''Male Animal'
Holds Audience
In Laughter
By LeJEUNE GRIFFITH
Thurber and Nugent’s zany com
edy of college life lived up to its
advance publicity when “The Male
Animal” opened on the Guild stage
last night. Under the direction of
Gilbert Williams, the play kept the
audience laughing from start to
finish.
The comic situations and hilari
ous dialogue didn’t obscure the real
point of the story—the question of
whether a university is a place of
ideas or merely a training school,
the question of whether any group
in the university has the right to
impose censorship on ideas.
Red Scares
The trouble started when Profes
sor Turner (William Tassock) an
nounced to his class that he was
going to read a letter by the anar
chist Vanzetti to his English com
position class. The announcement
followed a “Red” scare on the
campus which had ended in the
“purging” of certain professors
who were considered by the trus
tees as having views incompatible
with those of the board, and par
ticularly Ed Keller.
Mixed in with this tangle of free
dom of ideas was the story of
brain versus brawn, as exemplified
in the older generation by Profes
sor Turner and “Whirling Joe”
Ferguson, and in the younger by
Michael Barnes and football star
Wally Myers.
Tassock Scores
William Tassock scored a hit ag
the bewildered Thurbian professor.
His wife, Ellen, was ably played by
Pat Laxton, and Charles Boice as
Joe Ferguson kept the play rolling
at a good pace. LaVorn Taylor, as
the hero-worshipping football star,
rates top honors for playing every
scene to its fullest. Richard Mon
nie as Dean Damon and Gordon
Ericksen as Ed Keller were excel
lent choices for the parts. Stan
Smith, Pat White, and Carolyn
Parker gave able support.
There were several dead spots
in the first act which could have
used a little enthusiastic impro
vising by the cast, as following the
"Happy Birthday” song, and more
audible chatting from the dining
room when the guests were getting
their food would have helped.
Drunk Scene
The “drunk” scene between the
professor and Michael, which con
tained some of the best lines in the
play, was funny but mechanical at
times, especially some of Michael’s
speeches.
The getting was pleasant, al
though the combination of drapes
and covering for the couch would
have been more effective if they
had either matched or been entire
ly different. The couch cover, being
made of a shiny material, reflected
light into the audience’s eyes,
which tired the eyes after a while.
The outside light cast an unnatural
upward glow into the room each
time the door was opened.
“The Male Animal” will be pre
sented five more nights, May 22,
and 26 through 29.
Picnic Petitions
Due Next Tuesday
Petitions for committee chair
men for the annual Oregon Jan'tzen
Beach picnic should be turned in to
A1 Pietschman at the Delta Tau
Delta house no later than Tuesday
night.
Committees for picnic are decor
ations, public relations, picnic ar
rangements, games, entertainment
and ticket distribution. Anyone
wanting to work is requested to
contact Pietschman. Those work
ing must be in Portland all sum
mer, according to Pietschman.
W "|
I LIKE CHESTERFIELDS
-THEY’RE MY BRAND
BECAUSE THEY’RE MILD*
I
A PARAMOUNT PICTURE
WHY... I smoke Chesterfield
( FROM A SERIES OF STATEMENTS BY PROMINENT TOBACCO FARMERS)
“/ think Chesterfield is a good-smoking cigarette
and I like them. They have a good, ripe-tobacco taste
and they’re mild.
“Nobody pays a higher price to get good-smoking
tobacco than Chesterfield. They buy sweet, ripe tobacco.
Looks like a gold dollar in the barn.”
• •