College News, 1943-12-08, Vol. 30, No. 11

              The college Mews
VOL. XL, NO. 11
ARDMORE and BRYN MAWR, PA., WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1943
Copyr.tM. rrn.1. � of        PRICE   10   CEN
4TS
Weak Plot Redeemed by Good Acting
In Players Club's 'Letters to Lucerne'
Schoolgirl Tale Reflecting
International Strife
Presented
Specially  contributed  by
Virginia Grace, '44
The translation of world conflicts
into their directly human elements
was the task of the Players Clubs
of Bryn Mawr and Haverford in
the staging of "Letters to Lucerne"
on December 3 and 4 in Goodhart
Hall under the direction of N.
Richard Nusbaum.
The diverging character and
converging destinies of five ma-
jor nations at the outbreak of war
form the raw material out of which
Fritz Rotter and Allen Vincent
have created their drama. The
playj"is a curious combination of
simple fact and momentous impli-
cations. The immediate problem,
that of a group of girls of various
nationalities learning to readjust
their relationships under the strain
of war, acts as a mechanism for
the depiction of greater issues
pending in the Europe outside neu-
tral Switzerland, and it is from
this fund of threatening evil that
the comparatively slight action of
the play draws its strength.
Flashes from the major warring
cities of Europe are brought to
the stage by the device of letters
from home.
In regard, however, to the actu-
al effectiveness of the dramatic
situation, one feels that its poten-
tialities are not entirely realized.
Much of the action seems insuffici-
ently motivated, probably because
the requisite tension is not con-
stantly sustained�a defect of the
script more than the acting. There
are a few truly gripping moments,
more frequent in the latter half of
the play, and carried in particular
by Kate Rand, giving a splendidly
convincing version of Ema, the
Continued on  Page  5
German Club to Give
Annual Xmas Pageant
The German Club will present
its Christmas play on Friday, De-
cember 10th, in the Common
Room. Following the style of Na-
tivity pageants in Germany dur-
ing the fifteenth century, it has
been adapted from a folk play by
Otto Falckenberg who used various
medieval sources. Actually a mix-
ture of narrative verse and drama,
it is marked by extreme simplicity
and beauty of language.
After a prologue by the evan-
gelist, Barbara Bennett, the first
scene opens with Joseph, Caroline
Manning, and Maria, Mary Stuart
Blakeley, coming to the Inn for
the night. The inn-keeper is play-
ed by Ruth Yudizky and his wife,
by Charlote Binger.
In the second scene the angel,
Virginia Grace, appears to the
three shepherds, Margaret Urban,
Evaline Hitz, and Maryalice Wool-
ever. In the latter scenes, por-
traying the adoration, Barbara
Clark, Elizabeth Corkran, and
Janet Hoopes take the parts of
the three kings.
Between the acts a chorus "of
about ten people will sing old
German Christmas carols. Miss
Cohn and Hilde Richard are di-
recting the play, and Margaret
Spencer is in charge of the music.
After the play there will be re-
freshments and Christmas carol-
ing in the German House for ev-
eryone.
Calendar
Friday,  December 10
German Club Party, Common
Room, 8:00 p. m.
Saturday,  December 11
.French Club Play, Wyndham,
8:00 p. m.
Denbigh Hall, Dance, 8:45
p. m.
Sunday, December 12
Christmas Services, Good-
hart, 8 p. m.
Monday, December 13
Summer  Camp   Party,   Com-
mon Room, 4:00 p. m.
Maids  and  Porters  Caroling.
Tuesday,  December  14
Christmas   Hall   Dinners.
Students' Caroling.
Wednesday, December 15
Christmas    Vacation    begins,
12:45 p. m.
Wednesday, January 5
Christmas     Vacation      ends,
2:00 p. m.
Friday, January 7
Mrs. Whiting Williams, Nurs-
ing Council for War Service,
Nursing    in    War,    Deanery,
7:30 p. m.
Saturday, January 8
War Films, Music Room.
Monday, January 10
Oskar Halecki,  Federal  Gov-
ernment of Poland, Goodhart,
8:15 p. m.
Wednesday, January  12
Agnes Smedley, Recent Po-
litical Developments in China,
Goodhart, 12:30 p. m.
Rev. Earp to Conduct
Christmas Services;
Joint Choir to Sing
Littwin, Lee, Bloomfield and Mercer
Nominated for Common Treasurer
Professor 0. Halecki
Will Present History
Of Polish Government
Professor Oskar Halecki, Direct-
or of the Polish Institute of Arts
and Sciences in America and for-
mer Professor of Eastern Europ-
ean History at the University of
Warsaw, will speak on "The Polish
Federal System 1385-1569" at 8:15,
January 10, in Goodhart. Professor
Halecki will be the Mallory Whit-
ing Webster lecturer.
Professor Halecki was one of
Continued on Page  J
The combined choirs of Bryn
Mawr and Haverford colleges as-
sisted by the string orchestra of
the former will present the an-
nual Christmas Service on Sunday,
December 12, at 8 o'clock in Good-
hart. The sermon will be deliver-
ed by the Reverend Ernset C.
Earp, rector of the Church of
the Redeemer in Bryn TVIawr.
The choir program, consisting
of two groups of old Christmas
carols, will include "Lo, how a
e'er blooming" and "Today
born Emmanuel" by Praetor-
ius; a chorale, "O Savior, Sweet"
by Bach; "How far is it to Beth-
lehem" by Shaw; and "A Babe in
Bethlehem's Manger," a tradi-
tional carol. The choir will also
sing a Besancon carol, "Shep-
herds, Shake off your
Continued on  Page  '
News
The issue of December S,
1943 is the last issue of the
News which will be published
before the Christmas vacation.
The News will resume publica-
tion on January  12,  1944.
rose
is
Drowsy
Newspaper Reading,
Value of Periodicals
Close Press Course
Periodical    Room,    December   1
and 2: Lectures on obtaining news
information from periodical liter-
ature by Mrs. Cameron, and on
reading the newspaper by Miss
Robbins, concluded the four-day
course in a Study of the Press.
"The problem is finding, in a
limited time, the events of the
week and a fair approach to
them," declared Mrs. Cameron.
Only unbiased "journals of infor-
mation" are to be trusted for this
purpose, she felt, and recom-
mended several such journals.
"Foreign Policy Bulletin," a week-
ly publication, emphasizes the
significant, though not always (
the most spectacular happenings |
of the week. "Current History"
contains a good chronological
sumnifery, and a document sec-
tion. "Foreign Policy Report"
gives a truthful and detailed ac-
count of one topic at a time. For
references to Far Eastern situa-
tions, Mrs. Cameron advocated
Continued on Page  $
Blazing Trash Adds Dash to Rlwads Dance
As Armed Forces Quench Incinerator Fire
By  Alison Merrill, '45
Rhoads has always prided itself
on its sophistication. Looking more
like a country club than a dor-
mitory at its dance on Saturday
night, it had a chance to prove its
sophistication when fire broke
out in its lower regions.
At approximately 12:00 o'clock,
smoke, thick, swirling smoke, fill-
ed the corridors of the north end
of the building. The dancers
smelled this smoke; they couldn't
help it. They were, however,
completely unperturbed by the
whole thing. They went out in
the hall, coughed violently, said
"My, there must be a fire some-
where," and went back to the
rhumba, with their eyes stinging
madly.
Meanwhile there was a fire
somewhere, with flames licking
the ceiling, as the story has it.
There is great dissention among
loyal Rhoads scholars as to who
first discovered the blaze, but one
fatigued female started out to
powder her nose but found she
couldn't see her way to her room.
Highly annoyed and slightly pale,
she approached the warden with
her hands quivering and whisper-
ed, "D-d-don't get worried, but
there's  a fire somewhere."
From there on, all was efficient
and calm with the Navy, the Ma-
rines, Mr. Broughton and a young
man in tails with two fire extin-
guishers taking over. Tracing
the smoke that appeared to come
up through the vents from floor
to floor, they arrived at a small
room in the basement, variously
called the Refuse room and the lit*
The room had
canvas bag
which held a large accumulation
of papers, old Cosmopolitans and
general trash that came from the
floors above through a chute. All
it contained now was smoke and
flame. Armed to the teeth with
fire extinguishers, the Marines
(There is some contention as to
whether they were Army, Navy,
or Marines or all three . . .) wad-
ed in and got the situation well in
hand, aided by maids and porters
who had been smoked out of their
quarters by the blaze. It was,
Continued on  Page i
cinerator  room,
contained    a    large
Smedley to Lecture
On Chinese Politics
In January Assembly
Afnes Smedley will speak on
recent Chinese political develop-
ments at the fifth War Assembly
on January 12 at 12:30 P.M. in
Goodhart. The lecture will stress
the relations between the Kuomin-
tang and the Eighth Route Arm-
ies.
Miss Smedley has worked for
the last twelve years as a war
correspondent, author, lecturer
and volunteer in the Chinese Red
Cross Medical Corps in war zones
of China. Her latest book, Battle
Hymn of China, has just been pub-
lished.
"To me the problems, strength
and weakness of China seemed to
be those of the whole world." In
these words Miss Smedley sums
up her feeling toward the Chinese
masses, with whom she has iden-
tified herself for most of the last
seven years. Her writing has
been described as a series of case,
studies of the fissure in Chini^Ji
society.
Work in China
Miss Smedley first went to
China in 1929 as a correspondent
for a German newspaper. Hitler's
rise to power in Germany ended
that career, and from 1938 to
1942, when her health failed, she
was special correspondent for the
Manchester Guardian. She has
lived with the Chinese armies in
the field as Field Representative
of the Chinese Red Cross, work-
ing actively for their help at the
time when America wanted ap-
peasement. She is one of the six
Americans marked for assassina-
tion by Japanese secret service as
active belligerents in China's war.
Miss Smedley's aim in Battle
Hymn of China is to get a picture
of China in all its force. It is the
fourth of her series of works on
China. The other volumes are
Chinese Destinies, China's Red
Army Marches, and China Fights
Back. Her autobiography, Daugh-
ter of the Earth, has been pub-
lished in thirteen language-
French Club to Give
Annual Nativity Play
The French Club will present
its annual nativity play in the
Music Room of Wyndham on Sat-
urday, December 11th at 8 o'clock.
The same medieval play is repro-
duced each year in much the same
way that it would have been giv-
en during the Middles Ages. The
medieval atmosphere is preserv-
ed in the costumes, lines, and mu-
sic, as well as by the one-scene
dramatic technique in which all
the actors are grouped on the
stage  throughout the play.
Florence Senger is the director
of the play and Frances Parrish
is in charge of costumes. The cast
Continued on Page  5
Final Elections for College
Treasurer to be Held
Thursday
Enid Littwin, Jeanne-Marie
Lee, Margaret Bloomfield, and
Elizabeth Ann Mercer, members
of� the Junior class, have been
nominated by the Undergraduate
Council and the Junior class for
the office of common treasurer.
The primary election by the col-
lege will be held Thursday noon,
and the final election will be held
Thursday night.
The common treasurer will re-
place the former Undergraduate,
War Alliance, Self-Government,
and League treasurers in an at-
tempt to unify the work of the
four organizations. The position
will entail work with very large
sums of money.
"It is important," stated Kath-
erine Tappen, president of the
Undergraduate Council, "that we
have an efficient, clear-headed or-
ganizer in this position because
on her depends the success of the
plan and hers is the original res-
ponsibility."
Enid Littwin
Enid Littwin worked last year
on the committee for the Sopho-
more Carnival. She is a member
of the Glee Club and was in "Pa-
tience" two years ago. She is the
Junior hall representative for
Rockefeller Hall and is directing
the Rockefeller Christmas pag-
eant.
Jeanne-Marie Lee
Jeanne-Marie Lee was the as-
sistant director of the Pembroke
West Freshman hall play her
Freshman year. She was hall
representative her Freshman and
Junior years, and taught Maids'
classes her Sophomore year. While
vice-president of her class last
year she served on the Sophomore
Carnival Committee. She was Jun-
ior representative on the 1944 year
book and business manager of the
1943 Freshman handbook. Having
been a member of the business
board of the News her Freshman
and Sophomore years, she is at
present advertising manager of
the News.
Margaret   Bloomfield
Margaret Bloomfield was Mer-
ion hall representative her Fresh-
man and Sophomore years and
designed the costumes for her
Freshman hall play. She was a
member of the Art Club her Fresh-
man year, and she has served on
numerous dance committees.
Elizabeth  Ann  Mercer
Elizabeth Ann Mercer acted in
the Denbigh Freshman hall play
her Freshman year and directed
it her Sophomore year. Last
spring and this fall she was both
managing editor of the Lantern
and production manager for the
Radio Club. She has been on the
business board of the News since
her Freshman year and is at pres-
ent business manager of the
News. She is a member of the
Radio Club and the Stage Guild.
Greek War Relief
Christmas cards, Greek War
Relief pins, calendars, photo-
graphs of Greece and books of
Greek recipes from the Greek
War Relief have been put on
sale at the College Bookshop.
The cards are 2 for 25 cents,
and all articles are priced less
than a dollar.