College News, 1934-05-16, Vol. 20, No. 24

              The
ege News
VOL. XX, No. 24
BRYN MAWR AND WAYNE, PA., WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 1934
to might   BRYN  MAWlt
COLUSoE   NEWS,    1:<:m
PRICE 10 CENTS
Pro Arte Quartet
Presents Concert
/ Artistry and Technical Precision
Are Displayed in Rendering
Romantic  Music
FAME   IS  DUE   QUARTET
(Especially Contributed by  Molly
Atmore Ten Broeck,  '32)
A large and extremely appreciative
audience greeted the Pro Arte Quar-
tet in its first appearance at Bryn
Mawr on Sunday night. Offering a
program of scholarly and elevated
works, the quartet gave ample evi-
dence of the artistry, preciseness of
technique and interpretation for
which they are justly famed.
Sunday-night's program cpnsisted
of three quartets, which are to be
classed in the Romantic School. The
first of these, the Beethoven F Major,
op. 135, is rarely performed. It is
Beethoven's last quartet and one of his
last important works. It is typical
of his third period, showing.a decided
tendency towards the personal, the
enigmatic, the esoteric. As performed
by the Pro Arte Quartet, all these
characteristics were clearly brought
out. The sudden ending of the first
movement; the forcefulness, rhythmic
emphasis, and difficult polyphonic web
of the second movement gave the hear-
er an extraordinary feeling of blind
groping after Beethoven's actual per-
sonality. The lovely, plaintive melo-
dies of the third movement were most
sympathetically performed. Compar-
able to a Romanza, the music here
seemed mysterious but simple and the
Quartet did marvelous justice to the
delicate beauty of the instrumental
coloring.
As a. whole this Beethoven Quartet
sounded startlingly modern � even
"modernistic." Paradoxically, the
Chadwick Quartet, No. 5, in D Minor,
gave a feeling of rest and relief.
George Whitfield Chadwick was one
of a group of nineteenth century Bos-
ton composers of whom Arthur Foote
is the most celebrated, "whose object
was not primarily to create an Ameri-
can School, but to write good music as
they had learned it through classic
and romantic channels."
Chadwick's quartet proved to be in
tremendous contrast to the Beethoven
Continued on !*aRe Two
Principals in The Gondoliers
>ais
l
<�
Glee Club Renders
Operetta Skillfully
Chorus Singing qppl Enunciation
Are Unusually Noteworthy
in Gondoliers
J.____
RIGHTER    WINS    PRAISE
From left to right�Maryallis Morgan, '36; Helen Ripley, '35; Joan Hopkinson, '35
Henrietta Scott, '36; Susan Morse, ^35;'Margaret Rightcr, "34, and Agnes Halsey, '36
Dean Manning Talks
About Questionnaire
Questionnaire's   Value   Vitiated
by Inaccurate Looseness
of Terminology
STATISTICS   NOT   VALID
Freshmen Give One-Acts
Before Amused Audience
New York Bryn Mawr Club
Lowers Dues for Alumnae
Of special interest to Seniors living
within a radius of forty miles of New
York is the news that the New York
Bryn Mawr Club has drastically low-
ered its schedule of dues for resident
members who are recent Alumnae.
Heretofore, all resident members �
those living within a radius of forty
miles of New York � were charged
$25.00 annually. Now the schedule
has been lowered as follows:
Those out of college less than three
years pay annual dues of $10.00.
Those out of college three and four
years--pay annual dues of $15.00.
Those out of college five years pay
annual dues of $20.00.
Thereafter the annual dues are
$25.00.
Seniors joining now may pay $10.00
and will not be billed again for dues
^ until October, 1935. In other words,
they will receive seventeen months'
privileges for the price of twelve
months' dues. Those who have stop-
ped in at the Club at the Park Lane
Hotel understand why membership in
the Club is so desirable. Non-resident
dues are still $10.00, and undergradu-
ate, $5.00 annually. Non-resident and
undergraduate members may have all
club privileges except those of voting
and holding office.
All Bryn Mawr students and gradu-
ates are very welcome to -drop in at
the Club, whenever they are in New
York. In fairness to. members, guest
' cards tmmi be obtained before using
ithe privileges. The secretary at the
' desk will be very glad to show visi-
tors around the rooms and the hotel,
to answer questions, and to explain
the routine of obtaining guest cards.
I
Speaking in  Chapel on "The News
Questionnaire"   last  Thursday,  Dean
Manning   said   that   there  had   been
many excellent and sage criticisms of
the questionnaire.    Her first feeling
on reading it was one of mystification
about the terminology.   She wondered
that."originality" and "memory" had
been chosen as the only terms in which
to describe college work, and wished
that "reasoning power," a far more
valuable quality for any course to de-
mand, had been included.    She ques-'
tioned   the   undergraduate  idea   that
courses  in  mathematics  and  science;
could be described as needing "mem-
ory,"   and    wondered    how   "trends"
could possibly be included in Physics.!
Science courses could not be said to
have too many details, for details are
necessary in illustration of scientific
principles.   She felt that the loose ter-!
minology   vitiated   the  value   of   the.
questionnaire, and criticised the bland
assumptions of the editors in making,
up the statistics and in writing the
editorial, for the   questionnaire   con-|
tained a morass of phrases which may
have meant one thing to some people
and    something    quite    different    to
others.
History,   Economics,   and    Politics
must obviously rest on memory, but at'
the same time it must be recognized |
that the efficacy of memorizing depends
on organizing the material. The stu-i
dents who answered the questionnaire!
did not seem to realize the extent toj
which memory is linked with a capac-
ity for organization and with the abil-'
ity to point a general tendency and
to see the relation of the details toi
the tendencies.
In   making   up   the  statistics,   the
number voting or the proportion of
the number voting to the entire class!
should have been given.    Dean Man-;
ning did not feel, however, that the
failure to do this was of paramount!
importance, for "In her work with the
Curriculum Committee she has found
that  opinion   is  always  divided   and i
that minority votes must be taken into
consideration. It must be remembered,
however, that every course is bifranj
to have a certain number of students
who are dead wood, who do not like
Continued on  Page  Four
The three one-act plays presented
by the Freshmen were a bit on the
J sadder side of life; there was one
grim and bitter tragedy, one tragedy
that was not so grim, and a comedy.
The authors were, respectively, Vir-
gina Dorsey, Leigh Steinhardt, and
Mary Hinckley Hutchings. While the
plays were, on the whole, better than
we had been led to expect, and the
acting quite good, considering the
short time allowed for rehearsals, the
production was by no means finished.
The prompting was quite audible and
the scenery prone to collapse at any
moment. Aside from such minor de-|
tails, the plays were enjoyable and;
produced prolonged cases of hysteria j
among the audience.
The first piece to be presented, Miss;
Dorsey's Mom, was stark, dreary sor-j
row, with all the characters repressed |
and appallingly moronic.    The scene'
was a poverty-stricken Maine  farm-|
house in which drab and unhappy peo-',
pie carried rabbits' feet around their
necks and bemoaned their fate.    The
optimistic mother carried a lantern out j
to a rock every night to light home.
her lost sailor husband, William, who
had not come back from sea after six-
teen years, and when she was ill, the
dull Dan put it out.    She refused to;
leave the little farm, because of her
faithfulness to the obviously defunct
William.    Faced with the problem of
not being allowed to perform her serv-
ice  of   love,   she   stole  out  into  the
dark cold night�without her rabbit's,
foot�and froze in the snow.    Leigh
Steinhardt, as Martha, was by far the
best actress: she was completely non-
committal and disinterested. Miss Mus-.
ser was fairly good, but very apt to
forget her lines, and Virginia Lautz
played the mother as well as could be
expected under the eircumstances;0but.
Miss Dorsey was too enthusiastic and
unconvincing as collegiate Bill.   What
was most incomprehensible, however,
was the possibility of anyone's, even
though aged and convalescent, freez-
ing to death in one minute flat. That
was the crowning touch.
Miss  Hutching's Simple Folk  was
very amusing and well acted. The dia-
Continued  on  Pace  Six
Arnold Genthe Talks
on Isadora Duncan
Duncan   Dancing    Photographs
Taken in Effort to Catch
Rhythmic Motion
MOVIES NEGLECT DANCE
Comprehensive*
The faculty has voted in favor
of the proposed plan for general
senior comprehensives. The
date for the first comprehensive
examinations is to be determined
next fall.
"Her ideal was the perfect rhythm
that has its origin in the soul," said
Mr. Arnold Genthe, speaking on Isa-
dora Duncan in the Deanery on Mon-
day afternoon. His own ideal, as he
expressed it in his talk and in the pho-
tographs which he showed, was to por-
tray this rhythm of motion in photo-
graphs.
In spite of his understanding and
artistic work, Miss Duncan was at
first unwilling to have her picture
taken, for she was camera shy. When
it became necessary for her to have
a photograph for a passport, she went
to Mr. Genthe and discovered that the
process was easy and the results ex-
cellent. After that she allowed her-
self to be photographed not for identi-
fication but for art.
The first picture of her which Mr.
Genthe showed was simply her face,
half lost in shadow, that emphasized
the pure lines of her forehead, nose,
and mouth. She herself called it "her
very soul." In the next picture she
was dancing "The Marseillaise" and
advancing with upflung arms and
head thrown back. Many of the pho-
tographs were not of her, but of danc-
ers who followed her ideals. They
were often pictured dancing before the
sea and cutting its horizon with the
curves of their bodies and draperies^
Another group of photographs was
reminiscent of Greek sculpture. Mr.
Genthe explained that Isadora Duncan
did not approve of the term "Greek
dancers" applied to her and her school.
She protested that her inspiration was
primarily American � the poetry of
Walt Whitman and her own grand-
mother's Irish jigs, and secondarily,
the music of Beethoven and Wagner,
and the philosophy of Nietzche. Yet
these photographs were of a distinct-
ly Greek quality. Some were like the
Continued  on  Puce  Four
Faculty Honored
At the University of Dela-
ware's Centenary Exhibition,
Dean Schenck received the Cross
of the Legion of Honor of the
French Republic. It was pre-
sented to her by the French
Ambassador.
(Especially Contributed by D. Havi-
latid Nelson)
Amateur musical productions usu-
ally call forth sighs and groans from
those who, for one reason or another,
are forced to attend them, but surely
the Bryn Mawr presentations of Gil-
bert and Sullivan are exceptions. They'
are not only traditional, but success-
ful, and The (gondoliers is undoubted-
ly one of the brightest feathers in the
Glee Club's cap. Certainly the audi-
ence felt so�we have seldom seen
one so enthusiastic nor so eager for
encores. The choice of the operetta
was a good stroke; it is seldom given,
and besides attracting many people
who have grown a little tired of the
more hackneyed ones, it gave us one
of our few chances to see it. The
music is known to be the best that
Sullivan ever wrote, and that is say-
ing something when we consider that
Gilbert and Sullivan are in any of
their operettas a combination that can
do no wrong.                                        �
Very great praise indeed is due Mr.
Willoughby and Miss Hopkinson for
their training of the chorus. Npjt only
was the chorus' singing excellent, but
their enunciation was so clear that
we could hear the words of the songs
even in the back rows�an achieve-
ment even for a professional company,
for only too often Gilbert's wit van-
ishes some ten feet beyond the foot-
lights. The movement of the chor-
uses, too, was unusual; they seemed
to take some interest in the proceed-
ings, and their action as well as their
singing had considerable elan and
was beautifully co-ordinated. This was
especially evident in the opening of
the second act, where the gondoliers
go on their various ways with serene
disregard of the kings, and in the now
famous cachuca, where the dancing of
the chorus harmonized remarkably
with that of the four dancers. The
cachuca was without doubt one of the
high spots of the production, and we
were both surprised and pleased with
the efficient training the quartette re-
ceived and the verve with which they
performed. Judging from the ap-
plause, the verdict of the audience
was, "We love it, we love it, we can't
give it up."
Continued on Page Three
^
CALENDAR
Thursday, May 17: Informal
Recital by the College Dancing
Classes. Deanery Garden, 8.15
P. M.
Friday, May 18: Last Day
of Classes.
Saturday, May 1'.): Third
Concert in Series by the Pro
Arte String Quartet of Brus-
sels.    Goodhart, 8.20 P. M.
Sunday, May 20: Chapel
Servic$ conducted by Rev. W.'
BrooM Stabler. Out-of-doors,
fcelow Music Walk (except in
case of rain, when it will be held
in the Music Room), 7.30 P. II.
Monday, May 21: Examina-
tions begin.
Thursday, May 24: Main
Line Orchestra Concert. Good-
hart, 8.20 P. M.
Friday, June 1: Examina-
tions end.
Sunday, June 3: Baccalaure-
ate Sermon by the Rev. Donald
MacKenzie, D.D., Professor of
Biblical Theology at the Theo-
logical Seminary, Princeton Uni-
versity.    Goodhart, 8.20 P.  M.
Tuesday. June 5: Senior
Garden Party. 4.00-7:00 P. M.
-Wednesday, June 6: Confer-
ring of Degrees. Address by
Dr. Karl T. Compton. President
of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
11.00 A. M.