PAGE 4 - N.C. ESSAY
EEITAH!!! (From left to right) The Bad Mother steps in with a front-
kick to Elrees (cafeteria staff). Elrees side-steps with his right leg
going from a leg block into a kick to the groin! Photo by Barcelona
The Bad Mother
Reviews
Review
Wufhering Heighfs Revisited
The men cringed in fright and
the women fainted in delight -
“It’s an earthquake! It’s a
Tasmanian Freak-out! It’s, It’s...
No, It’s Skizzo! Mr. T! THE BAD
MOTHER! David of Tillman the
Terrible! A terribly together
dude doing an extremely together
thing: KARATE.
Dave first unleashed his thing
on N.C.S.A. this sununer. He
suggested to Mr. Hyatt that it
would be more than beneficial if
students were allowed to ex
perience the mental and physical
vibrations of Karate. And thusly
Dave started teaching about
twenty students and in the
process filling in his work-study.
When September rolled around
Mr. T started once again, but this
time with 25 students. Gradually,
the mice were separated from the
men and the class stood at ten
strong; including a couple of
women. All right! Of these ten
most were beginners - white
belts, but now all are either
yellow or purple.
The perfection of a Karate
student is noted by the color of his
belt; the scale running: white,
yellow, purple, brown, black and
dark maroon. But in Mr. T’s
classes the color of the belt is not
important; what counts is the Art
in the practice of self-defense. To
quote Mr. T: “I don’t believe in
combinations - no. 1 2, 3’s.
Technique is what’s important...
knowing everything in detail.
You must be together enough so
that you automatically move and
know whether you’re killing, or
bruising etc.”
To put Dave principles into
practice is far from simple. His
classes run from three to four
hours Monday through Thursday
evenings. These sessions are not
only far-out, but close-in and
solid. An evening of N.C.S.A.
Karate begins and ends with
spiritual unification through Zen
meditation. After meditation
Dave’s agenda puts any attempt
at disciplined Art in the history of
this school to shame; note
soberly: warm-up with
calisthetics. Stretching,
Breathing, Stances, Practice
fighting, Kumite (free-style
sparring), Street Fighting, and
Special Variations (defense on
the floor, from a chair). In
essence Mr. T’s Karate not only
leaves one with a heavy
knowledge of his movement, but
of his anatomy and kinesthetics
as well.
When sparring distance is
crucial. Dave insists on a four
inch pull - stopping within four
inches of your partner. Oc
casionally, however, someone
by Fred Avery
overextends resulting in slight
injuries. There is a “goody” for
this someone: 10 low push-ups,
five of which must be on the
fingers. So, unless one has a
fetish for finger push-ups, one
avoids the no-no’s, and with good
reason- have YOU ever tri^ to
do even one push-up from your
fingertips, let alone five?
Everything has its purpose here
and Skizzo’s discipline only
enhances the fluidity in his
classes; “Nobody is trying to
outdo .. We work hard with each
other, respect and help one
another.” Skizzo doesn’t stop
inside the class, though. Two
hours of personal calisUietics are
a daily must.
By now you must be dying to
see the Superfreaks in action.
Well, you can! THE BAD
MOTHER is having a BAD
MOTHER TOURNAMENT for
your very own uninvolved en
joyment! B.M. TOURNAMENT
will be held on the final Saturday
in April in one of three possible
locations; the Auditorium, the
Great Outdoors, or in a Dance
Studio. Wherever this happening
ends up - be there I You’ll witness
seven or more Junior Bad
Mothers break at least one inch
thick boards with their heads and
feet - and that’s not all - a 250 Ib.
block of ice will be laid to “ar
tistic” waste - still more - an
exhibition of Free-Style Fighting
and Formal Exercises. There
will be no charge for the B.M.
TOURNAMENT, for as Dave so
aptly remarked: “This is
beautiful, man. I don’t want
money - This is Eastern, not
Western.” Right On!
Warning: THE BAD MOTHER
will spare YOU his wrath if you
rise oH yourgluteus maximus and
attend his one-week class in self-
defense in early May (one for
females and one for males).
In case you wondered- this is
how Skizzo feels after his class;
“...vibes are so heavy- ooh
Wow!- just want to go home,
take a shower and crash!”
Don’t sit back brothers and
sisters, because THE BAD
MOTHER won’t be. here much
longer. Come June, he undergoes
the “ornate piece of toilet paper”
ritual and graduates; heading
North to the Tong Dojo (Upper
Brooklyn school of Karate). If
you can’t make any of these
happenings you’ve still got one
last resort before incurring THE
BAD MOTHER’S WRATH - and
that’s to give Dave a one-way
ticket to Tokyo, Japan (where the
World’s Greatest BAD MOTHER
is). KIYA!!!
Follies
By Ed Schloss
There are some musicals
where the parts are better than
the whole, where the individual
performances and the musical
numbers are so outstanding that
it makes it hard to dismiss the
show entirely even if it does not
measure up to your expectations.
This is precisely the case with
Follies, toe new musical, which I
saw over the spring break at New
York’s Winter Garden Theatre.
Everything rushes by so
quickly that one almost doesn’t
notice James Goldman’s book is
in the way of things from the very
beginning. It is more like a rough
ouUine than a fully completed
script. The plot concerns two
couples, former follies en
tertainers, who come to a reunion
at the theatre they had once
appeared at. They are no longer
young but they try to make up for
age by singing and dancing to the
music they had perform^ to in
an earlier yeat‘.Disillusioned with
their lives, the two couples
change partners and try
(allegorically) to create new
steps. By the end of the evening
they are back where they started
from but leave the party with a
new understanding of one
another. So much for the book.
Luckily enough, Harold Prince
has a way of covering over thin
material by keeping the action
moving along at a fast pace.
While his directing talents are
admirable, many times he uses
theatrical devices as a substitute
for dramatic confrontation. In
Follies he does this by giving
everyone a double of their former
self and shifting the action from
the present to the past. This could
have worked quite well in theory
but in practice it was little more
than an excuse to bring on the
chorus line.
Stephen Sondheim’s music and
lyrics while not as strong as those
he wrote for Company, give
choreographer, Michael Bennett,
a field day for production
numbers as well as furnishing
many fine specialty numbers for
some of the older performers who
are featured in supporting roles.
These include Fifi D’orsay, Mary
McCarty and Ethel Shutta. I
particularly liked Yvonne de
Carlo singing, “I’m Still Here”,
which is Uie best torch song I’ve
hear since Barbra Streisand first
belted “The Music That Makes
Me Dance” from Funny Girl. In
the major roles, Alexis Smith
virtually steals the show away
from Gene Nelson, Dorothy
Collins and John McMartin but
each of them are well cast and do
Uie best they can with weak
material.
Although most of the musical
numbers are quite good, in all
honesty there are too many of
them. A bit of judicious cutting
would help matters considerably
here. “When I Look in Buddy’s
Eyes” and “One More Kiss”
should have been deleted out of
town as well as Bennett’s “Bolero
D’amour”, which as far as I’m
concerned is a time waster,
except for Florence Klotz’s
stunning costume designs. But it
probably works better now since
the show is played without an
intermission. (I saw it at a
preview).
Technically, the show still
needs a lot of work, some of the
blocking is clumsy and the
scenery by Boris Aronson is not
as functional as it might have
been. I suspect the trouble with
Follies is that it only comes alive
with music and even then it
seems just another excuse for
commercialized nostalgia a la
No, No Nanette. It is rather like
writing a psychodrama to the
tune of I Want To Be Happy, and
settling for a chorus of Sweet
Adelaide.
By Christine Rosania
I live across the hall from the
editor of this newspaper, yet I
have never written anything for
it, in fact, I very seldom read it,
but last week I read something
which so raised my ire that I had
to respond in written form, rather
than in the privacy of my own
home ( as I am wont to do). Not
only did it irritate me, but I feel
that it may lead a great many
people astray and away from a
fine piece of work. “All in all, not
a complete bomb” is what
somebody named Alexander
March (Marsh?) (Who?) had to
say about a very moving and
intelligently made film. Heaven
knows there are few enough of
those around; so when he con
demned a film that has real merit
with a somewhat intolerable
pseudo-drama-criticky attitude,
it was actively annoying to me.
Hence, this re-review.
I saw the film twice in one
sitting, and was in all ways
charmed by it. You would have to
go quite far to find someone who
is more familiar with that book
than I am (I have read it, cover to
cover, eight times, and certain
passages more than that) and
you would have to go farther still
to find someone who hates what
movie-maker do to great books
more than I do, yet this severe
critic of everything found herself
in tears wito the rest of the
crowded theater audience that
night.
“Trumped-Up”
Firstly, Mr. March’s (Mar
shes? ) contention that the movie
has a “tnmiped-up” ending does
not hold water if the reader has
read the first paragraph of his
article before the second. In it he
states the fact that the book is
immensely long and cannot
possibly be dealt with in its en
tirety to anybody’s satisfaction.
So the screenwriter wisely took
the most beautiful and exciting
part of the book, that which deals
with the love of Cathy and Heath-
cliff, and made a very true and
telling play about it. However, as
Mr. Mar?h knows (if he is indeed
acquainted with the book), the
story of the two lovers is not
complete at Cathy’s death, but
completes itself many years later
at the deat of Heathcliff. In order
to resolve the story in the time
span available, the author
searched for, and in my opinion
found, a plausible and
satisfactory end for Heathcliff,
then again remained absolutely
true to the book in what happened
after that. This is very-important,
because the story is not finished
until Heathcliff des.
His second contention is that
the dialogue is weak. Perhaps it
is unfasiUonable for a modem
film writer to remain true to the
author to the extent that Patrick
Tilley did, since 90 percent of the
script was word-for-word from
the novel, but in the same breath
Mr. March has called Emily
Bronte weak, which is difficult to
Tenure Major Issue
Continued From Page 1
policy, it was decided that Deans
should not be granted tenure.
Since the present grant of
authority with respect to per
sonnel which is granted to Deans
in NCSA is broad, it is felt that
any successor to a present Dean
should be protected from any
inroads upon that grant of
authority. Hence, in a case where
a present Dean might desire to
relinquish his administrative
duties but remain on the faculty,
the procedure would be for him to
become a member of the faculty'
first and, if he qualifies, then be
considered for tenure in the
normal manner.
To the dismay and chagrin of
permit. Perhaps he was not
familiar with the fact that the
script comes almost entirely
from the book, or perhaps in
taking copious notes, he merely
did not listen to a great deal of it.
Dalton
However much I have
disagreed with Mr. March’s
opinion of the film, the thing that
still irks after a week is the
evaluation of Timothy Dalton in
the part of Heathcliff. The
strength and clarity of that
performance is such that the only
thing that I can reasonably
conclude is that Mr. March is not
familiar enough with the
problems and techniques of
acting to recognize a good job
when he sees it. Not only does
Heathcliff’s brooding violence
completely dominate the film
with emotional intensity, but the
small things, that only those who
watch for tiny moments notice,
are done with extreme care and
good judgement. (To name but
one of many examples, at the
start of the picture Heathcliff has
the by no means easy accent of an
uneducated man of the 19th
century Yorkshire moors,
whereas he returns with the
proper London gentleman’s
accent of that day; a thing any
actor or knowledgeable person
delights in. There are many such
examples).
I am happy that Mr. March
found some value in Anna Calder-
Marshall as Cathy, she was in
deed excellent. But he lost it
again when he claimed that all
the other acting was “of no im
portance.” If I wasn’t nearly out
of patience I would take issue
with that too, in detail, but I will
content myself with saying that
Nellie, Isabella and Edgar were
well portrayed, as was the
doctor. One must assume that
Mr. March has never heard of
Hugh Griffith.
Visual Aspects
However, his greatest injustice
to the film lies in the fact that he
ignored completely its finest
aspect, that is, the visual aspect.
With his present record of being
wrong four times out of four, it is
not a surprise to see that he
missed the overwhelmingly good
job done in filming the North
Country moors. The landscapes
are so beautiful as to be
awesome, and alone, are
justification for the entire ven
ture. (I am still puzzled by the
remark made about the good
lighting, since most of it was shot
outdoors, so I must assume he
meant the sun, and who can
improve on that?)
At any rate, the film is far
better than it was cracked up to
te, and I recommend it to all who
like a beautifully filmed love
story that is proud, and doesn’t
weep all over you the way the
movie of that same name did. No
kidding, this will do your heart
good.
many faculty members, only five
were selected for tenure this
year. Those chosen were: Jesus
Silva, Sonya Tyven, Marian Fitz-
Simons, Gerd Young and Duncan
Noble.
Mail Room
Continued From Page 2
people their opinions of the
package service. I’ve gotton only
unfavorable replies^ ranging
from dry grimances to un
printable interjections. Though
the school year is drawing to a
close, the needed revamping
would still vastly improve
campus life. The effort on the
administrative part would
probably be minimal.