University Daily Kansan
Monday, Sept. 28, 1970
5
Folksinger Displays Versatile Style
By MELISSA BERG Kansan Reviewer
When Beth Scalet launched into her first song at the SUA Middle Earth Coffee House, Fri, and Sat. night, an approving audience disagreed with her dubious response to her introduction, "I don't know if an audience has ever enjoyed hearing me before."
During 3 forty-five minute performances, starting at 8 p.m., her rich, intense voice played a versatile range from low, talking whispers to heavy, full tones, and punctuated the semi-darkness of the Prairie Room in the Kansas Union.
Throughout her performance, which included some of her own arrangements as well as those of other popular folk singers, Miss Scalet showed remarkable tonal control. Soft and loud passages were delivered with equal clarity. An intense emotional restraint was characteristic of her style, as she criss-crossed the
gamut of involvement today, touching such themes as love, drugs, fear and youth searching for America.
Utilizing individual concentration on each song as her most effective means of communication with the audience, she restricted her comments between songs to simple explanations of the songs to follow.
Miss Scalet employed variation in her songs, and a gentle, subdued quality gave way to stronger, heavier tones as her emotional involvement increased and the crowd grew, later in the evening.
From her introductory number, "Fire and Rain," by James Taylor, which dealt with the troubles of a man just released from a mental institution, her small hands skillfully stroked complicated chords in "Mirror," a gentle piece of empathy she wrote for a friend performing for the first time.
As picking gave way to
strumming, adding a strength of beat matched by her rich voice, Miss Scalet sang a faster, more rhythmic version of Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" and a slow, deliberate "Susanne," by Leonard Cohen.
A peak in her gradual buildup to a throbbing style was reached with a Paul Simon arrangement dealing with the contemporary
through my songs, but I always mean what I do say." Her interpretation differs each time she sings a song, depending on her mood.
arts & reviews
"look for America" theme. In her explanation of this song, the 22-year-old Miss Scalet said, "It says in 4 minutes what "Easy Rider" says in $ \frac{2}{3} $ hours."
In an interview before the first show Saturday night, Miss Scalet, who is a Lawrence resident and a graduate student in English, said, "I don't try to say anything in particular
Laura Nyro, Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen rank among her favorite folk singers and as evidenced by her own songs, she particularly enjoys rearranging Bob Dylan's works, changing the rhythms and melodies.
Miss Scalet has sung professionally for $1\frac{1}{2}$ years and has appeared at The Sign, a Kansas City coffee house, and the Fiery Furnace in Lawrence, as well as in San Francisco and Oklahoma City.
When asked how she classified her type of music, she reluctantly dubbed it as "contemporary folk," but said to her it was really just "music that I like."
Regardless of Miss Scalet's unassuming description of her songs, the audience specifically defined its feelings; they definitely enjoyed Beth Scalet.
Movies: Fortunate Magic
BY STEVE SHERMAN Kansan Reviewer
A small green handcart with red spoked wheels clunks across the cobblestones of Dublin. Pushing it is a man of thirty with tousled, curly hair and sad blue eyes.
He is Quackser Fortune, a man who happily walks the streets, cleaning up after the horse population of Dublin and selling the leavings to people for their flowers and their gardens.
Around him is built an entertaining little comedy called "Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx." Although it is not strikingly original, it still manages to convey a feeling of liveliness and spontaneity due mostly to the performance of Gene Wilder.
Wilder plays the part of Quackser, a haphazard individual, who is not extremely bright but who seems to know what he wants. Named Quackser because he made sounds like a duck when he was a baby, he desires the freedom to roam the streets of Dublin, going where he wants, when he pleases. This pleasure is amply afforded him by his combination street cleaner-dung seller occupation.
While making his appointed rounds one day on the horsepaths of Dublin, he meets an American college girl. Interested in this rather odd man, she begins to talk with him. The result is a tour of Dublin and later an affair that lasts until the end of her semester at Dublin's Trinity College.
During most of the picture, Quackser plays foil to the whims of the girl. She sees him when she wishes and then returns to the more sumptuous life at Trinity.
As the time approaches for her to return to America, a blow to Quackster's life-style occurs; it is announced that all horses are to be banned from the streets of Dublin. He begins to consider going to America (perhaps to marry the girl). After all, he has
The infatuation between man and girl is put into better perspective for both of them when Quackser attends the dance that marks the end of the semester at Trinity.
a cousin who lives in the Bronx.
After feeling the social sting of "not fitting in," he is also jostled by a number of drunken young men who treat him like a country bumpkin.
Later, when he and the girl sneak into a room of a grand hotel to spend the night, the girl realizes that Quackser could never adapt to her way of life. Early in the morning, she leaves while Quackster is still asleep.
Another problem is soon added when Quackser learns that his cousin in America has died, but he somehow inherits $500 from his cousin, forgets the girl and finds another occupation that will allow him to wander the streets of Dublin and retain his individualism.
However, the film does not come off quite as happily as does Quackser. Much of the outdoor photography is too dark, having been shot without the aid of supplemental lighting. Also, its characters, with the exception of Wilder, have a case of the blahs.
It is Wilder's inventiveness and charm that propell the movie. He gives the character of Quackster a free, unpredictable flair, which makes him a pleasure to see. He also conveys an innocent im-
pishness that makes statements like "I can remember a time in Dublin when there were so many horses that there were flowers growing up in the streets," hilarious.
Wilder's performance parallels the magical ingredient that saved Quackser from disaster. It has taken the film from questionable straits to an enjoyable and happy ending.
Mart Crowley's "THE BOYS IN THE BAND"
A Cinema Center Film Preservation
A National Giclued Picture Release
Color by Deluxe® **R**
Eve. 7:20 - 9:35 Adults 1.50
Patronize Kansan Advertisers
Margie Weddell, Kansas City, sophomore in charge of the SUA coffee house, said she was relatively satisfied with the attendance both Friday and Saturday night.
There was a crowd of about 90 people Friday night and more than 100 on Saturday night. Miss Weddell said she hoped that in the future, more people would respond to increased publicity.
Miss Weddell said that she would like to bring all different types of music to the coffee house, with the exception of rock.
"QUACKSER FORTUNE HAS A COUSIN IN THE BRONX"
R Gene Wilder PICTURES
Eve. 7:30 - 9:15 Adults 1.50
Hillcrest
because there is already so much competition in this area.
The next coffee house will be Oct. 9 and 10 when "The Sand County," a boy-girl duo from Kansas City who are accompanied by a cellist will perform.
A Young Man's Odyssey Into Middle America
The world changed for
The University Experimental Theatre
presents
"The Uncomfortable Circumstance Surrounding the Letting of the Back Bed-Sitting Room"
by Billi Dawn Schoggen
and
"Marshall McLuhan What're You Doin"
by Steve Reed
Original Scripts by KU Playwrights Swarthout Recital HallMurphy
8:20 p.m.
Sept. 30, Oct. 1, 2, 3
For ticket information call: UN 4-3982