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