January 24, 1978
By MARK HYDE
and JIM PRITCHETT
When we first came to
Guilford College, both of us
were very surprised to find
that there was no Debate or
Speech organization on
campus. We found that many
years ago such an organization
did exist on campus, and was
known as the Websterian
Society. We both had
spent a number of years in
high school programs that
were rated as the finest in
North Carolina, and competed
regularly on a state and
national level in debate and
Movie Impressions
By FRANCES HENDERSON
We all knew Jane Fonda or thought we did. As young
starlet in Barberella, Redford's young wife in Barefoot in the Park,
the call-girl in Klute, as Henry's daughter and Peter's sister
as Vietnam protestor and Tom Hayden's wife, Jane Fonda has
been visible for some time. Most film-goers recognized her as
a fine actress. Then came Fonda at 40, and her role as
Lillian Hellman in Julia. It is a rite of passage for Fonda and
a glowing work of art which can steady a shaky faith in films.
Fred Zinneman's Julia is taken from Lillian Helman's best
selling memoir, Pentimento. With the backdrop of a tense
Europe of the late 30's, Hellman wrote of her slight involvement
in the anti-Fascist movement, a result of her deep friendship
with a very committed Julia. In Pentimento, Hellman wrote
with a sophisticated detachment of her life-long relationship
with this beautiful wealthy girl who grew to reject her back
ground and proclaim socialism. With Fonda, and Vanessa
Redgrave as Julia, Zinneman has translated Hellman's loving
but amazingly clear memory of this friendship into a film which
is pervaded with the softness of memory yet filled with the
urgency of young activism.
Julia is about a friendship between two strong women.
Fonda was challenged by the role because, she said, she got to
play a woman "motivated by ideas." Many will be quick to
put Julia into a genre, "Women's films." Yes it is, but it
carries no banner of feminism. Julia needs no ideology outside
of its own story, its own fascinating characters.
A film such as this could have easily fallen into a sentimentality
or pretensiousness. Instead, it has a marvelous objectivity.
Finneman has each scene bathed in a soft half-light. We know
it is one woman's memory, but we can believe it. Vanessa
Redgrave is graceful and natural. There is no superlative for
Fonda except fine; she carries the film. That's saying a lot
when she is backed by such talented actors as Redgrave and
Jason Robards (as Dash Hammet, Hellman's life-long romantic
interest).
There are occasional lapses in a generally fine script. Hellman's
friends Dorothy Parker and Allan Canbell (Hal Holbrook) fail to
appear as witty and urbane as they are known to have been.
There is little humour in Julia.
In a near perfect climactic scene, Hellman and Julia meet in
a Berlin cafe. Hellman has completed her mission: transporting
fifty-thousand dollars to the resistance group in Berlin to be
used as bribery for the release of political prisoners. After a
nauseously tense train ride through Nazi Germany, Hellman
enters the cafe and sees Julia for what will be the last time.
The two friends can only exchange a few words; the growing
evil around them seems to close in on them like the walls of
the smokey cafe. They sense the impending holocaust,
and while deeply committed, they see their own helplessness.
The friends are so close, yet they are soon to be ripped apart
by the European conflict.
There is almost no explicit violence in Julia. But the implied
violence is overwhelming. Political conflict and war take on an
immensely personal significance as they tear apart a friendship,
destroy stability, ignite an activism in the two women.
Competitive Speech Comes to Guilford
speech. We contend that there
is no reason why we cannot
do the same thing on campus
at the intercollegiate level.
In order to bring about this
sort of thing at Guilford, we
have revived the Websterian
Society as the Debate and
Speech organization for
competition with colleges and
universities within North
Carolina and out-of-state as
well.
At this point, many people
may be curious about what
kind of events would be
involved in competitive speech.
There are basically three
The Guilfordian
groupings of competition:
Dramatic Interpretation,
Extemporaneous Speaking,
and Original Oratory.
Dramatic interpretation is
an event in which the contest
ant makes a ten minute
"cutting" of a play or novel
and memorizes it for presenta
tion in competition with
others. The contestant can
tackle anything, from a one
character monologue to a cutt
ing with several characters,
as long as he can fully develop
the characters in his cutting.
Judges look for such qualities
as the ability of the contest
ant to transform himself into
the characters he portrays, the
general effectiveness of the
presentation, and the ability
to form moods and setting
through the emotions and
actions of the characters.
Extemporaneous speaking
is a challenging form of speech
communication. The contest
ant draws three topics and
chooses one to give his speech
on. These topics usually deal
with national and internation
al events. The contestant has
thirty minutes to prepare a
four-seven minute speech on
his selected topic, and can use
up to fifty words of notes.
Because of the competitive
nature of extemporaneous
speaking, real championship
speakers do not use notes. In
extemporaneous speech, the
contestant is forced to think
on his feet, use logical think
ing, and display a tremendous
amount of presence, such that
he can influence the decision
of the judge.
Original Oratory, like
dramatic interpretation, is an
event in which the contestant
uses his powers of memori
zation. The contestant writes
| kiAf i# /'
/ I \ ■■BY AMY FRIBUSH and ARLENE FURMAIM#/ * ( §
(f. OdetoOdetta J J )
Once again, we are here to
keep you up to date on the
latest happenings in the
boundless field of the perform
ing arts!
Slipping and sliding across
the icy ground, we ventured
to Dana Auditorium. The place
was humming and it was no
wonder, for about to appear
was Odetta, the black musician
performer.
Her deep, rich intensifying
voice filled the room working
its way into our souls. Once
a seven to ten minute speech
about almost any topic and
presents it much like an extemp
speech, except for the fact
that it is memorized. Judges
demand an original, logical,
and rhetorical approach to the
topic.
Besides these three main
events, there are a number
of diverse secondary events
as well. Among these are
impromptu speaking, after
dinner speaking, duet acting,
oral interpretation of prose/
poetry, Lincoln-Douglas
debate, radio announcing, and
Student Congress.
On the collegiate level,
debate is the most highly
developed of all events. Each
year, a topic is selected as the
subject for all college debates
during the year. This year's
topic deals with the extension
of investigative rights to the
federal government. Possible
case areas include Bail pro
cedures, search and seizure,
and other areas of the penal
system.
Health Careers Workshop
Office of Minority Student
Relations of Guilford College
in cooperation with Triad
Sickle Cell Anemia Founda
tion will sponsor a two day
program on careers in the
health area for minority
students. The program will
begin at 7:00 p.m. January 30
in the Gallery of Founders Hall
at Guilford College.
The keynote address "Pre
paration for Careers in the
Health Field" will be delivered
by Dr. Daniel Savage from the
Naitonal Institute of Health,
on January 30, 1978. Dr.
Gilchrist also from N.I.H.
will present information on
there, it remained kindled for
the rest of the evening.
Handling the guitar (her
"baby") with delicate grace,
she displayed a dynamic
demeanor depicting definite
dazzle. As the performance
progressed, a mutual liking
between Odetta and the
audience became apparent
because of her amiable
attitude.
Her songs were a cross
between blues and folk as a
result of the three major influ-
Page Three
The debate team itself con
sists of two people who work
as partners in writing a case,
presenting it, in competition,
and defending it against a
negativ team. In switch-side
debate, teams switch each
round; from an affirmative
team presenting a case, to a
negative team attempting to
disprove the affirmative case.
Competitive communication
in the United States has
obviously become highly
diversified since the last
time that the Websterian
Society functioned on campus,
however, it is the hope of the
individuals involved that
Guilford may someday become
a major power in speech in the
future. Anyone wishing to join
the Websterian Society should
contact either Jim Pritchett,
Milner 242, Box 17488, ot
Rick Prouty, the Society
advisor at Ext. 212, or see him
in his office in the Founder's
Hall basement. We welcome
anyone with an interest in
speech, regardless of past
experience.
health careers within N.I.H.
during this first evenii; b
session.
The second day of the insti
tute willb e designed for
individual conferences with
the staff members from N.I.H.
and students interested in
careers in the health area. We
welcome and invite your parti
cipation in the two day
program.
For additional information,
contact either Office of
Minority Student Relations,
Guilford College or Triad Sickle
Cell Anemia Foundation,
Greensboro, North Carolina.
ences in her life - Paul Robeson,
Marian Anderson and Lead
belly.
Speaking to Odetta after the
show revealed that she had
been headed toward music
ever since she could remember.
She feels her one hope in this
world is to build a bridge
encouraging people to partici
pate. As Odetta herself so
emphatically putit, "I sing to
keep the spirit."
P.S. Don't look for us next
week, we'll look for you.