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Friday. October 8,1976
University Daily Kansan
Film records lives of 2 eccentric Kennedy relatives
By CHUCK SACK
Reviewer
"It's very difficult to keep the line between the past and the present," says Eldy Bouvier Beale II in "Grey Gardens." She then proceeds to have a skirmish with her mother about all the minor details of their life, and another is too trivial to concede. But what is unusual about these parent-daughter arguments is that the participants are 56 and 79 years old.
Big Ede and Little Ede are the aunt and the cousin respectively of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and "Grey
Gardens" poignantly records their lives as seen by the Maysles Brothers and editors Ellen Hove and Muffie Meyer, who are listed as codirectors. The documentary takes its title from the dilapidated estate in Bremerton where the two women live with their cats and two lifetimes of mementos.
ECCENTRIC AND often antagonistic toward each other, the Beales had been hidden away in the chaotic squail of their mansion since 1952, when the mother's illness brought Little Edie home from New York City. It wasn't until the
Suffolk County Board of Health ordered them to clean up their home, causing a local scandal that made national headlines, that the duo was approached by the Maysies.
The resulting portrait, which has its area premier tonight in Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union, is astonishing not only for its extensive canard, but also for its insights into the women’s bizarre brown apparel and bright colors that Jackie had the estate's walls painted when she paid to restore sections of the house. Big Edie and Little Edie replay the real and
AND WHAT troupers their performances prove them to be! Mrs. Bea. bore worries about her waning talent and declares, "I was wrong, way it was when I was 45." Then, lying in her cluttered bed and wearing a gay, floppy hat, she coyly sings "Tea for Two," a selection that ironically allure with her daughter.
imagined high points of their lives.
Little Eddie harbor ambitions of returning to New York and dancing in cabaret. She models a high fashion, and if they were high fashions, and
run through the VMI school song with a small, tattered flag as a prop. Out of her mother's hearing she cresses her "I only three things—the Catholic Church, singing and dancing."
YET WHEN Little Edie tries to sing in her mother's presence, she is bombarded by the music of Edie's sarcastic, "Till have to start drinking. I can't take it." Finally, Mrs. Beale calls for her portable music, saying, "I've got some professional music."
Shifting back and forth between affection and bickering.
the two women are locked into mutual dependence. Their aristocratic voices echo eerily in the building, from their shared bedroom with its single hotplate to the rotting attic, where Little Eileen implies of bread and milk that animals the wild animals that invaded it.
THEY ARGUE about the men they have known; Mrs. Beale brags about her friends and others she meets for driving away a beau 20 years her junior, Big Ede responds that her daughter was a girl named recalling a proposal her daughter refused in the 40s and
scoffing, "France fell, but not Edith."
The Beales are tragic-comic figures. Big Edie scoffs at her daughter's warnings that her bathing suit will fall down with a nonchalant, "I haven't got no warts on me." Little Edda, always wearing a scarf to hide the embarrassment, gone, is glimpsed standing on scales using binoculars to read her weight.
BUT THE MAYSLES have succeeded in depicting the duo's humanity so acutely that they never are made to seem so unfortunate with their loneliness and their shortcomings herocially, and
"Grey Gardens" possesses a fondness for its stars. They become archetypal figures, each striving for an independence and refusing to let the other have it.
"I see myself as a little girl," giggles Edith II shy, "I see you as a very immature little girl," rejoins her mother. Maysle Brothers, the viewer can see them both more ways than they can see themselves. (Editor's note; Maysle will be in the Council Room of the Union for a question-and-answer session tonight in 8 after the film and tomorrow morning at 10:30).
Arts & Leisure
Staff photo by GEORGE MILLENER
Potted pets
Interest in plants booming
Gary Popene, Overland Park senior, sits among some of the 25 plants he is growing in his house. Many students say they grow plants to decorate their residences.
By RICK THAEMERT
That o'l green magic has been casting its spell recently, and the result has been a green thumb epidemic. But why the sudden popularity of plants?
Rolf Borchert, professor of botany,
said Wednesday that he didn't know why
plants had gained popularity, but that he
was glad they had.
"Plants have received very little attention," Borchert said, "and there a lot of catching up to do. People forget that we all live on plants."
BUDY CURRY, owner of Squeezeer's
recognized the importance of plants.
"Why doesn't everyone have plants?"
"What could you not do if it
exempt it for ploble?"
Curry grows plants as a hobby and a part-time business. Squeezeer's Palace, a restaurant, wasn't planned as a plant shop, he said, but the large number of plants in the restaurant led many people to believe plants were sold there. Now Curry plants, and he, he makes just enough to buy more plants for the restaurant.
SEVERAL STUDENTS interviewed
SEVERAL STUDENTS because they were
challenging to grow.
Greg Looney, Kansas City, Kan,
 junior who has worked in a greenhouse
 two years, said he liked to watch his
 plants grow.
"You get to see something develop
know how to take care of it
right," he said.
Plants might also be status symbols, ooc Leucypsis, Lenoxa junior and older. Leucypsis is the most common of the plants.
"IN A DORM," he said, "some people think their house is a lot nicer than other homes."
LeCluyse, whose advice often has been sought by people who had problems in growing plants, said plants seemed to give people a common ground for meeting one another. Similarly, Patti Dailey, Overland Park junior, said male friends often asked her to save their dying plants.
A COMMON reason for growing plants, is for decoration.
"They add a touch of color to the room," Daliay said. "In the winter when everything's brown and dead, they're green and alive, because they're green and alive."
Curry, however, said people who wanted plants for decoration alone usually didn't know much about caring for the plants.
"PEOPLE WHO think of plants as decoration usually have dead plants," he said.
Jim Freeman, manager of the Garden Center, 15th and New York streets, said 80 to 90 per cent of plant problems were cultural problems; that is, the plants weren't getting the correct amount of sunlight. The major cause of sick plants, Looney said.
He said, "People figure the more water they dump in, the faster the plant will grow."
FREEMAN SAID that it was important to let most plants dry out between waterings to prevent over-irrigation, nonetheless needed thorough watering.
Loney, who has more than 50 plants,
said that because he needed two hours to
water his plants, he left part of them at his parents' home. Watering is especially hard in the winter, he said, because he has to keep them inside the bathhut. He has to keep them inside the bathhut.
DRAINAGE IS important, according to John Groom, Arlington, VA., freshman. He said that clay pots with holes in the bottom were the best for drainage because clay absorbs excess moisture and keeps roots from rotting.
Traveling with plants is another problem, according to Groom who had to secure his plants with sticks during his car trip from Virginia.
JANET SOMMER, Eudora junior, had a different plant problem.
"My dog ate one of my plants," she said.
Eating house plants isn't advised
for Westside Greenhouses, Florida. N*
"Some plants are poisonous, such as the Dieffenbachia," he said.
A COMMON HOUSE plant, the Diefenbachia, when eaten, causes swelling of the threat, making breathing difficult, he said.
Plants also can cause allergy bothered by indoor bloomling plants
WITH WINTER approaching, several precautions are necessary. Freeman
Humidity decreases in the winter, he said, so some plants will need a humidity tray or humidifier, and most shouldn't be placed directly against windows.
"People don't realize how cold a plant gets right next to a window," he said.
Freeman said that knowing which window to place a plant in was also important. Generally, when seasons change, so does the sunlight, he said, so a plant shouldn't be in the same window all year.
ASBERRY SAID that to prevent winter plant problems, plants should be brought inside now because he knew of no plants that could survive the winter.
The easiest indoor plants to grow are cactuses and plants in the Philodendron family, he said. Looney said that Swedish Ivy was easy to grow, and that ferns were difficult. Freeman said the Hibiscus is the hardest plant to grow.
BUT CURRY said that once people were successful in growing plants, they could appreciate their potential, because there are so many new plants—some of them edible.
Asberry said that although not many students had the facilities to grow their own edible plants, those who did could save money. One restaurant, the Cornerwood Massachusetts St., often offers free evocado to customers to belm them start gardens.
SOME STUDENTS, such as Groom,
started growing plants after watching
them mothers, and others, like LeCluyse,
started plant collection with a gift
friend.
However they get started, Freeman said, students should always consult a book or a plant shop when problems arise.
SEVERAL STUDENTS said that talking to plants was a successful way to keep them healthy. In fact, Dailey said that she refused to acknowledge which plant was her favorite because she was afraid the others would overheat.
Kansas reflected in photographs
By LEROY JOHNSTON
Photography covering a wide spectrum of stylistic traditions now is being exhibited in a gallery at the TE Gallery, E. 7, Th8.
Ranging from straight documentary photographs to abstracts involving complex darkroom processes, the works of four Kansas photographers, Bury Burge, Clifton Ayres
Hall II, Keith Jacobshagen and Bob Richards, exemplify many things happening in photography today.
THE SHOW, which ends Oct. 31, is in many ways a statement about Kansas, especially the work by Burge and Richards.
Richards' photographs, from a series he did called "The Fayre," and "Festivals," are unique in one respect because they are in
Color as a documentary
technique seems to be used to make the camera even more faithful to the reality of events. Color, because it is part of our lives, is also part of Richards' work.
BURGE'S WORK is also documentary, but not nearly as documentary. Burge's work is tender to render things more beautiful. Burge loses some of the power inherent in a scene, but still maintains late afternoon, which becomes
New jazz album not up to par
By STEVE FRAZIER
However, Clarke is one of the major stylists in jazz, and "School Days" isn't his first album, but his fourth. One of the burdens of Clarke's success is that a promising but unfulfilling album by the group falls disappointingly short of his already proven potential.
If Stanley Clarke was still just a rising star on the jazz-rock scene, his new album, 'School of Rock,' has a promise for the young bassist.
THIS ISN'T to say that "School Days" is a bad album, for it has brilliant moments.
Clarke's compositions open many interesting doors, but the passageways beyond are seldom adequately explored. Almost every time a passage begins to build some real exteriors, Clarke can intrusions send the piece careening in another direction,
At the very least, the album is far too inconsistent to be boring. Clarke can be both damned and praised in his role as composer and arranger for "School Days."
almost too pretty, too contrived. The result resembles a poster.
These highlights, tempered by the many stale moments, create an overall effect that is several notches above average.
But just as an arrangement is
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
KANSAN
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
Clarke's peaks and valleys are most onvious on "Life Is Just a Game," the album's only vocal.
After an attempt at a dramatic opening, Clarke inadvertently chorus, the total lyric content of which is "So life is just a game and there's many ways to play, and there's many ways to do choose. La, la, la, you
Editor
Drew Dump
Gimp
Managing Editor
Editorial Editor
Yael Abouhalakh
Jim Bates
Business Manager
A PHOTO BY Burge of the side of a red barn is tastefully done and contains much detail. Charles Sheeler, a photographer of great recognition in the first half of the 20th century, photographed barns with the same directness.
"LIFE IS JUST a Game"
continues with short synthesizer and guitar solos by George Duke and Icarus Johnson and astonishingly fast ensemble figures by Clarke over Billy Coleman and Bruce Cobham's explosive drumming. Clarke then launches a superb solo that is disappointing only in its brevity.
Business Manager Terry Hanson
enjoyable track is "Desert song," a pensive acoustic performance teaming Clarke on bass, John McLaughlin on guitar and Milt Holland on background percussion. Clarke's solo statements are soft yet energetic, erupting into a loud trio while acting as ideal counterparts to McLaughlin's liquid ideas.
The album's most thoroughly
PERHAPS IF Clarke weren't capable of so much more than slickness, the album would be a welcome release. Given Clarke's past, though, "School Days" offers nothing really new to those familiar with his work in the world, but the unacquainted to get a true picture of his substantial talents.
TRUE TO THE inconsistent nature of "School Days," the musicians have slatters the beautiful calm with what is easily the most forgettable music on the album, and it's hard to mess that is neither hot nor fun.
Even "Hot Fun" is better than the jazz-rock currently being released. On the whole, "School Days" is a slack play that many lesser musicians would be proud to call their best.
Although Burge's photograph is in color, it is in, effect, monochrome to work with. Another work with works from "straitl" photographers.
In contrast, Hall's work is far removed from the traditions of straight photography. Process manipulation to achieve a certain effect in his works means full exploitation of the Sabattier Effect.
THE EFFECT involves destroying the normally soft tonalities of a photograph and a palette of colors of minute detail. After edge reversal, Hall makes color silkscreen prints from the
JACOBHAGEN'S WORKS return to the Kansas landscape in documentary photographs of small towns.
The new vision possible from laboratory techniques is at the core of Hall's work.
His works are strangely unsettling. All are slightly surrealistic photographs of quiet scenes containing twists, perhaps an odd camera angle or unusual juxtaposition of objects.
THE RESULT of the exhibit is a feeling of proximity—a feeling that these are Kansas photographers who have a close attachment to Kansas. Although no new ground really broke, the refinements of photography traditions are very good.
Highlights
This Week's
Concerts
INCI BASHAR PAIGE,
mezzo-soprano, performs a
faculty recital tonight at 8 in
SWarthwort Hall. Real HalI
JACK WINEROCK, pianist,
gives a faculty retreat Thursday
night at 8 in Swarthout.
The Kansas City Lyric Opera gives its last performance of "ANDREA CHENIER" tonight at 8:15 at the Lyric Theatre, Lincoln Street Kansas City, Mo. *LA TRAVIAIT* is performed by the Lyric tomorrow night at 8:15 and Wednesday night at 7:30 at the Lyric Theatre. "THE TRAVIAIT" is performed Tuesday, and Thursday nights at 8:15 at the Lyric Theatre.
Exhibits
THE MAX
KADE
CINEMAS OF MUSIC
19th-century oil paintings
and prints by James Whistler
and is at the Kansas
Union Gallery.
"ST. PETERSBURG — PE-TROGRAD — LENINGRAD"
a pictorial and book biography
of Peter's life displayed at Watson
Library.
"PHOTOGRAPHS," a collection of color and black-and-white photographs by four area photographs, is displayed at the 7E7 Gallery, 7 E. Seventh St.
The Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vermont St., BOSTON ALBERS, acrylics by BETTE BLEWITT, jewelry by LAURIE STEZTREE and photographs TRESLER and CHUCK BEMIS.
Nightclubs
JAY MCHANH, jazz sing of the '20s, plays Friday and Saturday nights from 9 to 12 a Paul Gray's Gravity. | Place JAM SESSION in Gravity | JAZZ JAM SESSION from 9 to 12
HEEDA-Gienda Jackson
Jackson's
informance
in the, the Royal
Shakespeare Company's filmed
production of 'Hibern' Ibsen's
KOKO TAYLOR, Chicago blues singer, sings tonight and tomorrow night from 9 to 12 at the hall's stage. Plays at the hall's Monday Night Last Chance Weekend Romance Dance from 9 to 12, and Wednesday night is the FREE FOLLOW KJAM. Thursday StAGE, when anyone can perform, from 7 to midnight.
69 MINUTES—A low-budget TV parody shot in the Kansas City area and Eudora, the film star of "The Breadwife," almost totally devoid of humor.
THE SHOOTSTIST—Under the careful watch of action director Don Siegel, John Wayne does a terrible job in the gunning death of cancer. With Lauren Bacall, Richard Boone, John Carrassel and Ron
IN SEARCH OF NOAH$^1$
ARK-$^2$ a pseudo-documentary
that is being hyped as in.
负数 filming. Rated G for
9P.
COLOSSUS: THE FORBIN
literate, if very conventional,
science fiction film about a
hero who tries to rieve
a mask from idiotism.
VISIONS A - collection of hifi movies from computer and video animation: IN THE YEAR OF THE PIG, INTERVIEWS WITH MY LAI INTERVIES SOLDERIER - Trio of Vietnam era documentaries.
BADLANDS—Inspired by the bloody Charlie Starkweather-Caril Ann Fugate murders, freshman director Terry Macklin wrote that the acra in this tale of two runaways. The narration and the acting of Martin Sheen and Sissy Spass highlight the film.
Books
EDWARD BURKE OF HEARTS, by
THE BOOK OF HEARTS,
[1946] A hard and
handling Little Langtry
and Sarah Burke, cuts above others of the genre.
UNQUILIUET, by Margot Pouker
(Pocket, $2.75) A biography by Beryl Burke best known for "Jane Eyre". The Brontes were tortured maiden ladies of the Victorian era, why they wrote their semi-tales, Exceptional.
THIRD GIRL, by Agatha Christie (Pocket, $135.)—Not too hard to do. Her drawer is better than nothing. Hercule Poirot is on hand to try to figure out the story of a young girl who may have committed
DEATH CALLING
COLLECT, by Don rracy
that he was one of the
detective in this one, getting
a call at 2:15 in the morning,
from his distraught uncle.
He knows that goes back many years.