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Summer Session Kansan
Friday. July 29, 1960
A Review
Fry Able to Mix Anger With Humor
By Jerry Knudson
Christopher Fry returned to the University stage this week in the production of "The Lady's Not For Burning," and he will return again to lead off the 1960-61 University Theatre season Sept. 28 to Oct. 1.
I personalize the gifted British dramatist's work because in any production of his plays, the evening is his. Those interested in the quality of this particular production, directed by Virgil Godfrey, may see it in the fall.
In 1952 my Kansan review of "A Phoenix Too Frequent" referred to Fry as "a master of the English language." It is not difficult to stand by that impression, although there are those who would disagree with me now.
The angry young playwrights of Britain today have stolen Fry's thunder, for the moment at least, and their predecessor has slipped into the background.
In "The Lady's Not For Burning," Christopher Fry looked back in anger with a vengeance, but he had the saving grace of humor, what Walt Kelly has called "the cleansing lash of laughter."
His successors are simply angry
Hey Buddy Ike Sent Me
CHICAGO —(UPI)—Jack Christensen, who bluffed his way into an Iowa barnyard alongside Nikita Khrushchev last year, crashed the Republican National Convention in the Chicago Stockyards this week.
"I just told lots of fibs," the husky bluffer from Mason City, Iowa, said.
But Christensen, who once saw action as a tackle on a football team at a school he never attended, roamed the convention hall as though he were Richard M. Nixon's running mate. He wore no badge, only a stern look of authority.
Christensen, 30, his eyes darting about as though he were directing operations of the Secret Service, a one point joined a line of guards keeping crowds away from the convention podium.
Christensen, who got a friendly pat on the stomach when Krushechev thought he was a well-fed farmer, said he got into the swing of the convention Tuesday night by crashing a party thrown in a swank ballroom by New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller. When challenged, he said, "Tm with the hotel."
Why does he do it?
"Some people drink, some people smoke—I do this," he said.
Corbett First for Oxygen
SAN FRANCISCO—(UPI)—James J. Corbett was the first boxer to use oxygen during a fight. He used it between rounds of his bout with Jim Jeffries at San Francisco in 1903.
and the "protest" of their characters reminds me of the tantrums of children baffled by a world in which they cannot have their own way.
In Fry's plays, however, there is the rich clash of ideas reminiscent of George Bernard Shaw.
"The Lady's Not For Burning" is the best case in point, and its revival by the University Theatre deserves praise.
In this play Fry looked back to the 15th century, "either more or less or exactly". The ambiguous time is necessary because Fry was compressing man's recent history into one evening of theater.
The essential antagonists are man and God. One does not appear, but at the end of the play He is waiting
Jennet Jourdemayne, the Lady, represents the rationalism of the 18th century—man's faith in himself and his own capabilities.
At the opposite extreme is the medieval Church, ridiculed in the person of the chaplain, who still has his moments which invite understanding.
In between stands Thomas Mendip, who finds himself "guilty of mankind." I believe he represents Fry's own disillusionment with the results of the Enlightenment, and his own groping efforts toward affirmation of something beyond men.
As the play progresses, the lady discovers she has a heart as well as a mind, and Mendip is willing to avoid self-destruction (since he cannot accomplish it by any means).
Humanism and mysticism join in the final line of affirmation: "May God have mercy on our souls."
It is an ending which floods the stage with hope, a hope that the angry young men and the Beatniks of today avoid. I suspect, because they are incapable of facing the pain that is embedded in hope.
It is easy to be indignant or resigned.
It is difficult to affirm, and the western theater is indebted to Christopher Fry because in an age torn between indignation and resignation, in an age riddled with skepticism, he had the courage to seek salvation.
11 KU Engineers Get Scholarships
Eleven engineering students from the Kansas City area who will attend the University this fall have been awarded scholarships by the Engineering Club of Kansas City.
Those who received the awards for the first time are Jerry W. Havenhill, Lake Tapawing senior; Bruce L. Knight, Kansas City, Mo.; John E. Lastelic, Kansas City, Kas.; John W. Lord, Prairie Village; Richard E. Moore, Merriam, and Kenneth Seibel, all freshmen.
Scholarships were renewed for Raymond Bossert and Ferdinand J. Fisher, both of Kansas City, Mo., and Roy F. Groves Jr., Kansas City, Kas, all Juniors; John Cessna, Independence, Mo., and Robert Johnson of Kansas City, Mo., both seniors.
Wendell K. Castle, instructor of design, has a one-man show of sculpture in the Little Gallery and Frame Shop in Westwood. The gallery at 5002 State Line Road lies just outside Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas.
Castle's show, which includes some sculptured furniture, opened Sunday and will continue through August. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays with Thursday evenings open. About 200 persons attended the opening.
The artist earned the bachelor of fine arts degree with an industrial design major from KU in 1958. He worked in a laboratory at Orlando, Fla., on the design of the interiors of proposed space ships but returned to KU for graduate study. He has completed most of the work for a master of fine arts degree.
Last March Castle received a purchase prize in sculpture in the biennial Mid-American show at the Joslyn Museum in Omaha, Neb. He received an honorable mention in the Wichita Art Association's 1960 National Decorative Arts Show.
Castle's 27 sculptures in the Kansas City show are in wood and copper. One walnut stool is composed of 126 pieces of wood. Another piece was carved from 1,300 pounds of oak.
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AL LAUTER
South Koreans Vote In Nationals Today
SEOUL, Korea —(UPI)— More than 10 million South Korean voters go to the polls today in the most crucial elections since the Republic was founded 12 years ago. And for the first time the Democratic party is favored to win.
The caretaker government of Premier Huh Chung has promised fair and free elections. Charges of irregularities in the March 15 elections triggered demonstrations that forced former President Syngman Rhee to resign. Rhee and his Liberal party had held power since the Republic was born.
Luck Not Involved In Turkey Shoots
TOPEKA —(UPI)— An Attorney General's opinion this week legally confirmed something marksmen have known for a long time—that chance is not involved in hitting the bullseye.
This makes it legal for school organizations to conduct turkey shoots as a means of raising money, Atty, Gen. John Anderson ruled.
But he also held that lotteries are out for school groups.
America's greatest danger is its prosperity.—James Wrightson
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