College News, 1940-03-20, Vol. 26, No. 17

              L

The College Hews
Z-61B
VOL. XXVI, No. 17
BRYN MAWR and WAYNE, PA., WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 1940
Copyright, Truatee* of
Bryn   Mawr   College,
1940
PRICE 10 CENTS
College Elects
11 ill < Inns as" U
Under Grad Head
"Oh, dear," said Steve soon after
she was informed that she had
been elected President of Under-
grad, "now I won't be able to wear
these old sweaters anymore. It
wouldn't look right." The chief
duties of the President of Under-
grad *ccto see that all the under-
graduate organizations run
smoothly, to act as a member of
the College Council, and to act as a
representative of college activities.
One  of  the-important aims  of
next year is to make the college
curriculum committee and enter-
tainment committee conscious, and
to keep these organizations effici-
ent and effective. Until this year
it has been the job of the Presi-
dent to go to all the committee
meetings, but with her other duties
this proved too much and the job
has been relayed to the Vice-presi-
dent. The Undergrad Association
takes care of the money collected
for the Activities Drive, the Thea-
. tre Workshop and similar projects,
and pays the various monitors.
Steve was treasurer of the Associ-
ation her sophomore year and sec-
retary this year. She says that all
she has done is write other colleges
to the effect that "We don't have a
debate council." It seems that all
colleges except Bryn Mawr go on
debating tours. When interviewed
Steve had just received her official
Continued on Pace Three
Political Poll
The Republican and Demo-
cratic clubs announce* a poll
to be held this week to find
out the political affiliations
of students and faculty. The
forms will ask the party ties
of each student, and of their
parents, and also who they
favor for presidential candi-
dates. The object of the poll
is to arouse interest in the
coming election and to try to
see that all students who are
eligible vote next year.
Porgy and Bess" gives Maids, Porters
Opportunity to show Dramatic Skill
By Olivia Kahn, '41
Goodhart, March 16.�It has al-
ways seemed strange that the
maids and porters who sing so
beautifully every Christmas should
content themselves with such sec-
ond rate material in their stage
productions. This year they have
proven what most of us have sus-
pected, that they have some of the
ablest performers on campus, and
that given the proper script and a
good director they can turn out an
astounding production. The. late
George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess
provided them with a powerful
springboard but the beauty and
strength of the production last
Saturday night grew out of the co-
operation and talent of those who
adapted it for Bryn Mawr.
To Fifi Garbat, '41, should go
first mention because it was Miss
Garbat who had sufficient insight
to realize that Porgy was not be-
yond the maids and porters, and
who untiringly rehearsed them for
several months. Partly Decause of
her direction and partly because of
the skill of the players, Porgy and
Bess    achieved    dramatic    dignity
League to Offer
Student Talent, Tea
For Activities Drive
On Sunday afternoon at 4.30,
March 24, the Bryn Mawr League
will present a musical program in
the Music Room. Tea will be
served at four o'clock. The League
wishes to consider this as their
contribution to the Activities
Drive, so no admission will be
charged.    The program will be as
follows:
Bach:  Suite hi l> Motor.........Ensemble
Air
Gax-otte
Bounee
Gigue
Gluck:  Calotte from
"Iphiijinia m Aulis".........R. Spraguc
("hopin:   Faittosie Impromptu. . .R. Sprague
Barn:  Sonatina from
Cantata   Number   106..........Ensemble
Duet   from   7"**  Messiah
Louise Allen and A.  Updegraff
Handel:   Third Flute Sonata.....A.  Jacobs
Hayden:
Quartet,  Op.   20,   Sumber 4.....Quartet
Alicgro   di Molto
Adagio
Minuetto
Lattimore Comments on 'Lantern' Issue;
Poems Interesting, Contents Balanced
By   Richmond   Lattimore
Assistant Professor of Greek
In the editorial which opens this
issue of The Lantern, the empha-
sis is laid on world affairs. This
is natural, and nobody can object
to the editor's contention that writ-
ing is a significant mirror of con-
temporary thought, though one
may object to the corollary, so
often implied, that all significant
writing tends to be political. Actu-
ally, this number is well balanced.
There are two articles, three seri-
ous stories, two (I hope) stories
that are not serious, four lyrics
and two drawings.
Helen Cobb's article on collec-
(, tive security and Finland con-
siders an issue which died vio-
lently a few days ago; it is still
interesting as the expression of a
point of view, and . it is neatly
stated. There is no space here to
dispute particular contentions;
granting their truth in this case,
Miss Cobb offers none but negative
conclusions. Her arguments im-
ply that our present duty is to do
exactly nothing at all about Eu-
rope until the war is over, and
perhaps then to step in and build
for the future; but neither this nor.
any other positive conclusion is
drawn and the article is the less
trenchant for its appearance of
balking before the final issue.
Bess    Lomax    on    the    American
Youth Congress presents a well-
written, if somewhat tendencious,
summary. Her reporting of the
President's speech shows that it
was objectionable in manner rather
than in matter; the last para-
graph, on what was done and dis-
?overed by the delegates, is the
most interesting, and makes one
wish for more at greater length.
. Barbara Sage's story of a Ger-
man refugee teacher in service is
weil done, but perhaps overloaded
with exposition for such an ex-
tremely brief sketch. Isota Tuck-
er's story of a child's escape from
a house is well conceived and at
times sensitively told; but it is
marred by patches of unnatural
stiffness, which contradict and ob-
struct the attempted resolution in-
to a child's simplicity. Joan Gross
tells her story well and easily ex-
cept for what appears to be an at-
Continued on Pare Pour
rarely found on the Bryn Mawr
stage. Players' Club had best look
to its laurels.
The unity and suggestiveness of
the original was firmly caught, es-
pecially in such difficult scenes as
the one in which Crown comes
back to reclaim Bess, and that in
which she is persuaded to go to
New York by Sporting Life. The
group scenes were effectively han-
dled, both the variegated crowd in
Catfish row and the more stylized
swaying of hands and bodies in
Serena's room.
Carl Smith, noted for his ap-
pearances in the quartet, was a
magnificent Sporting Lrtfe, swag-
gering with complete ease out on
the stage and carrying himself
with professional aplomb. His /'
Ain't Necessarily So won him an
encore, but there were those Jn the
audience, myself among them, who
Continued on Pace Three
Proletarian Novel
Is Topic of Torres
Flexner    Lecturer    Describes
Abusive Social Conditions
Of Latin-Americans
Frederick   Keppel
To Address College
On Educational Issue
Music Room, March 18.�In the
last of the Flexner lectures, Dr. |
Arturo Torres - Rioseco described
the Latin American novels of the
soil and their beginnings.
Literature, Dr. Torres said, has
the same predominant part in Lat-
in American culture that industry
and    economics    have    in    North
America.    The novelists today are
a great force for social reform. Noj
longer   held    to    aristocratic    and!
bourgeois subjects they expose thej
abuses of the lowest strata of soci-,
ety and draw realistic pictures of |
the  sufferings  of  Indians,  rubber |
workers,  peasants  and  plantation i
workers, poor fishermen along the!
coast,   and   prostitutes,   jailbirds,
and factory workers in the cities.
Their realism is a far cry from
that of Blest Gana, the "American
Balzac" in the last century, be-
cause they are completely original
and American. Moreover, what;
little European influence is found i
in Latin American literature today
comes no longer from France but!
from Russia and Marxism.
� The first stirring" social novels
caused a sensation from one end
of America to the other. Santa,
a Mexican story depicting the suf-
ferings of women in prostitution,
was such a one. Many new walks
of life were explored�meat pack-
ing houses, jails and sailors' homes.
The new field of social subjects
was broadened even further, in the
early twentieth century, by the
North American menace. The
sight of the United States grab-
Continued on Pane Six
Dr. Frederick P. Keppel, the
president of the Carnegie Cor-
poration, is to be the speaker for
the college assembly Thursday,
March 28, at which Graduate Fel-
lowships are to be..,announced. His
.subject is American Philanthropy
md the Advancement of Learning.
The Carnegie Corporation, es-
tablished in 1911, seeks to accom-
plish the advancement of knowl-
edge in the United States by giv-
ing financial aid to various educa-
tional institutions. It supplied
funds to Bryn Mawr for a project
in the joint teaching of science
which went into effect upon the
opening of the New Science Build-
ing and the remodelling of Dalton.
Dr. Keppel's speech upon this
-ccasion is expected to be of par-
Lular interest in connection with
his recent statement made in an
annual report on the Carnegie Cor-
poration of which he has been
"president since 1923.    Dr. Keppel,
Continued   on   I'a^e   Five
The Cinema!
Movies come to Bryn
Mawr, opening with Crime
and Punishment, presented
by the A. S. U. in Goodhart,
Thursday night at 8 p. m.
The film is the French ver-
sion, with subtitle-, of Dos-
toevsky's novel. Admission
is '40 cents and may be put on
payday.
A. Howard Unveiled
As Head of League
"I don't know what my plat-
form will be," declared Nannie
Howard, new president of the Bryn
Mawr League. "I wasn't elected
until three o'clock this afternoon."
Nannie, however, volunteered some
imperishable truths about herself.
She describes herself as looking
"kind of obvious," set off from the
common herd by "two big eyes
and a mass of fuzz on top." In ad-
dition she points out her false
tooth which 4was missing during
the first part of this year. "It's
nice to have it home" again," sWe
asserted. �
Although Nannie describes her
college career as uninteresting,, she
is renowned as a champion of la-
crosse and managed the sophomore
swimming team last year. She
passes this off lightly with "you
know how bad the junior class is
at that kind of thing."
Nannie intends to devote much of
next year to work with the maids
and the development of the Better
Baby Clinic in  Bryn Mawr.
Self-gov Head
for 1941 to be
Virginia Niehols
-
Virginia Nichols, president-elect
of Self-Gov., was prepared for all
emergencies by eleven years at the
Brearley School in New York. Her
college career so far has involved
three years on the Self-Govern-
raent board, the presidency of the
Peace Council, participation in the
Activities Drive Committee and
Sophomore vice - president. Last
spring she was awarded the
Jeanne Hislop Memorial Scholar-
ship.
Her childhood seems to have
been an unruffled one, save for an
inopportune attack of measles in
Constantinople at an age when she
was too young to know any better.
She is majoring in biology and
whiles away many a pleasant af-
ternoon over frogs' legs in Dalton
and bromides in the New Science
Building. She is a stalwart fencer
and is gently pleased at the pros-
pect of receiving a triple Bryn
Mawr owl for having fought on the
team.
Her roommate is quoted as say-
ing that Ginny is coolly efficient at
double-drowning rescues in Life
saving. Recently she had the mis-
fortune to appear in the Sunday
Times, surrounded by a glamorous
welter of snow and skis, and is still
trying to live it down. She may be
found at any time during the com-
ing spring assembling costumes
for Iolanthe and adding a pleasing
and mellifluous voice to the peers'
chorus.
Reading  of  Poetry
By Frost Scheduled
A talk by Robert Frost, the fa-
mous American poet, Monday
night, March 25, is to complete the
Entertainment Series. Winner of
the Pulitzer prize for poetry in
1924, 1930 and 1937, Mr. Frost is
considered one of the foremost
poets of the day. Among his books
of poetry are A Boy's Will, North
of Bos ton. Mountain Interval,
West-running Brook, A Lone
Striker, A Further Range, and
From. Snow to Snow.
Mrs. King of the English De-
partment, when asked about Mr.
Frost, said, "Robert Frost has re-
mained a 'modern poet' in spite of
all that has happened in the poetic
world since the publication of his
great book, North of Boston, Theo-
ries and 'schools' have not touched
his fame, although in the passing
years many of his contemporaries
have been 'dated' and forgotten.
Both the symbolist and imagist
schools have washed over him and
left him unchanged in his method
of work and in the opinion of his
readers.
"Robert Frost is always contem-
Contlnued on Pace Five
College Calendar
Thursday, March �1.�
French movie, Crime and
Piininhment. presented by the
A. S. U.  Goodhart, 8 p. m.
Sunday, March 2k.�League
Musicafe.    Music Room, 4.30.   ,
Monday, March 25.�Voca-
tional tea for seniors, Wini-
fred McCully speaking. Com-
mon Room, 4.30. Entertain-
ment Series, Robert Frost.
Goodhart, 8.30.
Tuesday, March 26.�Cur-
rent Events, Miss Reid. Com-
mon Room, 7.30. Interna-
tional Club meeting, Penn-
Tulane debate on Isolation
policy.    Common Room, 8.00.