College News, 1937-11-17, Vol. 24, No. 07

              The College News
VOL. XXIV, No. 7
BRYN MAWR AND WAYNE, PA, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1937 .J&JJ^i^I^WJ1-0?*-
BRYN    MAWR   OULLtUt,    1*37
PRICE 10 CENTS
College   Council
Discusses Spring
Reading   Period
Plan for New Dormitory Quota,
Informal Use of Goodhart
Room Are Topics
MISS PARK REPORTS
ON COLLEGE BUDGET
President's House, Wednesday, No-
vember 10.�The student Curriculum
Committee's report on a Spring read-
ing period before Comprehensives, a
plan for working out the quota in the
new dormitory and a new Self-Gov-
ernment permission to allow students
to use Goodhart rooms for informal
entertaining until 11 o'clock were the
main topics discussed at the second
meeting of the College Council. Sim-
plifying the arrangement of the bul-
letin boards in Taylor and the possi-
bility of starting a lending library
for records were also considered; and
Miss Park gave her report on the
college Dudget.
The Curriculum Committee report,
which has still to go before the fac-
ulty, asks for one day more than the
regular week-end before the Compre-
hensive examinations start, the work
missed because of this to be made up
by inserting an extra day of classes
somewhere in the second semester.
The committee suggests one instead
of two days because the benefit gained
from only two days of review does
not justify the trouble it would cause
in rearranging the college schedule.
The time, either one or two days, is
too short for a real review period
and the extra day is asked for chiefly
as a resting period. The solution is
not a completely satisfactory one and
in the future the entire college year
may be lengthened by a week to allow
for a real review period at the end.
This year, no new work is to be as-
signed in the comprehensive reading
unit after Easter, which will leave
time for review from that time to the
end of the year. To adapt the extra
day to the non-seniors, the report
recommends placing a first year course
examination on the Saturday of the
�pre-examination week-end. The report
was approved by the  Council.          ,
Julia Grant, '38, reported that the
Quota Committee is making a list not
only of students wishing to go to the
Continued on Page Two
�
Mr. Bernheimer Speaks
on Architecture^
Richard Bernheimer, of the
History of Art Department, de-
livered an address before a
meeting of the College Art As-
sociation in Chicago on Novem-
ber 6. He spoke on An Ancient
Oriental Prototype of early
Christian Church  Architecture.
Skating Free at Haverford
Arrangements have been completed
whereby Bryn Mawrters will be able
to enjoy free ice-skating one after-
noon a week on the new indoor rink
in Haverford. The rink will be open
to Bryn Mawr and Haverford stu-
dents on Monday afternoons from five
to six o'clock for ten weeks, beginning
December 6, exclusive of the Christ-
mas holidays and semester examina-
tion periods. There will be no ad-
mission oharge. Lessons will be given
by professional teachers at three dol-
lars for a 20 minute period; three
people may ^hare a lesson.
Libby Emphasizes Need
For "Peaceful Change"
Speaker   Says   Our   Protection   Lies
In Neutrality Law
Goodhart Hall, November 11.�
Frederic Libby, Secretary of the So-
ciety for the Prevention of War,
emphasized in a.Special Armistice Day
Chapel the need of a policy of "peace-
ful change" among nations today. We
must face the real issues in back of
our present unrest, admit true griev-
ances and above all educate men to an
understanding of international rela-
tionships if we are to avoid future
wars.
Before we can p"bmt at Italy and
Japan as lawless aggressors, we must
remember our former unjust behav-
iour which has forced them to take
up their present stand. France,
Great Britain, Russia, and the United
States, Mr. Libby reminded the audi-
ence, rule three-fifths of the world's
surface and possess more than four-
fifths of  the  world's  wealth.
On the other hand, Mongolia, In-
dia, Japan, and the Dutch East In-
dies, which make up one-half of the
population, of the earth, occupy one-
Continued on Page Four
Weeping Women and Smoky Battles Crowd
Goodhart  in  English  Department  Movie
Birth   of   a   Nation   is   Found
Emotionally and Actually
Amazingly Rapid
Goodhart, Novembey 11.�The Birth
of a Nation, the first "of a series of
movies to be used by the freshman
English Department, was chosen for
purely � technical reasons, not because
of any particular agreement with the
ideas expressed by the film. Imme-
diately after an announcement to that
effect Goodhart was plunged into a
melee of weeping women, smoky bat-
tle scenes, and obscure captions. Emo-
tional encounter followed emotional
encounter with amazing rapidity, care-
fully explained and annotated by D.
W. Griffith's literal insertions which
follow a Northern boy and a South-
ern girl "by way of love valley,"
herald a cloud of dust with "The
Confederates to the rescue" and usher
another southern lass through the
"opal gates of death."
The period from the beginning of
the Civil War to the final overthrow
of the carpet-baggers and negro gov-
ernments by the Ku Klux Klan is cov-
ered by flashy glimpses of ...�!'. $NM|�M>anding together, we see dark fig-
reactions interspersed with lengthy
and smoky panoramas of armed forces,
now fighting with utmost valor, now
cheering the succor of a comrade
by a noble foe. Meanwhile, ethereal
flags appear only to disappear from
the-line of battle, and a lonely smoke-
ring floats lazily across the sky.
Then,  the   war   over,   the   carpet-
baggers not yet influential, we witness
the growth of a great love from a
winsome glance to an hysterial clutch-
ing of a bed-post which is captioned
"Love's rhapsodies and love's tears."
Lillian Gish leaps ecstatically about
the room, and, in a final frenzy,
kisses * the mahogany bed-post, and
that scene is blissfully ended.
Mae Marsh, who is the little and
favorite sister of the southern hero,
goes through a harrowing experience
with Gus, a mulatto maniac, who
leads her a most jerky and rapid
chase through woods and clearings,
over tree-stumps and rocks, until she
is forced to jump from a high preci-
pice to escape from him. Brother ar-
rives on the scene just in time to see
the girl open her mouth to say, silently
and dramatically, "Gus." He returns
home full of vengeance and we next
find him trying to conceal a large
white hooded garment which tells- us
that the Ku Klux Klan is on its way.
Thereafter follows a series of
shots, predecessors of the Westerns,
which flash regularly from rescuer to
criminals to victims and back again
to the rescuer.   We see the Ku Klux-
COLLEGE CALENDAR
itftursday, November 18 �
English Department Movies,
Goodhart. 8.15. Seventh Pa-
nofsky Lecture. Goodhart. 5
p. in.
Friday,    November   19�Sci-
ence Club  Meeting.    Dr.  Ethel
Brown  Harvey .will  speak.
Music Room.   8 p. m.
Sunday, November 21�All-
College Tea, Common Room. 5
p. m.
Monday, November 22�Canon
Dimnet Lecture. Goodhart. 8.15.
Tuesday, November 23 � In-
ternational Club Meeting. Com-
mon Room. 4 p. m. Mr. Fen-
wick will speak on current
events. Common Room. 7.30.
German poetry reading. Com-
mon Room.    8.15.
Wednesday, November 21,, to
Monday, November 29�Thanks-
giving vacation.
College  Life Figures
In Hamlet Production
J. Thorn, '38, and A. Goodman,
'38,   Synthesize   Lines   and
Ideas of All Shakespeare
S.   MEIGS   TRAGIC   HERO
ures surrounding an isolated cabin on
the plains of nowhere, and then we
enter the two-room cabin jammed with
agonized*, but definitely courageous,
faces. With a scream of applause
we are brought�to�a-final caption,
the establishment of ""Liberty and
Union, one and inseparable, now and
forever."

Goodhart Hall, November 12.�
The Players' Club production of
Hamlet immortalizes Shakespeare: it
proves that he has not, and cannot
be outmoded. Though times and cus-
toms may change, the inner truth of
the great drama still rings true. But
it is fitting, and even necessary, that
this timeless theme should be inter-
preted in modern terms, in terms that
will apply to the complexities of mod-
ern life. Such an interpretation is
the monumental achievement of Miss
Janet Thorn and Miss Anne Goodman,
and of the actors, who played their
parts most feelingly.
The   production   is   not   merely   of
Hamlet the play, but is rather a syn-
thesis,   delving   beneath   the   Hamlet
plot, of the most impelling lines and
ideas of all Shakespeare's plays.   The
application of All-Shakespeare to col-
lege life, with its seething intellectual-
ism, its varying channels of Staple-
tonian analysis and Veltmanic whirl-
winds of passion, makes this experi-
mental Hamlet extremely significant.
We  also  see  clearly  through  this
production  that the so-called  radical
trend of modern literary style is not
really so radical.    Shakespeare is the
father of Virginia Woolf and James
Joyce.    The   dialogue  of  this  Ham-
let is unmistakably written with the
"train-of-thought"   method;    we   are
impelled     with     startling     ranjdity
through  the   machinations   of   Ham-
let's mind, and through the interplay
of, complex   forces  and   attitudes  of
all the characters.    To illustrate:
HAMLET  (as he falls upon his
sword):   "Being  or  non-Being,  or
possibly becoming.    Are there any
questions?    For is there a sense in
which it is nobler  in the mind  to
suffer   the   slings   and   arrows   of
outrageous fortune? . . . tomorrow
and  tomorrow  and  tomorrow,  but
never jam today."
Miss Sarah Meigs, a pupil of John
Gielgud,   plays   Prince   Hamlet,   and
surpasses   her   teacher   in   the   role.
She becomes a modern impersonation
of this immortal tragic hero, and we
live   with   her-jthe  tortures  of   sus-
picion,   of   mental  turmoil   and   dis-
illusion, of failure to hear the latest
news from Wall Street.
The identification of characters in
the play with members of the Bryn
Mawr faculty makes the interpreta-
tion especially cogent. We perceive
new philosophic depths in the char-
acter of Hamlet in this interpretatioi
of the "to be or not to be" speech.
Similarly Rosencrantz and Guilden-
crantz assume a totally unsuspected
significance when they are respec-
tively identified with Mr. Arthur C.
Sprague, Professor of English, a,nd
Miss K. Lawrence Stapleton, Instruct-
or in English. The erudite investi-
gations of Mr. Sprague reveal the
hitherto unknown fact that a "brothel
Continued on Pa** Six
Hampton Group, Presents
African,   Native    Dances
Modern    Technique    is    Combined
With Negro Rhythms
Goodhart HaH, November 9.�Com-
bining a markedly modern technique
with the simplicity of negro rhythm,
the Hampton Institute Creative Dance
Group aroused a large audience to
enthusiasm. ^ie Group, after four
years of work, has done itself both
good and harm. The techniques of
the modern school have been ably
learned; the interpretation* of old
themes by these new methods make
an admirable combination. But the
spontaneity and exuberance normally
found in the negro dance have suf-
fered. Expression is restrained, and
the effect of the dances weakened ac-
cordingly.
The most obvious example of this
"de-energizing" was found in the
Characteristic Dance Rhythms. Here,
in Juba and the Cake Walk some
"high-hoofing" was expected. In
neither did it appear. Juba, although
the ^\four boys tapped expertly, had
less rhythm in it than when done, by
the Hampton Quartet. The Cake
Walk was only a pale imitation of the
high-stepping dance of minstrel fame.
It was not until the dance spiritual,
Get On Board, that rhythm ruled, and
mobile, musical freedom was achieved.
The latter part of the program con-
sisted mainly of African Dances. To
fully appreciate and understand them,
a knowledge of their purpose and
background is necessary. Hampton
Institute has made an exhausting
study of African songs, dances, and
tribal customs. As native dances,
they  are  authentic  presentations.
The native dances attempted a
child-like simplicity. A Pagan's
Prayer and Ogugu illustrate this
point. Both are elemental in their^in-
terpretation and execution. Fangai
Man, danced by the African boy, was
a marvel of native, inherent rhythm.
It was a dance that in its primitive
way was equal to the highly developed
interpretation of India by Shan-Kar.
In the last_mmih.er on the program,
the boys lost some of their restraint,
and a primitive version of the Big
Apple waa presented to the delighted
audience.   A
The Hampton Group embodies the
germ of an excellent dancing unit.
Their able director, Charlotte Moton
Kennedy, has danced at Bennington
under the foremost dancers in Amer-
ica today.
L. J.  S.
Malin Discusses Service
Organizations  u\ Spain
Loyalists   Are   Especially   in   Need
Of Clinics, Orphanages
The Deanery, November 41.�The
need in Spain is more severe on the
Government than on the Nationalist
side, said^Eatrlclr-M. Malin, Profes-
sor of Economics at Swarthmore Col-
lege, who has worked on the Ameri-
can Friends' Service Committee. The
great number of refugees and war
orphans, combined with the economic
chaos, account for the major part of
the need. The National Catholic So-
ciety and the Spanish Red Cross,
the high officials of which are Na-
tionalists, are the two great service
organizations in the country; al-
though the Red Gross has made re-
peated attempts to reorganize itself
as a government aid, it has not made
any progress so far. Added to this,
a great number of the orphanages are
rebel-owned.
The specific wants of the govern-
ment are hospitals and orphanages.
Three hospitals were organized by
an Englishman who until recently
supported them with his own funds,
but he is no longer able to do so.
Although the need in Madrid is
dire, almost none of the inhabitants
have left. Its population has been
increased by the refugees who have
been repatriated from France. Al-
Contlnu�d on Pa*e Four
Neo-Platotiic  Laws
Demonstrated in
Tomb of Ltffius II
Panofsky   Discusses   Philosophy
And Principles of Composition
Of Michelangelo
PRESENT MAUSOLEUM
REDUCTION OF FIRST
Goodhart, November 15.�Michel-
angelo was the only one of the many
artists influenced by Neo-Platonism
who was a genuine Platonic, said Pro-
fessor Panofsky in the sixth Flexner
lecture. His unfathomable dissatis-
faction with himself and the universe
was the secret of his genius; he adopt-
ed Neo-Platonism in an attempt at
self-justification. In his tomb of Pope
Julius II, as it was originally intended
and as it was finally executed, we
can trace the influence of the Neo-
Platonic doctrines, and their ultimate
failure to gain a permanent place in
art.
A comparison of Michelangelo's
works to those of his prototypes and
followers makes us aware of his
unique principles of composition. By
closing hollows and eliminating pro-
jections, he condenses his groups and
isolates his masses from their sur-
roundings. In addition, he uses a new
sharp accentuation of the basic direc-
tions of space; oblique lines are re-
placed by horizontal or vertical ones,
while volumes are either parallel or
at right angles to each other. More-
over, the rigidity of this rectangular
system operates not as a static, but
as a dynamic principle. Those obliques
which are retained gain emphasis by
contrast.
Michelangelo's figures strike us as
inevitably collapsing under inexorable
forces. They strain against these
forces, and weary themselves in their
efforts, yet their movements seem to
be stifled from the start. However, ____
consummate rest is as absent as con-
summate action; instead of peaceful
tranquility, we have violent exhaus-
tion. The figures are not conceived
with respect to an organic axis, but
to a rectangular block, from which
they emerge slowly, with the artist
striving constantly to orient them to
the frontal plane. He conceived his
forces as eternally repulsing and re-
enforcing each other.
Although Michelangelo was only
one of many to uphold Neo-Platonism,
he was the only artist to take over
its teachings and theories entirely.
His stubborn preference for hard
stone and his preoccupation with the
recalcitrant block form, from which
he could visualize his figures as grad-
ually emerging, are bound up with
the Neo-Platonic idea of matter. The
belief of this philosophy in the "un-
broken splendor of the light divino"
is reflected in the beauty of his fig-
ures and its conception of the earthly
body as the prison of the immortal
soul, which is longing for escape
through death, is visualized in the
struggles and isolation of the figures.
Michelangelo's recourse to NeoJ>la-
Contlnued on Pa** Three
CANON DIMNET WILL
SPEAK  IN  GOODHART
Canon Ernest Dimnet, author and
lecturer, will speak on My Two Worlds
in Goodhart Hall, Monday, November
22. The material for this lecture has
been taken from two of his books,
My 'Old World and My New World.
The first deals with boyhood remini-
scences and years in the Theological
Seminary, while the second presents
observations in America.
A native of northern France, Canon
Dimnet has been writing-for Engjish
and American periodicals since his j
scholastic days in Paris. In 1919 he
was invued to give a series of Lowell
Lectures at Harvard. In 1923 he �
spoke at the Williamstown Institute
of Politics. Not only has he lectured
to many clubs, but also to leading
universities and women's colleges,
eluding Bryn Mawr.