College News, 1943-12-01, Vol. 30, No. 10

              The college IVews
VOL. XL, NO. 10
ARDMORE and BRYN MA^R, PA.,   WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1943
Copyright,   ' rulici of
Brvr. Mawr Coll-.�. IMS
PRICE 10 CENTS
MacKinnon Notes
Psychological Role
Of War in Society
Rate of Neuroticism Lower
Among Civilian Population
Than Military
Goodhart, November 30. Psy-
chological effects of the war upon
civilian and military personnel
were discussed by Mr. MacKinnon
in the War Alliance Assembly on
"War, Sanity, and Society." Com-
paring war neurosis in the two
world wars, he commented also
upon psychological changes in the
attitude of enlisted men.
Among civilians really living
under the strain of war, such as
the citizens of bombed English cit-
ies, the number of cases of war
neurosis is extremely low. Civil-
ians stand up well under the im-
pact of total war. Many who have
previously been neurotic lose sym-
toms of neurosis under the respon-
sibilities of wartime conditions.
Mr. MacKinnon said that this ci-
vilian reaction "is something more
than a tribute to the way in which
human nature meets adversity. It
is a sad commentary on the extent
to which in modern competitive
society the frustrations of peace
may be more difficult to bear than
the traumatic experiences of war."
Sharing Responsibilities
In cities under attack many ci-
vilians began for the first time to
feel themselves an important part
of a group. Sharing with others
in the same shelter the responsibil-
ity of surviving an attack, some
people for the first time found
themselves a necessary part of so-
ciety. Also the responsibility of
doing civilian air raid service sat-
isfied in many cases the desire to
be of some social value.
"There is no reason why we can-
not order our society so that these
satisfactions can be experienced in
peace as in war," stated Mr. Mac-
Conlinued on Page 3
Limp Ties and Varied Accents to Portray
Emotional Intensity in Players' Production
Hildreth  Dunn, '44
Letters in a girls' boarding
school, war in a girls' boarding
school; and how they fight it out
in "Letters to Lucerne"! "We're
all little beasts," said one of the
actresses as she mounted the
stage, picked up her rag doll and
prepared to do battle. Goodhart's
empty auditorium has witnessed
the rehearsals a number of times,
and will again before the Friday
and Saturday night performances.
The school's inmates are of all
nationalities, and the plot centers
on one of six girls, head mistress-
es, spies and rumors thereof and
scenes of high emotional intensity.
Someone crashes down the stairs
(intentional and headfirst), the
fleeting 'great lover' wears Tyrol-
ean suspenders, and Mr. Nusbaum
says grimly: "The chairs are tac-
ky, all of them." French is tossed
off at each crisis, a letter is "not
to be read, for the love of God!"
and a Haverford player is care-
fully instructed that the ribbon
for his tie must be thoroughly
walked over to make it suitable.
The play presents the problem
of this heterogeneous group of
school-girls, as they turn against
their former friend and leader be-
cause of her German birth. There
are a variety of accents, neatly
managed. The alienated German
girl found her, solution. As she
explained to us, "I don't attempt a
German one, I just stress the line
that says I had an English gover-
ness."
Vocational Speakers
Will Talk on Medicine
A Vocational Conference on]
Medicine and Public Health will
be given on Wednesday, December
8th at 7:30 in the Common Room.
This is the first of a series of five,
arranged by the Vocational Com-
mittee of the undergraduate As-
sociation.
Major Margaret Craighill, U. S.
Army Medical Corps will speak on
medicine. A graduate of Johns
Hopkins and dean of the Women's
Medical College in Pennsylvania
and practising physician in Con-
necticut, she is now working in
the Surgeon General's Office in
Washington.
Dr. Harriet Hartley, head of the
Division of Child Hygiene of Pub-
lic Health in Philadelphia and
head of the Department of Pre-
ventative Medicine in Public Health
at Temple University, Pennsylva-
nia will lecture on Public Health.
The speakers will describe the
requirements, training and types
of work open in their fields. Invi-
tations to the lecture are being
sent to those who indicated their
interest in these fields upon the
vocational cards distributed ear-
lier in the year, but all who wish
to attend are welcome. The next
vocational lecture will be given in
February.
Miller and Anderson
Analyze Newspapers
Periodical   Room,   November   29
and 30. The development and
characteristics of modem journal-
ism and the interpretation of ec-
onomic news reports were the
subjects of lectures by Mr. Miller
and Mrs. Anderson, comprising
the first half of the four-day news-
paper course, a Study of the
Press.
"To understand the newspapers
of today, we must go back to the
'yellow journalism' of the days of
Pulitzer and Hearst," declared
Mr. Miller. This new development
in newspaper technique, which
flourished from 1892 until 1914,
caused a radical change in Amer-
ican journalism.
Crusades for the benefit of the
"Common Man" and organized
social welfare drives began to
play an important part in the news
printed in this period. Accom-
panying this interest in the work-
ing classes was an attempt to pop-
ularize the papers, done through
extravagant use of large type,
sensational headlines seldom jus-
tified by the report, and the inclu-
sion of crime and human interest
stories. Although conservatism
has again seized the newspapers,
the era of 'yellow journalism',
said Mr. Miller, has left several
remnants in the papers of today,
notably the Sunday supplement
and the Woman's Page.
Nearly simultaneous with the
development of 'yellow journal-
ism' was the beginning of the
modern press associations � the
Associated Press and the Interna-
tional News Service. While these
news services facilitate speedy and
efficient gathering of the news, Mr.
Miller pointed out that there i3
always the danger of monopoly as
was the case with the Associated
Press in the days prior to its re-
Continued on Page i
In the quieter moments of the
rehearsal, the director battles with
his players over what length skirt
is manageable, what heels are
heels, etc. "God help all poor
children" he mutters as the curtain
goes up late. Maybe it's a line in
the play. Our favorite was: "I
might have known a man wouldn't
come to a girl's school to see his
sister!" We deduced that that
was where the trouble started.
In the sparse minutes of relax-
ation for the players, the stage
crew takes over. Substitutes for
properties are one of their main
specialties, while panelling half
the scenery takes up the rest of
their time. There is to be "gen-
eral illumination" on the first and
third acts, we hear, but the second
will have its compensations.
Delegates of Alumnae
From Seven Colleges
Meet at Bryn Mawr
The Seven College Conference
will hold its bi-annual meeting at
Bryn Mawr on December 2 and 3.
Representatives of the alumnae
organizations of Barnard, Bryn
Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Radcliffe,
Smith, Vassar, and Wellesley will
be present.
The main topic of discussion
will be the new National Scholar-
ship Plan. The alumnae groups,
who play a large part in the se-
lection of scholarship students,
will consider their plans for the
distribution of scholarship awards
at this meeting. The rest of the j
meeting, which will be held in the
Alumnae Room of the Deanery,
will be concerned with other al-
umnae business.
Members of the conference, who
include the presidents and execu-
tive secretaries of the alumnae
organizations, will be entertained
by various members of the Fac-
ulty. Miss McBride will give a
dinner party and Mrs. Ghadwick-
Collins is planning a tea. Mrs.
Robert Lewis, President of the
Bryn Mawr alumnae, will be hos-
tess at a luncheon.
Calendar
Friday and Saturday, Dec. 3-4
Letters to Lucerne presented
by Bryn Mawr Varsity Play-
ers arid Haverford Cap and
Bells Clubs, Goodhart, 8:45.
Sunday, Dec/5
Art Club Exhibit, Common
Room, 4-6
Chapel Service by Rev. Me-
serve, Music Room, 7:30.
Tuesday,   Dec.  7
Spanish Christmas Play, Rad-
nor, 8:00.
Wednesday, Dec. 8
Alexander H. Frey on Region-
al War Labor Board, Good-
hart, 12:30.
Vocational Conference: Ma-
jor Craighill and Dr. Hart-
ley, Common Room, 7:30.
Community Center Group:
Mrs. Appel, Common Room,
8^0.
Spanish Club to Give
Gay Comedy as Part
Of Christmas Fiesta
The Spanish Club's first Christ-
mas play will be distinguished by
a humorous plot. Instead of pre-
senting the Nativity scenes which
are usually given in the language
houses, the Spanish House in Rad-
nor will start off the traditional
series of performances with a
Christmas fiesta on Tuesday, De-
cember 7, at 8:00. The play, La
Cueva de Salamanca, is only one
attraction of the general party to
which everyone is invited, wheth-
er they speak Spanish or not. The
evening will be a faithful repre-
sentation of the traditional Christ-
mas eve festivities in Spain.
Virginia Lee Nixon, '44 is in
charge of the play, with Miss
Nepper and Miss Zuleta directing.
Pancracio will be played by Chloe
Walker, '45, and his wife, Leonar-
da, by Marguerite Frost, '46. The
role of Christina, the maid, will
be acted by Mickey Malaret, '46,
while Alison Merrill, '45, will take
the part of the village barber.
Bobby Eggert, '45, will appear as
the sacristan, Barrie Zimmelman,
'46, as the student of Salamanca,
Continued on Page 4
Glorified Showcases, Hollywood's Pern *4rch,
Filmed in 'Our Hearts Were Young and Gay'
By   Mary   Virginia   More,  '45
Bryn Mawr has hit the screen
at last! In the film version of
"Our Hearts Were Young and
Gay," Emily Kimbrough and Cor-
nelia Otis Skinner, co-authoresses
of the book, are shown when" stud-
ents at Bryn Mawr, class of '23.
Miss Kimbrough, technical adviser
for the film, when interviewed, de-
scribed incidents connected with
the production.
The action starts at Bryn Mawr,
a Bryn Mawr realistically por-
trayed � show-cases, Pembroke
Arch, Gym, hoops and lanterns,
College News and all. If the show
cases are rather glorified, if Pem-
broke Arch is just a permanent
Hollywood stand-by, and if the
Gym is really that of the YMCA
in Los Angeles, who is to know
the difference?
The 1923 Bryn Mawr girls' main
concern in life was to acquire a
"line". Without one, life offered
no possibilities, and for one she
was willing to dish out her last
cent in lessons. "Emily" and "Cor-
nelia" decide that to acquire real
sophistication,     they     must     go
abroad�where they might come
into contact with men! (Especially
older men . . . even Frenchmen!).
Plunging into a description of
some of the difficulties encounter-
ed due to the necessarily restrict-
ed form of film writing, Miss Kim-
brough stressed the small frames
in which action must be enclosed.
Also so much more detail is nec-
essary in a film than in a book
that in order to condense the story
to the time allotted, every scene
portrayed must be essential to the
nipt.
Due to technical difficulties,
some episodes from the book had
to be omitted, among these, that
.of Jie deck tennis game. Instead,
two young English girls come to
Emily on the deck and ask her to
join the ship's pool. Emily is
charmed and delighted and goes
below to don a bathing suit, hav-
ing successfully misinterpreted
the word "pool". Simultaneously,
a life boat drill is anounced, and
Emily has to go up, clad as is.
As technical director, Miss Kim-
brough spent much time scanning
Continued on  Page 4
Alexander H. Frey
Will Speak About
War Labor Board
Fourth War Alliance Assembly
Presents Acting Authority
On Labor
Dr. Alexander H. Frey, Vice-
Chairman of the Regional War
Labor Board of Philadelphia, will
speak about the National War La-
bor Board, its general philosophy,
and how it works, at the fourth
War Alliance assembly on Wednes-
day, December 8, at 12.30.
In recent years Dr. /l?rey has
served on several Minimum Wage
Boards. He was chairman of the
board for hotel industry, and of
the committee on jewelry, as well
as a member of the committees
for the rubber industry and for
the passenger and property motor
carrier industries. He has fre-
quently acted as arbitrator of la-
bor disputes.
Professor
Dr. Frey was assistant profess-
or in the law school of Yale Uni-
versity, and a visiting professor
at Columbia and Duke Universi-
ties, and has, since 1932, been a
professor of law at the University
of Pennsylvania Law School. He
has been chairman of the Phila-
delphia Good Neighbor League,
and the Philadelphia Civil Liberties
.Committee, and is a member of
numerous law and bar associa-
tions. He is the author of several
books and articles on legal sub-
jects.
A student in Columbia Univer-
sity from 1915 to 1917, he is a
graduate of Yale Law School,
where he received his doctorate in
law in 1925. He spent the two
years from 1921 to 1923 in gradu-
ate study at Oxford University,
holding, during that time, a fel-
lowship from the Carnegie En-
dowment for International Peace.
A short time later, the Social
Science Research Council awarded
him a fellowship.
Art Museum Shows
Movie Masterpieces
A free film program showing
film masterpieces which reveal
the culture and characters of the
peoples of the world is now open
to the public at the Philadelphia
Art Museum. The productions
shown Saturdays and Sundays at
1 and 3 P. M. through May 28 fea-
ture productions of fourteen coun-
tries.
Among the best films to be
shown this year are Dostoyevsky's
"Crime and Punishment." "The
Private Life of Henry VIII."
starring Charles Laughton, "The
39 Steps" with Robert Donat and
Madeline Carroll, "Alexander Nev-
sky," "The Seige of Leningrad,"
and "Our Town."
This month's productions be--
ginning December 4 are "Life and
Art in Belgium," "Carnival in
Flanders," "Out of a Chinese
Painting Brush," "China's 400
Million," and the Slovak picture
"Janosik." The weeks of Decem-
ber 26 and January 2 a Charlie
Chaplin film festival will bring
back eight of his .early master-
pieces of slapstick. On January 8
and 9, the pre-Vichy film "A Nous
La Liberte" will be shown.