Student Players Score Hit With Season Opener T echnical Perfection, Dramatic Excellence Put Over 'Roadside' Gayle Buchanan, Gerry Smith Win Praise For Splendid Acting; Frontier Comedy Evokes Laughs From Audience By KEN KIRTLEY Noteworthy, especially for its technical perfection in lighting and scenery aid also for its dramatic polish was the opening of the Univer sity theater production of the hilarious comedy "Roadside,” by Lynn Riggs. Horace Robinson’s two sets, one an exterior country scene and the other a court room interior, left a glowing impression with last night’s theater-goers. I Skillful performances were turned in by Gayle Buchanan and Gerry Smith as Hannie Rader and Texas. They portrayed with great zest the wild and reckless cowboy “who ain’t never been whipped by mortal man” and the woman who was just the one to turn his dam per down. Acting Good The story of how the wild and wooly Texas escapes from the Ver digree jail only to be captured by ■ the wiles of the robust Hannie is all told in the pungent dialogue of the Southwest. Eddie Hearn and Jack Lewis re ceived fine response as they ca vorted in the roles of Red Ike and Black Ike, a pair of feather brained farm hands who are Han nie's special cronies. Roy Swartz as the outcast husband, Buzzie, and Wally Boyle as Pap Rader, Hannie’s “boomer” father, both justified their long standing as campus favorites. Court Scene Funny The court scene in which Texas is hailed before Judge Snodgrass (Bill Dougherty) after his recap ture was most side-splitting in the rough and tumble drama. Dough erty extracts the most from the role of the poor old mistreated judge who finally has to give up in despair when various wild haired citizens completely demor • alize the order of his court room. Chief disturber of the processes of justice is Mrs. Foster, the village pest, capably played by Janet Felt. The whole play has a dashing, happy-go-lucky flavor which char acterized frontier times. The rus tic deviltry of the play is well suit ed to the Hallowe'en season. Tom Robertson and John Kirri gin gave enthusiastic characteriza tions of the marshal and jailer who futilely attempt to quiet down the two-fisted Texas. Browsing Room (Please turn to parte three) Now prepare to take a slightly different slant at the word “brows ing”—“a place where there is abundance of browse,” and remem ber our original pleasant acquain tanceship with browse as the choice, new growth. So by easy steps we arrive at “browsing room—a room for rec reational reading,” and the mean ing of the word recreational is clarified. Not necessarily only easy reading- certainly not only ephemeral reading (the “browse” is live growth), but the browse should be within easy reach, fresh and tempting, and of the kind that invites to nibbling; yet not of the trencher variety, which demands the student attack with laboring pencil and voracious notebook. Not a study—but a browsing room. Not lessons and assignments but browse Alias Hannie Gayle Buchanan took the part of Hannie in the University theater production of “Roadside” which opened the season last night. They will repeat the performance to night. PROGRAM High School Conference SATURDAY MORNING 8:00 Dutch-treat breakfast. Anchorage. Auspices Theta Sigma Phi. 9:00 The Gossip Column in the High School Paper—Donna Row, formerly of Eugene High School News. General discussion. 9:10 “Streamlining” and Other Mechanical Problems—Professor Robert C. Hall, University of Oregon. 10:00 Conventional Heads and Makeup vs. Ragtime, Streamline, etc.—Round-table discussion led by McMinnville and Marsh field for conventional and Klamath Falls and Corvallis for ragtime and streamline. 10:30 Producing Advertising That Will Pull—Professor W. F. G. Thacher and Frank Short, University of Oregon. Discussion. 11:15 Can the High School Paper Pay Its Way?—Dan Mercer, manager Grantonian, Portland. Discussion. 11:10 Presentation of awards. For best high school notes in local papers—Harris Ellsworth cup. Presented by Professor Arne Rae, University of Oregon. For best mimeographed paper and technical excellence in mimeographing- Eric W. Allen cup. John W. Anderson, managing editor Eugene Daily News. For best paper in school under 500. Eugene Register cup. For best paper in school over 500. Eugene Guard cup. Wil liam M. Tugman, managing editor Eugene Register-Guard. Grand trophy for best high school newspaper in state. Arnold Bennett Hall cup. Dean Allen. (Judges chosen by Oregon chapter of Sigma Delta Chi.) 12 m. Adjournment. that invites you^though professors try the browsing room and let us please note that the above antithe- help you to “browse”—both the sis is not my idea. So come and noun and the verb. Guild Hall's Faults Prove UOHandicap, Says Mrs. Seybolt Poor Facilities, Ventilation, Lack of Room Put Players at Distinct Disadvantage in Producing Good Drama “We could give much better service both to students and to cam pus audiences if we had reasonable facilities," in this way Ottilie Turnbull Seybolt summed up the situation faced by the drama depart ment. Under the heading of handicaps to students Mrs. Seybolt first commented on the inadequacies of the stage. It is a crammed, ill vt-mmueu airair located in uic southeast corner of Johnson hall It is much too small, and there li no possibility of enlarging'. Only One Door Access to the stage is by one or dinary sized door. The limits of the stage make it impossible to store scenery on it, hence all the scenery for a given play must be in full view of the audience throughout the production. Scene changes are manipulated largely by reversible scenery. When a production is under way, the theater director continued, there are no practice facilities for either drama classes or partici pants in the play since the stage is taken over by the construction crew. Stage Too Shallow Because the stage is so shallow, the sets usually must be extended back to the rear wall limiting en trance to stage left. Anyone who in the course of the play must en ter from stage right is forced to remain cramped in a corner until his cue. One of the biggest flaws in the present set-up Mrs. Seybolt stated is the fact that the department is scattered all over the campus. The sadly deficient store room is lo cated in the basement of Friendly. Shop Far From Stage The makeshift shop is located a block off the campus on Emerald street. On the audience handicap Mrs. Seybolt was perhaps more emphat ic than on any other. She explained and demonstrated the factors mak ing for audience discomfort. The theater is badly ventilated. When the regular fans are turned on large portions of the audience are They'll Take the Red Schoolhouse Amish anil Mcnnonite religions call for the simple living. The taxpayers of those groups kept their children from the opening of the $112,000 school, lop panel, mar Lancaster, Pa., with the assertion it was too good for them. They demanded the reopening of such schools as the one below in East Lam peter. subject to an uncomfortable draft. This is so unpleasant that during performances the fans are turned off. With a full room the atmos phere becomes stifling. Seats Tipped The floor of the theater is built at a steep angle and the seats arc fastened directly to the slope with out level bases. The occupants soon begin to slide down out of the seats and are forced to cling to the arms for support. Mrs. Seybolt has no desire for an elaborate or expensive theater, she stated. Her picture of "rea | sonably adequate facilities in cludes a roomy stage, a well planned auditorium, storage and workshop rooms adjacent to the stage, a rehearsal stage, and lastly plenty of office space. Slugger Joe Gordon (Continued froiij page two) ships of the northern division in '34 and '35. Both signed . up with the Yankees, and were shipped to Oak land the next spring for seasoning. Gordon "stuck” from the very first. Koch, however, was given a train ticket to the Western league where he was going great guns until the recurrence of an old injury to his knee caused his exit from organ ized baseball. Joe Goes Higher The smooth-muscled Gordon kept right on moving up in pro circles with the Yanks taking him along to spring training camp last year, and then turning him over to Newark, New Jersey, Colonel Ja cob Ruppert’s number one Yankee farm, where they could keep close tab on him. This spring at the age of 23 he is due to go up for his chance at filling the shoes of the old master, Tony Lazzeri. Gordon hit a good .300 in the PCL and slugged the "apple” at a .285 clip last year for Newark. Although baseball is Gordon’s “work,” his chief hobby is raising bird-dogs. Yes, Joe Gordon claims he has the best bird-dogs in the country. They’re Blue Beltons, En glish setters, and considered the best strain of hunters in the east. “Why I had one that was only six months old, and did he work!” A Home Run Hitter By the way, Gordon is quite a Home run hitter if you didn't al ready know. He lifted the supris ing total of 30 over International league fences and in doing so, dem onstrated to fans that he had the qualifications of the true Yankees. Gordon has received a lot of “kicks” out of baseball as for in stance the time he blasted three home runs in one game last sum mer, but his biggest thrill came one day when he walked up to the plate in the last half of the ninth, his club trailing 1-0 with two men out. He swung lustily and watched the horsehide sail over the fences to tie the score, and then the next batter duplicated the feat and the Newark Bears won, 2-1. New Jobs Open For Graduates By Merit Plan Opportunities Seen In Public Service by H. Kehrli University and college graduates will have a greater chance than ever before to get jobs in public j service work under the merit sys tem now being used in many locali ties, according to Herman Kehrli, head of the Oregon bureau of municipal research who returned yesterday from a tour of Middle ; Western and Southern cities. "I was more than enthused at the increasing emphasis placed on the merit system as it is used in 1 selecting employees for public ser vice in the various states I visited,” ! said Mr. Kehrli. “The advance of civil service and other quality sys tems has given a new hope to dis- 1 couraged students who wished to j study for public service, but be lieved that all government jobs were filled by those with a “pull,” Mr. Kehrli said. California Uses System An illustration is to be found in the personnel division of the California state government in Sacramento. A university graduate | under 30 years old is in complete 1 charge of the 113 workers in the j department, most of whom have ] attended college or university. Mr. Kehrli visited the campi of the University of California and Southern California where he in vestigated courses in public ser vice work which give the student a fine insight into problems of city and state government. Five states, Mr. Kehrli pointed out, have adopted the merit sys tem. Now university graduates are I finding well-paid employment in the governments of Arkansas, Con necticut, Kentucky, Maine, and Michigan. Other states are follow ing sipt, much to the satisfaction of worker and public alike, Mr. Kehrli declared. High School Press (Continued from pa Go OVER! ■: SIBERRIAN g ■ ■ Night delivery phone 29^2 BJB