'Antony' Production
Studded With Gems
Completes 1st Cycle
Ashland - "The Tragedy of'
Antony and Cleopatra" was
presented here Friday night
to complete the first cycle of
plays on the new and highly
successful Oregon Shake
speare Festival stage.
The production was stud
ded, like Cleopatra's crown,
with several thespian gems
and James Sandoe's direction
the crown itself, was gen
erally bright and graceful.
The play itself is a tragedy,
that of a man drawn from
duty - and, ultimately, honor
-by a consuming passion. And
it is a love story.
Yet in this play, unlike
"Macbeth" for example, no
wheels of fate stretch the hero
on a rack of relentless cir
cumstance, and no fear of
death or doom hunts him. If
a jealous Nemesis is indeed
responsible for . the lovers'
downfall, she is certainly un
obtrusive.
Unconventional
As a love story it is also un
conventional, for we are
snown the passion flower's
fruit, not its petals. If the hero
has not entirely won his
heroine, the initial pursuit at
least is over long before the
play begins.
The character of Antony is
complex. However, to this
. novice reviewer at least, his
stature must be heroic else he
canot embody his massive pas
sion.
In Theodore Marcuse's per
formance, we saw a man of
lesser stature, more an "old
ruffian," as Octavius Caesar
once calls him. In place of
passion, more often there was
lust, as in his habit of grab
bing rather than embracing
bis "Egypt.
In Act III, when after a
shameful deportment in battle
he is revived from self-loath
ing by Cleopatra's presence
. and says, "Give me a kiss.
Even this repays me," it ap
peared that the prospect of a
debauch rather than a flame of
love danced before his eyes.
Found Enchanting
Barbara Waide as Cleopatra
we found enchanting. Her
, coquettishness before Octa
vius Caesar in Act V brought
many appreciative murmurs
from the audience.
She portrayed the Egyptian
queen so that her wiles seem
. ed instinctive, part and parcel
of her personality, rather than
i the fruits of conscious schem
: ing. . .
. This choice of interpreta
tion, in which Cleopatra is
rendered ultra-feminine, some
how to us at least failed to
harmonize with Marcuse's An
tony. There was a lack of rap
port between the two lovers
that rapport one. looks for,
despite surface fluctuations,
in continuing intimate rela
tionships.
Austere Caesar
Afflonv nthpr nprfnrmanpps
Paul Nagle Jackson's austere
Octavius Caesar, Antony's
countryman and. foe, we
thought outstanding. Jackson's
' diction, even to our untutored
ears, is a particular pleasure.
Enobarbus, Antony's lieu
tenant who deserts him only
to die in remorse later, was
played effectively by Edward
Grover.
He performed Enobarbus
with lusty realism, a quality
appropriate to this character
where it appears less so in
Marcuse's Antony.
Angus Bowmer, the festi
vals producing director, per
formed both Lepidus and the
worm-mongering clown "with
his customary skill.
Other Portrayals
Among other portrayals we
thought especially effective
were those of Thidias, Caesar's
ill-bent messenger to Cleopa
tra, by Joel Riggs, and Scarus,
one of Antony's commanders,
by Richard Risso.
eunuch .of Cleopatra's house
hold, could, we thought, have
been etched more sharply. One
or two voices in the cast were
lacking in diction, and there
was an unfortunate tendency
toward shouting in the heat of
battle. Might not a quickened
delivery convey excitement
as well?
We would like to single out
.several scenes in particular
for their effectiveness. One in
volves Cleopatra's treatment
of the messenger from Rome,
played by John Hawkins, who
tells her of Antony's bethro th
ai to Octavia. Both are ex
cellent.
Second Moment
A second is the rib-tickling
moment of ribaldry on Pom-
pev's galley in which Antony
tells Lepidus, well into his
cups, about the Nile crocodile.
"It is shap'd, sir, like itself
... and the tears of it are
wet."
'"Tis a strange serpent,"
Lepidus comments thickly.
There were, however, other
light moments which we trust
were unintended.
One arose from the unfor
tunate contrivance of having
the dying Antony hauled aloft
to Cleopatra's monument by
her two dainty ladies-in-waiting.
In our text, the guards
"heave Antony aloft," which
does not sound too effective
" either. We wonder if some-
Thousands Watch
Wannn falvararipl
IIUVII VUIIHVUHV
Enter Pendleton
how, perhaps by block and
tackle, the ladies could be re
lieved of their burden - for it
occasions laughter at an inap
propriate moment.
Miscalculation
A second such moment
arose from a slight miscalcu
lation in delivery of lines.
After Cleopatra and her two
ladies have taken their lives,
Dolabella rushes in and asks
a guard, "How goes it here?"
The guard replies "All dead,"
and several chuckles were
heard.
Apparently, the similarity
of Dolabella's query to our
present-day casual greeting,
"How goes it?" and a lack of
feeling in the guard's reply)
gave the exchange an incon
gruous levity.
- With respect to costumes, a
fidelity to' Elizabethan con
cepts may surprise those who
believe a play set in Egypt
should include Egyptian dress,
such as one commonly sees in
productions of Verdi's opera,
"Aida." We must single out
Cleopatra's brocade gowns for
their particular beauty. An
tony's "shirt sleeves," how
ever, struck us as being, how
ever authentic, something less
than heroic.
.We drove home from Frt
day night's enriching perform
ance under a starry sky
charged, as only Shakespeare
can charge it, with new and
special significance. Frag
ments of the play's language
lingered:
"The chair she sat in, like
a burnished throne . . ."
"The death of Antony is not
a single doom . . ."
And, as we drove north on
Highway 99 past the Cobra
Farm we again heard Lepidus:
"You've strange serpents
there?"-E.W.
Benevolent Groups'
Dissolution Sought
Salem -4DPD- Attorney Gen
eral Robert Y. Thornton Fri
day filed suit in circuit court
here seeking to dissolve 11
benevolent organizations and
place them in receivership.
Thornton's suit charges the
benevolent societies with fail
ing to comply with insurance
regulations. The suit was
brought after a request from
V. Dean Musser, Oregon in
surance commissioner.
The Multnomah county
grand jury in Portland recent
ly gave a clean bill of health
to the organizations. .
Societies cited in the suits
include the Benevolent Order
of Countrymen, the Country
men Society Inc., the Indepen
dent Countrymen Inc., and
American Countrymen Asso
ciation Inc.; the Oregon Ben
evolent Society Inc., Western
Benefit Society Inc., Western
Mutual Benefit Association
and Western States Service
Inc., and the Benevolent Or
der of America, United Ameri
can Inc., and Pioneer Pacific
Inc. -
The world's second steam
boat, the Vermont, was built
in Burlington, Vt., in 1809,
one year after Robert Fulton
launched the first steamboat.
Pendleton - (UPD - Oregon's
covered wagon train rolled
into this Round-Up city yes
terday and thousands of per
sons lined the streets to wel
come it.
The wagons, which camped
atop Immigrant hill 17 miles
east of here Friday night,
started out early and arrived
here before 11 ajn. ,
Wagonmaster Tex Serpa
was flanked by Umatilla
County Sheriff Roy Johnson
and Umatilla County Judge
Sam Cook. The wagon train
was escorted by a National
Guard jeep.
Minor Jams
Several minor traffic jams
were reported on Highway 30
east of Pendleton for about an
hour. The crowd was estimat
ed at at least 5,000 persons.
The wagon train personnel
were to attend a dinner here
yesterday afternoon. A private
flying service was to fly
members of the cavalcade to
Joseph to attend the Chief Jo
seph Days celebration last
night. Those that remained
behind were to be treated to
a barbecue dinner . at the
Round-Up grounds, plus dancing-
. .
The train will leave here
Monday morning and head
across the flat eastern Oregon
country toward The Dalles
where it embarks in a barge
Aug. 10 for a trip down the
Columbia to Portland.
Secretary Mitchell Asks Steel
Labor, Employers to Negotiate
Washington -UPD- Secretary
of Labor James P. Mitchell
called on steel management
and labor yesterday to quit
shirking their responsibility
to the nation and negotiate an
end of the 18-day old steel
strike.
He accused them or refus
ing to meet at the collective
bargaining table or to consent
to government mediation, and
said it was time they met
daily in an effort to reach "an
early, just and equitable set
tlement" of their wage con
tract dispute. '
Mitchell's statement was
made in his capacity as Presi
dent Eisenhower's one-man
fact-finder in the dispute. It
was the harshest yet voiced
by an administration spokes
man and apparently was made
Negro Trio Held
For Georgia Rape
Lagrange, Ga: (UPD Three
Negro men abducted two
white girls returning from a
dance early yesterday and
raped them twice despite ef
forts of other Negroes to pro
tect the' girls, police reported.
The men were arrested
shortly after the attack and or
dered held without bond in
the county jail here. They
were charged with rape.
Sheriff L. W. Bailey identi
fied the men as Clifford John
son, 22, Brannon Epps, 25,
both of Lagrange, and George
A If ord Jr., 18, of Dayton,
Ohio. The girls, aged 18 and
20, were not identified be
cause of a Georgia law.
Bailey said three other Ne
groes, "did everything they
could" to protect the two
white girls. But he said the
three attackers were armed
with a gun and a knife. '
Rifle Scope Taken
From Medford Store
A rifle scope valued at
at $93.50 was taken from
Medford Gun Shop, 1517
North . Riverside ave., . Med
ford police were informed
yesterday.
Max L. Terzenbach, owner,
told police the theft had oc
curred sometime in the past
two weeks. He said the scope
was attached to a rifle in the
store but could have been
detached with a coin or
screwdriver, since : only one
screw would have to be removed.
- $5 s ? 5
, ; is : $ X 1
!5 ! - f 5 s X- A 5; '
1 li- b -.1
K of voim -
M
"A little Off the top." That's all it takes
to build a savings account . . . trim a little
off the top of each pay check. Then pay
yourself first by saving those trimmings
at our Insured Savings and Loan
. Association where your money
is safe and earns excellent returns.
Investments made by the tenth of the month earn dividends
as of the first.
FIRST FEDERAL
Savings & Loan Assn. of Medford
29 North Ivy Street - Robert F. Kyle, Manager
with the President's full ap-
provaL
Mitchell and Eisenhower
have been discussing the
strike daily. Except for offer
ing its mediation services it
was the first time the admin
istration had offered any type
of intervention in the dispute.
'Done Very Little
Mitchell issued a special
statement. He said both man
agement and labor "have done,
very little to measure up to
their responsibilities" in try
ing to end the strike.
He also said they had made
"no serious effort, so far, to
exercise their right of collec
tive bergaining.
He said both sides "owed it
to the American people and
the thousands of workers af
fected by the strike" to bridge
their differences.
He said statements issued
for management by Roger
Blough, head of U. S. Steel,
and by Arthur Homer, head
of Bethlehem, during the past
week add up to counseling the
government not to become in
volved in the dispute.
Get Involved
On the other hand, he said,
statements by David McDon
ald, president of the striking
United Steel Workers, amount
to urging the government to
"get involved.
Neither side, he said, has
made a "serious, conscien
tious, continuous effort to
reach an agreement.'
The labor secretary pointed
out that the strike was now
18 days old and that negotia
tors for the steel companies
CIGARS AND SODA
Birmingham, Ala. - (UPD -
A man with strong tastes and
a weak stomach burglarized
the Harris Transportation
warehouse here. Police said
he got away with 14 cartons
of cigarets', . 15 cases of pipe
tobacco, two cases of plug
tobacco, 12 cases of snuff and
15 cases of bicarbonate of
soda.
Araphoe Glacier, near
Boulder, Colo., is a mile long,
a mile wide and two and a
half miles above sea level.
and the union, have met to
gether just once, for only two
hours!
"They have resisted efforts
of the federal mediation and
conciliation service to hold
more face-to-face meetings,"
he added. "This is no way to
bargain. They cannot reach
agreement unless they talk to
each other."
Teen-Agers Stage
'Tragedy' in Park
Ashland - (UPD - Play acting
is becoming infectious during
the Shakespearean festival
here.
Seven teen-age boys last
week staged an impromptu
drama in Lithia park. They
faked a traffic accident. One
MAIL TRIBUNE, Medford, Or. 9
Sunday, August 2, 1959
of the boys smeared himself
with red paint and climbed
unHpr an antrimnhil while
jthe rest spread the alarm.
Word of the tragedy
spread, and police arrived.
The youths were charged
with disturbing the peace
and parking a vehicle on a
curb.
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