ode
the emerald s weekly
entertainment section
Norman Mailer
Photo from New Line Cinema
The subject is fantasy
\
The University Cultural Forum is the sponsor of a five-day
symposium dealing with fantasy, beginning next Monday. The
symposium will utilize a variety of forms—discussion, film, per
forming and visual arts, music—to explore the world of fantasy. The
exploration will include science fiction, the supernatural, magic,
mysticism, animation, and psycho-sexual fantasy.
The initial event of the symposium will be an address and film
excerpts by Harlan Ellison, the world’s most honored writer of fan
tasy, next Monday. A prolific writer, Ellison has won many science
fiction awards, including two Nebulas, and six Hugos, and two Special
Achievement Awards from the World Science Fiction Association. A
prolific writer, Ellison has published eight books, more than 800
stories, a popular weekly column in the Los Angeles Free Press, and
many television scripts. Star Trek and The Outer Limits often
featured his work. The speech will begin at 8 p.m. in the EMU
Ballroom. The public is invited and no admission will be charged.
The Fantasy Symposium will continue on Tuesday with three
offerings. The first will be a 12:30 p.m. presentation by Ray Hyman, U
of O professor of Psychology. Hyman is a former professional
magician and an expert on magic, fantasy, ESP, and creativity.
Among his writing is the book, Water Witching, U.S.A. Hyman will
discuss and demonstrate the deception of reality. His presentation will
also be a part of the Cultural Forum’s on-going discussion series,
Northwest Forum. It will be held in 214 EMU. There is no admission
charge and guests may or may not bring their lunch to the program.
A faculty panel discussion will follow at 3 p.m. in the same room.
The panel will discuss the “Social Uses of Magic.” Their comments
will focus upon the ways in which society uses and depends upon
deception, mysticism, and symbolism. Included on the panel are
George Zaninovich (political science), Vernon Drojahn (an
thropology), and Stephen Reynolds (religion).
That evening Irv Weiner, a master magician, will demonstrate
and explain the effects achieved by the great Houdini, as well as the
skillful arts of the card shark and demonstration of ESP. Weiner is a
faculty member at Chavez College, the world’s only college of magic.
In addition to his years as a professional performer, Weiner has edited
the ESP journal The Silent Messenger, and has patented many
magical instruments and effects. The program will begin at 8 p.m. in
the EMU Ballroom and no admission will be charged.
On Wednesday, Halloween, the symposium will take advantage of
the Oct. 31 occasion. At 8 p.m., Upepo, a Portland-based group, will
present a cross-culhiral and multi-media program. Their unique
presentation combines experimental American jazz, Middle Eastern
and Latin American music with exciting visuals, mime, and a belly
dancer. The program includes Stanley Sherman, a mime artist, and
Seila Farah, a Moroccan belly dancer. The EMU Ballroom will be the
location of the event and a $1 admission will be charged at the door.
At midnight, the Ballroom will be used for the showing of a pot
pourri of Fantasy films. “Kwaidan” weaves four Japanese tales of the
supernatural, “Sins of the Fleshapoids” is the underground science
fiction effort of Mike Kuchar, and “Milestones in Animation”
chronicles Disney work of the 1920’s and 193C’s. A $1 admission will be
charged at the door.
On Thursday, November 1, C. W. Sullivan III, a University
teacher of science fiction courses, will speak on “Mythology and
Fantasy.” Sullivan taught formerly at the State University of New
York at Buffalo. The program will be in 214 EMU and will begin at
12:30 p.m.
At 8 p.m. that evening, the Paul Winter Consort will present a
concert. The Consort is a noted improvisational jazz group which
utilizes diverse elements of music and a broad range ot in
strumentation—cello, harp, saxophone, English horn, Third World
percussion instruments—to produce a unified and harmonious sound.
The concert will begin at 8 p.m. in the EMU Ballroom. Tickets are now
on sale at the EMU Main Desk, the Chrystalship, and the Sun Shop and
are priced at $2 for University students and $3 for non-students.
Friday, November 2, the famous author journalist-film maker
Norman Mailer will be a guest of the symposium. An award winning
novelist and journalist, Mailer’s film-making is a more recent effort.
In addition to these artistic exploits, Mailer has gained a great deal of
notoriety as a public and political personality. Among his feats, was an
unsuccessful candidacy for the mayorality of New York City. Mailer’s
current book is Monroe, in which he provides the commentary for a
collection of photographs of the legendary sex symbol .MarilynMonroe.
Never easily confined to a single topic, Mailer will discuss—among
other things—the elements of socio-psycho-sexual fantasy in the myth
and reality of Marilyn Monroe. The event will be at 12:30 p.m. in
McArthur Court and a 50-cent admission will be charged at the door.
Friday at 8 p.m. in the EMU Ballroom, two Monroe films will be
shown as examples of the sex symbol fantasy. “Bus Stop” is a 1956
film directed by Joshua Logan in which Monroe is featured in a
dramatic role as an Ozarks “chantoosie” who is stranded at a road
side cafe with several other bus passengers. In Lawrence Olivier’s
“The Prince and the Showgirl” (1957), Monroe is juxtaposed as a
showgirl against the famous actor’s characterization of a Balkan
prince. There will be a $1 admission.