PAGE FOUR
Editorial Opinion
Separate Functions
USG is the student governing body and as such its
activities should be restricted to the realm of governing
the students.
At present USG has jurisdiction over and spendsi time
on two activities—Spring Week and Homecoming—which
do not fall within the domain of government
We suggest that USG establish
.a tablish a separate student
Activities agency to handle these important funCtions.
When a need arose) for a check cashing service for students
SGA established the 'Student' Check Cashing Agency.
This might be the best way to initially establish an
agency to handle activities or all-University sociaLfunc
tions as opposed to governing functions.
At Indie Encampment several weeps ago, the
.•Inde
pendent Student Association, tried to determine the needs
of the independent students: The findingi ;seemed to indi
cate that the need was not so much for an' organization in
which one could hold membership but rather just a group
to-plan social events and projects for Indie participation.
William F. Fuller, manager of Associated Student
Activities, and Ggorge L Donovan, codrdinator of student
activities, have both said that a student union board or
agency might be valuable In coordinating and insuring
continuation of activities started each year in the HUB.
For example, the showing of foreign films was start
ed this year, primarily because of the Interest of one
student. This has proven popular but someone with enough
interest to do all the work is going to have to be found
each year if showings are to be continued.
Such HUB activities as these might come under the
proposed activities agency.'
Also, weekend dances - and other social events might .
be held in the HUB ballroom under - the sponsorship of
this agency.
- As with the SCCA, although Initially set up by USG,
such an activities - u r gency could function independently
of student government. Internally it would need many
commtttees to do the legwork, and this should assure that
capable people would be available to move up" each year
to tuindle the agency's responsibilities. - - -
USG should seriously consider the establishment of
an activities agency so that USG can devote its entire
effort to its intended area of governing and at the same
time the social needs of the students ; may be more
adequately met.
A Student-Operated Newspaper
57 Years of Editorial Freedoms
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ilt• Bang (Itrillti'fita#
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Published'Tessier through SO tardily morning daring the Flalrandtr nor. The
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Mall &hesitates Prlesi WOO • me
Illallisur Address Bee M. Rata Cantle. Pa.
JOHN BLACK
Editoi
Member of The Associated Pre. s
City Editors. Lynne Cerefie• and Richard Leighton: Editorial Editor*. Meg
Tashi'.lts and Joel Myers: Neese Editor. Paula Dranev: Personnel and Truhting
Director. Karen Hy weasel Assistant personnel and Training Director. Ewan
ESierly t. Sparta Editor.. James Karl: Assistant Sports Editors. Dean Billiek and
Jelin Morris: Picture Editor. man Sesage.
Local Ad Mgr, Margo IDowaer Asaiataelt Local Ad Mgr.. Martin Zonis; kat:Waal
Ad Mgr., Marcy Grew 'Credit Mgr.. Ralph Friedman; Aselitant Credit Mgr.,
Kathy Netepoiess; Cisesified Ad Mgr.. Kathie t►►otsoa; Ciretladan Mgr.. Musa
Chestier: Promotion Mgi. Jame irtviskis: Pereonnel Mgt., Anita Belli Office
Mgr., Lyon Murphy.
WAYNE HELINSKI
Business MlLTlagit
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,
ME:THE U6LIEST 96KT IN THE
WORLD 15 AN EMMY DO6 DISH !
etl
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN, UNIVERSITY PARK. PENNSYLVANIA
Happened to sit in on
"Spaiticus" the other night.
Heard so many raves (even
from cynical Time Magazine)
that I figured it Just might be
better than the average aitacu
lar—it proved to be a three and
one, half hour mistake.
Marquee listings • aside, the
presentation had only one star,
Peter Ustinov, with a support
ing' cast consisting of Kirk
Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean
Simmons, Tony Curtis, Char
les Laughton and John Gavin.
The theme of the Universal-
International production is a
juirtapositim -of ;ted
freedom
unrequi
love, with
Douglas pla
the central
ure of Sp 4.
cus, the sla'
The pici
opens with
shaggy, !I
ing Spartai
using a hi'
developed Si
molars to
r string one of his LEIGHTON
guards. For this seeming lack
of appreciation, he is - staked
out on the hot rock and left to
die.
Unfortunately a charming
Merchant of Venice named
Lentulus Batiatus (Peter Usti
nov) who deals in reconditioned
gladiators comes along and is
impressed with Spartacus' den
tal attroibutes ("83 the, teeth
go, so the body"), and'decides
to make a fighting man out of
him.
While, attending gladiatorial
finishing 'oho 01, Spartacui
meets Varinia (Jean Simmons),
a young slave girl who works
days preparing gladitorial fod
der and nights trying to make
gladiators fathers.
Her first meeting with
Spartacus might be labeled
"Untouching," She is escopted
into his cell_ and left with him.
While fondling her neck and
shoulders as if selecting avoca
dos at Weis', -Spartacus awk
wardly blurts out that he has
never had a woman. His candid
ness lkiwever, • makes little
impression on .Varinia. She
calmly disrobes with an air of
innocent boredom and awaits
the bidding of our inexper
ienced protagonist.
Spartacus and the audience
are given an out-from this em
barrassing scene by the merci
ful Batiatus and his head mas
ter who are acting ,the voyeur
and peeping in on the tender
scene. This tends to , disturb
Spartacus, who strikes out at
them, raging "I'm not an ani
mal."
Letter's
Jr. Criticizes
Review Timing
TO THE EDITOR: I do not
know who was .to blame for
there / not being a review of the
Penn State Thespian production
"Bells Are Ringing" in Friday's
Daily Collegian, but whoever
it was-should be reprimanded.
sincerely; hope that the Col
legian does not consider its re
views on the! same level as that
of. a New York paper which
sometimes dOes not have a re
view in their paper until three
or four days;after the opening.
The Penn State Thespian
production shall run only three
performances after opening
night whether it is .a smash or
a flop. Thus they depend great.
ly upon Mr. Dexter Hutchins'
review to tell the student. the
faculty. and the townspeople of
the quality of their show.'
Although Mr. Huchins' re
views of late have left much to
be desired, many people wait
for them to decide whether or
not to see a show.
Thus may I suggest to the
Collegian that a review after
opening night be an absolute
item, it the following; paper.
• —Paul A. 24. Xrow
• Letter cut
Omnia SpaOacus
Paradoxically, it this pOint
Spartacus bears an amazing-re
semblance to an orangoutang
who has just been pelted by
some junior sling shot marks
.• •
roan.
Varinia remains quite un
abashed through his traumatic
experience and on . her next
errand is escorted to "the Span
iard" next door who is a little
less prudent. This doesn't do
our .hero's morale any good.
After a few scenes showing
Spartacus' rise to the head 'of
tho class and his 'growing love
for Varinia, Spartacus• and his
friend Crixus (John Ireland)
are chosen to fight two other
schoolmates to the death as a
festivious exhibition for a-Ro
man noblewoman. Although
Crixus gots his man, Spartacus
gets pinned to the boards with
a pike at his throat—and the
sign is thumbs down. c
If Spartacus' adversary had
complied With the noble
woman's gesticulation, the pic
ture would have ended and
been a fast-moving hour of
excitement.' But throwing his
long hours' of training aside,
and realizing that the viewers
had yet to' see the chins of
Laughton or the'curls of Curtis,
the pikeman performs a bit of
deus ex machinoid chickening
out.
This brief hour introduction,
has of course no historical
relevancy, but giving Holly
wood its due, the cinemaniac
would at least expect the next
three cpiarters of the film to
be fairly accurate.
One would expect that it
would be shown how the rab
ble refused to follow Spartacus
and remained around Vesuvius
plundering and raping. One
would expect that the greed of
Crassus and his rivalry to the
pre-eminence of Pompey would
be at least hinted upon. But
no. To keep pace with the spec
tacular image, the picture goes
on and on and on in the fol
lowing manner.
Spartacus goes into a rage
`when he finds out that Varinia
has been sold and proceeds to
drown his headmaster fn .a
kettle of hot coup. His cohorts
take similar action against
their guards and they all gain
freedom.
Spartacus naturally assumes
leadership of the glSditorial
rabble and instills a Robin
Hood-like idealism into them.
“He becomes their Moses and
leads them as they plunder
their way to the sea where
ships were to have been wait
ing for them. The slaves of the
Snowed
'Faculty Advice
An open letter- advertisement to President Kennedy in
Sunday's New York Times calling for the U.S, to declare that
it 'will not , test nuclear weapons in the atmosphere is one of
many recent letters that
.has increased the advertising revenue
of America's best newspaper.
This particular letter was
signed by 452 New York psy
chologists.
After telling of the horrors of
nuclear war and reasoning that
war can be
eliminated from
society just-.s
slavery has
been, they "
three are,
whereilhey sa;
internat i o n
tensions v.-ou.
be reduced "
a U.S. decisl
not to test.
In conclusiL
the psycholo
gists say. "In rasa
this way we can challenge the
Soviet Union to reciprocate
with a corresponding act of
decency and self-restraint, and
thereby compete with us in the
development of alternatives to
war."
These naive psychologists
should be reminded that it was
the Soviet Union that broke the
moratorium on nuclear test
ing with a long series of blasts
that included a 70-megaton
shot
TUESDAY. FEBRUARY 27, 1962
Putrid Est
by dick leighton
area flock to him in droves as
he_ cries out with an original
"Come with us."
Giving this cry one day to
What appears to be a group of
goat • herders, Spartacus is
overwhelmed to find the beau
tiful Varinia among The bovi
dae. Their reunification is
something to behold.
For .15 minutes ;they sit in a
wooded glen and' She scintilat
ing repartee goes something'.
like this: Varinia—"l jumped
from the cart and he was loo
fa! to catch me, Ha. Ha."
Spartacus—"To fat to catch
you, •Hrii, Ha. Ha." Varinia—"l
love you, Ha. Ha. Ha."l Sparta
cus-- "rlove you. Ha, Ha. Ha.-
Now you're free; you won't
have to stay with anybody you
don't want, Ha, Ha. Ha.' Varinia
—"No, nobody I don't want,
Ha. Ha; Ha." • '
A Joyous scene.
Meanwhile the band defeats =
just about everything that
Rome throws at it; Antonius
(Tony Curtis), a singer of songs,
joins the band to fight; Lentu
lue Gracchus (Charles Laugh
ton), a Machiavellian politi
cian, who is struggling for
poOdr with -General Licinius
Crassus (Laurence Olivier), a
powerful aristocrat, both: plot
against Spartacus, and the au
dience is treated to a series of
wasteful 'scenes, a la DeMille..
The migration trudges
. through what appears ": to be
Yosemite in summer,. Grand'
Teton in winter and Okeefeno
kee in spring.
=When they reach the sea, the
ships aren't there,-'and Sparta
mis has to interrupt .-hora
dancing and posing for CARE.
ads to tell the motley crew that
he is turning around to invade
Rome. He and his hoard are at
last soundly—defeated and The
audience gets restl e ss—perhaps
millennia is coming to an end.
But we are misled, Ibis Is a
:Manilas and it isn't cricket
td have less than a half hour
denouement. So all the slaves
that are not killed are ixucified
along the, road (whiclOictually
happened); Cassius gets Var
inia: Spartacus is forced to kill
Antonius, Gracchus pays Ba
tiatus a small fortune to ,steal
Varinia and Spartacus' newly
born offshoot; Gracchus corn
mits'• suicide; Crassus 1s left
- without,. Varinia, whom he
loves; Spartacus is finally cru
cified, and, the crafty Batiatus
gets the money, girl, baby and
freedom.
. The picture was considerary
better than BO Hur. •
by lord irtyers
They should also be reminded
that it has been 'the Soviet
Union that has refused to fol
low a consistent pattern in the
disarmament negotiations.
We 'should seek alternatives
to war and search for projects
and areas of cooperation, but
to follow this practice in the
pattern - of Lord Chamberlain
would lead to disaster.
Fortunately the persons guid
ing our forieign policy hasie had
sufficient experience in dealing
with the Soviets that =the faulty
reasoning demonstrated in let
ters like this does not influence
them.
Because of the health and
safety problems involved, Pres
ident Kennedy has thus far re
frained - from :resuming U.S.
nuclear testing. He will resume
such teitin7 when he believes
that thelnulitary danger from
not doing , so becomes greater
than' the health threat from
radioactive contamination.
Fortunately such a decision
will be based on the sum of
advice from top men in all
branches of science and not
solely on the, advice of New
York's .psychologisfs. •