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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 31, 1963)
ational Repertory Theater Plans to Barnstorm with Top Plays By FREDERICK M. WINSHIP United Press International A permanent reper lory theater serving the whole na-tion-a long unfulfil'cd dream -is about to come true. The National Reper t o r y Theater Foundation, which toured 58 cities and colleges in 30 states last season, is planning to barnstorm coast-to-coast with three plays be ginning next fall. A busy staff is at work in a modest office near Manhattan's Beekman Place setting the intricate machinery of the ambitious tour project in motion. The United States supports at least a dozen touring com panies each season, but these provide mostly contemporary fare - hit Broadway plays and musicals. The National Reper tory Theater (NRT) will flesh out the national theater scene with enduring plays of the past played by stellar casts. If the NRT becomes a per manent adornment of Ameri can cultural life, the major share of the credit will be due the co-founders, Michael Dew ell and Frances Ann Hersey, who won their producing spurs with two successful tours of the National Phoenix Theater in 1959 and 1960. In 1961, they decided to in augurate a permanent touring company for theater classics. The non-profit National Rep ertory Theater Fuonda t i o n was the result. Actress Eva Le Gallienne. who has found ed two short-lived repertory theaters in her long career, threw her prestige behind the project and the American Na tional Theater and academy loaned necessary funds. Mary Stuart First "Miss Le Gallienne co-starred in Schiller's 'Mary Stuart' for use in the Phoenix tour, and the whole idea of a the ater on a national institution al scale just boiled up among us." recalls Dcwell. "Miss Lc Gallienne agreed to appear in our first NRT presentations - 'Mary Stuart' with Faye Emerson and Maxwell Ander son's Elizabeth the Queen'." Last season's tour of 18 actors in the two plays cost SI million, more than half of which was met by box-office income. The tour went S155. 000 in the red. and a similar amount probably will have to be met annually out of gifts : from individuals or industry donations. Dcwell reports mat to date the NRT has raised S130.000 of this subsidy amount for next season. Near ly a score of foundations have made grants to match public contributions. Plan Three Plays "We haven't decided just what we will do yet, but it will be three plays which are classics of different periods," says the dark, intent young nrodiaer. "Mavbe they'll be Sheridan's 'The Rivals' 1 1775), Chekhov's 'The Seagull' (1896), and the Kaufmann Ferbcr comedy classic 'The Royal Family' (1927). "We're not a road company out for the old cash register. We are trying to establish a company with permanence and significance similar to the Comedie Francaise in France and the Old Vic in England, but travelling. There is not a big enough audience in New York alone to support this sort of project, but the coun try as a whole can do it. We hope eventually to have four companies touring at once on 52-week tours." Scaled For Road Dcwell and Mrs. Hersey, ex-wife of novelist John Mer sey, assemble their shows in New York. The productions arc mounted by top designers and scaled for the road and YCCTI0NC Medford, varying theater requirements unlike most Broadway pro ductions that must be ex pensively "cut down" for touring. Dcwell says design ing directly for the road saves money. "We try for productions as good or better than Broad way," he says. "We will r,se the star system because peo ple want to see stars We'll provide the kind of stars made by God and not by publicity. We have found that theater people in every department are very enthusiastic alum presenting great literature of the theater to the nation as a whole." When NRT put out a cast ing call for 14 supporting roles ill 1961, Dcwell and Mrs. Hersey had to audition 4,000 hopeful actors and act resses. Many great names have offered their services to the NRT. loo, including Cor- PAGES 1 to U MEDFORD, OREGON. THURSDAY. JANUARY 31. 1963 GIVES TOUR SUPPORT One of the many stars who will tour with the National Rep ertory Theater is Eva LcGallienne who threw her prestige behind the project in its dcrson. (UPI) 58-city tour last season. Miss LcGallienne played the part of Queen Elizabeth in dra matic works by Schiller and Maxwell An- Taking the Profit Out Merchant Must Go Out of Business To Have 'Going Out of Business' Sale West been buill By DICK WEST Washington -iliPli- Over the years, the "going out of bus iness" sale has been as much a part of the America n i scene as the overdue charge ac count. If rec ords were available I sus pect they would show that several fortunes have by enterprising merchants who made a busi ness of going out of business. It appears, however, that this road to riches has now been closed. The Federal Trade Commis sion, in a case this month, took the position that a merchant should not advertise a "going out of business" sale unless he actually is going out of busi ness. In the FTC's view, moving the business to a new location under another name docs not constitute "going out." Gad. sir! This is the sort of thing that is taking all of the profit out of bankruptcy. The next thing you know the FTC will be demanding that "fire sales" include a conflagration. As the patron saint of the American consumer, the com mission, which undertakes to protect us from our own gulli bility, has handled several other cases recently that I thought were of more than run-of-the-mill interest. One of them involved a tele vision commercial for a kitch en knife. It showed a salesman demonstrating the sharpness I MADE MYSELF of the knife by cutting a nail in half. The FTC charged that the commercial was deceptive on grounds that the salesman ac tually was using the back of the knife. It may have a point there, although it wouldn't matter to me personally. When I get so mad I could eat nails, I don't really care which side of the knife they are carved with. For that matter, any knife that would sever a nail would be a big improve ment over the kitchen cut lery at my house. On some of the knives we have the handles are sharper than the blades. Another recent case con cerned a claim that a swim ming aid "makes anyone un- sinkablc." The FTC said the device "will not, of itself, pre vent all users from sinking. ' The commission further al-! leged that the "money back 1 guarantee" was misleading. ; Apparently, there was some chance that the guarantee . would expire before the life ' guard fetched the buyer up from the bottom of the pool. There also was a case in volving table linens that were packaged in green and while boxes bearing a trade name that included the word "Erin" and showing a picture of a shamrock. The FTC charged that the packaging misrepresented the origin of the linens, which were made in Japan. I would have guessed they were made in Denmark. IT'S YOUR LAW Krfivcl (r Lair .V.lir! Dfl'V-dfy Itrt Editor's note: This column is offered as a public service by the Oregon State Bar. II is not intended as legal advice. If you have a problem, lake all of the facts to a lawyer, A slight change in facts may completely alter the outcome of a case. 1 , . end soved besides!' . , . and mi c.imI. V ith Sr-ru- RfKe on iuM adit ,tlcr. I vcruhmp n in the mi and m i inp tdkcN oniy minute. Vil'.ne .md our oven do the rct Co.: lci than otihnj:- hre.id. AT GROCERS EVERYWHERE Ech Hiiiqi '"tit 4 ij-ejt 'o-ti Hif it frrt reapc niwAi'e RUSSELL SMUANCI CO. DIVORCE "1 want a divorce." are words spoken frequently in the average lawyer's office. Few other statements re flect the intense, bitter, emo tional struggle which has pre ceded their pronouncement. Yet in few other instances is Ihc person more in need of sympathetic and competent counsel before Ins decision be comes final. For although nearly everyone knows the common grounds fur divorce, few undersand its full signif icance, and fewer still realize that at best, a divorce is usu ally only a partial solution of problems confronting a hus band and wile. I As is well known by any lawyer, divorce ficquently creates other problems, even more impossible ot solution. This is especially true if min or children arc involved. Even though the public may accept with apathy a high rate of divorce, the law still tavors the continuation of a valid marriage. Lawyers and judges also feel it is their duty to help perpetuate a marriage rather than to help dissolve it. It is for these reasons that when consulted about a di vorce the lawyer will make a detailed and searching in quiry as to the nature and background of the complaints. After being fully informed he may be able to recommend a betler solution to the prob lem than a divorce. Thus he may aid in a reconciliation and the re-establishment of a normal and harmonious home life. Of course, if a reconcilia tion is impossible and one of the spouses charges that the other lias been guilty of one or more of the causes for which a divorce may be granted, the lawyer consulted may begin the proceeding by filing a petition in court al leging such grounds and pray ing for a divorce. WHAT TO SERVE? TO SERVE? WHAT WHAT TO SERVE? TO SERVE? WHAT WHAT TO SERVE? TO EBirVHAT 1st t ' HOLDS CONFERENCE Washington - Ifl - Sccrc- tary of State Dean Rusk will ; hold a neu.s conference at 11 ; 'am. Friday, his 18th general I I news conference in Washing- : ton since he took office two j ' years aco 1 w fc$Efia e? MI AS AN ENTREE AS A MAIN COURSE SNOW'S OF COURSE IT'S BEST! 1 nelia Otis Skinner, Julie Har ris, James Mason, Eric Port man, Cyril Ritchard, June 11 a v o c, Margaret Webster, Mildred Natwiek. Farley Granger and Burl Ives. Miss Skinner told Dcwell she would like lo play Mrs. Mala prop. Mason Francics Olhcllo and Ives has his eye on Fal staff. Get Wanted Roles "They'd be marvelous in these roles they've always wanted to play." says Dcwell. "It's obvious that the com mercial theater has not al- j lowed these great actors to do ' what they really want." j The NRT travelled 50,000 miles last season, making stands ranging from one night ' to three weeks. The cast used plane, bus. station wagon, and train. The trucks that carried the sets and costumes were the largest of their kind in Ihc world The east played to '250.000 persons, 50.000 of them students al reduced prices that were abuut double the cost of a movie. The top ticket price was S4. "As the public increases its contributions to .is. we'll be able lo cut the box office price I wards of patrons'lip. We want down, says Dcwell. It s my aim lo bring student prices down to movie prices in four or five years so that the youth of the nalion will come to love the theater al the right age. Al present young people arc priced out of the theater and many do not form the habit of theater - going that could give them so much pleasure in later years." Chicago Has Group D e w e I 1 has encouraged groups in many cities visited by the NRT to establish "friends groups." The Chicago i sons turned away group is the most active. ' ville. Ivy., where About 500 persons there raise funds, see that NRT plays arc taught in the schools, intro duce the cast to little theater and college dramatic groups and schedule lectures by the cast, arrange backstage tours, and drum up publicity and radio and television views. "We try to be a part of the life of any city where we play," says Dcwell. "We want to restore the patron -actor relationship and give all our supporters all the rich re- palrons all over the country not just big donors here and there." Medford Responds Dewell said the response from audiences from North ampton. Mass., to Medford, Ore., w as "s t u p e n dous." Wherever the company pre sented more than one per formance, the second night audience was bigger than the first and the third night even larger. In Areata. Calif., the 1.000 seat rarely-used theater was sold out and 1.200 per- ln Louis only 600 persons turned out for "Music Man." more than 3.000 per sons patronized NRT. People drove as far as 200 miles to see the company in Odessa, Tex. "All this shows Ihe country still cares about theater - in inter-j spile of years of apathy en gendered by radio, television, and intermittent fare of musi cal comedies with second rate casts." says Dewell. "I'm not surprised that most older peo ple have given up theater al together. 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