MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDFORD, OREGON
Russian Humor Is Reflected in Classical
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1963
By HENRY SHAPIRO
United Press International
MOSCOW (UPI)-A joke go
ing around Moscow these days
goes like this:
Khrushchev was travelling in
cognito in Soviet farm areas.
He inquired of one old peasant
about local conditions and got a
glowing report on agricultural
prosperity. The premier inter
rupted to identify himself and
demand an honest account.
"I beg your pardon, Comrade
Khrushchev," said the peasant.
"I thought you were an Ameri
can reporter."
Then there was the question
and - answer humor show on
"Radio Armenia."
"What should I do to avoid
pregnancy?" an anxious girl
wrote.
"Absolutely nothing," was the
reply.
In the Western stereotype, the
Russian is often viewed as a
morbid, introspective, Dostoyev-sky-like
type.
There is little in the Western
image of the Russian to show
A 3
Literary Tradition
Problem Facing
Educators Reviewed
At NOMA Meeting
m. . ... ...
The pressing problem con
fronting all educators today is
the ever increasing quantity of
material which students are ex
pected to learn within the same
framework of time upon which
schools have traditionally been
operating, William E. Ruck, di
rector of the Oregon Program in
' the Medford schools, told the
National Office Management As
sociation meeting here last
week.
Speaking at the Hotel Med
ford, Ruck listed the means by
which Medford is trying to meet
this problem while continuing to
improve the quality of educa
tion. As a participant in the Oregon
Program, Medford School Dis
trict is a recipient of funds
made available through a grant
from the Ford Foundation. This
money can be used only for re
search and inservice training
of teachers, but it has made it
possible for Medford to pursue
new practices and techniques
which would not have been oth
erwise possible, Ruck pointed
out.
Four Major Steps ,
Four major steps are being
taken by Medford to solve the
modern problem. They are to
improve the training of teach
ers, to make more effective use
of teacher talent, to make more
effective use of teacher time,
and to make more effective use
of student time.
Team teaching, now operat
ing on a limited scale in the
high school, two junior high
schools and two elementary
schools is making more effec
tive use of teacher talent.
Flexible scheduling results in
more effective use of teacher
and student time.
Teacher aides are taking
over many of the non-instructional
duties of teachers, mak
ing it possible for the teacher
to spend more time in the in
structional process.
The intern teacher proposal,
worked out in cooperation with
Southern Oregon College, is pro
viding additional experience and
training that will produce a bet
ter trained, more highly quali
fied beginning teacher.
The grant to the state was
$3.5 million, Ruck stated. Med
ford received $100,000 for the
projects to be carried out here
for the improvement of educa
tion. None of the money is avail
able, for construction of build
ings, Ruck emphasized in re
viewing the progress of the pro
gram in Southern Oreaon.
Using grant funds, representa
tives c tne Medford schoo sys
tem visited 81 schools in 27 dis
tricts located in nine states to
observe new practices and tech
niques in operation. No Ore
gon or Medford tax funds were
used to finance these explora
tory trips.
that he can be gay as an Itali
an, as witty or ribald as a
Frenchman, as humorous as an
American.
Despite his tragic history and
his experience with war and
poverty, despotism, revolution
and famine, he still can laugh
as heartily as anyone.
Soviet humor is reflected in
the classical literary tradition,
in the works' of such great
sati'.'al writers as Nikolai Go
gol, Mikhail Saltykov-Schedrin
and in the short stories of Anton
Chekov.
The tradition was maintained
after the revolution in the works
of Mikhail Zoshchenko and the
t:am of two novelists who wrote
under the name of "Ilf and
Petrov."
Exposing Abuses
But unlike their pre-revolu-tionary
pr decessors who were
able to defy Czarist censorship
and lampoon the very founda
tions of Russian society, the
Soviet humorists have confined
them1 Ives to exposing the
abuses of the Soviet system
without questioning its funda
mentals.
Ilf and Petrov have been
"the kings of laughter" for al
most two generations. Their lat
est novel, "The Little Golden
Calf." is a good-natured expose
of a Soviet con man who man
aged to amass a millon only
to find he could not use it.
The Russian's normal fare of
humor, however, is not limited
to the literary classics. Nor is
it confined to the official type
of hu. or published by the week
ly "Crocodile," the sole publi
cation of its kind in the Russian
lang lge.
Avoids Satire
Crocodile, with a circulation
of two million, leans heavily on
text and cartoons in ridiculing
capitalism ant1 blasting Soviet
bureaucrats. But it avoids do
mestic political satire.
Although it can be funny it
is often so heavy in style and
content that a Moscow wit wrote
a letter to the editors proposing
"at. least one weekly column
of humor."
One could ha'dly expect self
critical humor from a magazine
publ.'-hed by Pravda, the Com
munist party organ. The edi
tor's chair cannot be too easy
as witnessed by the fact that
in the 41 years of its existence,
Crocodile .'as changed editors-in-chief
13 times.
Another source of fun is the
Moscow circus (now touring the
United States), a unique, inti
mate style institution of its kind
whose single ring produces both
belly laughs and subtle satire
through the medium of its great
clowns, Karandash and Popov.
Jackson Urges Means at Crater
Lake to Get Tourists to Water
SALEM (UPI)-Orcgon State
Highway Commission Chairman
Glenn L. Jackson Friday pro
posed a new facility for tourists
at Crater Lake, one which would
enable them to get down to the
water's edge conveniently.
The suggestion was made by
the Medford industrialist during
an address to the convention of
the County Parks Association
here.
Jackson told the group that
some means should be provided
to get visitors to the water at
Crater Lake National Park. He
said that half of the 592,000
visitors to the state's only na
tional park in 1962 stayed less
than an hour.
"Crater Lake is an outstand
ing national park The unfor
tunate part is that it is a huge
picture with no animation."
Jackson said if people could
get to the surface of the lake
easily it would open the way for
boat trips, fishing and other re
creation. "If we provided something to
do and facilities to get people to
the lake it would increase the
number of people visiting the
park and the length of their
stay," Jackson said.
Scenic Values
"I don't think it would be out
of line to ask the National Park
Service to design some kind of
service to get to the lake which
would not destroy its scenic
values," he said.
Previous proposals to provide
mechanical tramways from the
edge of the one-time volcano to
the water have met with strong
opposition from outdoor groups,
who fear the lake's beauty
would be destroyed.
Jackson said Oregon now has
more parks than any other state
and noted that 60 per cent of
the visitors are from out-of-
state.
He said California parks "are
rapidly becoming coney islands"
and that Oregon is "gradually
falling heir to the recreational
responsibility for many Califor
nians.
The Soviet clown, unlike his
American counterpart, sneaks
as well as acts. He mimics,
jokes and quips. He ridicules
many aspects of daily reality
but he manages to maintain a
delicate "tight rope" balance
by staying away from political
touchiness.
This is equally true of the
humorists on the vaudeville
stage and on radio and televi
sion. Moscow television has re
cently introduced a popular 10
minute skit called "The Wick,"
produced by poet and fable
writer Sergei Mikhailkov.
"The Wick" can be funny as
it is vitriolic in lampooning So
viet life r- the insolence of bu
reaucracy, managerial ineffi
ciency, institutional corruption
and economic wastefulness.
S" i t derand for humor is
further fed by occasional car
toons in newspapers, regular
columns of jokes and cartoons
in the weekly magazines, comic
strips in children's newspapers
and satirical short stories in
the literary monthlies.
Probably the most important
outlet for the off-beat type of
humor craved by Russians is
the anecdote.
Many of these word of mouth
jokes are attributed to the
mythical "Radio Armenia."
At the time Allen Dulles re
signed from his last major post
in the government, "Radio Ar
menia" reported "Dulles was
fired because the CIA could not
locate our radio."
Current Favorites
Here are a few of the more
harmless anecdotes making the
rounds.
A man knocked at the door
of Yuri Gagarin's apartment
which was opened by the space
man's child. Gagarin was still
in orbit and the child promptly
replied, "Daddy will be back
in an hour." "When will your
mother return?" asked the vis
itor. "I cannot tell," the child
said, "because Momma has
queued up to buy oranges and
you never know how long that
takes."
"A cautious bureaucrat was
asked by a job-seeker what
kind of work he could do to
avoid trouble. "It docs not mat
ter what you do," he advised,
"as long as you do nothing."
China looms large in the re
cent crop of jokes in reflection
of the Sino-Soviet split as illus
trated by the following stories:
Hotel Peking, one of the
new hostelries in central Mos
cow, has been renamed "Hotel
Washington."
After the outbreak of "The
Sino-Soviet War" the Russians
capture one million Chinese
prisoners the first day, five mil
lion the second day and 10 mil
lion the third day. On the fourth
day the Russians "capitulate."
A man in a cafe asks for a
cup of tea. "Is it Russian or
Chinese tea that you want?"
says the waitress. After hesitat
ing a moment the customer de
cides, "On second thought I
would rather have a cup of
cocoa.". , .
Geo. Grabow
1365 Kings Hwy., Medford
Phone 772-8560
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WE BUY 01.P GOLD!
Area People Attend
Credit Conference
Representatives of the Med
ford Credit Women's Breakfast
Club of North America and
credit departments of local bu
reaus and firms attended an
Oregon Columbia Regional
Credit Conference in Eugene
recently.
Attending from the women's
group were Mrs. Alice Theis,
president, Mrs. Zoe Theis, Mrs.
Doris Johnson and Mrs. Caro
lyn Russell. Mrs. Russell also
attended as a delegate from the
Jackson County Retail Credit
Association and Mrs. Johnson
also represented the Grants
Pass Credit Women's Breakfast
Club.
Charles Roberts also was a
delegate for the retail group;
Hugh Rogers, manager of the
local Credit Bureau attended,
and Rod Robinson was Credit
Bureau Customer Service representative.
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