Ex-Emeraldite Observes Life in France
(Editor’s Note: This report
from France is not intended to
be an objective analysis of the
situation in France today. It is
merely a series of personal ob
servations and experiences. The
writer, a school of journalism
graduate of last June, sailed
from New York October 8 and
is now attending Grenoble uni
versity in Grenoble, France.
The Emerald hopes to publish -
• his letters from time to time.
His address is Hotel Gambetta,
43 Blvd., Gambetta, Grenoble
Isere, France.)
By HERB PENNY
GRENOBLE, Nov. 3—One hour
after the America left the pier I
was in difficulties. My Zeiss cam
era which I had purchased from
Ted Hallock for more money than
I could afford was stolen from
my stateroom and was never re
covered. It was such a blow that
I didn’t even stagger to the deck
to do the traditional looking at
the Statue of Liberty in the eve
ning fog.
I recovered in a day or two,
however, and spent most of the
Voyage with a polyglot group of
French, English, and Americans
carrying on labored but exciting
conversation far into the night in
the comfortable lounge and wak
ing with a large head each day
at noon. The people in our group
talked two languages plus hands.
There was Solonge, who spoke as
little English as I do French and
the combination of my poor danc
ing, swaying dance floor, and So
longe keeping up a rapid-fire talk,
understood or not, was almost a
cartoon. There was Michele, who
lives in Grenoble and who did
most of my translating. And
there was Jaques who works for
Rubenstein and makes perfume
and was almost a ringer for Boy
er. Then Margaret, very British,
who spoke not even the few words
of French that I had.
Also Terry and Susan, two
American girls who had little
money but wanted to go to Paris.
They tried to get a job with
UNESCO in the States, but they
could not, so they went on their
own to see if they could get a job
over there. Their future seemed
uncertain but they were com
pletely unworried.
Damage Obvious
We arrived at Cherbourg, and
among other officials who came
on board was a somewhat tight
little man who hated Americans,
Russians, and English with equal
zest. At the dock war damage and
repairs were obvious, but there
were also such things as the pas
sengers watching the porters
fearfully, afraid they would walk
off with the baggage, while I no
ticed the same porters carefully
carrying not only baggage but
babies with great tenderness to
the dock. We got on the train for
Paris.
In the city the Metro was on
strike, but I and Ray Anderson,
an American student for the Sor
bonne, got down to the Rue des
Ecoles just off the Boul’ Mich'
and were welcomed with open
^rms at a little hotel with odd
lighting and plumbing but with a
fine balcony above the street.
Each morning from the balcony I
noticed the neighborhood house
wives getting their bread. There
was no queue and they went away
with it under their arms, like four
or five clubs. It is about 3 feet
long and twice the thickness of a
broom handle. It is tough but not
bad and 6 or 7 inches of it forms
the backbone of every meal.
During the strike the city was
in a mess, although people seemed
quite used to it. There were a few
buses operating, also trucks, lor
ries, anything. People hung on
anywhere for a ride; drivers wait
ed for no one.
Money Sought
Getting to the embassy and
back was an all-day job and we
walked back along the Seine
where the book stalls and the
fishermen are there according to
plan. The Pont Neuf is as it is in
the paintings, and in front of No
tre Dame a sharper spots the
tourists and mutters about, “Any
American money ?—very good
rates.” At the book stalls I no
ticed a copy of Wilson’s “Tropic
of Capricorn” on top of “Honey in
the Horn.”
In many ways I felt insulated
from Paris with the language
barrier the largest insulator. Elec
tions were being held but I could
not find out what it was all about.
Mixed in with election flurry were
the strikers and, I suspected,
strike-breakers, covered overall
by reports from the coast of port
strikes which were hamstringing
the ports. I had just arrived in
time. In Cherbourg they had dif
ficulty getting the America away.
I caught an occasional word that
the taxis might go out and even
the truck drivers, but I got no
understanding of the whole thing.
French Reporting
The newspapers were little aid.
The lead of a main story began,
“La situation de la greve des
transports est, ce matin, parfaite
ment incomprehensible.” That
seems to go for French reporting
in general. Only occasionally
could I see signs of the stresses
that must have been apparent to
all Frenchmen.
I noticed a group of men argu
irtg on a street and saw by their
placard that they were a com
mittee to end the Metro strike.
Then I saw, here and there in the
passing crowd, gendarmes with
rifles. In front of l’Hummanite,
Communist newspaper, I saw a
huge crowd one night, none well
dressed, listening to a speaker. A
couple of hours later many peo
ple were still there.
My meals in Paris were not
wonderful, although I could have
had anything I wanted if I chose
to spend the money. About 100
francs buys a passable meal in a
restaurant, 200 a very good one.
I discovered a great aid at the
vet’s office where I learned that
I could get a PX card which en
titled me to 12 packs of cigarettes
a week.
Visit an Operator
While in the city Ray and I
went over to see Doc, a man we
had met on board ship. He was
staying in aa deluxe hotel. He said
he had noticed no food shortages,
but he had been dealing with the
black marketeers in smuggled
travelers’ checks. He was very
nice, jovial, and seemed like a
person I knew very well because
he was an American. He told us
how he had got a letter from a
French doctor saying he was at
tending a convention and thus
could get the expenses for his
trip deducted from his income-tax
—but there was no convention.
Doc may have been right
about the food but I noticed that
in front of food stores a little
knot of people would gather and
look at a cake in a window and
note the price and then wander
on. Ray and I joined the throngs
in this innocent amusement. At
the end of the week I looked up
train schedules and early one
morning started the trip south.
The High Cost of Motion Pictures
By BERT MOORE
I’ve been told that “Life With
Father” is an excellent picture.
No doubt it is. Even “The New
Yorker’s” perennially cynical
critic gave it some sophisticated
cheers.
But I'm going to have to hold
judgment for a few months or a
year, until it returns to Eugene.
None of the local cinema mer
chants is giving me passes to his
shows—and I’ll be damned if I’ll
pay $1.25 to see a movie.
$1.25! What nerve! I might not
mind paying road show prices for
a few films each year if I got a
rebate on all the stinkers I saw
where I was charged full price.
As long as the “sliding scale”
works only one way (up) the
people down town are going to
miss me at their road shows.
Let's consider theater prices
both of the past and in other lo
calities today. It doesn’t take a
long memory to remember when
the first run show houses in
Portland charged 25 cents before
1, 30 cents till 5, and 40 cents
for the evening show.
You could take your date to a
show, buy her a sandwich, put
some gas in the old man’s car,
and still have change from a cou
ple of bucks.
If you’re thinking that every
thing has gone up, and that 'thea
ter prices aren’t way out of line,
let’s examine the prices in an
other city.
Last September I passed a dol
lar through the cashier's wicket
and walked into the Roxy, in
New York City. In return for my
my buck I was underprivileged
to see “Mother Wore Tights’’
(which wasn’t worth two-bits),
but I also got to see Jack Ha
ley, Ella Logan and The Harmoni
cats on the stage, plus a terrific
revue.
At last reports the Roxy man
agement wasn’t losing money by
offering a show well worth the
price charged. And for first re
lease of Class A 20th-Century
Fox musical the Roxy has to pay
(Please turn to page three)
v p*
Oregon W Emerald
ALL-AMERICAN 1946-47
The Oregon Daily Emerald, official publication of the University of Oregon, published
daily during the college yeaf except Sundays, Mondays, and final examination periods.
Entered as second-class matter at the postoffice, Eugene, Ore.
Member of the Associated Collegiate Press
BOB FRAZIER, Editor
BOB CHAPMAN, Business Manager
BILL YATES
Managing Editor
JUNE GOETZE. BOBOLEE BROPHY
Co-News Editors
walt McKinney, jeanne simmonds, maryann thielen
Associates to Editor
WALLY HUNTER
Sports Editor
PHYIXIS KOHLMEtER
HELEN SHERMAN
Assistant Managing Editors
YIRG TUCKER
Advertising Manager
i
National Advertising Manager.....Marilyn Turner
Circulation Manager .Billi Jean Riethmiller
Editorial Board: Harry Glicknian, Johnny Kahananui, Bert Moore, Ted Goodwin, Bill
Stratton, Jack Billings.
s
Office Manager .Marge Huston Foster
Students on Trial
The student body will go on trial Thursday at 11 a.m. The
test will be whether students with classes at that hour will at
tend them or cut in order to help send off the team at the Mac
court pep (not rally) assembly.
Amazingly enough, it seems that ASUO President Stan
Williamson and First Vice-President Howard Lemons had
the devil of a time getting the student affairs committee to
grant their request for this assembly. Certain faculty members
of the committee evidently believed that students would
have to be led by the hand to class, if there were another
attraction, such as a pep assembly, on the campus. Other
faculty members and student leaders believed that students
with classes have enough sense to attend them regardless of
whether or not there’s a rope-climbing artist in front of Tay
lor’s.
In other words the students are on the spot, under the
scrutiny of many pairs of eyes. Question of the week: What
will these strange creatures do Thursday? Are they mature
enough to distinguish between right and wrong? Between
going to class and going to an assembly? Do they belong in
grade school ?
1 he stage is set and the jury is fidgeting. If the defendant is
cleared, there may be a prayer for another day-time assembly
some year. If the verdict is “guilty” we will all hang our
heads and toll a bell for the misguided student who can't
be trusted. Watch for the results in a later Emerald.
M.E.T.
20 Yeais Ago
From Emerald Files
Ignaz Friedman, distinguished
Polish pianist, was presented as
the first artist on the ASUO con
cert series.
Billy Reinhart’s fighting frosh
eleven met the Aggie rooks on
Bell field at Corvallis and came
back in the last period of the
game to defeat the OAC year
lings, 10 to 6.
The Oregon Webfeet lost their
Homecoming battle to the OAC
Beavers, (no score was avail
able).
Oregon’s around-the-world de
baters won over the University
of Hawaii in a return bout.
“Order of the O” held their
Homecoming banquet at the
Campus Shoppe.
The school of journalism’s
Jamboree with tickets and masks
the only requirements.
William M. Tugman, editor of
the Eugene Daily Guard, spoke
to the assembled reporting class
es, giving an informal talk on
“reporting.”
AliQ'irtXj, tf&u
By JIM PRIOR
Do you feel nosey? Are you a
busybody? Do you like to poke
your shoot in other people’s busi
ness? Well, here’s your chance
. . . “Candid Microphone” comes
on at 8:30 tomorrow night. If
you’ve already checked this pro-:
gram, you know that no one sus
pects he’s being interviewed by
the hidden mike. Some guy just
walks up to a person on the street
and gets into a conversation. The
results are wire recorded. And
then, just to make it legal, each
interviewee is asked for his per
mission to use his voice on the air.
An amazingly large number give
it the O.K.
We knew someone would take
Pat Novak to heart sooner or lat
er. (He's on Sunday nights over
KUGN and ABC.) Jack Lewis
(who plays Jocko Madigan of the
bibulous habits) recently received
a letter from an actual address
in Oakland, Cal., containing a
booklet and application to join
the Samaritan Institution, thus
assuring his “freedom from de
structive drinking.” Unfortunate
ly, Lewis is a teetotaler, so the
summons went wanting.
Oh yes, “Treasury Agent” will
make with the monsters Thursday
evening around 7 p.m. Thrills,
chills, excitement, drama . . . be
sides, it's good listening. “The
Clock” has another weird tale to
tell at 7:30 as well.
For that early Friday evening
lull, tip your ear toward KUGN
at 6:45 for honey-voiced Art
Litchman with “Sportscopy.”
Snapping at his heels comes Har
ry Wismer at 6:55, just before
the Friday Night Fights. You
won’t have any trouble telling
Wismer and Litchman apart.
(Litchman’s fatter.) And you'll
get a complete picture of the lo
cal and national sports picture.
Each weekday evening, KUGN
and ABC bring you a late dancing
party from around the Pacific
slope. At present, Freddie Martin
and Dick Jurgens are playing
their wares from 10:30 p.m. or so.
And for future reference, Joe
Louis and Joe Walcott will slug
it out December 5 at Madison
Square Garden. This battle for the
heavyweight crown will be called
by Don Dunphy and Bill Corum -
over KUGN and the ABC net
work. Best you stake out your
seat now.—Pd. Adv.