Hollywood legend
Jimmy Stewart dies
■ MOVIES: The actor was
best known for roles in ‘It’s a
Wonderful Life’ and ‘Mr.
Smith Goes to Washington’
LOS ANGELES — Jimmy
Stewart, the lanky, slow-talking
actor who embodied American
decency and moral courage in
such movies as “Mr. Smith Goes
to Washington” and “It’s a Won
derful Life,” died Wednesday at
89.
Daily Variety; columnist Army
Archerd said Stewart’s son told
him the star died at his Beverly
Hills home.
With his stammering, aw
shucks delivery, Stewart turned
in some of the most memorable
performances in Hollywood his
tory, appearing in more than 75
movies.
Often he played earnest, some
times bashful heroes, slow to
anger but possessed with bottom
less reserves of perseverance. He
seemed the same in life, and the
American public’s affection for
him endured.
Stewart won a best actor Acad
emy Award for “The Philadel
phia Story” and was nominated
for the Oscar four other times.
He was best known for his role
as a suicidal businessman who
finds redemption in the 1946
movie “It's a Wonderful Life,”
one of the most beloved films in
history — particularly at Christ
mas — and Stewart’s personal fa
vorite.
In “Mr. Smith Goes to Wash
ington” in 1939, he was an ideal
istic young senator who chal
lenges the backroom deals and
opportunism on Capitol Hill. In
one of Stewart’s most famous
lines, he says: “I wouldn’t give
you two cents for all your fancy
rules if behind them they didn’t
have a little bit of plain, ordinary
kindness and a little lookin’ out
for the other fella.”
In an age of elegant, drop-dead
handsome matinee idols, Stewart
was more the average-looking
guy next door.
Stewart’s life reflected a small
town, religious upbringing and
sense of responsibility: He was
conservative politically, married
only once, earned medals for his
bravery in World War II and of
ten returned to help out at the
family hardware store in Indiana,
Pa., where his best actor Oscar
was displayed in the window for
20 years.
His acting seemed effortless
and natural.
Frank Capra, who directed
“Mr. Smith” and “It’s a Wonder
ful Life,” once said that even bet
ter than a great performance is “a
level of no acting at all, when the
actor disappears and a real live
person appears on the screen, a
person the audience cares about
immediately.” Stewart was one
of the few to reach that level,
Capra said.
Reserved and self-effacing,
Stewart was more likely to credit
his directors than his own talent.
“Hollywood dishes out too
much praise for small things,” he
once said. “I won’t let it get me,
but too much praise can turn a
fellow’s head if he doesn’t watch
his step.”
Stewart made his feature film
debut in 1935’s “The Murder
Man” as a newspaper reporter
opposite Spencer Tracy. “I was
all hands and feet, and didn’t
know what to do with either,” he
once said.
But in his first five years in
Hollywood he made 24 films, in
cluding "You Can’t Take it With
You,” “No Time for Comedy”
and “Destry Rides Again” with
Marlene Dietrich. He even
played a bad guy, just once, in
1936’s “After the Thin Man” —
his second movie role.
In his Oscar-winning perfor
mance in the 1940 “The
Philadelphia Story,” he played a
reporter entranced by a spoiled
heiress — Katharine Hepburn.
Cary Grant also starred.
His Oscar nominations were
for equally memorable roles: the
senator in “Mr. Smith Goes to
Washington,” the depressed
businessman in “It’s a Wonderful
Life”; the eccentric whose best
pal is an imaginary 6-foot rabbit
in “Harvey” in 1950; and the de
fense lawyer for an Army officer
in “Anatomy of a Murder” in
1959.
Alfred Hitchcock used him in
stylish suspense films such as
“Vertigo” and 1954’s “Rear Win
dow,” in which he played a pho
tographer who is confined to his
room by a leg injury and witness
es a murder in a nearby apart
ment.
In 1980, he received the Amer
ican Film Institute’s Life
Achievement Award, and in
1985, an honorary Oscar.
CHAD PATTESON/Emerald
Middle-school age children participate in activities as a part of the Summer Enrichment Program.
Gifted students gain opportunities
■ CAMPS: The Summer
Enrichment Program offers
new challenges to talented
and gifted middle schoolers
By Carl Yeh
Associate Editor
This summer camp is far
from remedial.
Nearly 100 middle school
children ages 11-15 are learning
about subjects such as music,
algebra, quantum physics and
history. They are participating
in a summer program spon
sored by the College of Educa
tion for talented and gifted chil
dren called the • Summer
Enrichment Program (SEP).
The program was started by
George Sheperd, a recently re
tired professor of education at
the University.
Since its inception in the
summer of 1980, SEP has aimed
to challenge talented and gifted
children from all over the State
of Oregon.
“Basically, the thought was
that kids who are talented and
gifted are often in districts who
do not have resources allotted
to them. The thought was to
give them a challenge in their
classes — things that they
wouldn’t be able to take in their
own districts. For example,
sixth graders would not normal
ly be able to take algebra,’’said
Blackwell, who has been with
the summer program for 11
years.
“They need an opportunity to
delve into a topic or idea deep
er. They need more depth. And
because these kids are brighter,
they are able to link more ideas
together,” Blackwell said.
Not only is extra depth in
subject matter emphasized, but
the talented and gifted students
are encouraged to explore new
areas.
“We encourage students to
take classes that they have nev
er taken before,” Blackwell said.
“Often times, the [students] are
perfectionists, so we encourage
them to try things they may not
shine in, so that at least they
had an experience.”
The education does come at a
price. “This year it costs $730
for two weeks, and that in
cludes meals, accommodations,
classes and recreation,” Black
well said.
However, many schools are
sending their students with
scholarships.
The talented and gifted kids
come from all over Oregon.
Some even come from other
states and other countries. The
application for SEP is distrib
uted in Oregon, but sometimes
they find their way to far away
places, Blackwell said.
Some students come from
rural parts of Oregon. “We have
kids from Oakridge, Bandon,
Hermiston and Scio,” Blackwell
said.
Sometimes students from
these rural areas can feel isolat
ed in their school, Blackwell
said.
“A lot of these kids are from
small towns where they may be
the only kid in school interest
ed in writing poetry. This pro
gram allows them to meet other
kids who are as interested as
they are in math, science or lit
erature.”
During their stay at the Uni
versity, the young students are
living in Earl Complex, a resi
dence hall.
Here, the young students are
well taken care of, Blackwell
said.
“We hire college students to
live with them as counselors
when they’re not in classes."
One of those college students
is Marcello Barros. “I’m the
dorm counselor supervisor —
supervising the [other] coun
selors in the program,” he said.
“This is my third year work
ing with the Summer Enrich
ment Program. I have learned to
really respect the program, and I
have enjoyed observing kids
grow,” Barros said.
The first session of the SEP
ends July 5. The second session
runs July 6-19.
“They’re really the type of
kids that the world could use
some more of. They’re bright
and they’re encouraged to test
their limits and try out new
things,” Barros said.
“I think they’re a lot of fun in
general.”
Finding a Job on the Internet X Janus X Lexis/Nexis sJ
Basic UNIX X Computer Viruses Computer Maintenance & Troubleshooting
the UO Library and University Computing
INVITE YOU TO CHECK OUT
The IT Curriculum
Information Technology & Computing Workshops
http://libweb.uoregon.edu/it/
♦ Free-open to UO students, staff and faculty.
♦ No registration required-just show up!
♦ Pick up a copy of the schedule at Knight Library or the
Computing Center.
For more information contact the Office of Library Instruction,
346-1817 or cbell@darkwing.uoregon.edu
Rf Beginning Web Publishing X Intermediate Web Publishing
Advanced Publishing^
& The Internet X The Web X E-mail X Web Surfing
a LIVE MUSIC
NO COVER EVER!
John Fohll He’s back!
2 nights only July 9 & 11
7/3 Skip Jones
7/9 John Fohl
7/10 Skip Jones
7/11 John Fohl
Open mic Sundays at 8:00 p.m. ■
ALL SHOWS START AT 9:00 p.m.
Microbrews & Domestics on tap
Including Labatts, Foster's
and a large selection of
other imports and micros
K ECS TO CO!!!
Monday Night Pool Tourney • Sign Op 6:30, starts 7:00
Free Pool Sunday & Tuesday Evening
Come play horseshoes in our beer garden
2657 Willamette • 344-0816