The Carolinian [March 16, 1951]

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Woman's College—"Distinguished for Its Democracy"
VOL. XXXII Z531 WOMAN'S COLLEGE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. GREENSBORO, N. C. MARCH 16. I'd NUMBER 19
Boas States Place of Art in Modern Society
Uncertain Due to New Expression Media
Greensboro Orchestra
By SARAH LANCASTER
"The Place of Art in Modern Society is a problem which has not
been answered." declared George Boas, professor of philosophy at
Johns Hopkins University, in the opening lecture-discussion of the
eighth Arts Forum at Woman's College. Boas answered the ques-tion,
why does the problem arise in our time?—with the statement
that we are confronted with old ideas being taken over by new
methods. For example, he pointed out, the camera takes over
certain points in art in recording.
One finds the same relation--af' n™ °/ hls own age' or a pr°-
.. . , , ,, ! phel of the future.
ship, betw, ee, n .,the st,a,ge - and.. the One of the main prob.,lems ask__ed,
movie, but the old functions ,)oas during ,he discussion perlod was
which are being taken over by ,0 compare the artist and the church
newer methods, he commented, of today. During the time one church
do not vanish altogether Which had control over society, answered
produces a conflict. Old func- ,he sPeaker ""' <h,,rcn defined the
, ,. . , position of the artist. Now no one lions hang° on reg°ardless of obso- ch. urch. assumes t.h..is rol.e, nor can t,.he
lete function, stated Boas, as did fl,,„m. ,,,ls, become completely ab-hand-
written books which re- sorbed in one phase ol society, he con-mained
good taste long after the tinned We are. concluded Boas, too
invention of the printing press. mucn <>»"«'cted bv °'h<"r P""** and
■ . the artist can give more to society
Our society, continued Boas, if ht, „•„,..„■,
being highly diversified and strat-ified,
also aids in producing the
problem. Diversification is found
in various fields as in religion i
v\ ith each one of us thinking he j
'Art tor Sake of Art,"
Betty Grabte, Vesuvius,
Sot Orbs Spark Quips
The following quips which constitute
has religion. Mr. Boas discussed perhaps the most remarkable phase
the diversification in economics of Arts Forum are printed below for
where the most primitive to the the uplifting and edification of the
most technical methods are used, glrls al "s,aU' Teachert college for
.. , , , Normal Women ' I appellation cour-as
in agriculture, and also in edit- tcsy of Porterfield,.
cation in which we find all kinds ..M(ist people have the idea that
Of colleges and universities. once we retire W« should sit around
Advantages and disadvantages contemplating our name*, eeramonl-of
man's hand work and techni- OU9,>' muttering the magic word
cal advancements produces a
conflict, stressed Boas, which
aids in raising the stated prob-lem.
Another reason for tin- rise of the
Omni'."—Boas.
"Introdiu int.' Mr. Warren is rather
like laying Here is kit Vesuvius'.'—
Kandall Jarrell.
If Mr. Warren were to die the
problem brought out Boris, is the ob- last bond between T. S. Flint and Bet-soleteness
of Ideal and Ihe forming of ty Grable would be gone Randall
new ideas. Illustrated his point with Jarrell.
• uc h examples as the dying of chivalry, one: "Where do the girls stay?"
in Individualism to dependence on] Another: "in the di
others and nationalism, women being!
lor in many fields, work a pun-ishment
for sin. to man ll a working
Warren Reads Poetry
Of Own Composition
By MONTAE IMBT
"The best novelist since Faulkner
and Hemingway ... the last of the
great Victorians . . . the last bond be-tween
T. S. Eliot and Betty Grable."
said Randall Jarrell of Robert Penn
Warren, in his introduction of the
famous author and critic, who had
come to us from the Universtt) ol
Minnesota for his second appearance
at a WC Arts Forum.
Ill bis three volumes of poetry. War-ren
read to us from .Selected Poems,
which appeared in 1944. He opened
with the familiar "Pondy Woods"—
a Tennessee ballad in which "a slick
blackbuck" Jim Todd is pursued by
a buzzard who attacks Ins conscience
with metaphysics — and "Hlstorj
Among the Rocks" s poem of Civil
War memories from the Kentmkv
Mountain Farm" group. Several later
poems followed: "The Garden." and
two studies in naturalism. "SlestS
Time in Village Plaza by Ruined Band-stand
and Banana Tree" and "The
World Comes Galloping: A True
Story" from the "Mexico is a Foreign
Country" series. Warren then offered
his "End of Season" and "Terror"—
two poems which declare their author
a metaphysician.
Warren closed the reading hour
with his famous "Ballad of Billie
Potts." In this piece. Warren retelll
an old Kentucky folktale, which par-allels
an eighteenth century English
play. The Fatal Curiosity. The theme
'is a familiar one: the return of the
' prodigal son who. unrecognized by his
parents, la murdered by them. War-ren's
usr of the native K,iitiiikv dia
Iect gives an authenticity and a
Strength which seem to (nine from
the Kentucky soil itself. Interwoven
■with the tale are vnse Interludes thai
are frequently reminiscent of T. S.
Eliot's "Burnt Norton."
. . . in Arts Forum presentation of Twentieth Century music.
animal.
The question—what due- this have
to do with art''—was answered by the
lecturer With the conclusion that func-tions
of the artist are found to be im-plied
in the reasons [or the rising of
the problem. One function, he pointed
out is to be interpreter of society, not
sci much recorder which is left to the
machine-camera. The artist must inter-pret
through his own eyes, emphasized
Una- ihe language of religion, science
and philosophy—the areas from which
he gets information about the world
to interpret and which are the basis
"There is nothing as exciting as
goose pimples." Porterfield.
Said ol Seattle Hunch: "The drunk
was playing on his nips, it was ■ -.mi
of pelvis play."—Porterfield.
Ai.-o said of Seattle Munch: "I like
to see drunken eyes, even if they are
red."—Porterfield.
"There is always something on the
Moor that most actors are looking for "
Porterfield.
To the writer of Seattle Hunch
"Stand up, please, because there are
some ladies in the balcony who would
like to look down your neck."—Por-
.erfield.
... so. that's what's wrong with our
of evaluation or criticism, th,' other ociety "Cut down the output of
function of the artist. The critic must Ph.D-ocracy. Next to the textbook
see a place in society for himself, racket, that's the worst."—Boas (my
claimed Boas, and he must decide'sentiments exactly — re. first state-whether
he is a survival of an early iment.i
Lost and Unfound
i ost: tine delegate to the eighth an-nual
Arts Forum. March 8. 1951.
Name: Bill Stephenson.
status: Student at the Universltj
of Indiana.
Last Seen: After registering at the
Alumnae House, he reported for a
conference with Mr. Randall Jarrell
about his poem. "Old Games and
China Dolls." published in the Arts
Forum. Issue of Coraddi Since that
appointment, he has been either miss-ing
or lost, but very much "in absen-ts
"
If any student or instructor has any
information a» to his whereabouts,
please pass said facts on to the CARO-LINIAN
as ii is "iir purpose to restore
all lost writers to their home colleges.
"Jubilation" ...
. . . choreographed by Rosemary Barber of Woman's College.
Twelve Colleges Submit
Student Choreography
For Criticism by Hill
Eleven visiting colleges and the
Woman's College presented a program
of student choreography in the Rosen-thai
Gymnasium Saturday at 1 M
I'M
Following the performance. Martha
Hill of New York University and
Connecticut CollcRe summer school of
dance, gave a review and evaluation of
the choreography and the dancing.
She criticized each number individ-ually,
pointing out the good and the
bad points On the whole she seemed
greatly pleased with the students'
work, regarding It as an advance in
the art of the dance. Miss Hill ex-pressed
the belief thai it is heartening
in times like these that American col-leges
can present such valuable and
enlightening events as the Arts For-um
The audience, as well as the par-ticipants,
was Invited lo make cont-
'd ask questions
Director of the Woman's College
dance group, Virginia Moomaw. com-tnented,
I feel that the technical level
n as shewn by the dances, and
the choreography ihowi I higher de-gree
of craftsmanship than In any
\r's Forum since I have been here." ;
Finney Discusses Use
Of Rhythms, Themes
By LUCILLE HASSELL
With ROSS I.ee Finney of Michigan
University as guest critic, the depart-ment
of music gave its Friday after-noon
Art Forums performance of stu-dent
compositions in the Recital Hall
A slate of eleven compositions rep-resent
ing various instrumental solos
and instrumental combinations was
presented.
Following the performances, Finney
opened Ins criticism by remarking
'.hat when a person composes, he is
seeking communication in a foreign
'anguage whose grammar and idioms
must first be learned. After he Is In
command of this nebulous, symbolic
language, continued the critic, he is
free to turn to individual expression.
The two points of most eminence
with Finney. as also evidenced by
his Friday morning lecture, concerned
the composer's use of rhythms and
thematic material. In his discussion
Of the first, he broke rhythms into two
lock rhythm and psychological
rhythm Clock rhythm, he explained.
remain! continuously steady through-out
a piece, whereas psychological
rhythm varies with the intensity of
emotion conveyed, expanding and con-tracting.
The melodii ontinued Fin-closely
tied in with the
rhythms, The tune whk
k rhythm is typed mel-ody:
and thai which expands and con-ith
different rhythms becomes
(Continued on Page BFour)
Critic Porterfield Steals Show
In Evaluating Student Plays
Visitors' Comments
Praise Arts Forum
Mrs. Doris lloldsworth, from Atlan-tic
Christian College, spoke of what
she had derived from the forum by
saying. "1 believe that the Arts Forum
is a very valuable experience for
everyone who avails himself of the
opportunity to come. The dancing Im-pressed
me most, bul I thoroughly en-loyed
all phases of the forum . . ."
In speaking of the opportunity
available lor students from B variety
Of universities to nicel each other,
Dorothy Buenger of Wellesley College
said. "I am most impressed by the
standardization of the country i
found the girls here are simply won-derful,
too The forum was excellent
as a whole, but I think Ihe free dis-cussions
were the mos! stimulating
I was amazed In see what great ex-tent
the members of ihe audience ac-tually
participated in the forum."
"I would like to see more contact
between the visiting arts faculty and
the Woman's College art faculty."
commented Miss M C. Richards, an
Instructor from Black Mountain Col-lege.
"Too. 1 would like to see the
criticism go further." She added that
she enjoys the Arts Forum every year |
because she likes to see what other
schools are doing, but she feels that
the modern dancing should be bolder
and more experimental. Also speaking
of the phase of modern dance. Adele
Suska. a Black Mountain student re-marked
that she was disappointed
in Ihe dancing of the Woman's College '
group. "1 had come to exchange ideas
of dancing, hut have found no fresh
nleas Also. I would like to see more
time for questions after the perform-ances
"
"I found the entire forum terrific-ally
stimulating." was the opinion of
Pris Smith of Randolph-Macon Wom-an's
College. "Glad to see this kind of
thing going on so well In the South,
and actually succeeding. My friends in
the North sometimes have a tendency
to look down their noses on such
as this. Robert Porterfield impressed
DM most with his ability to draw the
audience Into the discussions."
Robert Daniels, an Atlantic Chris-tlon
College student, commented par-ticularly
on the versatility of the
! Woman's College students. He
thought they had done marvelous
work on the plays, modern dancing
and conceits
A yearly visitor to the WC Arts For-um,
Mrs Henry Lomax of Charlotte,
N. C, stated, "It is always such a
B and inspiration to come to
WC's Arts Forum. This year it has
been better than ever. I especially en-joyed
hearing Mr. Warren read his
poems Mis criticism of the stm
poems was superb."
By BILLIE HUGHES
Robert Porterfield. one of Amer-ica's
outstanding drama critics, con-tributed
greatly to the unprecedented
sin cess of the eighth annual Ails
Forum of Woman's College. Porter-field
mounted Aycock stage last Thurs-day
night to criticize the experimental
one-act plays. "One or Two." "Seattle
Hunch," and "A Thing of Beauty." He
immediately captured the audience's
interest, theoretically speaking, "steal-ing
the show" himself
Porterfield prefaced his criticisms
by stating. "Maybe tonight isn't our
night: maybe tomorrow will be it."
However, he commented that "One
or Two" and "Seattle Hunch" better
appealed to him than two he had seen
Ihe previous week on Ihe New York
stage.
"One or Two" promised more hope
for a future play than the latter two,
in the critics opinion. He dared the
young author. Ruby Padgette. of Win-throp
College, to write a three-act
play based on the present idea The
setting was considered exceptionally
good and some of the actors were ap-plauded.
Porterfield's chief objection
was that the actresses were too edu-cated
for portrayal of Short's factory
workers—in the critic's choice terms,
"cultured young ladies at North Caro-lina
State College for Normal Worn
en." The play originated from an
actual experience of the author's. The
title "One or Two" indicated that
the presence of two brooches would
have left no opening for the theme
centered around Viola's brooch pre-sented
to Lilly Mae by Viola's faith-less
husband.
Ruby Padgette rose in disagreement
to the Interpretation the WC student
director had given the leading char-acters.
Viola and Lilly Mae. The au-thor
had intended Lily Mae to be the
sweet, innocent aunt of an invalid girl.
Instead, she pointed out, the director
had presented her as a woman of
the world. Porterfield. however, con-gratulated
the young director for a
splendid production and reminded the
audience that Lilly Mae had not re-fused
the blue gloves, the money, nor
brooch given her by a married man.
He emphasized the fact that a situa-tion
arising from the difference in
an author's interpretation and a di-rector's
interpretation of a play pre-sents
a healthy basis for a production
that can "go places and makes the
author want to stay with it until its
birth on opening night."
Porterfield interpreted "Seattle
Hunch" as simply. "A man looking
for a dunk He explained that the
play was lost from the outset, due to
petting materials. He sug-
I that the play could have made
the audience "feel that they
looking through a kcvhole" If just a
juke box. table, and bar had been
used to bring the boy, girl and rain
into one sphere "It is innate in every
(Continued on Page BThree)