Musical's satire foolproof
By JIM LOCKHART
Collegian Arts Writer
“Little Mary Sunshine” is a
' .foolproof play. It is written to
L be played so broadly and so
good-naturedly that even the
most inept of -casts could
carry it off with great suc
cess. That is one reason it is
one of the most-produced of
summer stock plays.
The Festival Theatre' group
now doing “Mary” at the
Pavilion Theatre is far from
inept. They brought an
. energy and sparkle to last
night’s opening 'that would
Jeffersonian thought revealed in lecture
- By 808 FRICK
Collegian Staff Writer
' Thomas Jefferson -believed that the alliance of
religion and government had caused deadly
damage to human life and liberty through the ages,
according to Merrill D. Peterson, the nation’s best
known scholar on Jeffersonian thought.,
Peterson, speaking Wednesday night as part of
the Bicentennial Summer Lecture series, quoted
Jefferson as saying, “Millions of innocent men,
women and children since the introduction of
Christianity have been burnt, tortured, fined and
ftnprisioned, yet we have not advanced one inch
toward uniformity of religious rights.’’
’“What had been the effect of this coercion, Jef
ferson asked? To make one-half the world fools and
OiD.
FREE AND CONFIDENTIAL
24 hours a day drug & alcohol
crisis information & dispatch hot line
information & referral
237-5855
236 A South Allen St.
(a service of, for, and Y.,,.
by people /
Jewel Box
State College
“Mr. Tom”
THE WA TCHMA KER
I‘OM is lien* tn repair & tkuii \mir uauhes. \ll oi»r uauh
repairs tin* done m ihe store l>\ loot. lOM otters *is an in*
trmimtnr.y oiler. a uenernl nserhaiil lor onl\ J 9.95.
win over the sourest of songs. Indeed, the characters light. They could easily have
“*a~. . , are . refl dy break into song gotten by with their cartoon just to make the play run
Mary is a musical satire at the slightest pretext. And - characterizations, but each longer. It picks up again near
of the Jeannette MacDonald- * n keeping with the spirit of one also brought a strong the end when true love and
Nelson Eddy movies from the theplay, not one of the songs voice to complement their t the American flag are called
30’s. But there is no need to be bas any aspirations to roles. upon to draw ovations from
familiar with these films to seriousness. They even dared The second leads (David W. the audience,
enjoy the play. Just to rhyme June and moon. Czarnecki and Audrey The lighting of the play is
remember that good always Tischler) went for the comic exceptional. Mary seems to
triumphs over evil and you iGVIGVv relief, if there can be said to control the sun itself in “Look
will be fine. be such a thing in this play, for a Sky of Blue,” and the
There is a plot of sorts Paul Farin plays Captain They also brought some much party sequence is reminiscent
concerning a renegade Indian Big -Jim Warrington with needed dancing to contrast to of warm summer nights in the
and the Forest Rangers a square jaw that would make the many songs. garden,
assigned to capture him. But Dudley Do-right blush. Sheila The play does tend to bog Mary the Girl is Goodness
fortunately the plot never McCarthy is Mary, the down in the middle with a few itself. Mary the Play is a close
gets in the way of the 24 epitome of sweetness and songs seemingly thrown in' second.,
238*2367
NITTANYMALL
Welcomes'
the other half hypocrites,” Peterson said
“Jefferson was not an especially religious man,
by some standards not religious at all,” Peterson
said. “He would often be called an atheist or an
infidel, particularly after he became a' highly
controversial religious figure around 1790,” he said.
Peterson quoted James Madison, Jefferson’s
good friend, as saying after Jefferson’s death, “He
was a man of immense learning and varied at
tainment, who left the philosophical impression of
his mind on every subject he touched. But what
distinguished all this activity was an early and
uniform devotion to the same cause of liberty and
the systematic preference of a form of government
in the strictest degree, for equal rights of men.”
“Liberty was not just a cause to Jefferson, it was
ami
jP* ** tBI ** **
! FREE! ]
1.. Buy any 'Dj*™ !
■ Medium
on* or mor* toppings ||||
« at the regular price ■
| Get identical Medium PIZZA |
■ BSIBBB AT THIS LOCATION ONLY I
I 88888 ONE COUPON PER CUSTOMER I
t Little Caesars Pizza |
"ACROSS FROM OLD MAIN "ABOVE MY-O-MY BAR" . m
Entrance Front & Rear (Boro Parking Garage) Deliveries from ■
237-1481 *P-m.-la.m. ■
ki M mm MM WBB ■■ mm Ji
a holy cause,” Peterson said.
In Jefferson’s system of values, according to
Peterson, “The most fundamental liberty of all was
the liberty of mind and of conscience.”
The founders of the American Republic were
distinguished perhaps beyond any other generation
of leaders known to history for the depth, the range
and the fertility of their political ideas, Peterson
said.
“What for Jefferson was freedom to gain is for us
freedom to lose, what was the dream of mastery of
nature has turned into the nightmare of the an
nihilation of nature,” Peterson said.
Peterson quoted Jefferson as saying, “When we
get piled upon one another in large cities, as in
Europe, we shall become corrupt as in Europe.”
TOESDAV,
sIULV 2.7
% PM • |C>|
umimiiuw kepN
I wmSm
workshop ”
arts
DR.- L.W.
Hamilton
FftPM **OMC
ec CttGUbtei*
SERUIC6
Steiger, as Fields, saves film
If ever a movie was carried by the efforts
of one man, it is “W.C. Fields and Me,” now
playing at the Flick. Rod Steiger as Fields is
apparently the only person connected with
the film who put some thought to the task at
hand. The rest, from the screenwriter to the
director to the supporting players, all must
have been out to lunch.
Steiger has the Fields’ talk, grimace and
mannerisms as under control as James
Brolin had Clark Gable cosmetics and
mimicry seem to be the saving graces of
modern screen biography.
Steiger, goes far beyond the
physical aspects of the role. He has the
wisdom to .make the off-stage Fields a
completely new character, one not afraid to
admit his loneliness. He still kicks dogs and
small children, but it is more out of habit
than spite.
Beyond Steiger, the film soon falls apart.
As a biography, it is the proverbial crock. We
see Fields struggling to break into films 17
years after he actually made his first picture.
Fields was a star when Hollywood was an
unknown suburb of Los Angeles.
Even though the Me in the title refers to
Fields’ mistress, Carlotta Monti (Valerie
A Calzone can best be described as:
a) An Italian-made racing tire
b) Uncle Guiseppe’s middle name
c) A creamy cheese & meat-stuffed
turnover available exclusively at
at HiWay Pizza’s Cut Pie Shop,
M 2 S. Garner Street.
Come in and taste
the newest delicacy in town!
HiWay Pizza—Cat Pie Shop
234-0349 (an affiliate of Dante’s, Inc.)
RYDER
rents
TRUCKS _
I /fnlimited 1
5% RENTAL DISCOUNT \Urent.alls\
if you make your
ONE-WAY RESERVATION 238-3037
on or before Aug. 13 140 N. Atherton St.
('A block N. of College Ave.)
(Present This Ad)
Get on Arbys
Roast Beef Sandwich
for 79<
To help you br
the hamburi
habit, Arby's
cut the pr
on their tend
roasted bee
sandwich
just
It’s a big break oh the
price and a big break
from the burger.
t pr- —1
79 e SPECIAL | 79 c SPECIAL |
WITH THIS COUPON I ■ WITH THIS COUPON |
OFFER ROOD ONLY AT | I OFFER ©OOO ONLY AT ■
111 SOWERS STREET | I 111 SOWERS STREET j
SATURDAY, JUNE 26th & SUNDAY, JUNE 27th C '->D SATURDAY, JUNE 261 h i SUNDAY. JUNE 27th 0; |
The Daily Collegian Friday, July 23,1976
Perrine), it could easily have been a whiskey
bottle. Adhering to the Even-Famous-People-
Have-Troubles Theory of filmmaking, the
script focuses on Fields’ unsuccessful battle
with alcoholism. But in order not to become
maudlin, the film has as many scenes of
Fields emptying his bladder as those of him
filling it.
Valerie Perrine spends most of the movie
doing a repeat of her role in “Lenny,” the
star’s mistreated but loyal plaything. This
time, though, she keeps her clothes on, which
means her talents are exhausted long before
the picture is over. Jack Cassidy plays Jack
Cassidy and edits it John Barrymore, as ifit
made any difference. Cassidy manages to
steal one scene, however, as the life of his
own funeral.
Anyone who goes to this movie expecting a
comedy in the Fields tradition will be
disappointed. There are a few recreated skits
from vaudeville and films, but they lack the
energy of the originals. Aside from a scene
where Fields gets his two-year-old co-star
drunk, the personal life sequences are
serious, even to the point of tedium.
8 COUPONS IN THIS ISSUE
—Jim Lockhart
c 1976 Arby’s, Inc