PI ce T. i-vZ Penn State Collegian THE EXECUTIVE BOARD WINTLFR Lon, Jit. '2B R. M. ATKINSON '2B . . .. . C. 1 0 . FIANN '23 . .. .. THE EDITORIAL STAFF Witrant LORD, In. '2B 111-NJAMIN KAPLAN '2B 11. 111 ATILINCON '2B W. S TirnMcoN '26 P. 11 SMALTZ '2B Editor-in-Chief Assistant Editor Managing Editor Associate Editor Associate Edam THE BUSINESS STAFF C. P. FLINN '2B Business Manager JOHN FFIZIIIM)N '2B Advertising Manager It. R. 101.11ORN '2B Circulation Manager W.. 1. McLituanitiv '2B Asst. Circulation Manager t===l Nl.tringing Eilltin This Isbue- Nms Editor This Isouc TUESnY. JANUARY 24, 1928 THE HARVARD VAGABONDS "Up at I vsrd, which ism Massachusetts, some one has thought of a new idea. It must have been a student" So runs a despatch, announcing the in troduction of a system that allowp students to drop in at classes whenever and werever they please. 'thinking it over, our own Liberal Arts School might sec something in the idea. even if it does come from Harvard. Paere , are at Penn State several men to whrm students would by no means be loathe to listen, and it is not beyond reason that these professors will welcome them Aside from visits by self-declared cminents now and then, Penn State (so far removed fi om civilization that even the Pennsylvania Railroad can play tyrant with it) hears no voice from afar ex cept in Sunday Chapel, when occasionally a minister front Altoona and even Philadelphia may lecture And it seems that any opportunity that would enable students to listen to the greatest of their own faculty ought to be welcomed by that body In brief, the new idea of witch Harvard is so proud, is to allow students to attend classes in which they ore not registered. The only objection we can think of is from the Treasurer's office, but it is reas onable to assume that if a student takes the trouble to attend a course for which he does not pay, he will merge sooner or Inter with enough knowledge to make up for the financial loss There is, as some in..y hint, the difficulty that there are no courses here which a student would voluntarily attend. But that is a lie We know several 'TO BE, OR NOT TO BE?" ter years of criticisms which branded it as one of 1 1 n State's many useless organizations, con demned its laxity in enforcing rules and censured its disorganization, the Interfraternity Council will 'nave a splendid opportunity to stage a "comeback" during the newly-instituted three-day conference which will be held here between semesters. Such a conclave may be used as a force to re-establish the or ganization in the faith and esteem of even the most confirmed doubter Or it might result(in a farce that will evoke more and more bitter reprimands Irom the conscientious censors. Problems of almost every nature will confront the attendants of the conference If these are handled discreetly and put into practical use after the discussion dies, they may prove valuable not only to the Council and individual fraternities but to the College as well. Under "old business," fore-1 most among others, towers the problem of fraternity, iushing After the countless words that have been wasted debating violations of this ruling particularly, the Interfraternity Council should realize that no penalty short of a heavy cash fine (not even tempor ary suspension of membership) will assure the results long desned Brazen infringements that are com mitted annually defy the power and authority of the Interlrateinity Council and are a bland insult to its' very existence The worm must turn. Second semester pledging, n system of merit,l may be discussed as a, capable substitute. During, the parley the status of visitors at dances might be settled definitely and defiant miscreants duly and actually punished In this way the number of un sighily stag tines—many of them are ineligible as visitors—may dwindle considerably. Outstanding,among the items of ,"neW business" is the fi eternity co-operative buying; plan, one of the, sanest and most economical ever proposed and a sys tem which has been used successfully in leading in stitutions of the West A new arrangement of refire:, sLntation, whereby the president of every house auto- mime:illy becomes a member of the Interfraternity Council, suggests a method of re-organization which might seat mote interested legislators in the Greek Letter Congress hlet'iods of raising fraternity scholarship, submission of omnipotent cliques, fac ulty-student harmony and a possible system of ward robe checking at house dances are problems of lesser importance which might engage the councilmen be tween sips at the proposed tea discussion groups Created for the purpese of fostering good-mill among the Penn State's many brotherhoods and for crystallizing view common problems, the convention may attain its end by inaugurating radical reform and by taking definite action on vital issues. If the condone become merely a veritable word orgy, as such affairs tend to be, it may brini , an avalanche of smoth ering criticism upon itself and the organ sponsoring it Should it prove a circus of speakers and speeches, a carnival of applause of another social function, it will not have justified its existence Nor will it war rant its repetition But should it bear practical and dehnite accomplishments whose very nature com mands respect, the Interfraternity Council may claim an admirable son, and timely saviour. The Bullosopher's Chair timillwrv:—' see you acre down at the Greek Drama the other night. "With the emphasis on the word dean Aside from the fiat that I convinced a senior (Liberal Arts) that Sophoeles was a playvnight and not a Persian concubine, I 'pent a dnappointing evening Not a person, save one, on the stage knew a., much about Creek drama as he 'knew about a Tarkish bath. Smothers —But the music, Bullosopher, the low, sweet wonder tut music, the lights, the Incense, and the girls! "With all respect to the efforts of Director Clactlngli —Moll! Since when has the drama become is pageant of Noe legs and mumbled theloste and discordant instrii- merits, since when has Sophocles become the plaything of every squirt of a dramatic company! I . wouldn't ob ject at all, Soothers, theta had been an honest exam mentation; but Oedipus 'Tyrannus, us rather Ilex as the programs hail it, was palpably an attempt to and the box office, no matter what happened to Sophocles' play, that I am glad, Smithers, yes glad, that the endeavor faded to produce thing artistic If it had, Greek plays would . President Vice-President 'non degenerate to bur lesque shows and artistry to ecol. mines. But they probably nlll anyway." Smithers.—Your criticism, Bullosopher, is unduly harslr not that the Players slid not have it coming to them As a matter for fact, that makes no difference All college enterprises, deserving or no, should be praised. and the poorer the perfor mane the louder the hosannas For if you persist to realism, sooner or later you will Imd your self raved from pillar to post as a Destructive Pessimist, and then earn Sophocles cannot ease von. You recall, no doubt 0,, ...ticism of the Thespians last year and loss .• • , • sAillege took you to task for describing it as pa nen Teets opolitan critics in .used it genes ously, indecd such suspicious generosity "Perhaps, Smithers, since the Players are a College Institution I ought to be less truthful' I'm sorry, Samthers, but it can't be done If I said that Anton Hardt played Tiresms as the blind seer ens supposed to be played, I'd squirm guiltily, men as I did when my com panion confided that he thought the chorus, for co-eds, had pretty decent ankles For that cast, Struthers, gate an excellent exhibition of how to turn Greek tragedy into Amer.can farce Without Ben Rucker, the exhibition would have ben perfect As Oedipus, Ricker, though he dal not quite contrast the early and later Oedipus, ,last about saved the shims from the idiotic grimaces on the part of the chorus, that passed as classical dancing. The play as it is written calls for a chorus of Theban senators and -since maidens ale so much norm effective for adver tising purposes than a bunch of old graybeards, Director Cloetingh performed abut Sophocles would hose regarded as a - sexual oracle Indeed, it seemed as if he had chosen Oedipus as a means of presenting this group of co-eds for the delectation of an audience, so ho, strangely enough, didn't delect, so to speak True, they did mery now and then go through a mysternius ritual, Grecian by courtesy alone, with the appropriate debutante shuffle, but ashen the play called for the chorus to speak, they mewed much In the manner of sick kittens anxious for milk. The acous tics sere bad m the first place, and the rumblings of Urqulau t as the Priest of Zeus and the high treble of Mrss Simon as the most rneffectise Jocasta that I hose knonn, did not help matters Even Ricker at times dropped his vow els into has beard, where they remained hidden for eternity But Ricker, I understand, ens phys ically in poor shape and should hose been in bed rather than on the stage; as it seas he gave ample proof that he I is one of the greatest amateur actors on the stage today At his best, Ricker could hose pulled the play out of the fire; he alone caught the Greek stunt, be alone speaking in the shadow of Roman arches (to borrow a phrase, larches mere ncaei used by the Creeks sass for their sew ers) seas conse,bus of the deep and awful tragedy al Oedipus bat hand.capped by ill health and by a treatment utterly foreign to Greek intentions and hence pitifully in adequate, he could not possibly succeed For the play mas too much the Oedipus of Arthur Cloetangh and toe little cf. Sorhoeles. 0113 could forgive a splendid niter ' pretty on, honever audaciously modernized, but here pre cise)y is the pis nt The Oedipus as presented Saturday had none of.the Greek tragic feeling (on which its success depend-,) and none of the modern tragic feeling. To be ccmprchens,ble, the play ought to have been given in a shorter and grimmer fashion, the chorus had to be men not ssomen, and if the latter, its interludes ought to have; been made smaller. How ninny among/the ruthence com prehended, foi instance, that the real climax of the play seas not the opt. sal damage that Oedipus commits upon himself, nor men the spiritual suicide winch he under goes the real climax of rite play is in the scene wherein Oedipus strangles the. shepherd into blurting out the truth of Ins [amble heritage. And this effect is lost partly be cause of R.eker's excusable failure to portray the gradual transfonnatioo of over-confidence to utter despair in the character of Oedipus, and chiefly because of the chorus' feminine impala nue to play the part of masculine brute force In another play, the Oedipus of Coloneus by Soph ocles, the Theban king is resigned to his fate and accepts it, but in Oedipus Tyrannus he is utterly crushed by des pony. and again thus is not set forth by the Players i <4, on , io v rode, 1 say, that if State College did not get Is of Oedipus b) Sophocles, it did get a tragedy --11. P. Mlleham --L H Bell, Jr .2 , 5 poignant But Penn State idealism, if • may ,poa 13 , 1=1 about it, moves me to congratulate Dr recto, Cloctingh far e‘en timing to present a tragedy Zeus b.noms it was complete." . As a change from Athletic uni forms—l like a Stark Bros. Shirt, Tie and Hose:ensemble. It gives one that satisfied feeling of being well dressed. L H. 8., Jr Man- _.....a-x-G --.... hattan STARK. DR—OS, woven Shirts cli Na b erc l a shers Socks In Th• Unlr•r•lty !V•nn•r CATHAUM THEATRE BUILDING ThE PEN STATE CCILLEGTAIT Says CY LUNGREN Penn State Three Letter Man Pro_vp !- - 7 4 7) . Inter- The Book Lover I IN THE LAND OF AMAZONS L'«ninar en Anterique, pa; Fen; Poenny Lee Editions de Fiance. Pm le. 20 J r. Ferri-Pream has perpetrated one of the most unfair libels against Ameuca thnt has come out of Europe in many a moon. It is not unfair be cause at is untrue; for at isn't. Ev ery character in it is alive, flesh and blood, and perfectly American. The trouh'e is that not one of them has' an even dubious character: they are all so contemptible that at is doubtful , 1 any ieeent American author has erected men and :women more so, what with the anti-sire forces still func tioning... The trouble lies in the tact that only a past, a pitifully small part, of the love life of America is presented It is the stuff that gets into the tlb'ouls Thole us no meas ure? survey of country-wide =di lions, there is not even a pretense at lopes Vality: Ito book is devoted to • one-sided, buttes, and unfair flia trnt aga4sct the 'lemini.n" which the author pictures as having ,made m slaves and morse of American en. But perhaps JI. Fern,Pisani had ren,,ons for not getting at the whole :rah Fo: instance, he' comes ,to :lief utmost every time lie attempts to string together mole' then two oi :fuer, English words. A few samples, atemallt traneenhed: "The money is to be blow up" (Which the mallet ttanslates as "L'aigent estlait pour qu'on le fasse -eater.") "She is a Ifieked. She lias a loses!" "Who should worry?" swi m ; 0 to do iivrth that find of s.turl" ' Yost tifs.lit" "Never mind.. .we had a nice 'arm,' to ;Ohs. Arnmeans in are lava, descl died as either 1 'aVIIOIIS, or roes itical, dishonest, or hypserd teal, gasping, or hvpoordleal, or, :but wr•te roar own combina tions, being careful•not to include any traits Ns Inch might, by any standard, be judged admirable. If it is ever made available to the kmesican puim—v.hich Is fervently he hoped—this little masterpiece will plcbably cause the Auneriean Legion to pass resolutions of regret th.st they did not lynch the autism whslo they were in France. And, I doss nothlng else, it wII supp:v theusamis of dollars worth of ammu nition to those gentlemen of the cloth whose duty it La to depict America as the place which the CAles of the Plain tried—in lain, oh would seem— to emulate ' Penn State Grangers Expect. Active Season With the successful culmination of the Gramm ! , 'Memorml Dorms'ory drite, the Penn State Grange under its newly installed Master, Thomas W. Crittenden, '29, is contemplating an eventful season The local lodge was the banner Grange, having made the largest .single contribution and ha-ring considerably exceeded de quota. , Progress on a proposed trgricul :aril Pageant, another Grange activ ity, has been halted by the untimely .11nese of Walter C Gimbel '2B, wito oat euperming the project. The staging of the spectacle was scheduleil for Easter A, newly erected lecturer of the or ganisation Miss Jane Creasy '2O, u. arranging a series of educational lee tales, that sill soon Abe, announced • This - SpielterXed, for SCHLOW'S Quality 'Shop Will Anyone Accept This Challenge? Columbia, S. D. Sept 9, 192 Larne & Bro. Co. Richmond, Va Gentlemen: , . I am a vetetan of, the Edgeworth army, still in active service. I make this claim, challenging all corners, to have smoked Edgeworth and nothing else but Edgeworth (when it was possible to,got it) for a longer period than any other person within the scope of your territory. I have smoked Edgeworth for twenty-one years and , will soon start an the twenty-second. I'll admit to having tried otter brands, including se-termed high-class, high-priced blends and mixtures, enough to appreciate and satisfy my self of the superiority of Edgeworth. In all these years I haverievor had one can of Edgeworth that varied in flavor or otherwise. . . Yours very truly (tuned) J. J. Roberts Edgeworth 'Extra 'High Grade Smoking Tobacco 1 The Playgoet i Beautiful but strange. These were the words that for us Saturday ev ening best seemed to characterize the Players' production of Oedipus and that stall seem as descriptive as any phrase we find. These was beauty of an Hellenic sort in the words and situations of the play and, in some measure, an the general effect on the eye,, there ma, tieauty too, it must be ;slanted, though not of an Hellenic sort, in the 11,0(1- ern I , ghting effects, the well chosen music, the dancing maidens. But there wise also a strangeness—to a modem the whole vast grim tragedy, to a he'lemst the Jarring notes that would not donn. To be specific me liked the play. We felt that the audience was strarge b but genuinely held and mused, though' perhaps they conld s.toicelv tell how or why. The truth as that Seph 'cies grips men now as he di I of old and that this immortal trage.iy seizes the soul in its every mtuat on It WI, same sinister, half-mystic force that rcaehed cut firm the stage and fed held of all the hearts in the hall It scan not necessary to got every word—where We were it was neatly impossible—the re'entless, fated pio gress of grief swept one on like the development of a mighty opma Mr. Cloetmgh is to be congratulated fel his effort and deeply thanked tot Me courage and detei =nation. It is an slight task to put on a Greek flag city; and it Leies unusual coinage to venture upon one of the gicutett, if not the greatest of all Ta hose seen, Ito have lived through, the Oedipus Tglimmis of Sophocles is to have been given the rase Meat of expeciencing again fo_ a litt'e while the sublime hvghts and depths of the poignancy o...the race. Thq cast as a whole did creditable wm , but one feels that it came just abort of that inevitability and over whelming capacity that carries the audience assay beyond self Mr Ricker, in his teirible and clini cal. 101 l was splend.d. Small non do. 13 it that, striving these past months to fill that sale, the mob:mon de. of our play has nearly Tinned his health Wa felt vesy amen far Mr. R.ckee Saturday mening, 'knowing his conditen, and yet how grandly and how ysimly he made the ancient * Hear King, of Thebes sulk, again berme , t• The Electric Sparton it That is, as it should be, the past', "Richest of Radio Voices" of the presentation that will lite in out heart's memcry Our olicrurg pl.asa applies par tieutitly to the "chorus." They merelX , W. R. GENTZEL lowly, in their group effects and y "The Home of Better Built their individual selves, and they, did v e ,Furniture" their assigned work well But we ,),", cannot avoid the conviction, though; 'we went to the play temlved to down I it, that girls do not belong In this PATRONIZE OUR ADVERTISERS , I ATCH YOUR ST JEVER notice that the men who horn Jinto the annuals as "the best dressed men in college" don't clatter about the campus with their heels making a noise like a loose fenderP Smart dressers acknowledge the tend ency toward the easy dignity of rubber heels. Do you wear 'em? ' Watch your step 1 Noisy heels may raise hob, with your academic standing „• CM,IBM 1925, by Thy OootWar Tiro & Mak, Co” /M. ,fOlll - 11 langedy Let us admit once for all that the stark awfulness of the Oedi pus needs relief to he made tolerable don today—nt least for Mum Street. Our criticism as not directed against box of motivatron, managers in America must, we presume, look toy tint We suprose that the Germans, et hotter still the Russians, might -be willing to face the situation as did Sophocles and gne up n group of mcn, in the first place, to Amens. a :.abject n loch is scarcely of a type lon charming young "mince:isles," and so , the second plate to show the action ; %Ouch Sophocles gives IA cholas—al in the magnificent ton Lure of the aged 'shepherd that had to be omitted, of courre, from the last scene; magma r fan young 'mucus twisting the :piss of an aged servitor to force un wPlnng from ham. A Greek chorus became more and more useless for the Gneeks, but it Sias not neatly so useless for ,Sophocles as it appeared in this production. In fact the girls uere a beret, not a Greek cholla, and as a ballet they wore en trancing enough. We surpcse nt is, at root, modern ientinism that makes it possible to cue. =men in this role in oar play, oat St is a feminism that outstrips the most advanced note an Plato or even in the parodied Plato of An ts rhane3 The Athesis of Sophocles sply would not have tolerated it. Were si e asked point blank to choose tietweer the lovely puncesses and the ancient elders, we should probably be honer.: and tn k e the girls—front pol o:mar preference, tout the pant ac arc malting is the Sophoclean concep t:en. 'TM modern, as even the later Hellen t theatre, wants no chorus for irately Perhaps a truer nay to dos, with the situation would he to eliminate all choral effects and to ass r assail group of old men as stage t.rudrence' “Yes," you may say, ''but tno pins wsuidn't seem Greek," to which son can only replay, "Well''—" And so a 3 conclude, as see began, with .tht. aoris: beuutrful but strange. The Pathfinder of the Air ii SPARTON RADIO / "Lindy" rides in aeroplanes, De Palma rides on wheels ; If you would keep in step with them, Wcar Goodyear INgfoor Heels. and detract from an otherwise pleas ing personality Goodyear Heels withstand the jolts of walking like - a line of All- American guards and tackles Bound into the college cobbler's today. Say "Goodyear Wing foot Heels." By thetiinc your pipe's filkd and burn ing, they're on! What a difference! (Z) ays' aiN Tuesday, January 24, 1928 Alumni of Fraternities Meet to Hold Smoker (Continues from first page) Hager of athletics, will talk on "Enrly Days in Penn State nittetnities " He was a student when there were but Once nationsl fraternities lit the Col lege and ha, followed then deveilop ment ever since. 'The Motive Power Fraternities" seal be discussed by Dean Arthur 11. Warrick. - Is Annual Affair This annual patty for the Greek le'tet alumni sills started two years ago as a melds of convening this eampas gtoup together in the inter est of alt Penn State fiaternitles, and it is now looked foruaid to nab more than Usual interest by college and town fraternuty graduates ahl,e One of the main pm poses of the gathennt, at this time Is to give de tadu of the appioa,hing Intel fratet nut) Conference to be held bete Fob sent I , fth, sixth and set oath, ard leced,o plane for any assistance that may he gicen by the alumni gioups The Committee, or winch J. W. Brenneman Is cha.unan, urges that all fratcrnitv alumni attend the gath ing,especially those newcomots to the faculty rucks and in the town who aie affiliated wan celiege social fiat- 1- ;• •• • ~ ; .. , 'IIIEZIFIZI:,4- Nittany Theatre (Matinee Dad) a 2.00) TUESDAY—Cathaum— 11. 13 Warner and All Star Cast in Warm Os Denning's "SORRELL .IkND SON" Added Stage Attraettnn ` . THE PARISIAN REDHEADS" Sperm' Praces: adults 10r, children 21e WEDNESDAY—CaII:turn Dolores Del Rio in - "THE GATE AT OF THE MOON" And I' tRISTAN stints ins Special price=: adults 50e, children Tic TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY— Natany— Jetta Gouda! in "THE FORBIDDEN WOMAN" TITURSDAY .ind FRIDAY— Conrad Nagel and Myrna Lay in "THE GIRL. PROM CHICAGO" THORSDAY—Natany— Pf*lle. Haler and Tom Moore in "TIIR WISE WIFE" FRIDAY ard SATURDAY 1401nam Read in DRESS PARADE
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers