nation's non-fiction best-seller lists.
The ramifications of the "Bridey Murphy" epic have been many, and where it will all end, says columnist Bennett Cerf, "knows God." In Oklahoma a teen-ager ostensibly shot and killed himself to "investigate in person" the validity of the theory of reinecarnation.
In southern California a hostess threw a "Bridley party," inviting her guests to "come as you were." A new parlor game reported enjoying great popularity in North Carolina involves turning out the lights, and everyone—no fair cheating, now—guessing his former circumstances during previous incarnations.
Psychologists were hastily recruited to write book reviews, and historians pointed out that this preoccupation with the supernatural world was certainly nothing new to the American scene.
Newspapers across the country are having a circulation field day by serializing the Bernstein story. Publishing houses which missed out on the Doubleday windfall are lamenting their ill luck.
Back in the 1840's and 1850's a great splurge into the occult world took place. Andrew Jackson Davis wrote books dictated while in hypnotic trances. The-Fox sisters, Kate and Margaret, were wowing 'em in New York with demonstrations of seances in which departed spirits "communicated" with the living through rappings, table tippings, and automatic writing.
Comments historian Nelson Manfred Blake in "A Short History of American Life"—"By 1852 several hundred thousand Americans, including some of the most prominent personalities of the day, had become convinced" of the authenticity of the Fox sisters' powers as mediums.
(The sisters later confessed, however, that the rappings were achieved by popping the joints of their big toes under the seance table.)
After the Civil War, the growth of spiritualist religious sects continued as a legacy of the "Fabulous Forties." Robert Dale Owen, once a confirmed agnostic, now wrote such books as "Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World" and "The Debatable Land Between this World and the Next."
With the "Roaring Twenties"—the 1920's, that is—came a roaring new interest in the spiritualist world. Arthur Conan Doyle, pappy of Sherlock Holmes, barnstormed this country offering "spirit photographs" as scientific proof of the supernatural.
Southern California was establishing itself as the focal point of many screwball, many sincere adventures into plumbing the unknown and coming up with strange, new philosophies for living.
The Ouija board was holding countless American families spellbound of an evening while the triangular marker spelled out messages as human fingers communicated the power of "Ouija."
So here we are in the yet-undubbed Fifties, with a "flying saucer" hangover—also supported by photographic "proof"—and the current national binge into the "mystery" of the Bridey Murphy affair.
Just exactly how far this current fad will extend is anybody's guess, but this much is certain: once again the American people are having one whale of a good time.
—Jerry Knudson
News In Review一
Senate Farm Debate Tops Week
Vice president Richard M. Nixon utilized a constitutional provision Friday by casting the vote that unbalanced the Senate's 45-45 tie on 90 per cent price supports on wheat for 1956-57.
In voting against the section, Mr. Nixon rang up another victory for the Republican farm program. A previous victory for the Eisenhower administration occurred Thursday in the Senate when the GOP downed the Democrats 54-14, knocking out the Democratic-backed section of the omnibus farm bill which included high supports on cotton, corn, peanuts and rice.
Interest in the farm bill was reflected in that for the first time in 20 years there was perfect attendance in the Thursday session. One seat, that of the late Sen. Harley M. Kilgore, was vacant. His successor has not been appointed.
Senators Carlson and Schoepel of Kansas both voted for the 90 per cent supports Friday after agreeing Thursday to strike the rigid supports for basic commodities.
Secretary of State Dulles began his 27,000-mile junket to nine Asian countries last week, with attendance at the second council meeting of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization getting top billing. The meeting will be in Karachi, Pakistan.
Also marked for priority was an appointment with India's Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who of late has lent an ear to proposals from Soviet leaders Khrushchev and Bulgain.
Receiving no worthwhile backing from Mr. Eisenhower and even later asked by the President to consider a cabinet position, Mr. Nixon continues to hold an on-the-fence position regarding the vice-presidential nomination.
Mr. Nixon was reported to believe he's being used as the administration's whipping boy as part of a well-defined GOP movement to dump him from this year's ticket. However, a group of Republican congressmen are organizing a Buck-Up-Nixon movement to prevent him from withdrawing from the race.
In Mr. Nixon's favor are his backers, Senators Bridges (N.H.), Schoeppel (Kan.), Goldwater (Ariz.), Capehart (Ind.), Bender (Ohio), Bricker (Ohio), Dirksen (Ill), Mundt (S.D.), Welker (Idaho), GOP National Chairman Leonard W. Hall and Gen. Lucius Clay, close friend of the President.
The election of Sen. John McClellan (D-Akr.) as chairman of the special Senate Lobby Investigating Committee marked the end of a two-week deadlock in court committees. The committee had been unable to reach any agreement on the rules to be adopted for proceedings.
Following the election Gore commented, "I shall undertake to assist and co-operate in every possible way to the end that the committee's probing spear shall not be brother Sen. Styles Bridges (R-NH) was elected vicechairman of the bipartisan special committee.
Committee member Sen. Albert Gore (D-Tenn.) recently agreed to stop his one-man investigation of lobbying after being promised the committee's chairmanship.
Hays attorney Tom Boone, past chairman of the collegiate GOP in Kansas, said endorsement of individual candidates before primaries was discouraged by all Republican organizations, but there is
The Collegiate Young Republicans at Fort Hays State College withdrew their endorsement of Warren Shaw as candidate for governor without the vote of the general group, said John Nickel, the student who made the original endorsement. Nickel said the action was taken by the club's nine-member executive council.
Dr. M. C. Cunningham, college president, made the announcement after Dr. W. D Moreland, the head of the dean, said college policy prevents endorsers from primarys. Cunningham said, "They just made a mistake, that's all."
no constitutional prohibition against such actions. Each group, by its members, governs its actions along this line, he said. Mr. Shaw charged Gov. Fred Hall brought pressure on Fort Hays college officials but Moreland denied the governor or anyone from his office had called the college.
President Eisenhower said both nations "should agree to abide by the United Nations" advice and armistice terms, and avoid initiating incidents so we could get peace started." Eisenhower also said the UN should act quickly in preventing an arms race between the two Near East countries.
A reinforced battalion of marines was ordered into the Mediterranean area last week as Near East tension arising from Arab and Israeli border disputes continued to threaten all out peace in that area.
Soviet Premier Nikolai Bulganin commented "good" and "very interesting" on a letter from Eisenhower calling for a sharp reduction in atomic weapons production. Bulganin said the letter would require much study, though. Apart from Soviet policy of a month ago, the text of the letter was broadcast and appeared in Russian newspapers before a Soviet reply had been prepared.
Other newsmakers: Henry S. Blake, president, publisher and general manager of Capper Publications died Saturday, apparently from a heart attack, while clearing brush on his property in Topeka, Kan.
Four Iowa high school girls spent the week-end in an Independence, Kan., jail as a result of their kidnap hoax which began a large scale manhunt in southeast Kansas and northeast Oklahoma. Former cashier of the Smolan State bank, Raymond Holmquist, pleading guilty to 10 counts of embezzlement, was sentenced to not less than 30 nor more than 500 years in prison. State examiners reported shortages totaling $258,000, much of it representing the life savings of many of the town's 200 residents.
"AWWW COLLEGE AINT TOUGH—IDA GOT A STRAIT
IF IT HADN'T BEEN FOR THAT STUPD SHOP COURSE"
Book Review
Paddy Chayefsky Shines As Capable TV Dramatist
"Television Plays," by Paddy Chayefsky; Simon and Schuster, New York; 1955; 268 pages.
To those professors of drama and literature who haven't even recognized the 20th century, let alone the movies, it will seem presumptuous to devote space to a review of the eloquent television dramas of Paddy Chayefsky. But Chayefsky—while no T. S. Eliot—is making quite a mark for himself these days, with his "Marty" a likely Academy award winner and "Middle of the Night" doing reasonably well on Broadway
So maybe a few paragraphs of praise for "Television Plays" won't be amiss.
"Television Plays" includes "Marty," possibly Chayefsky's best known play; "Holiday Song," "Printer's Measure," "The Big Deal," "The Mother," and "The Bachelor Party." Each is marked by sharp detail, deep understanding of people, and clearly etched vignettes of life, mostly life in the big city.
The plays are not uniformly good, and Chayefyks himself readily admits it. He knows as well as his critics that he has made many concessions to commercial television and that much of his work has been
contrived. But he also has a healthy respect for his better work, not conceive, just respect.
"Marty" is the story of the 35-year-old butcher who feels life slipping away from him and has resigned himself to the fact that he is not going to get married. Along comes a girl who "really isn't such a dog," and Marty finally knows the answer to "whatcha gonna do tonight, Marty?"
Weakest of the group are "Printer's Measure," with narration that becomes rather tedious, and "Holiday Song," the story of a Jewish cantor who regains his faith. The latter is the trickiest and most contrived of the six. But it is still far ahead of most plays being presented on television today, and that may be damning it with very faint praise.
.. Letters ..
"The Mother" is the story of a woman of fierce independence who can't resign herself to living anything but the kind of life she has always lived. "The Big Deal" is a kind of modern-day version of "The Show-Off," and it's a good play. And "The Bachelor's Party" is a discerning examination of married life, with "That Old Gang of Mine" whining away in the background.
Dear Mr. Tice;
This is just a note to let you know that I read your editorial on Friday, February 24, and think it is a splendidly written, truthful, and very useful editorial. I am placing this in my scrapbook of outstanding pieces of Kansas journalism and wanted you to know what a good job I thought it to be
John E. King, President
John E. King, President Kansas State Teachers College of Emporia
(Editor's Note: Mr. King's note which we have taken the liberty of printing as a letter, refers to an editorial headlined. "Let's Not Be Wedges" in which Tice, Kansas City, Kan., junior, stressed the divisive character of the integration issue.)
The old Governor's Mansion in Frankfort, Ky., that served as the residence of Kentucky governors for 116 years, is being renovated this spring for use as an official residence for the lieutenant-governor.
A schoolboy in Texas wrote the Iowa Development Commission for information about Iowa this way: "Howdy: Please favor me with your 'brags' as to your state."
—C. M. Pickett
UNIVERSITY DAILY hansan
University of Kansas student newspaper
Founded 1889, became biweekly 1904,
triweekly 1908, daily Jan. 16, 1912.
Telephone VIKing-2309
Extension 251, news room
Extension 376, business office
Member Inland Daily Press Association.
Associated Collegiate Press. Represented
Admissions Service. Postgraduation Service,
Madison Avenue, New York, NY.
service: United Press. Mail subscription
rates: $3 a semester or $4.50 a year. Pub-
lisher: Every every afternoon during the University.
Saturdays and Sundays, University holidays,
and examination periods. Entered
second-class matter Sept. 17, 1910; at
Lawrenceburg, post office under act of
March 3, 1879.
NEWS DEPARTMENT
Marlon McCoy... Managing Editor
Larry Hell, John McMillion, Harry Elliott, Jane Pecinovsky, Assistant Managing Editors; Barbark Bell, City Editor; Assistant Editor; David Webb, Tele媒 Editor; Daryl Hall, Assistant Tele媒 Editor; Ann Kelly, Society Editor; Felecia Fennberg, Assistant Society Editor; Kent Tewksbury, Sports Editor; Bob Lyle, Assistant Sports Editor; John Stephen, Picture Editor
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
BUSINESS DEPARTMENT
Jim Wlens Business Manager David Cleveland, Advertising Manager; Dick Hunter, National Advertising Manager; Griffith, Circulation Manager; Wilt Basket, Classified Advertising Manager; Clifford Meyer, Promotion Manager
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
Sam Jones  Editorial Editor
Dick Walt, Jerry Knudson, Associate
Editors.
2.14