Qe^unafUf , . .
Editor’s Note: The following letter was
received from Erika Huber, a foreign stu
dent last year from Germany.
It is wonderful — even though it almost
seems like a dream—to be able now and then
to think back to “y’all, I haven’t unlearned
my North Carolina accent!”
There passes no day that I do not think or
talk of you at Salem — going to church on
Sundays, eating Southern fried chicken and
corn on the cob. Bright in the laundry room
ironing any number of blouses, the swimming
pool and Jane Schoolfield’s elegant winning
of the contest, the weeping willow tree, daily
excursions to the P. 0. and book store. I
think of Dr. Lewis talking about Oklahoma
in his French course. I think of many other
things which may seem only superficial to
you, only touching the outer aspects of life
at Salem College, but behind it there is so
much for me which is kind of hard to depict.
As to my return—glorious hero returning
from peregrinations through the wild con
tinent of America, the continent of cowboys,
gangsters, movie stars and CARE packages.
My two little sisters are enthusiastic about
the Clementine song and blue jeans. It was
good to come home and be able to prove from
my own person that America is not only plaid
shirts, dinner jackets, Babitts or Orphan
Annies.
After all kinds of applications, I have been
admitted to the University of Marburg near
Frankfort. The university was founded in
1527 and has kept more or less its original
character. 'Thus, we are sitting in almost
medieval dungeons with high gothic windows,
cold, etc. Everything is disorganized, which
seems to be a special attribute of German pro
fessors. There is no such thing as a real
schedule. Everyone of them hangs out a little
sheet of paper on which he scribbles what
courses he is going to read—when and where
often missing.
I wish I could include a picture of the town
with the old castle overtowering the whole
town, a labyrinth of little streets, winding
staircases, cobblestones, frame work hoiises—
it would be romantic if it weren’t for my
feet.
I have found something in Marburg which
is absolutely ideal. It is called Collegium,
foimded in 1949 by students without money
but with ideals in the upper story of the
Marburg Barracks that were somewhat dam
aged during the war. On army cots, without
any financial background they worked out
something like a constitution in which they
state that anybody can live with them who
is willing to sacrifice to acknowledge their
ideals of understanding between the different
nationalities, their ideal about absohite under
equality between races, denominations and
nations, their ideals aboiit personal responsi
bility,' etc. You see, these things are easy
to proclaim and follow if you live a life of
(Comfort, but it becomes worthwhile only with
a hungry stomach.
All my love to you from high up on the
Marburg mountains. I am not yet yodeling,
nor do I drink beer and eat sauerkraut.
THE DRY HFtER THE /ftCftttON 3EF0RE
fWnfc CmtoMem CaAedair I'rM* »■)«««»
Published every Friday of the College year by the
Student body of Salem College
OFFICES. Lovrer floor Main Hall
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Editor-in-Chief Jane Watson
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Feature Editor Anne Lowe
Make-up Assistants Betty Tyler. Barbara Allen
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Reporters: Lorrie Dirom, Phyllis Forrest, Kitty Burrus,
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Alice McNeely, Ann Hobbs, Peggy Bonner, Cynthia May,
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and Fae Deaton.
Feature Writers: Ann Hobbs, Lola Dawson, Ruthie Der
rick, Edith Tesch, Eleanor Johnson, Eleanor Fry, Emma
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Papa...
By Anne Lowe
Dear Papa,
Poor Mr. Lamar Caudle is really
putting himself and North Caro
lina in the spotlight these days.
So far he’s been accused of every
thing from helping Italy when he
wasn’t supposed to, to evading
taxes and getting illegal mink coats.
Pie should have known better than
to try so many shady deals just
before election time. That’s one
season that people will check up
on you.
Today the boys in Korea are
fighting again but yesterday they
were ordered to quit and nobody
knows who issued the order. Citi
zen Truman said he didn’t, the De
fense Department said they didn’t,
the Eighth Army said it didn’t, and
the Associated Press Correspon
dent Milo Farneti said he didn’t.
I didn’t either. Papa, but it sounded
like a good idea while it lasted.
Besides firing Caudel from his
assistant attorney general position.
Citizen Truman has also fired
James G. Smyth, San Francisco’s
tax collector. Mavbe if all this
firing keeps up there won’t be
anybody left to collect taxes. Now
wouldn’t that be a shame ?
Mister Taft might never git to
be President, but he’ll prove one
thing. He’ll find out whether the
early bird gets the worm or the
early worm gets the bird. He’s
really going all out in his cam
paigning. Why the other day in
Durham he even went so far as
to say that he wouldn’t talk per
sonal about his competitors. For
Mister Taft that’s something. He
has cussed out most of the Demo
crats and has taken lots of pot
shots at some Republicans.
Our President, Mr. Truman, has
been down in Key West getting a
nice sun tan lately, but he hurried
back to Washington to make a
speech at a Woman’s National
Democratic Club banquet. He said
I to reporters, “Mrs. Truman made
this engagement for the two of us
i and when I have a date with my
i wife, I usually keep it.” Now isn’t
that sweet. Papa ? Our President
is really an ideal husband,
i Your ever lov’en daughter,
Anne
Campus Shots
Becky Powers gfinning over her
pin . , . bouncing curls of Betty
Lou as she plays the organ . . .
Dot Smother’s bubble bath per
fuming all of second floor Clewell
. . . tales of the Alabama train
wreck from Euber, Lu Fike and
Betty McGlaughon . . . clicking of
needles as Christmas argyles are
being knitted . . . Jane School-
field working all night and study
ing all day . . , Monie still moan
ing over her hair cut . . . memories
of Thanksgiving partying . . . Mar-
vie Ferrell running to the tele
phone every night, just to hear
more about Graylyn . . . Jane Alex
ander’s new snaggle-tooth smile
. . . the sketches of flappers on
the walls in Davy . . . Jane Smith
declaring that Ahoskie is a pretty
nice town . , . the freshmen groans
over stiff joints from body mech
anics . . . Jean Davenport’s falling
asleep studying Chaucgr . . . the
big plans being made for the
Christmas dance . . . the “diet
table” in the dining room.
Lola Reviews "Cyrano”
By Lola Dawson
The movie of Edmund Rostand’s
play “Cyrano De Bergerac” is ex
citing, imaginative and quite unbe
lievable. The movie is this first
because Rostand has written a play
igi.which pathos and comedy alter
nate as do the violently theatric
and the delicately poetic. Secondly,
the movie is alive and creative be
cause of Ferrer’s own brilliance as
an actor subordinated by the ex
cellent transition and the photo
graphy of the production.
Jose Ferrer has given us a real
istic characterization of Cyrano en
riched by the power of Ferrer’s
own imagination. He has success
fully portrayed unselfishness at
love in variance with egotism as
a warrior. Unselfishness in love is
shown as Cyrano offers to write
Christian’s letters of love to Ros-
tane. Cyrano says; “Take the
soul w'ithin this leathern jack of
mine and breathe it into you. So
—there’s my heart uncler your
velvet now”. This contradicts Cy
rano the egotist as he says: “The
Spanish muff I wear around my
throat is like a ring of enemies;
hard, proud, each point another
pride, another thorn—So that I
hold myself erect perforce.”
Ferrer has portrayed a man
whose beauty of soul was at vari
ance with his grotesqueness of
feature, a man who would not
“make a line he had not heard
in his own heart”, but whose nose
“marches on before me by a
quarter of an hour.”
Ferrer did a brilliant job of pro
jecting the intermixture of comedy
and pathos, particularly in his
speech to Valvert concerning Cy
rano’s nose. Ferrer’s imaginative
use of his hands was prevalent
throughout the whole play, but es
pecially as he crooked his fingers
in the air and said: “Ah, do you
love the little birds so much that
when they come and sing to you
you give them something to perch
on ?”
Judging the movie aside from the
acting, transitions were good, es
pecially the transition from the
home of Rostane to the battlefield
of Arras. A man carrying a torch
walked by the home of Rostane.
The torch faded into the fire „„
smoke of the battlefield of Arras
Some of the photography was
also quite exciting. It was fitting
that the walkway in front of the
convent should be in the shape of
a cross as Cyrano died, wdth Ros
tane by his side.
It is small wonder that the movie
has gotten such enthusiastic re
sponse and that Jose Ferrer won
the Academy Award for his per
formance.
and
By Emma Sue Larkins
Something horrible almost happened to all
of us at Salem during the Thanksgiving holi-
days. Only now can the true story be told
Katy Koinbs, who for years has been “Misg
Salem, Inc.”, became dissatisfied with Salem.
Not only dissatisfied but discouraged, dis
gusted, defeated, downhearted and fed-up.
All this plus—she actually considered traus-
fery-ing! Not only considered it but pondered
it,'talked about it, asked about it and (she
really did get desperate!) thought about it.
Naturally Katy began wondering about the
advisability of continuing at a girl’s school
when she ran into four of her old Salem
friends who had transferred to some boy and
girl school (as they had taught Katy to call
co-ed schools at Salem.) Katy felt her A. A.
Council pin dwindle and then diminish under
the brilliant glares from the' fraternity and
sorority pins sported by her friends. Katy no
longer saw any glory in her title of “Feature
Girl’’ compared to her friends titles of “Miss
Wolf Pack”, “Miss Carolina Cadillac”, “Ken
tucky’s Kozy Kitten” and “Miss Annapolis
Annie”.
However, Katy didn’t really become skepti
cal of Salem imtil she received her mid-term
report. She was severely reprimanded by her
parents for having a deficiency in every sub
ject, and the F in physical education was just
too much. Katy realized that she had taken
up too much time with her little sister, had
been baby-sitting with Lucy Spencer too much
and had gone before the student council too
much in her spare time. (She really shouldn’t
have practiced hockey in the halls during
quiet hours.)
Katy also realized that she could have re
frained from knitting those last five pairs of
socks, she wasn’t required to serve at Junior
breakfast every Sunday, she didn’t have to
attend all of the rehearsals for “The Inno
cents” in order to write the play up for the
Salemite and she could have played on the
hockey team without 25 practices. But Katy
had only wanted to help Salem—she had only
wanted to do for Salem what Justice had done
for Carolina—all she could. Katy couldn’t
understand how Salem could repay her in
such an ignoble manner (the ignoble manner
being five D’s and a F).
So, for the first time Katy had an emotion
for Salem akin to hate. For the first time
Katy spent her Thanksgiving giving thanks
for everything but Salem. She didn’t wear
her Salem jacket once, never once hummed
“Strong Are Thy Walls” and she didn’t send
a single 'Thanksgiving cafd to any of her pro
fessors. Katy was bitter!
However, Katy refused to be hurt by
Salem’s attitude. Without even consulting
Dr. AYelch on the effects it would have on
her personality, Katy decided that she would
leave Salem. She would go to a school where
she would be appreciated, for herself—not for
the amount of history dates she knew (just
because she had misunderstood and said Col
umbus discovered America in 1942). And Miss
Reigner—she hadn’t shown any regard for
her—turning in that D just because she hadn’t
memorized her speeches in speech class. “How
could I,” Katy reminisced, “I was too busy
memorizing ‘The Innocents’ ”.
So Katy got out her old pre-Salem cata
logues and began her search for the school
■which she would adopt—the school to which
she would give all her glorious plans, her un
equaled antics, her un-dying love, her never-
ending labors.
What, you ask, could dissuade our heroine
once she set her mind to leave Salem—to abdi
cate—to secede? Is it possible that Salem
realized its mistake in time and returned
Katy’s cuts, over-nights, night-outs and ligW-
cuts? Or is it possible that Katy became sen
timental — that Katy couldn’t find a school
that had a Corrin Refectory, a Sister’s house,
a Davy Jones, a willow tree, a Dr. Welch, s
Lu Long, a “Rat Week”, a Miss Essie, a
Christmas putz, a Stevie Gramly and a Bow
man Gray?
Yes, it was all this plus the fact that 0.
didn’t have a Lucy, Carolina didn’t have the
football team Reynolds did, they didn’t km
socks at Davidson and they didn’t have a
Juiiior Breakfast at Wake Forest. But the
main reason that Katy came back to Salem
was because she knew she couldn’t do withou
the Salemite.