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Summer Session Kansan Friday, June 27,1958
The Shivers Were Real
Summer theatre is, for some people, a New England barn, a hot summer night, a few actors and an audience. A few famous actors say they got their starts in this atmosphere. It was in such a setting the first whiff of grease paint "got into the blood" and they vowed to be actors for life.
If this is what it takes to be an actor then the straw hat circuit is the place to get a start!
The audience too absorbs some of the atmosphere. At the end of summer, when the barn door is locked, they are in a state of vicarious inebriation and off they stagger into fall.
The season is just beginning—not only in New England, but all over the nation. At KU Summer Theatre has taken over a wing of the new Music and Dramatic Arts Building—a far cry from a barn!
There are no creaky boards to tread on up-stage or down. No hay bales to serve as choice seats for first nighters, and no pitch forks with tines jabbed into steaming hay to make the handles staunch to lean on. . . It’s summer stock KU style!
The four productions "for your summer enjoyment" have been designed, from the audience viewpoint, to:
1. Help you forget the summer heat.
2. To tickle your funny bones.
3. To tempt your emotions.
4. To arouse your curiosity.
From point four comes the question: Has KU destroyed an illusion in the minds of many and a tradition in the hearts of some?
No group of barn stormers ever had it so good. Jerome Kilty said it, Virginia Copeland said it, and we've suspected it all along. KU has the finest facilities in the nation for student actors,
The proof came Thursday night when the season opened with "Cave Dwellers." The actors' blood was deprived of sweat and grease paint, but it got a potent injection of artificial atmosphere administered through the sterile needle of superb facilities. Were illusions shattered, traditions broken?
The primary goal in training actors is "to provide the necessary opportunity and inspiration for creative expression," it says on the back of
the program. This goal and the points designed for the audience were realized in the first play. There can be no doubt—summer theatre will survive luxury.
As part of the audience we had "summer enjoyment" and we darned sure "forgot the summer heat." The actors, in an abandoned theatre in winter, shivered with ample inspiration to make us forget they were acting. . All this was accomplished despite the lack of real atmosphere. The successful revolution of summer stock was due to the new building's facilities—air conditioning mainly.
The giant units did their best to put out frigid chaff-free, dust-free, pollen-free air to ennoble the theatre with inspiration rather than with the repugnant odors of haymow drama.
So inspired were the actors that the audience not only shivered with sympathy, but produced a few goose bumps of its "own."
There wasn't a non-believer in the house when Queen, one of the principals, nearly sick with pneumonia, did a realistic job of coughing as well as shivering. Everyone responded to her performance; some people were so carried away they couldn't supress sneezes.
And King, poor King the hero. He lost a shoe out in the snow. Oh how he extracted sympathy from women wearing summer sandles.
If our actors continue to have this opportunity for creative expression and an audience to respond so involuntarily, summer stock will not only survive at KU, but it will produce all the actors of future fame.
But let the summer stock revolution proceed cautiously lest the hero become the villain. When the second play, "The Skin of Our Teeth," is given Wednesday and Thursday we hope the outside temperature will be higher—or that the inside "facility for expression" is calmed down a bit. Otherwise the skin of our chattering teeth will get goose bumps.
The University theatre can see all the goals realized with a little reserve. Don't let Thursday night's chill in again. Every last soul in the theatre was freezing—that is everyone except Gorky the bear, bless his hide!
Chuckles In The News
CARSHALTON, England — (UPI)
— City councilors complained today that women's high-heeled shoes are piercing road surfaces, making it easier for the sun to melt the tar layer underneath.
HIALEAH, Fla. — (UPI) — The Miami Springs-Hialeah Chamber of Commerce reported today that someone stole its flying purple people eater.
—Joan Jewett
A seven-foot paper-mache monster with a green nose, wings and one eye, the "people-eater" was built for a special banquet with the theme "out of this world."
ATLANTA. Ga.-(UPI)—Dr. Asa Yancey, a local surgeon, believes men are being frightened away from the nursing profession because the title is too feminine.
He suggests that men in the profession be called "assistant physicians" instead of nurses.
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS By Dick Bibler
YOUR TESTS HERE SEEM TO INDICATE YOU HAVE A KEEN INTEREST IN THE AREA OF FORM & STRUCTURE.
TV Notes
This should make a lot of TV viewers happy. "Hallmark Hall of Fame" will give a live repeat of "The Green Pastures" next March 23 on NBC. Its first presentation of this play last fall coincided with the late Mike Todd's party in Madison Square Garden telecast by CBS, and many persons missed "The Green Pastures," which went on to win seasonal awards.
Red Skelton, the comedian who goes on an on whether times are good or bad for TV comics, has signed a new five-year exclusive deal with CBS. He'll stay in the 9:30 p.m. Tuesday spot.
A new Warner Bros. TV series slated for ABC next season is "Lawman," starring John Russell and Peter Brown. It will be played Sundays from 8:30 to 9 p.m., following "Maverick."
Tennessee Ernie Ford will be back on NBC next season in his usual Thursday night spot, the sponsor having signed a 52-week renewal order effective Oct. 2.
The producer of Milton Berle's new NBC half-hour will be Hal Kantor, who also served the old George Gobel program for its first two seasons. Kantor also will write and direct for Berle.
The master of ceremonies of the new "Haggis Baguis" quiz series NBC will unveil Monday will be Jack Linkletter, 20-year-old son of the radio-TV veteran, Art Linkletter.
SUMMER SESSION KANSAN
(Published Tuesdays and Fridays)
(Published Tuesdays and Fridays)
Ed. Phone 251 Bus. Phone 376
Editor Martha Crosier
Business Manager Bill Irvine
Staff Bob Hartley.
Harry Ritter, Fred Miller, Robert Lynn
Photographer Ron Miller
Manager James E. Dykes
CROSSWORD PUZZLE
(Answer on Page 8)
ACROSS
1 Singer.
6 Ben ___ of "Treasure Island."
10 Pixyish comedienne.
14 Novelist Hervey.
15 Drug plant.
16 Man's name.
17 Granite.
18 Sofa.
20 Shows great deference.
22 Bookmakers.
23 Feminine suffix.
24 Poetry unit.
25 Garbed KKK-style.
29 Where Berlin is.
33 Actress Loy.
4 Gather.
37 Miss Lillie.
38 Give off.
39 Leafet.
40 Animal.
41 Girl in uniform.
42 Run after.
43 Chateau room.
44 Scytte handle.
45 Prominent Republican.
48 Heroine of "Green Mansions.
50 Fuss.
51 Beach bungalows.
54 Get overhot.
58 Keeping up with the Joneses.
60 Author Frank.
61 Substitute for potatoes.
62 Like a "painted ship upon a painted ocean."
63 Finnish lake.
64 Phony.
65 Give up.
66 The people.
**DOWN**
1 Sit in the sun.
2 Voice.
3 Not quick.
4 Perceptive.
5 Town in Upper N. Y.
6 Flits about.
7 The gums.
8 New.
9 Most in want.
10 Flying egg-beater.
11 Companion novel of "Typee."
12 Master of mystery.
13 Master of —
19 Founder of Nineveh.
21 Small.
22 Sawbills.
26 Author of "No Time for Sergeants."
27 Volmistor Morini.
28 Biblical name.
30 Greek coins.
31 Positive Thinking man.
32 Finished dinner.
35 College degrees:
Abrh.
36 Coren 4-pointers.
39 Pertaining to the principal subject.
40 Petrol; Var.
42 Cups and saucers.
43 Describing a cocker spaniel's book.
45 Home of an Irish Rose.
47 Marble.
49 Apart.
51 Panelist Bennett.
52 Bown.
53 Author Pearl.
54 Snicker —
55 Car.
56 Spanish river.
57 Gypsy gentleman.
58 One-time.
When You're In Doubt, Try It Out—Kansan Classified Section.
HAYNES & KEENE
819 Massachusetts