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PAGE TWO THS DAILY TAR HEEL SUNDAY, JANUARY 10, 1954 Til Compromise And Make The Chain A Little Longer' Claws And Hammers Guinness Despite the franticness of some of his phraseology and the tone of bitterness which occasional showed in his letter of yesterday, Wyat Helsabeck is correct in protesting that the English Department offers little help to the creative writer. Mr. Helsabeck's accusation of "footnote factory," an obviously irritating label, prob ably will raise departmental fur when it ought to stimulate some departmental re evaluation. "Footnote factory" is a catchword describing an English Department whose emphasis is on the historical "aspect of lan guage and its literature- The letter-writer's term of derision shouldribt prejudice his case. A Degree Of Frustration It is true that the department offers nothing on the graduate level for creative writers. Although Antagonist Helsabeck didn't mention it, it also is true that the promising undergraduate writer is stymied. He can receive credit for but two (all the department offers) creative writing courses. There are three other creative writing cours es offered (these in journalism by that old master, Ehillips Russell), but here the student is frustrated by degree qualifications which say that these courses can't be counted as English credit toward his English major. These split courses and split credit in cre ative writing, are matters themselves which need adjusting.. If a student could take all five and get English "credit it would be of great help to the creative writer. We need to coordinate these courses, not match them against one another. Woman's College hasan excellent setup for the creative writer. The degree in English may be taken in one of three fields: Dramatic art, English literature, or creative writing. To implement its writing courses, W.C. has several fine young writer-critics and in Ran dall Jarrell perhaps the best critic since T. S. Eliot, according to the New York Times Book Review Section. Why Not Both? We like Mr. Helsabeck's point that the English Department owes its literary exist ence to creative writers of the past, and need not consider it odious to concern itself with the modern, for those who want it, while put ting departmental emphasis on the past. And, we would add, many of the writers about whom such scholarly research is done-were not scholars at all but creative writers. A final suggestion: Where are the au thors, poets, critics of today?; can't we hear them? Can't the department concentrate on the past and still sponsor some moderns? For that matter, why not some authoritative speakers on the past? Let us not recoil at this tongue-lashing from Mr. Helsabeck. Instead, let us look to, foster, and promote the creative writer with in the framework of credit toward his de gree. Let us not discourage or be passive . about a Thomas Wolfe or Paul Green who even now may be among us. Again John Taylor Well, it was only a matter of, time until Alec Guiness got around to bigamy. Never the one to ignore the challenge of an" amiable crime, the . redoubtable Mr. G. is now cavorting through "The Captain's . Paradise," in which . he , takes a crack at a swing-shift marriage. The film will be at the Varsity through Tuesday. v 1 The official student publication of the Publi cations Board of the University of North Carolina, ... where it is published v which nt i osewi K floors f , , iVr - daily except Monday, examination and vaca tion periods and dur ing the official Sum mer terms. Entered as second class matter at the post office in Chapel IliU, N. C, un der the Act of March 3, 1879. Subscription rates: mailed, $4 per year, $2.50 a semester; delivered, $6 a year, $3.50 a semester. Editor ROLFE NEILL Managing Editor LOUIS KRAAR Business Manager AL SHORTT Sports Editor TOM PEACOCK News Editor Associate Editor Feature Editor Asst. Spts. Eds. Sub. Manager Cir. Manager Asst. Sub. Manager Asst. Business Manager Society Editor Ken Sanford Ed Yoder .' Jennie Lynn Vardy Buckalew, John Hussey Tom Witty l Don Hogg Bill. Venable Syd Shuford Advertising Manager Eleanor Saunders . Jack Stilwell Mr. Guiness, whose endeav ors in the field of the unethical change with the rapidity of Bar bara Hutton's husbands, has, for the present, abandoned boui lion embezzle- oUINNESS ment for which he was noted in "The Lavender Hill Mob?' mass murder of which he was on the receiving end in "Kind Hearts and Coronets,' and the disruption of big business with which he occupied himself in "The Man in the. White Suit," and has not settled down to making life beautiful for two ladies of extremely diverse na ture. 1 The first of the two ladies in question is a sedate homebody named Maud, who resides in Gi braltar and likes nothing better than to provide her husband with slippers, pipes and an intermin able amount of dumplings. On the other hand in Kalik, North Africa, there smoulders Nita, roughly the equivalent of an erupting volcano in a strapless evening gown. Both are equally available to the affable Alec by virtue of his being captain of a ship which sails between the two ports with no apparent regu larity. Effortlessly adaptable, the cap tain, a well-rounded man if there ever was one, accommodates him self with perfect ease and utter conviction to each of his women. All goes well until the volcano begins to feel the urge to stay at home and cook and the home body begins to feel the urge. The captain then loses control of the situation and finally ends up be fore a firing squad. But never let it be said that a dozen men with rifles aimed at his heart would ever defeat as accomp lished a rogue as Guiness, and he walks off into the dusk after one of the most outlandishly funny finales ever placed on film, Guiness is, as r'jjiJJS" usual cnnerH There is some thing uncanny in his ability to make the most fantastic and criminal esca Dades seem as "natural as get- 2My" ting drunk on f.v r Saturday night JOHNSON When he perpetrates bigamy, he is not commiting a crime, but is performing a. minor service to mankind by making two wom en completely happy. This man alone has undoubtedly caused le gions of police courts to be filled with impressionable hero-worshippers who- have felt that 'If Guiness can do it, so can I." "The Captain's Paradise" is. not, however, strictly a one-man show. As the two wives, Yvonne De Carol and Celia Johnson are admirable foils. The former mambos and attempts .to cook with almost ferocious vitality, and the latter pours tea and skips around with a Bikini with equal facility. As first mate and heir, to the captain's paradise, Charles Goldner proves a master of the double-take and cockeyed humor. - There is nothing distasteful about the film. It is raffishly charming and logical in all de partments and, best of all, it is still another Guiness lesson in cultivated illegality, which should be enough to pull anyone away from the television set. Hx 1 EDITORIAL STAFF Bill O'Sullivan, James Duvall, John Beshara. NEWS STAFF Charles Kuralt, Dick Creed, Joyce Adams, Fred Powledge, Ann Pooley, Tom Lambeth, Jerry Reece, Babbie Dilorie, Beverly Blemker, J. D. Wright, Jess Nettles, Leslie Scott, Jid Thompson, Richard Thiele, Chal Schley. Others Say What other dungeon is so dark as one's own heart! What jailer so' inexorable as one's self! Na thaniel Hawthorne. BUSINESS STAFF Dick Sirkin, Dave Leonard, Don Thornton. SPORTS STAFF Larry Saunders, Jack Murphy, Dick Barkley. . i : rr . Night Editor for this issue: Fred Powledger "; To be engaged in opposing wrong affords, under the condi tions of our mental constitution, but a slender guarantee of being right. . Washington Merry-Go-Round Drew Pearson WASHINGTON Republican leaders have taken an amazing step regarding the theft of about $5,000,000 worth of grain, cotton and beans from government ware houses. They have "terminated" the Agriculture Department officials who convicted the criminals, held up collection of money from those who illegally purchased the stol en farm produce, while Senator Butler of Nebraska, Republican, has introduced a bill which would prevent collecting money from the purchasers. The theft of this grain, beans, etc., was one of the most brazen in the history o f government farm price sup ports. Under the support law, the Commodity Credit Corpora tion, a subsidi ary of the Ag ricul ture De partment, loans PEARSON money to the farmer after he stores his crop in a warehouse. If he defaults on his loan, then the crop automatically reverts to the government. Every elevator operator, warehouseman and grain dealer knows this. Yet in -Texas and the midwest, several deliberately sold government ;grain, and certain grain dealers ibought it with their eyes wide iopen. As a result, William F. Farrell, Dallas representative of the solic itor of the Agriculture Depart ment, moved in vigorously, un der direct orders from Secretary Charlie Brannan to prosecute. He secured the following convictions: C. M. Henderson, Farw,ell, Tex. Four years in jail and $1,000 fine, with $1,086,000 still to be collected for the federal govern ment. Tenner's Inc., Cortez, Colo. Harold Tenner, 18 months; Hal worth Tenner, three years sus pended sentence; R.' R. Wilson, 15 months and $10,000 fine. To tal to be repaid the government: $1,108,000. Herman Dawson, Fort Worth, Tex. Six years in prison and $15,000 fine, with $454,000 to be repaid to the government. , O. L. Shannon, Sudan, Tex. Fixe years in prison and $15,000 fine, with $1,043,000 to be repaid the government. In other parts of the country, Francis Spellman of Rochelle, 111., was given five years in pris on, though later revised down ward; while C. L. Bert of Clar 'ion and Gait, Iowa, was given, two years. The above companies owed the government $313,000 and $398,000 respectively. And with most of the ware housemen in jail, the former Democratic administration of the Agriculture Department had mov ed to collect more than $5,000,000 from the grain dealers who pur chased the illegal grain with their eyes wide open. However, shortly after Ezra Benson took over the Agriculture Department, a special delivery letter dated March 30, 1943, was sent to William Farrell in Dallas, ordering him to hold up claims to collect this money. The letter read in part: "Al though you should continue prep aration of cases involving third party purchasers, you should not take any affirmative steps to ward the institution of new suits against third-party purchasers or the making of additional demands for payment upon them until fur ther advice is received from this office." As of today nine months lat er no further advice has been received. NOTE Farrell, however, turned his cases over to the Jus tice Department and it's reported . that some officials at the Justice Department "disagree- with the new Agriculture Department and are endeavoring to prosecute the claims anyway. - The Easy Way Out Robert Berkowitz In Harper's Mag Phillip was a veteran of World War II and a senior at an Eastern University when the Korean war broke out. He was also beginning the last year of an advanced infantry ROTC course. He had no particular desire to be an officer, but advanced ROTC cadets receive about $30 a month, and this supplemented his GI-Bill checks. The Korean war, however, frightened and depressed him. The younger students faced the draft anyway, but he had served in one war and this time he wanted out. Though the few other veterans in his ROTC class generally agreed with him, all cadets had 'signed a contract to finish their course or repay several hundred dollars in uniform and subsistence allowances. None had the money. Theoretically it was possible to be flunked out or to be dropped as unsuitable. With some others, he decided to try. He ceased fo study; he began cutting weekly drill and showing up late to class. This got him no where; according to the semester grafles, absence seemed to Improve some students. At the beginning of the next semester," loyalty f orms'' were passed out for signatures. Phillip could have signed the loyalty oath without ques tion, of course, but on the list of subversive organ izations was one which had sponsored a public meeting he'd attended perhaps more than one. That was ten years before; Philip had been seven teen. He couldn't remember much about it except that heM gone to the meeting m prurient and un satisfactory pursuit of a girl whose name he'd since forgotten. Genuinely uncertain, he went to the Pro fessor of Military Science and Tactics, a Regular Army Colonel commanding the ROTC unit. The Colonel was stunned. Under his question ing, Philip went back over the entire list He hadn't belonged to the Black Dragon Society, nor to the German American Bund, nor to the overseas branch of the NSDAP (Nazi party -, But other names seemed vaguely familiar. There were Social ist groups, Trotskyite groups, anti-Fascist' commit tees of this and that; he couldn't know what he'd signed in the years before military service inter-, rupted his college career, when Tie'd been on all kinds of mailing lists. Scrupulously, he admitted this and noted each name which seemed familiar. He had teen to see "Alexander Nevsky" at Har vard in 1947; he didn't remember if it was spon sored by American Youth for Democracy (subver sive) or by the Liberal Union (non-subversive). On a visit to New York he had attended a showing of the film "Potemkin." Though he couldn't re member if he'd made any other accidental contacts he knew in his own heart he was loyal. Would the Colonel help him? The Colonel took copious notes .and said he would. . He did. A few weeks before the end of the se mester, Philip was notified that he had been drop ped without prejudice from ROTC. He made no ap peal. He collected his check and said good-by. The class was commissioned and called up; most of them served in Korea. . , Philip" feels a little guilty about dropping out of ROTC, since another cadet who had a similar record was less successful in calling it to the Army's attention; Phillip was the only one who got away with it.- He knows now that it was the Liberal Union that put on "Alexander Nevsky," but if he made other such errors and he doesn't think so they were honest errors. All he'd done, in a sense, was to smear himself, quietly, judici ously. He still considers himself a normally patri otic citizen, and he calmly -points out that it was the Army, after all, which made the decision. He was willing, or at any rate prepared, to serve his country. He still considers himself just as loyal as, say, the Colonel who commanded the ROTC de tachment. Maybe a triffle smarter. YOU Said It Editor: ; Mr. Wiatt's poem is most interesting. As re gards the several explications of this poem which you have, printed, I should like to state that my interesting (but esoteric) friends in the English Department have, as usual, mangled the poem bad ly, and their interpretations are far short of the mark. As a distinguished and highly respected crit ic of dramatic literature (as well as a promising young playwright), I should like to modestly sub mit that Mr. Wiatt's piece is a poeme dramatique. This special, category has been reserved heretofore only to the' Greeks, Shakespeare and, irifleed, Mr. Shaw himself. The opening line (or word or letter whichever one prefers), "X," is one of those choice and rare morsels which eternal poets hope for a lifetime that they may find. This opening not only gives the audience full exposition, but it also introduces the protagonist who, in this case, is a tragedian. The second line, "Claw hammers," is one of the finest I have ever read. Aeschylus and Sopho cles combined could not have introduced the antag onist and conflict more smoothly and euphoniously. Indeed, it has a sort of shall we say ringing sound which great actors spend many months at tempting to gain the correct range, wisdom, and projection required of such a figure of speech. "On the bathroom floor" brings us directly to the crisis, as it were, and leaves the reader (or spec tator) anticipant and wondering if the hero will defeat the villain. This middle-of-the-drama choice far exceeds the third acts of Shakespeare, Isben, and Flexer. "Enswathed in" is a most unfortunate choice of words. By being unfortunate, it is most fortunate in that it serves as a relief (Cf comic relief in a weighty tragedy) to the continuous and augmenting suspense. Indeed, it is the suspense device of the play. "Dripping towels" brings the tragedy to a tri umphant end in which harmony, purgation, dignity, and elevation have all played a part. One imagines how Bernhardt, say, would deliver this climactic phrase. In reading this work again, and after writing you, I have decided that Mr. Wiatt's work is more than a simple poeme dramatique; it is a five act tragedy in itself, and I shall send it immediately to one of my New York producers for immediate production. Oh yes, while I am writing you, would you please contact the Grounds Department and ask them to tear down Hill Hall. I was standing behintf it the other day, looking East, and my view of the More head Planetarium was obstructed by this superflous music building. Thanking you, I am W. David Ash burn Editor: Everyone has been having so much fun on the bathroom floor in these pages during the last weeks, that it seemed to us on the Carolina Quar terly that our entrance in the debate would only cause overcrowding. But since an editorial has requested our opinion of the poem, "Clawhammers," etc., here it is: "Claw hammers on the bathroom floor enswathed in dripping towels" are just what they say they are. Take it or leave it The title, "X," stands for in correct just as the mark does on classroom papers, and suggest that the author's own verdict was to leave it. We agree. However, we have been much encouraged to see the intellectual agility that the various interp reters of the poem have displayed constructing something resembling interior logic around this group of words. It shows there is more mental live liness on campus than is often supposed. The only thing we cannot understand is how poetry -which does contain interior logic remains so baffling to them when "Claw hammers" is so clear. Surely it is easier to uncover meaning where it does exist than to dredge it up out of nonsense? We hope the interpreters will try it sometime and it would be nice if they tried it with an issue of the Carolina Quarterly. The Carolina Quarterly Editor: I am writing in reference to the December 17th issue of The Daily Tar Heel in which John R. Carr, Jr., expressed his opinion on travel vs. a college education. - I, too, am an ardent travel fan; however, there are things to be considered before throwing out a college education in preference to world-wide travel. Mr. Carr simply failed to mention the fact that edu cation and travel must go hand-in-hand. He may go to Europe, but without the basis of an education he would no doubt miss the culture which Europe offers. .With a college education under his belt he would recognize essential opportunities, he would conneft yhat he sees and what his professors have talked about, and he would leave Europe with a real education. A college education may not be as dra matic and enjoyable as European travel, but it will give a background which can't be beaten. Get an education first then see the world. Money why work man, work! What am I doing in college? Getting aa educa tion, then going to Europe! Emily S. Boyc Assistant Editor "East Carolinian" Great men gain doubly when they make foes their friends. Edward Bulwer Lytton. The success of any great moral enterprise does not depend upon numbers. William Lloyd Garrison. Whoso would be a man must be a non-conformist Ralph Waldo" Emerson.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Jan. 10, 1954, edition 1
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