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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 5, 1949)
Sophomore Wisdom She Combats Slander With Courage and Dignity by Bob Funk On the morning of Tues day, Sept. 27, the Emerald ran a front-page story on the Civic Music Association’s schedule for the coming year. In the story it was pointed out that Kirsten Flagstad, the Wagnerian soprano, would appear in a McArthur Court concert late in October. Immediately following the publication of the Civic Mu sic Association schedule, both the association and Uni versity President H. K. New bum received a complaint (apparently from the same source) on Madame Flag stad’s appearance. The basis of this complaint was the singer’s war record. This sort of thing has been going on too long. We are probably lucky that in Eu gene we have had only one complaint. Philadelphia and San Francisco had hundreds. It is evident that after all the months Flagstad has been singing since the war, after the several complete loyalty clearances by her own gov ernment, there are still peo ple who insist on slinging their own little fistful of mud in order to satisfy the perver sion of what we may possibly consider their ideals. Madame Flagstad has made no mistake insofar as anyone has been able to determine. She simply went home to Norway during the war to be with her husband. The hus band was a Nazi sympathiz er, now dead; however, there is no evidence that in being faithful to him Flagstad sup ported the Nazi party. In her own mind, obvious ly, Madame Flagstad has jus tified her past actions. At any rate she has returned to the United States without appar ent shame or misgivings', and met with courage and dignity the attacks which various groups have made upon her— all of which may indicate a clear conscience. America is extremely for tunate in having Flagstad back. The soprano is thought of by most critics as the greatest Wagnerian interpre ter now living. Her perform ances in the Wagnerian Cy cle at the Metropolitan Opera prior to the ivar established for her a reputation which can hardly be disputed or ig nored on the basis of such du bious evidence we now have against her. There may be no more complaints forthcoming on Madame Flagstad’s appear ance in Eugene. Certainly there will be no Such nauseat ing display of ignorant ill will as was found in San Francisco last summer. San Francisco’s chief op ponent to Madame Flag stad’s appearance there (she is scheduled for one matinee and one evening performance at the San Francisco opera this fall) was 'a gentleman who admitted that he had “never heard of this Flag staff:” before, but contended that “where there’s that much smoke there must be fire.” With the help of the San Francisco Chronicle and some unexpectedly liberal aid from Hearst’s Examiner, Flagstad opposition was si lenced. In spite of the gentle man’s inspired efforts. She will appear in San Francisco. And in spite of such people all over the country, Flagstad will continue to appear; be cause, luckily, most people are able to differentiate be tween natural marital loyalty and subversive activity, be tween a living symbol of great music and a dangerous Fascist on the loose. Ritin' of Random ... Music and Pea-Green Quonset Huts ... by Jo Gilbert A case of Milwaukie’s Finest to Dick Wil liams! He hooked Les Brown for the Sopho more Whiskerino but that isn’t the end of it. If we are wanting more of the same, a few char acters besides the old stand-bys should save their shekels and bring themselves over to Mac Court for the dance. For we can’t complain when we get Willie Gleek for dances if the Sophomores go into the red on this dance. Here’s the chance to prove that a name band will pay off. Longstanding gripe—the blasted, atrocious pea-green color that the University persists in plastering on all paintable objects, on and off campus. Amazon housing, the trailers, the quonsets—all this and more touched with a de lectable pea-green. Why, oh why of all colors was this chosen? Colorblindness? And the legal name of this paint is “Robin’s Egg Blue”—what did the poor robin do to deserve this fate? Blackest event in University history was probably the year the liquor store burned down on Homecoming Day. l.UBjl Note to Jazz lovers: A guy named Eubanks out at KORE has one On Things In General . . . Esquire to the Guide ... by Steve Loy Emerald sports editor Dave Taylor deserves the “Loyal Webfoot” award of the week in my opinion. Spotted 21 points on the ball game last week. A lot of people gave odds on the wrong side of the board. How many of the literati saw Oregon Hall in the Pendleton Woolen Mills ad in the Septem ber Esquire ? Page 7. The reporter who did the story on the hier archy to be elected in Hendricks and Carson did a fine job but left out a detail which will make for even more of a Mexican army effect. When one of the five floor presidents is elected house president, she must resign and another floor president will be elected in her place. Question, who will be left to vote? Have heard and uttered some dissatisfaction on the Bunion Derby procedure. Seems some groups failed to keep on schedule, making for definite congestion in some houses. The gang-1 went with was aced out several times by an other crew arriving five minutes ahead of us and claiming all the femininity. fine jazz show—aired Monday nights at 10:30. Best (which is not a pun at the sponsor, Best Cleaners) to hit Eugene in many a long year. Everything from Dixie to Bop. And speaking of Bop, take a listen to some Mile Davis—he records on Capital, and probably one of the best is “Godchild”, a strictly Bop number. Davis uses, among other things, a French horn, tuba, and baritone sax—frantic!! and vibes. Speaking of rumors (and who was?) : A campus “old Dawg”, name of Herb Wid mer, must be leading an interesting life—that is, if he is keeping up with all the current ru mors about him. I hate to disappoint the guys tossing them about, but Herb is NOT the jani tor at the art school, he did NOT sell his alto and tenor, he is NOT working for the Eugene Sanitation Department, he is NOT jobbing in Portland. In fact, according to good authority, he is still around and probably has the most ver satile combo in these here parts—the piano man doubles on vibes, the bass man doubles on trum pet, and Herb hits a homer on alto,, tenor, bass, Our Readers Speak Dear Editor: While discussing various aspects of college life with some freshmen students I found that quite a number of them were worried about their psychology decile rating. Some of them actually believing they were morons because they had decile ratings of one. Being a typical college student, I was very much interested in finding out the truth. So I went down to the testing center and talked to Dr. Carlson, director of the center. Much to my enlightenment I found that this psychology decile was just an indication of how you com pared with other college freshman in your vo cabulary, reading, and comprehension. It was for determining your deficiency in those fields. In other words, your psychology decile can be raised by increasing your vocabulary and speeding up your reading and comprehension rate. Finding this out made me very happy. I rushed right down to the book store and bought a vocabulary book and even a dictionary. Hear ing that the testing center was giving a course for slow readers, I took advantage of the oppor tunity and registered for the course. So if any of you with low decile ratings have the wherewithall and gumption, you can be bet ter than you are.—Dave Swanson, Jr. The Theatah... Turnabout Makes Good Play at VLT Ottilie Seybolt sets the pace for the Very Lit tle Theater production of “Papa is All,” which has five days remaining in its run at the fair grounds playhouse. Mrs. Seybolt, who is known more generally to students for her abilities as a director in the University Theater, carried the play as the un derstanding, patient Mama. While the three-act comedy by Patterson Greene got off to a slow start due to the difficulty of catching on to the Mennonite accent of the characters, it quickly gained a fast pace. The accent soon became one of the delightful features of the comedy. Tru Vosberg showed considerable skill as the spirited Emma. Miss Vosberg, a University stu dent, has appeared before in Very Little The ater productions, but has yet to be seen on the stage of the University Theater. The play is a humorous study of a Pennsyl vania dutch family so domineered by a stern father that their very home is a jail to them. Mama cannot have a telephone; Emma cannot see a boy in her parlor; and Jake, the son, who ... by Oeorge bpelvin has wheels in his head, must draw and plan machines only when he is sure papa is not around. The production has been given a number of beautiful touches by production manager Ken Poull, who designed and created the set, and di rector George Hebert. Airs. Seybolt is at her best when handling the stage properties and when working in the kitchen. Her realistic and meticulous care for the kitchen gives the pro duction an added polish. Off-stage sound effects, good lighting, a well constructed set, the attention paid to detail and a capable cast, make the play one of the better produced by the Very Little Theater. Short Stuff What page of the Emerald d’ya read ? Yesterday’s issue had three interesting items about the University Theater. On page six we claimed gen eral tryouts would be announced in a later issue; on page seven that they would be held Wednesday night; and on page eight that they would not be held on Wednesday, but Tuesday, instead. No staff member; is quite sure how this unique situation occurred. S