'Nature Boy’
Promises
Big Things
By MICHAEL CALLAHAN
“Nature Boy” is dimming dance
lights across the country today
like nothing since the haunting
“Gloomy Sunday” of years ago.
The story oi
this strange
melody, now re
corded on what
may be the/
greatest single 1
record of the
decade, goes
back more than
a century, to an- /
other country. I
The moody theme oi pgaiuie
Boy” was born in a brilliant pi
ano prelude that took Paris of
the 1830s by storm. Frederick
Chopin hurriedly wrote this pre
lude only a few months before
his death, and into it poured so
much of his passionate Slavic na
ture that critics soon spoke of it
reverently as “the great Prelude
Appasionata.”
In America, the prelude won a
brief flurry of demand as the
theme of the film version of Os
car Wilde’s “The Picture of Do
rian Gray.” Leopold Stokowski
recorded an orchestral arrange
ment that sold well enough to
keep out of the cobweb files, but
the public was looking for words
to match the music. All they were
waiting for is in “Nature Boy.”
From Chopin’s stormy compo
sition, Capitol writer Eden Ah
bez built a wistful song about a
wandering young lover. To sing
the plaintive words (“the greatest
joy—is to love and be loved in re
turn”), Capitol picked soft-voiced
Nat “King” Cole, with Frank De
Vol’s golden-stringed orchestra in
the background.
Short days after its release last
month, “Nature Boy” rose to
“song of the week” honors on
station wax-spinner programs in
every part of the country. (Eu
gene station KASH held it for a
solid week). Advance shipments
promptly sold out over more than
one Eugene disc bar, and the de
mands are piling up all the way
back to the Cap studios in Holly
wood.
If you haven’t heard “Nature
Boy,” make the rounds until it
comes in. The whole work is
strictly mastepriece material—■
just the short piano passage alone
is worth the buying price.
Album notes: Someone at Vic
tor should get the axe this week.
The formula for Tony Martin's
comeback album was surefire—
Russ Case's ork, some memorable
old-timer tunes that Martin fans
would jump at, and the great old
tenor himself. But scratchy disc
surfaces, some of the worst we've
ever heard, loused up the whole
set.
A blunder like that hasn't
slipped out of Victor since the old
gramaphone days, and when the
kickbacks come in someone is go
ing to get a royal chewing. Just
to keep the record straight, Vic
tor flubbed Martin's stylings of
"Night and Day,” “You and the
Night and the Music,” "Deep
Night,” “In the Still of the
Night,” and a pair of others right
out the back door.
Night Staff:
Joyce Good
Jim White
Bob Hemingway, editor
Copy Desk:
Dotty Sorg
Marilyn Madden
Stan Turnbull, editor
To get a reputation as a liar, a
fellow has only to keep complaining
that he's being misquoted.
Oregon Democrats Get Little Books, Too,
But the Passages Aren't So Purple
The political complexion of the Emerald has been a matter
of campus comment these past few days. The Emerald re
viewed” the Republican party voters’ pamphlet earlier this
week, and the word around the campus is that the Shack is a
hot-bed of Democrats. This is not so. Neither do we swoon at
each utterance of Senator Taft or Representative Knutson.
The only thing we’re agin’ is humbug.
Our review of the Republican pamphlet, we thought, was
quite objective. We just quoted from the book.
To allay suspicion we herewith do the same for the demo
crats, whose loyal followers also receive little books before
election. But it isn’t easy. A combing of the Democrat pam
phlet has failed to reveal the purple passages that abound in
the pamphlet of the GOP. Few of the Democrats declare
themselves in favor of the "American way of life. Few of
them appear eager to "return to constitutional government.”
But here we go:
There is the case of Henry C. Aiken, who is running for
Democrat national committeeman. One of his qualifications is
that he was:
Former President of the Heppner Rodeo for 10 years.
Mr. Aiken is opposed by Mike M. De Cicco, who is:
Strongly interested in social service work, Mr. De Cicco is a long
time member of the Eagles, the Elks, and Oregon Dads.
Comes now the case of Carroll D. Irving Johnston, can
didate for delegate at large to the Democratic national con
vention. One of the planks in his platform is:
Tolerant views.
Another candidate for that job is Charles T. McPherson,
By BOB FRAZIER .
who appears to favor President Truman for the nomination.
He’s quite poetic about it, saying that:
The path of his thought is straight
- “Like that of the swift cannon ball,
Shattering that it may reach, and
Shattering what it reaches.”
William F. Tanton, candidate for nomination for repre
sentative to congress, fourth district, uses no picture with
his blurb in the pamphlet. His wisdom in the public relations
field is something that could be copied with profit by many of
the other candidates.
A wheel-horse is Byron G. Carney, who is running for the
secretary of state nomination. Says he:
I will make an active campaign to reach every voter in the
state, not merely to get votes for myself, but for every Democrat
on the ticket.
William B. Murray who would like to be attorney general
is a fighter. The pamphlet tells us:
Friends and opponents alike recognize that “Bill Murray fights
hard, but he fights fair.”
Keith W. Bacon, democrat, candidate for nomination for
representative in the legislative assembly, fourteenth district,
Lane county, believes in :
Repeal of anti-labor laws.
Our own Dale Harlan who is seeking the same job Mr.
Bacon is after observes this about Oregon :
It is a fastly growing state.
The Democrats, you see, get little books, too, but the read
ing is not quite so good. It is not tlrat the Republicans are
really better. It is just that we have an affinity for the purple
passage.
r nWEMERALD
ALL-AMERICAN 1946-47
The Oregon Daily Emerald, official publication of the University of Oregon, published
daily during the college year 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
DON FAIR FRED TAYLOR
Co-Sports Editor _•_
JEANNE SIMMONDS, MARYANN THIELEN, BARBARA HEYWOOD
Associates to Editor_
VIRGIL TUCKER
Advrtising Manager
DIANA DYE
Assistant News Editors
Editorial Board: Larry Lau, Johnny Kahananui, Bert Moore, Ted Goodwin, Bill Stratton,
Jack Billings. ____
PHYLLIS KOHLMEIER HELEN SHERMAN
Asst. Managing Editors
National Advertising Manager .-.-.-.—Mar''yn Turner
Circulation Manager .-.-.Bilhjean Kiethimller
toujours gai, toujours gai, wattahell,
there's a dance in the old dame yet
A BOOK REVIEW
By KENNETH ROBERTS
Don Marquis’ column appeared in the New York Sun from 1913
to 1922, a column remarkable for the fact that it never degenerated
into the usual mediocrity of a day to day deadline, and has been com
pared to Addison and Steele's Spectator. The book, "The Rest of Don
Marquis’ Works’’ incorporates some of the author’s best-loved poems
and essays, the most renowned being "Archy and Mehitabel.” Archy
was a cockroach whose soul yearned for expression, and told about
the adventures of Mehitabel the corybantic cat, who claimed she
was a reincarnation of Cleopatra. Arch would laboriously type by
jumping from the framework of the typewriter headfirst with just
enough force to strike each letter, but he could not work capital
letters. Mehitabel was a philosophic cat, who believed amateurs
were ruining her profession, but she always remained a lady even as
she dropped the six little evidences of her latest alley alliance into
the most convenient rainbarrel saying:
my youth i shall never forget
but there 9 nothing i really regret
wotthehell wotthehell
there s a dance in the old dame yet
toujours gai toujours gai
Marquis used Archy's lowly position to great effect for satirical
allusions, and New Yorkers had a great faith in Archy's interpreta
tions of the day's events.
The rest of the book containe "The Story of the Old Soak,” a
man who didn't believe that man was made to live by bread alone,
Oregon Underground
Each year the Emerald has obligations to fulfill. The fore
most obligation, probably, is that each Tuesday through
Saturday there l>e an Emerald printed and distributed. The
second obligation, probably, is that the Emerald each year
must run a feature on the University tunnel system.
It may be because each new freshman class must be indoc
rinated with the knowledge of the tunnels, or it may be that in
this atomic age, all students should have a knowledge of some
obscure hideaway. We’re not sure, for the reason became lost
in 1926 and we've just been printing the stories ever since
on hearsay. But it’s a ground rule of the “shack” that the
tunnels be explained, so, perilously, two associate editors of
the Emerald took flashlight in hand and descended into the
depths via the heating plant.
Well equipped with K-rations, a third and a fourth for
bridge, a guide, two Hershey bars, and a copy of “Count of
Monte Cristo,” the party explored the caves which bring
to all campus buildings heat, light, electricity, and, to a great
extent, water. Pipes overhead and on the walls, conduits on
the floor, and ground water dripping at unexpected places all
contributed to the feeling that we were far from the campus.
The tunnels run from the heating plant to McArthur court,
over to Susan Campbell, to the music building, down along
Deady and Villard, and over to John Straub. They form a
system of passageways about 7 feet by 4 feet, for students
who get tired of it all, for professors who wish to escape from
students, and for workmen who repair the pipes.
A series of electric lights, burning bright but cheerless in
the passageways, illuminate the cement-enclosed areaways.
Certain passageways are wet and slippery and it’s not at all
surprising to come suddenly upon a low valve, or a high con
duit which must be skirted cleverly. Xo rats were there,
though, we were assured, for there’s nothing for them to eat.
It was fun to wander through. We even learned something.
We found out that the manhole which gushes steam right
outside of Friendly hall isn't really a hiding place of delinquent
high school smokers; it seems that the steam is all part of
the University heating system.—J.B.S.
which became folklore during the bootleg era. “The Old Soak’s His
tory of the World” tells how they used to have skin jugs instead of
bottles. “Hermione and her little group of serious thinkers” are se
lections satirizing arty intellectuals, and also an introduction by
Christopher Morley, a close friend of Marquis, comparing Marquis,
justifiably, to Mark Twain.
The book is recommended reading on either the humorous or
philosophical level, or both. One thing reading this book will give you,
is a store of pungent sayings, such as: humanity usually triumphs
over its details; try not to worry too much about things, somebody
will think it all out for you; Freuds rush in where angels fear to
tread; the only thing hindering the progress of the human race is
the human race.