ENTERTAINMENT
November 1, 1984
The University Daily KANSAN
A SONG
There is a blue sky over the flower, there is a green sea beneath yet there is no bliss along my way now . . .
In the casual flight of this day there is a yellow flower edged in blue
there is a sky filled with snow and along my way there few bright calls of spring, there is hardly a chance there are ahead no tricks to turn a season, all friends are sober.
I have a dark blue sky inside my head, ah,
there is a flower here and there, and yes, believe I'll miss this time, sometime,
these old cold mountains these cold blue hills sometime.
by Edward Dorn
Poet in residence mixes politics and poetry, Midwest and poetry science and poetry
By CHRIS CLEARY Staff Reporter
Edward Dorn always carries a notebook with him just in case he gets an idea for a
"I have the horrible habit that I don't have proper paper. I'll write on whatever paper."
Dorn, a visiting poet at the University of Kansas this week, grew up in Villa Grove, Ill. He wrote for the town's weekly newspaper, *The Washington Post*. Dorn's editor was one of his first critics.
Dave Hornback/KANSAN
"I wrote about exotic places." Dorn said, "he lit a cigarette. "He told me to stick to it."
DORN SAID HE always had identified himself as an artistic type, but eventually, it became clear to him that he wasn't going to be a painter or an architect.
"I became drawn to writing as a greater possibility for myself," Dorn said.
Although his career choice seemed easy, Dorn actually had difficulty finding his calling.
Dorn was restless during his college years. First, he attended the University of Illinois, Urbana, where he dabbled in different fields.
"Then I worked in a tractor factory and attended a teachers college. Eastern Illinois University in Charleston. While Black Mountain College in North Carolina
"BLACK MOUNTAIN was where I became a writer," Dorn said. "A lot of the teachers were Jewish German immigrants. It was an extremely high quality, highly intelligent faculty because of the misfortune of Europe."
Courses such as anthropology have greatly influenced his writing, he said
"It was one of those things you stumble on by accident. Anthropology expanded my scope of what I could learn. I wanted to travel and be on the move," he said. "I studied westward expansion. Those kinds of courses gave me the background, discipline and studying that is so important for a writer."
Dorn used that background to write his humorous verses about the early West.
POLITICS IS ANOTHER topic familiar to Dorn.
"A lot of my poems are intentional, deliberate and considered political commentaries, which is an honored and old tradition. I may not much done anymore," he said.
Some of Dorn's poetry has been called pessimistic. Dorn said that although his work could be interpreted that way, he was more critical than pessimistic.
"I suppose I've found a lot in America that could be improved," Dorn said. "There's a kind of feeling now that to be critical of the U.S. is to be a traitor. I have the hope that America will really up to the promises it says it believes in."
Several acquaintances have influenced his writing as much as anthropology has. One Dora's favorite poets was one of his sisters at Black Mountain, Charles Olson.
"Olson was a strong influence on me," Dorn said. "He was my master, I know people don't use that word much anymore, but that's what he was."
"I was a close student of Pound. He was a poet, writer, scholar . . ." Dorn's voice trailed off, as his hands groped to find the proper words.
SOME CRITICS have compared Dorn to Era Pound, which please Dorn.
Dorn has made his home in Boulder, Colo., with his wife Jennifer and their two children.
Murray moves from campsite to razor's edge
By ERIKA BLACKSHER Staff Reporter
"The Razor's Edge." Rated PG-13. Starring Bill Murray, Theresa Russell, Catherine Hicks, Denholm Elliott and James Keach. Includes a couple of chuckets St. Runs two hours and 20 minutes.
Say the name Bill Murray and most people envision a goodball *Not-Ready-for-Frime* Time Player or a any camp director — but likely not a spiritual hero in a classic epic story.
However, Murray makes the switch in the razor's Edge' and he does a pretty good job.
Seeing Murray play Larry Darrell, a young man traveling the world in search of truth, is not only seeing the other side of the coin, it is like looking at a totally different monetary
"The Razor's Edge" is full of beautiful settings and talented supporting actors and actresses, so the movie gets off to a good start
THE PLOT. HOWEVER, occasionally sags, making the viewers wonder what time
it is or if the concession stand is closed yet.
And it’s no wonder since the movie lasts
longer.
Darrell was reared in a prosperous Illinois town. He was surrounded by a nice house, nice clothes and nice people. Then, he went to the war.
He served as an ambulance driver during World War I and woke up to a shattered reality of the world in which he lived. When he died, he, we know, he took that realization home with him.
He returned home from the war, rejected his beautiful fiancee, a high-paying job with her father's stock brokerage house, a beautiful home and a new car — all because he realized that true happiness was not hidden under money.
The restless young man, now determined to find truth, takes off for Paris.
LIVING IN THE SLUMS of the city and working as a coal miner, Darrell stumbles upon an old miner who is surprisingly well-read.
One of the most touching scenes in the movie was when the old man hands Darrell the "Upanishads." The veda narratives embody tradition that deal with philosophical problems.
When Darrell is in Paris, the shooting takes place in Paris, and so with India and the Tibetan Mountains where Darrell attains enlightenment atop a mountain peak.
Darrell's travels are obviously those of a spiritual hero on a spiritual journey. The filmmakers, including writer-director John Garey, have created a way to make the script as mobile as the journey.
IT IS THERE, when Darrell is ready to depart the mountaintop monestery, that the audience is clued into the meaning of the movie's title. A holy man says, "The path of salvation is as difficult to walk as a razor's edge."
The fixed notion of Murray as a comedian character sometimes prevents his herod character from being convincing. Darnell, however, is so lovable that it doesn't really matter.
The final scene allows the audience to see the spiritual hero in action, reaffirm that he following the spiritual path and maybe, just maybe, leave the theater inspired to climb the Tibetans themselves.
THE ROD SERLING'S TWILIGHTZONE
celebrates 25 years in fantasy world
By ERIKA BLACKSHER Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
He called the stewardess, but by the time she arrived, the destructive monster had vanished. The bewildered passenger was the one who had been walking on—at least that's what he thought going on—at least that's what he thought
THE BIZMORE STORY, "Nightmare at 20,000 feet," written by Richard Matheson, is one of the more memorable episodes of the series. The majority of people have been watching for 25 years.
The nervous man looked out of the plane's window, only to discover a gnarled, apel-like creature perched on the wing tearing up the engine.
But actually, he had entered . . . "The Twilight Zone."
The show, created by the late Rod Serling, who wrote a majority of the episodes, is celebrating its 25th anniversary this month.
Within the past five years, the show's popularity has increased greatly, along with shows such as "Star Trek" and "The Outer Limits," said Allan Rodgers, associate editor of Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone Magazine
"Fantasy frees you from the normal context of the everyday way of seeing things," he said.
People enjoy that kind of escape, and that's one reason why so many people are still watching the show, he said.
SERLING USED THE frightening, the unearthly and the bizarre to deal with everyday issues, said Miriam Wols, managing editor of the magazine.
The morals and messages relayed by Serling's penetrating voice at the end of each show were the most important elements of Serling's writings, Rodgers said.
While the content of the episodes draws most people to the tube late at night, James Gunn, professor of English, said that the quality of production also keeps viewers
"He handled ideas, however obliquely, but he handled important, touchy issues of the hand."
"He focused on shaping the story — the meaning of the story," he said. "He said things quietly and in a way that made people listen."
"The Twilight Zone' series paid a lot of attention to the integrity of the stories they selected," he said.
OVERALL THE SERIES was well done, Gunn said, despite Serling's limited budget. "It's a great team," he said.
Richard Bennett, Great Bend senior, says he watches the show two or three times a week while he works on his graphic design projects.
Whatever the reason, many people all over the country watch reruns of the thought provoking show.
"It's on just about the right time — late night," he said. "It's nice to hear Rod Serling's voice wafting over the airwaves."
HE STARTED WATCHING the show regularly when KSHB Channel 41 started showing reums of the show in 1981, he said.
"It releases tension," he said. "It makes everyday life not so scarey."
A new "Twilight Zone" series will be come out next fall on the CBS network, Rodgers said. The hour-long program will show three episodes.
With the "Twilight Zone" revival that has occurred over the last five years, a 50th anniversary celebration may not be too unrealistic. Wols said.
"The show does make you think," she said
"That's why it's survived as long as it has"
Late night television nerd appearing at Opera House
By PAULA VEDROS
He's the comedian who wears the horn-rimmed glasses and stumbles through the cue cards because he can't memorize lines.
The perfect nerd returns.
Staff Reporter
The man with the stumbling delivery is Calvert DeForrest — better known as Larry "Bud" Melman, the fictitious bus-line owner featured on the television program, "Late Night with David Letterman."
Melman will appear tomorrow in "An Evening with Larry 'Bud' Melman," at the Lawrence Opera House, 642 Massachusetts St.
The 63-year-old DeForrest has almost no theatrical background. Before his overnight success, he was a receptionist for a drug and alcohol rehabilitation
DoFerrest, often described as a 'gnome-like creature,' has gained popularity since his debut on the Letterman show in 1982. Some of his popular routines are 'toast on a stick.' "the presidential" (as he did) and "others in which he poses as Bofel Malm."
THE SIGMA ALPHA EPSILON fraternity, 130) W. Campus Road, is sponsoring the show to raise money for the Hiltop Child Development Center Hilltop, a proximal hip arthroplasty clinic and KU families, is the beneficiary of the fraternity's annual philanthropy.
program in Brooklyn. His employer fired him when he appeared on the Letterman show.
DEFOREST'S EXPERIENCE includes occasional parts in community theater productions and small roles in college films such as "King of the Z." But he didn't hire a manager until a few months ago.
DeForrest's show at the Opera House marks a departure for the SAEs in the way they raise money. Traditionally the fraternity has sponsored an outdoor beer party with a band to raise money for Hilton.
This year, fraternity members decided to engage the special fraternity party in favor of a new resolution.
Bill George. SAE social chairman and producer of the show, said that the change would attract a greater variety of people. "We are targeting more of the Lawrence community as opposed to college students only," he said.
THE PROGRAM OPENS at 8 p.m with "Earl Clark and Spectrum," a fusion jazz band from Tulsa, Okla. The band, now play, will play both original and popular works. The band will conclude the show at 12:30 a.m.
DeForest will appear as Melman at about 9:15 p.m. for a 1½-hour show. Beer will be available. Admission to the show is $6.
Some of the financing for the program was provided by local businesses.
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