Wednesday, Dec. 14, 1960 University Daily Kansan
Page 3
Beckoning Death Claims Greats During Past Year
By Frank Morgan
The year 1960, the year of the "New Frontier," was marked with the passing of many who played a major part in the events of the past eventful months.
Death, humanity's equalizer,
took its toll in every field of life.
Some of the clowns, some of the
stars; some of the heroes, some of
the chumps; some of those who
shot to the stars, and some of
those who stayed below—all kinds
passed from the scene in 1960.
Here are some who died: Earl Kemp Long, madeap governor of Louisiana whose last days were a fittin' finale to the frenetic Long reign. Mack Sennett, a pioneer in movies who established a long-followed precedent in the industry with his slapstick plots and bevy of beauties. Melvin Puris, unrelenting FBI bloodhound of Public Enemy John Dillinger, who caught the badman coming out of a Chicago theater.
CLARK GABLE. The King is dead, and no monument over his grave will ever match the one he built in Hollywood. Joseph Nye Welch, the Boston gentleman, whose "Sir, you have gone too far," finally halted the frothings of the junior senator from Wisconsin in the Army-McCarthy hearings.
Boris Pasternak, the Soviet author who was unable to accept the Nobel Prize for his "Doctor Zhivago" because he was too old to scale the Iron Curtain. John D. Rockefeller Jr., philanthropist son of old John D. Sr., who gave away the family fortune almost as fast as his father brought it in. Diana Barrymore, who at 38. had had "too much, too soon."
Oscar Hammerstein II, poet laureate of Broadway, whose lyrics were rays of sunlight that burst through an often overcast world. Emily Post, first lady of etiquette. Dimitri Mitropolous, philharmonic conductor. Luis Firpo, the "Wild Bull of the Pampas," who retired to his native Argentina with his earnings from the fight in which he almost beat Dempsey.
MARGARET SULLAVAN. Broadway and movie actress, whose tragic roles on stage were carried off-stage. Aneurin Bevan, British Labor Party leader. John P. Marquand, chronicler of the frustrated American male. Dr. Francis Townsend, creator of the Townsend Plan, for old-age benefits during the New Deal era.
There were others. Some with minor roles, some with major roles. But whatever their roles, America has lost a little with the passing of each.
Now that winter and its cold north winds are here, students are faced with the old problem of which is worse — lunch meat sandwiches every noon or walking home in frigid blasts.
DRS. MURPHY AND WESCOE—AN ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGE
Murphy and Wescoe Make Campus News
By Ralph Wilson
Resignations and appointments, championships won and lost, budgets and model UN meetings were high on the list of top campus news stories of 1960.
The story was a unanimous choice, gathering all possible votes.
Chancellor Franklin D. Murphy's resignation and the appointment of W. Clarke Wescoe was the top campus news story of 1960.
Second place was filled by the stories stemming from the NCAA probation ruling. As a result of what the NCAA called "illegal recruiting methods," the football team was placed on a one-year probation and basketball was placed on two-year probation.
The NCAA probation stories edged out the Big Eight championship story by a narrow margin.
The model UN meeting and the opening speech by former President Harry S. Truman ranked fourth. Truman later attended the convention, which received national recognition.
Fifth place fell to the liberation of senior women through the issuing of senior keys this fall. This was the first major step by the AWS in relaxing the regulations placed on the KU female.
Marching demonstrations showing campus support for sit-ins, coupled with the Big Eight student body presidents' resolutions on integration, came in sixth.
Seventh in the poll was a series of running stories on the board of regents budget efforts. This featured a battle between Gov.Docking and higher education at KU.
Resolutions and efforts to abolish the NSA at KU and the forming of KU's own NSA was eighth.
Discipline actions and actions in reestablishing the disciplinary committee was ninth. This story broke when Delta Tau Delta was placed on probation.
The tenth story in the voting was the winning of the cochampionship in basketball and play in the regional tournament. The Jayhawkers tied with K-State for the league crown but won a play-off game and went to the regionals.
Other stories which rated high in the balloting were:
The University Party's upset victory over Vox Populi in the recent Fall elections; the record Fall enrollment that found the first crest of the enrollment wave striking KU before it was expected; the address by Jules Dubois and the student demonstration at the speech; the institution of a Stop Day before finals.
New Decade Finds World in Ferment
By Susanne Shaw
The year of 1960 opened a new decade. The American people were hoping for a decade of peace and prosperity.
A transition took place in business, politics and world affairs. Americans chose a new President, a new Congress and many new state administrations.
There was a record jump in U.S. population to 180 million over the past 10 years. Many experts termed it a population explosion. We have become a nation on the move toward the West and the suburbs.
1960 has been called a year of decision. This year has been a critical time in the history of America and the world.
THE NOVEMBER ELECTION was one of the closest in U.S. history and the outcome may see some changes made in our electoral system.
Disaster struck on the home front in 1960. Thirty-four died in the crash of a National Airlines DC-6B in North Carolina. A New York lawyer-passenger was held in connection with the blowing up of the plane. Birds on the runway were blamed for the crash of a Eastern Airlines Electra in Boston. Sixty-one persons lost their lives in this disaster.
THE INTEGRATION SITUATION in the South continued to be a problem in 1960. Sit-in demonstrations were prevalent throughout the South and recently New Orleans was troubled with school integration.
Several incidents led to the worsening of East-West relations. The shooting down of a U2-reconnissance plane over Russia and the trial of pilot Francis Gary Powers began the attack. Then came the collapse of the summit conference, Khrushchev and other Communist
Journalism Students Analyze Past Year
Journalism students in a class on editorial writing and research prepared the articles on these pages. The men listed here are heroes and villains alike; the events were big news or received comparatively little attention. The students ranked them both for the attention they received in the press and for the long-range impact they may have on society.
leaders gave demonstrations at the UN meeting in New York. Cuba's Castro turned toward the Soviet orbit.
THE RECENT GOLD crisis threatened the U.S. balance of payments position, foreign aid and stability of the dollar.
There were many important developments in the area of space and nuclear affairs. The Russians photographed the dark side of the moon and the U.S. retrieved a space capsule. The Polaris armed nuclear sub George Washington was put out to sea and the nuclear sub Triton made a voyage around the world without surfacing.
Foreign Movies Leaders In Mediocre Film Year
It was not a good year for the Hollywood movie-makers. Artistically, the better pictures of 1960 came from Europe and Asia. There were boxoffice hits from American producers, but a "From the Terrace" or "The Lost World" is not likely to occupy a firm position in motion picture history.
AN EMPHASIS on sensation and the teen-age market, a heavy leaning toward a sensationalism that would have been unthinkable five years ago, marked film production in this country. Under the guise of turning out realistic pictures, Hollywood produced "Butterfield 8," "Girl of the Night," and "The World of Suzie Wong," leading critics to comment that 1960 was "the year of the prostitute."
Possibly the best picture of the year was a French film, "Hiroshima, Mon Amour," from the so-called "new wave." It was an eloquent commentary on the brutality of war and the eternal significance of love.
The best American film to date was that sardonic comment on how to get ahead in the organization, Billy Wilders "The Apartment."
Among other pictures of the year which are likely to hold up a bit longer than some of their competitors are these, listed in order of their national openings:
"OUR MAN IN HAVANA" — a funny but uneven British-American film based on the Graham Greene novel; "Jazz on a Summer's Day"—a documentary of the Newport Jazz Festival; "The Battle of the Sexes"—a British comedy about efficiency exports, based on James Thurber's "The Catbird Seat"; "Pollyanna"—a sentimental but believable Disney pictureization of the story of the eternal "glad girl."
Politics, Weather Dominate Kansas
GOV. GEORGE DOCKING
By Lynn Cheatum
Gov. George Docking not only failed to win his party's nomination for the presidency of the United States, but he also was unsuccessful in his bid for a third term as Kansas governor. Atty. Gen. John Anderson won the election.
Politics dominated the Kansas news scene this year, but weather and other items demanded their share of space on the front pages of newspapers in the state.
Sen. Andrew Schoeppel retained his congressional seat which was threatened by Democrat Frank Theis. Kansas voters approved home rule for their cities but refused to increase pay for their legislators to $15 a day.
The winter of 1959-60 was one of the most extreme in many years.
"Dreams"—an early film by Sweden's great Ingmar Bergman; "Bells Are Ringing"—the lone good musical of the year, and one helped considerably by a fine performance by Judy Holliday; "Psycho"—Hitchcock's sensationally brutal and controversial thriller; "Sons and Lovers"—an exceptionally good dramatization of D. H. Lawrence's classic tale.
Several campaigns were initiated to spread grain in the countryside for game birds which were starving because snow covered the natural food.
A devastating tornado struck Oskaloosa and Meriden, causing great property damage without the loss of lives. Another tornado hit Concordia, causing no deaths.
A Tonganoxie man, Lt. John R. McKone, was safe after the RB-47 jet, of which he was a crewman, was downed inside the Russian border. He was stationed at Forbes Air Force Base in Topeka.
The Clutter case of Garden City was solved. The two men who shot-gunned the five members of the Clutter family were tried and sentenced to die. The appeal of Hickock and Smith is still pending.
Gov. Docking's feuds with Atty
Gen. John Anderson over paroles and other matters and with former Chancellor Franklin Murphy over higher education were ended as Anderson won the key to the governor's mansion and Murphy left Kansas to become chancellor at UCLA.
Lawrence High School gained national recognition when it finished its fifth undefeated year in football, setting an unofficial national record of 47 games won consecutively.
One of the biggest manhunts in eastern Kansas history ended in the capture of two men who escaped while being taken to the Lansing prison in June.
The Wichita Eagle bought the Wichita Beacon in one of the country's major newspaper deals of the year. A daily newspaper called the Olathe News was born this year.
"THE ENTERTAINER"—a bawdy and disturbing examination of show people that also is a commentary on British society; "Sunrise at Campobello"—Dore Schary's warm film version of his Broadway play about FDR and his fight against polio; "Inherit the Wind"—two great actors whipping up excitement in a retelling of the Scopes Monkey Trial; "Spartacus"—Howard Fast's story of Roman gladiators, done up in a violent but sometimes meaningful spectacle.
"The Virgin Spring"—a Swedish legend by Bergman that stands alongside his other now-historical films; "The Sundowners"—Fred Zinnmann's human story of Australian sheep people, and "Exodus"—a dramatization of Leon Uris' novel of the birth of the Israeli state.