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(02/18/03 4:57am)
Approximately 100 people celebrated the career of Dr. Iris Yob in the Edmondson Formal Lounge at the Collins Living-Learning Center on Valentine's Day in a farewell function that began at 5 p.m.\nYob, 58, served for six years as the academic coordinator, a job whose functions include serving as the faculty adviser and a virtual department chairwoman of the LLC's Board of Education Programming. \nLLC and student government officials, residents and Collins alumni attended the event.\nYob, in her function as academic coordinator, was credited by some as having revolutionized the position, contributed largely to the successes of the LLC during her tenure.\n"Iris was amazing to Collins," said John Schlafer, co-chair of BOEP. "She did quite a bit for the board. Her leadership was wonderful. She was always there to help us when we needed it, and to stand back and let us do our own thing … She was truly dedicated to this mission."\nThe Collins LLC is complex in make-up because its function is so closely intertwined with IU's Residential Programs and Services. It might be imagined that installing two administrative systems to run one program might not work, but that was not the case under Yob's leadership.\n"She has always been administratively sound and we were able to compliment each other in terms of helping students and working on programs," said Residence Manager Sara Ivey-Lucas, a Collins alumna.\nYob is leaving IU for a number of reasons, which includes a desire to fully utilize her credentials. She earned an Ed.D. in 1990 from Harvard University studying the philosophy of education. Following IU she will become chair of doctoral studies in education at Walden University, a distance learning university that occupies several floors of a high rise in Minneapolis, Minn. \n"I certainly appreciate having had the opportunity to be with Iris for six and a half years," said Collins Director Carl Ziegler. "We need someone who sorts out the good from the bad (programs). Iris' total approach is 'let's make it work.'"\nDuring his comments to the crowd, Ziegler joked about the size of Yob's massive workload for the previous six years. He said they would have to meet for six hours Saturday morning so Yob could brief him on all the work and projects Ziegler had delegated to her.\nWhen realizing the turnout and sentiments during the events, Yob said, "It kind of makes you wonder why you're crazy enough to leave"
(02/05/03 5:58am)
A film festival that has traveled internationally and appeared last August at Bloomington's Buskirk-Chumley Theatre will appear at the Collins Living Learning Center, located at 541 N. Woodlawn, today and tomorrow from 8 to 10 p.m.\nThe festival is sponsored by the Collins Arts Council and the Department of Communication and Culture and will feature films by Collins residents for the first half hour.\n"The program highlights the importance of a rising movement of truly independent cinema and contains a collection of 'instant cult classics' shot on film and video," said Festival Director Scott Beibin in a statement. "You won't see a lot of these at the more mainstream independent film festivals."\nBased in West Philadelphia, the Lost Film Festival is an organized collective that focuses on screening in theaters and galleries, but also in unorthodox places like basements and warehouses. The organization promotes the idea that by using non-linear editing systems, digital video, and the Internet, motion pictures can be made on slim budgets.\nSome of the not-so-well known titles like the 8 minute "Piefight '69" depicts a pie fight that broke out at a San Francisco Film Festival in 1969 where two dozen radicals in costume descended on the red-carpet event with pies in hands. Another film runs 16 minutes and is called "The Horribly Stupid Stunt Which Has Resulted In His Untimely Death."\nThe film festival has previously been seen at schools like Oberlin College, Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, and other Ivy League universities like Harvard. \nSome feel the film festival is an important event because it allows a venue for non-mainstream films that may not see an audience under other circumstances.\n"They want more people to see that independent films that are interesting, smart, and funny can be made on very low budgets, and that these provide a necessary alternative to what we are fed by the Hollywood machine," said Collins Arts Coordinator Yara Cluver of the film festivals value.
(02/05/03 4:58am)
Long Island Expressway (LIE)," is a 2001 film directed by Michael Cuesta and stars film notable Brian Cox, most well known for being the first to portray Hannibal Lecter in "Manhunter." Also in the film is Paul Franklin Dano playing Howie Blitzer, the central character who deals with being gay, a bad time of losing a mother to the LIE, a father who pays little attention to his son and is corrupt in the likes of Ken Lay of Enron fame.\nThe central story line is that of a boy coming of age who must quickly learn to cope with the real world he is exposed to in the situations presented above. The film is funny, but also sad and tragic as it examines the lives you know exist but don't know if you've ever seen them in the making or happening.\nOne of the sub-plots revolves around Howie not having a masculine influence that nurtures him, and so he strangely turns to a neighborhood member named "Big" John Harrigan, who is a former marine and "Diplomatic Attaché." Harrigan has an interest in Howie, as Harrigan is a fan of having sex with adolescent boys. But Harrigan seems to develop an honest, father-son type relationship with Howie over the course of the film.\nThis sub-plot is crucial as it not only shows Howie developing the skill to hack through life on his own without his almost useless and sometimes abusive father. The abusiveness ties into the idea that domestic violence knows no boundaries. It occurs in the happiest looking and saddest looking households. It can be a wife beating a husband or a husband beating a wife. It can be a parent beating a child or a child beating a parent. \nThrough the use of this sub-plot, director Cuesta forces us to look at several levels of the complex and seemingly unhealthy relationship Howie has with Harrigan. Harrigan is both the predator and the protector. He is the manipulator and the manipulated. On the surface we see an obvious sleazeball who knows his behavior is shameful. But we also see someone who is capable of warmth and love and who inspires Howie to rise above his so far young, but troubled life. \nOver time, Howie becomes more comfortable with his homosexuality. And he gets over what I would call a bout of depression, indicated by his occasional climb onto the overpass of a section of LIE.\nIn an age where pedophilia seems to be forefront in news cycles and people's minds, this film takes a look at something socially unacceptable and shows us another possibility of the relationships pedophiles may form. \nWhile this film is Hollywood-like in the sense that the story line is a bit far fetched, it certainly is valuable in its ability to shove the norms of society with respect to taboo subjects in the faces of that same society and make us think.\nAnd thinking is something that few films make us do anymore. \nThat isn't to say though that the film is a brilliant piece of work. It isn't. I would dare say it's mediocre in its writing, acting (the father is about as simple and caricature as it gets), and in some cases its ending. At the end, we see Howie doesn't kill himself. But we really don't know what he does after that. Where does he go? Who does he go live with? All these are questions that should have been answered.\nHowever, the show is worth the price you pay at Blockbuster.
(02/04/03 5:03am)
IU will lose another administrator today when Iris Yob, academic coordinator of the Collins Living-Learning Center, works her last day in the residence hall before leaving to pursue other career options.\nYob, 58, served for six years as the academic coordinator, a job whose functions include serving as the faculty advisor and a virtual department chairwoman of the LLC's Board of Education Programming. BOEP is the organization responsible for the residential learning program which organizes courses each semester. BOEP is a committee run by the center's students for the LLC and fits with Yob's philosophy of education. That philosophy holds two principles -- student centeredness and experience-based learning. \n"She was my mentor as a professional in education and I'm really sad to see her leave," said Mark Helmsing. "She was instrumental in the learning part of the Living-Learning Center. She was close to a lot of residents."\nYob, who immigrated to the United States from Australia in 1983, said she is leaving for a number of reasons, including wanting to fully utilizing her credentials. She earned an Ed.D. in 1990 from Harvard University in the philosophy of education. Once she leaves, she will become chair of doctoral studies in education at Walden University, a distance learning university that occupies several floors of a high rise in Minneapolis, Minn. \n"It might be good for Collins and for me to have a change. And there are some things about the Walden job that are very attractive at this stage in my career financially," Yob said, whose salary is roughly $38,000 a year. \nThe job at Walden is similar to her work at Collins in that it will involve student-centered learning and experience-based learning. Yob said at Walden, students are largely responsible for designing their own degree.\nThere Yob will oversee a faculty of 50 to 60 contract faculty members and roughly 500 students in the education program. She will also be involved in designing an Ed.D. program as well as a new degree in Community College Leadership.\nYob made her decision official in a letter of resignation to Collins Director Carl Ziegler and Dean Kumble Subbaswamy of the College of Arts and Sciences on Jan. 21.\nIn her letter, she said her time at Collins were six and a half of the most interesting years of her professional life.
(01/27/03 4:31am)
From the moment I walked into the lobby of the IU Auditorium and saw all the ushers and ticket takers bundled up, I knew how the Germans felt when they besieged Stalingrad. Talk about cold. As people walked through the doors, the winter winds whisked throughout the facility. But despite the recent visit from Jack Frost, over 1,200 people braved a winter cold front some would equal to Moscow's winter weather.\nThe shows brought into the Auditorium are perpetually pleasing to the IU and Bloomington communities. But the Jan. 23 performance of "Fosse" blew recent acts out of the water.\n"Fosse" is a semi-autobiographical work highlighting the career of the late actor, director and notable choreographer Bob Fosse. The show ran two hours with a 15-minute intermission.\n"Fosse" and the excellent dance company state visually what people say when they describe the work of choreographer Fosse as being sexy, vivacious and revolutionary. While Fosse was dead before the routines for the Broadway smash were conceived, Fosse's pupil Ann Reinking choreographed these dance steps. She danced for Fosse, and by all accounts was a protege of the man. Reinking designed the dance numbers in Fosse's style, and from that design, it's easy to understand why Fosse's work is so revolutionary. Fosse, like most choreographers, employed synchronized steps. But at the time Fosse began working, you did the kaleidoscope stuff that Busby Berkely made famous. Or you did the elegant waltzes and tap dances of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. If you wanted jazz and pizazz, you did the athletic, walk-up-the-wall type stuff that Gene Kelly did in "Singing in the Rain."\nThe 26-member company gyrated their hips in a way that made my pelvis hurt. And my right knee ached like the devil just from watching all the ornate spins and hops.\nMany numbers we've heard before were performed. "Mr. Bojangles," "Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries," "Bye, Bye, Blackbird," "Steam Heat," and lots of other songs hit the stage. \nBut one thing I don't like about big performances like this is that they consist of all dance and music. There isn't a cohesive story to the performance. If certain numbers are pulled from hit shows, then a fragment of that certain show's plot is told -- but only if someone knows the show. In other words, ballet is the only style of dance that can tell a story. And sometimes I question that. All the news releases I read made me think the dancing was going to tell a story. \nIf you went in thinking you were going to get something out of this show other than really cool dancing, you were going to feel like a duck who just woke up from a nap: It's a whole new world. Or like someone watching the "Godfather" trilogy. You get up for five minutes and go to the bathroom, and by the time you come back, it's a different movie. In other words, looking for a story in "Fosse" is like looking for the word "Nina" in a Hirschfeld. You'll have a hard time finding it.\nNonetheless, "Fosse" had the most fantastic finish when it closed with a Benny Goodman classic "Sing, Sing, Sing."\nWhat a show. What a show!
(01/23/03 10:27pm)
Before Bob Fosse came along, choreography was like a kaleidoscope by Busby Berkeley. Elegant by Fred Astaire. Or the athletic kind by Gene Kelly. \nThen Bob Fosse decided to jazz things up, make them more vivacious. A story about Fosse and his groove hits the stage at 8 p.m. tonight and Friday at the IU Auditorium.\n"Fosse" premiered in Toronto at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts on Aug. 9, 1998. The company sweeping through Bloomington this week opened at the Aladding Theatre in Las Vegas last September.\nThe Tony Award-winning musical showcases rarely seen dance and musical hits from the earliest works of the work-aholic choreographer, who some say smoked as many as four packs a day. \n"Fosse" also shows dance numbers designed by Fosse including "Steam Heat," "Big Spender" and "Sing, Sing, Sing" the IU Auditorium said in a statement. \nThe company consists of 26 dancers and singers, each playing multiple roles and numbers. For the show, performers have been trained imitating Fosse's original style of choreography. Debra McWaters and Ann Reinking, one of Bob Fosse's leading dancers and his protégé, trained the dancers. Reinking won the 1997 Tony for her choreography of "Chicago."\n"This cast dances and sings with an energy that threatens to raise the roof!" raved The New York Times.\nWith that "raise the roof" quality, "Fosse" has already given a very strong show at the IU Auditorium's Box Office, according to Auditorium Director Doug Booher. \n"We were very proud to have landed this show in at the IU Auditorium," Booher said. "It often takes weeks of negotiation to deliver a high-quality, highly sought-after show like 'Fosse.'" \nThe show, running two hours with a 15 minute intermission, won the 1999 Tony Award for best musical. It also garnered a Tony for best orchestrations and lighting design.\nBob Fosse was an actor, dancer, choreographer and director. He crossed the boundaries of mediums in the entertainment industry. His work appeared on Broadway with shows like "Chicago," on the silver screen with "Cabaret" and on television in appearances dating to the early 1950's.\nFosse, who died at age 60 in 1987, pulled off a feat few giants in show business could do. In 1973, Fosse won a "Triple Crown," taking home each of the three major awards the industry offers -- an Oscar, an Emmy and a Tony.
(01/23/03 5:58am)
In May 1961, the Congress of Racial Equality sent thousands of people throughout the South to protest the segregation laws that applied to interstate transportation. They became known as the Freedom Riders.\nThat trip, a milestone in the Civil Rights Movement, will be commemorated at IU today.\nIU Dean of Students Richard McKaig said the commemoration march today is important because it acknowledges all the work that has been done. But there is a great deal of work yet to be accomplished in the struggle for racial equality, he said. \n"It is important to remember the Freedom Riders since their daring actions constituted one of the most courageous chapters in the 1960s civil rights movement," said John Stanfield, chairman of the African American and African Diaspora Studies Department.\n"The march is a tribute to the marches on Selma and Montgomery during the Civil Rights Era," said Teter Quad CommUNITY Educator Brandi Vardiman, chairwoman of this year's event. \nMarchers will assemble at 6:30 p.m. in the courtyard of the Collins Living Learning Center at 541 N. Woodlawn Ave. Once all the participants gather, the marchers will leave Collins at 6:45 p.m. to travel Tenth Street with stops at the Main Library, Wright Quad and a culminating reception at Teter Quad.\nAt each stop, a participant dressed up as a historical figure will perform. Actors will portray figures such as Stokely Carmichael with a vocal celebration. Actresses representing Marian Anderson and former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt will perform on the steps of the Main Library, with Angela Davis and Coretta Scott King at the next two stops.\nThe members of the procession will sing various commemorative songs, most notably, "We Shall Overcome."\nPlanning took one month with a $100 budget, Vardiman said.\n"They rode buses, walked, picketed, whatever it took in order to accomplish the goal of equal rights for everyone," Vardiman said. "As college students we need to embrace those same values and at times call on those same spirits so that we are ever proactive and not merely reactive."\nAfter the march, the demonstrators can assemble in the Teter Lounge for refreshments and watch a 12 minute film on the life of Martin Luther King, Jr.\n"It is done as an acknowledgement of the big change in the '60s and pretty much what everyone did to get it through," said IU student Dante Pryor of the importance of the march to the IU community.
(01/23/03 5:58am)
This week the nation celebrated a day to honor the work of Martin Luther King, Jr. His work with civil rights occurred during one of the most socially unrestful times in the United States. IU Physics Professor Bennet B. Brabson advocates a continuing commitment to King's dreams of racial equality by reflecting on his life before the Civil Rights Act of 1968 and the way things were then and now on IU's Bloomington campus.\nIt was a turbulent year for the United States. Amid a failed war in Vietnam, President Lyndon Johnson said he wouldn't run again. Riots, largely to do with race, swept the country in Chicago, Detroit and Los Angeles. James Earl Ray assassinated Civil Rights champion Martin Luther King, Jr. And we lost another Kennedy. It was 1968.\nThe year was just as turbulent for IU. In that year, noted IU physicist Bennet B. Brabson says the university was under "great stress." Brabson saw racial strife sweep the campus during the first few years of his 30-plus tenure here.\nBrabson saw the April 1968 protest of black students when they rallied at the house of then IU President Elvis J. Stahr Jr., calling for a black studies program. In May of the same year, he saw about 50 black students occupy the Little 500 track for 38 hours to protest the charters of greek organizations that had racial stipulations.\nBrabson saw the Homecoming Queen contest cancelled for the first time in 39 years. And he saw 14 black football players boycott the team because of the coaching staff's practices they thought were discriminatory.\nIn 1969 Brabson stood on a platform with other faculty members in Dunn Meadow to speak with students protesting a lack of diversity and the war in Vietnam.\n"The sudden movement of students against authority at all levels was something of a surprise," said Virginia Hudelson Rogers in an IU Alumni Magazine interview; Rogers was the acting Dean of Students in 1969. "I don't know how many of us were on our toes at that point, because it was so totally new," she said.\nIt was her hope that "(the administration) wouldn't do anything stupid," Rogers said.\nWith two incidents at IU during 1970, her hope was intensified. Then President Richard Nixon said the military activities in Vietnam would expand into previously neutral Cambodia. IU students circled Bryan Hall and demanded that administrators hear them out. Police were there. But the question was this: Would the day turn out something similar to the May 4, 1970, incident at Kent State, where the Ohio National Guard fired on student protesters killing some and wounding others?\n"(Members of the administration) were struggling to keep their balance," Brabson said. "They were overwhelmed."\nThe administration seemed to be even more overwhelmed in 1970. Rogers said there was concern about the interference of protests with Founders Day and Commencement. \n"There were times when we called (the National Guard) to the edge of the city," Rogers said. "But we managed not to use them. That would have been my last choice."\nRemembering the early Civil Rights Movement, Brabson sat in his office in Swain Hall decorated with stainless steel office furniture and a couple of Persian rugs. His involvement with diversity goes back to early graduate work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. There, he says, he began to emerge from his sheltered knowledge of the movement. \nBrabson's commitment to honoring diversity may seem a bit of a surprise. He lived in a staunch Republican household whose patriarch was nicknamed "Mr. Republican." \n"My father came from the South. He was a racist," Brabson said. "He felt strong about this issue and did not ever tolerate anything in our family that corresponded to civil rights." \nBrabson seemed to be following his father's path even at MIT. He considered John F. Kennedy "an aberration" and voted for Republican candidate Barry Goldwater during his bid for the presidency. But his sentiments began to change when he started to participate in open discussions with his fellow academics in his third year at MIT. Eventually his mindset changed completely. \n"In my own view, I have the sense that diversity is valuable in the university setting," Brabson said.\nAnd he says that view is so strong that he'll do everything in the Physics Department to try to encourage that spirit of diversity in undergraduate and graduate programs.\n"Having diversity is enormously effective in the learning process. You have people around you who are coming from different parts of the world and have different characteristics. They are going to expand your thinking," he said. "That's worth something to me."\nIn the more than 30 years since Ben Brabson joined the faculty, he says the University has taken a number of steps to bolster diversity.\nThe Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies as well as the Latino Studies Program have been created to represent IU's willingness to recognize diversity.\nBrabson recognizes the GROUPS program which gives extracurricular help to first-generation college students, those with limited financial resources and students with disabilities from all racial and economic backgrounds. The program, Brabson said, gives students a step up for a better chance at succeeding at IU. He also notes IU's involvement in a program in South Africa during the years of apartheid to increase black enrollment in universities there.\nAlthough the overall impression is that of improvement, the numbers may not indicate the same. The Office of Academic Support and Diversity states African American enrollment in the Fall 2002 semester composed only 3.8 percent of the IU student body. And the overall percentage of minority students in that same period was just under 10 percent.\n"Literally since my first day here I have said we need to do more. Are we doing some good things, yes, but we need to do more," Bloomington Chancellor Sharon Brehm said.\nBut even with the advances Brabson says have occurred, African Americans are more challenged at IU than any other ethnic group. While Brabson speculates that the post-Sept. 11 focus in the United States is more likely to create a prejudice against Muslims, he says that is a temporary focus. \n"I would rather be a Muslim than an African American. Even given the tensions," Brabson said.\nAfter the White House is occupied by a different tenant, Brabson speculates that African Americans will be wondering whether they are really equal to Caucasians.\n"And that's sad. Because they are," he said.
(01/21/03 6:05am)
Before 1947, Arthur Miller had more turkeys than the Pilgrims. And then came "All My Sons." Director Richard Perez's show opened Friday at the John Waldron Arts Center at 122 S. Walnut St. The show runs two more weekends -- Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. with Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. It plays in the JWAC Auditorium. \nHarvey G. Cocks, Jr. spent 30 years in New York City and is my favorite source on all things theater. Cocks said he saw the show for free when it opened at the Coronet Theatre boasting the names of Karl Malden, Arthur Kennedy and Ed Begley. The show was directed by a man whose history wasn't much to brag about before "All My Sons," either. But almost 60 years later, Elia Kazan can do all the bragging he wants.\nRoughly 50 people braved the soon-to-be ice-covered Bloomington streets to witness the opening night of the 6th show in the JWAC 10th anniversary series.\nJoe Keller (Mark G. McIntyre) is a self-made man who is no stranger to hard work. The idea that war is good for business served Joe well during World War II. His factory made cylinder heads for P-40 fighter aircraft and made more money in the four or five years of the war than Joe thought he'd see in a lifetime. McIntyre did a wonderful job playing a crusty, working-class man, who feels that the well-being of his family far outweighs the good of society. Lively and energetic, McIntyre's stage movements and presence were top notch. None of his gestures seemed awkward, but always natural. He was never "not-in-the-scene."\nI can't say the same about Brent Burcroff's portrayal of the dreamy-eyed son Chris, who seems to have an almost dysfunctional view of reality. Perez's choice of Burcroff puzzles me. He was too tall and lanky to fit in well with the other cast members. He was much too tall to be a son of Joe and Kate Keller. His delivery was monotone and much too subdued. But his performance had a few bright sparks during the scene of George Deever's (Mike Price) visit, and in the conclusion of the show.\nIt seems monotone and lackluster energy swept the cast. Next door neighbor Dr. Jim Bayliss (Kevin Woodruff) suffered the same fate, but without any of the redemptive sparks.\nBut whenever a dull minute crept along too long, Joe and Kate (Marcia Dangerfield) came along and saved the show. They had an excellent chemistry. The married couple suffered the wrath of a corrupt reality. Joe was tormented by it, and Kate was in denial of it.\nIf you've seen Miller's "Death of a Salesman," you'll see comparisons to it in "All My Sons." It may even seem as though "All My Sons" was a trial run for the better known and epic "Salesman." Similarities include the corruption greed can create; the conflict between the family's two sons; and the mother seems to be a little out of it. Also, the father is struggling to cope with the reality he knows too well. The ending with the father's surrender to that reality is familiar as well.\nWhile I recommend this show wholeheartedly, and speak well of Perez's directorial talent frequently, I caution that the show seems to drag at times. Some of the acting isn't anything I'd rave about. Which I haven't.
(01/17/03 6:01am)
For the second time in the new millennium, the Bloomington Playwrights Project will celebrate minority rights "across the board" with its annual Diversity Festival.\nThe BPP will use a day of theatre to also commemorate the works of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The events take place Monday from noon until midnight at the BPP at 312 S. Washington Street.\nThe BPP held its first Diversity Festival in January of 2002 after a break of some years. The original festival was held in the early 1990s, but came to a brief hiatus with the departure of BPP's then-Artistic Director Richard Ford. \nFestival Director Breshaun B. Joyner planned the events, which include children's material, a reception with live performances of music from around the world, and mainstage events including dance, plays, and monologues. \n"The challenge was to find a really good festival director who is good for the community," said Candace Decker, Marketing Director for the BPP.\nThe planning began in October of 2002. Joyner says she was surprised to learn she would be undertaking the planning of a 12-hour event. Kilroy's Sports Bar is one of the largest donors of the event making the performances for the 2003 event free of charge to the public. The event cost almost $3,000 to plan and produce.\n"I think the Diversity Festival is an opportunity for many people to discover new art forms and styles," Decker said.\nJoyner has been a part of the Bloomington theatre community for over 13 years. Her experience includes work at the BPP, the John Waldron Arts Center, and the IU's T300 venue. Her most recent works include roles in "Life in the Faust Lane" and "Rapunzel" at the BPP and in JWAC's "Les Liaisons Dangereuses."\nThe Festival features events targeted at children, a reception, dance performances, live music, monologues and a play performance headlining the event. \nThe children's events include storytelling sessions, a puppet show, and short plays. Presenting international delicacies, the reception starts at 5:30 and runs until 7 p.m.\nThe Windfall Dancers will present a 'Diversity in Dance' show that includes modern dance pieces that express and promote diversity and tolerance.\nThe featured performance is 2001 Dorothy Silver Award-winning 'Visions of Right: Staged Reading' that was written by one-time Bloomington resident Marcia Cebulska. Following the reading's conclusion at 9:30 p.m., BPP features special guest Bloomington resident Hakan Toker in what Joyner calls a "musical feast with many surprises." \n"The Diversity Festival is an important event for the Bloomington community because it provides opportunities for audiences to see different artists and art forms that throughout the year don't always get the exposure it deserves," Decker said. "The event is free which allows those who can't afford to attend an artistic event to see quality and diverse work."\nBut while the Diversity Festival takes place on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the festival also celebrates more than the Civil Rights Movement. \n"Martin Luther King, Jr. was a leader for minority rights groups and helped set an example for other minority groups," said Derrick English, an 18-year-old IU freshman, who volunteers at IU's Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgendered Student Support Services. "He was a voice for the black community. Civil rights and women's rights led to the birth of gay rights too"
(01/17/03 5:06am)
An experimental story line drenched with violence, hysteria and mystery hallmarks "Howie the Rookie," which opens this week. \nVariety has called it "a brutal, bitterly funny and surprisingly tender evening of theatre." \nThe two-man show by playwright Mark O'Rowe premieres at 8 p.m. tonight at the Bloomington Playwrights Project, 312 S. Washington St. The show runs through the weekend with a Sunday matinee at 5 p.m.\nThe show features two characters named "The Rookie Lee" and "The Howie Lee." The Howie becomes locked in a feud involving a mattress covered with scabies and a possible gang war because somebody made a Siamese fighting fish go belly up.\nThe two leads are played by Matt Harding and Steve Decker.\nHarding (The Howie) is a visiting assistant professor in Voice and Speech at IU. Harding earned a Master's of Arts from Northwestern University, a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Wright State University, and studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, England. Harding is a member of both the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and Voice and Speech Trainers Associations. \n"Let me give you my run-down of what the play is about in three words. Loyalty. Ruination. Redemption," Harding said.\nSteve Decker (The Rookie) is almost finished with his Master's of Fine Arts in directing from IU. Before coming here, Decker worked professionally in Maryland as an actor, director and producer for six years. For "Howie the Rookie," Decker takes a leave from his normal perch on the director's chair. Decker usually puts his fingers on traditional, big name stuff like Eugene O'Neill and Sir William Shakespeare. He most recently directed "A Moon for the Misbegotten" at the Wells-Metz Theatre in 2002. \nBut it's not like his acting credits don't exist. He played Charley in Miller's "Death of a Salesman" at the Brown County Playhouse, according to a BPP statement.\nBloomington Playwrights Project claims the show is "an electrifying picture through, around and under a nightmarish gangland Dublin where enemies and allies are interchangeable, where the most brutal events take on a mythic significance."\nAnd of that "mythic significance," Decker said, "there is some discussion of the ancient Mayan Indian god of death showing himself to a man in another form before taking him, before his death. There is a recurring, seemingly random image encountered in the play, leading inevitably to death." \nMark O'Rowe is an Irishman, and you can tell the culture is in his blood by the way he penned the script. \n"I think the big thing about his writing, and this group of Irish writers is their love for a good story told with passion around a pint at the pub," Decker said. "I think that the love of telling the story is what differs from American writings."\nThe script earned O'Rowe a few accolades including the 2000 Irish Times "New Play of the Year" and the 1999 "Rooney Award" for Irish literature.\nThe show is produced by the aptly named 'Keep Out of Reach of Children Productions' -- the show is one where a baby sitter would come in handy. The production company said, "This is theatre by adults for adults."\nBy the time the full plot is understood, it is easy to see why this show is much more carnal than Jack Benny ever was. \n"(I've seen) the Disney-ification of today's theater," Decker said of the play's adult nature. "We are not playing for a family crowd. This is work for grownups -- it is not always pretty, but it will be tough and presented with a visceral strength and with a pulsing of energy. It is rock 'n roll, in-your-face stuff. It is not for the faint-hearted; it is volatile, and some may even say poisonous. So -- Keep Out of Reach of Children."\nEugene O'Neill and Sir William Shakespeare. He most recently directed "A Moon for the Misbegotten" at the Wells-Metz Theatre in 2002. \nBut it's not like his acting credits don't exist. He played Charley in Miller's "Death of a Salesman" at the Brown County Playhouse, according to a BPP statement.\nBloomington Playwrights Project claims the show is "an electrifying picture through, around and under a nightmarish gangland Dublin where enemies and allies are interchangeable, where the most brutal events take on a mythic significance."\nAnd of that "mythic significance," Decker said, "there is some discussion of the ancient Mayan Indian god of death showing himself to a man in another form before taking him, before his death. There is a recurring, seemingly random image encountered in the play, leading inevitably to death." \nMark O'Rowe is an Irishman, and you can tell the culture is in his blood by the way he penned the script. \n"I think the big thing about his writing, and this group of Irish writers is their love for a good story told with passion around a pint at the pub," Decker said. "I think that the love of telling the story is what differs from American writings."\nThe script earned O'Rowe a few accolades including the 2000 Irish Times "New Play of the Year" and the 1999 "Rooney Award" for Irish literature.\nThe show is produced by the aptly named 'Keep Out of Reach of Children Productions' -- the show is one where a baby sitter would come in handy. The production company said, "This is theatre by adults for adults."\nBy the time the full plot is understood, it is easy to see why this show is much more carnal than Jack Benny ever was. \n"(I've seen) the Disney-ification of today's theater," Decker said of the play's adult nature. "We are not playing for a family crowd. This is work for grownups -- it is not always pretty, but it will be tough and presented with a visceral strength and with a pulsing of energy. It is rock 'n roll, in-your-face stuff. It is not for the faint-hearted; it is volatile, and some may even say poisonous.
(01/17/03 4:57am)
Arthur Miller's "All My Sons" will play at the John Waldron Arts Center as part of its 10th Anniversary Performance Series. The play opens today and runs three weekends with shows at 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and two Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Directed by Bloomington Playwrights Project Artistic Director Richard Perez, the show, which is set in the relative peace of post World War II small town America, will be held in the John Waldron Arts Center Auditorium.\nAmerica's war on fascism changed everyone. And adjustment to life without war can't happen -- at least not for the characters -- until they come to terms with the events following Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor and President Truman's decision to deploy the atomic bomb. \nA self-made man, Joe Keller (Mark G. McIntyre) is no stranger to hard work. A statement from Detour Productions, the show's producer, calls Keller the "entrepreneurial head of the Keller family." Two of Keller's sons went off to war. One didn't make it home. Joe's other son, Chris (Brent Burcroff), wants more than being a laborer at his dad's factory. The plot seems to follow the traditional "boy meets girl" bit -- Chris thinks happiness is found with Anne (Stephanie Harrison), the girl he's known his whole life. But Anne isn't his girl. She is his brother's, who is MIA, not KIA.\nEd Kaufman made comparisons to one of Miller's other shows in the Hollywood Reporter. \n"Written in 1947, two years before the monumental 'Death of a Salesman,' 'All My Sons' covers a lot of the same ground as 'Salesman': the central role of the family, especially the father-son relationship; a 'secret' that is festering; the passive (yet all-knowing) wife; a lawyer -- all set within a threatening environment," Kaufman said.\nCentered in the realm of a new life is Joe Keller, who has to deal with a conflict between his responsibilities to his family, but also to a broader responsibility to society as a whole. \nPlaywright Miller allows similarities to exist between Joe Keller and the legendary Willie Loman of "Death of a Salesman." Like Loman, Keller is a representation of the ordinary man who experiences a troubled existence. \n"The way I see life is that there are no public issues: they are all private issues. We have gotten divided. We are political men or private men. I can't see the separation," Miller said in a statement.\nShow dates are this Friday and Saturday, Jan. 23, 24, 25, 31, and Feb. 1 at 8 p.m. Sunday matinees are this Sunday and Jan. 26 at 2 p.m. For ticket information, call the JWAC at 334-3100 ext. 102 (122 S. Walnut Street) or the Sunrise Box Office at 339-7641 (112 E. Kirkwood Ave). Tickets are $12, and $10 for students and seniors.
(01/14/03 4:52am)
When you think of the rotund Englishman Sydney Greenstreet, the next thought is that of Peter Lorre. The two made nine films together, beginning with "The Maltese Falcon" starring Humphrey Bogart. \nDuring World War II, most of Hollywood's leading men were called away to fight; and the attention of the studios fell on these two. But Hollywood needed to keep turning out products to stay alive, so they began to create films around older, less dashing, less handsome character actors. And Greenstreet and Lorre fit the bill and became two of the most well-known character actors to come out of World War II Hollywood.\nAn example of their collaboration is the 1944 film "The Mask of Dimitrios" released by Warner Brothers and based on a 1939 book called "A Coffin for Dimitrios" by Eric Ambler.\nLorre plays a globe-trotting mystery writer named Cornelius Leyden who is on vacation in Turkey in 1938. A bloated corpse washed ashore is identified as the feared safe-cracker, jewel thief, assassin, black mailer, and an all around insidious character named Dimitrios, played by Zachary Scott.\nThe local military flat-foot, Colonel Haki, is at a dinner party to meet Leyden. Lorre resembles Angela Lansbury's character in her television series "Murder, She Wrote" -- just as everyone and his brother know who Jessica Fletcher is, in this film, everyone apparently knows the name Cornelius Leyden. Haki is an ardent fan.\nWhile the two converse, Haki begins telling Leyden all about Dimitrios. And Leyden's curiosity is totally tweaked. Smelling a good story, he sets off to track down the mystery behind Dimitrios. The track leads him all over Europe including Athens, Belgrade, Sofia, Geneva, and Paris.\nBut this track also leads him into another man on Dimitrios' trail named Erik Peterson, played by Sydney Greenstreet.\nPeterson is very kind and someone I would call "a gentleman of the underworld." He may be a person who'd rob you blind, or black mail you to tears, but while he's doing it, he'll smile and mean it when he says 'please' or 'thank you.'\nIn this film, Lorre and Greenstreet have their typical on-screen chemistry. Here, they work much closer together than in any other of their collaborations. The two characters form a symbiotic partnership whose adhesion is the result of lots of money to be had if they find Dimitrios. \nIn one of the humorous moments of the film advertising their chemistry, Peterson is in the process of ransacking Leyden's hotel room so he can find out how much Leyden knows about Dimitrios. When Leyden walks in on him he is a little surprised and a conversation ensues. Peterson, the polite criminal he is, asks if he can use some of Leyden's stationary rather than just using it. Leyden replies, "Go ahead, you've used everything else."\nWatching the two of them walk around on screen together with their very distinct personalities, characters, and the physical reminders of something like Laurel and Hardy or Mutt and Jeff, the two are a perfect fit for their characters in the film.\n"The Mask of Dimitrios" is a nice, well organized example of film noir with its use of nighttime action, strong emphasis on shadows, flashbacks, and an examination of evil on the part of Dimitrios. Unlike "The Big Sleep," you don't need a score card to go along with the popcorn.\nuring World War II, the Allies needed to make the Germans think the invasion of Southern Europe was going to happen at a place other than Italy. And how did they do it? \nLt. Commander Ewen Montagu with British Naval Intelligence decided to make the Germans think the invasion was going to take place on the shores of Greece by letting them get a hold of some personal letters between a few British officers that said so. But then the trick is delivering the message. So he grabbed a dead man, dressed him in a uniform, and dropped him off the shores of Spain and made it look like he was a courier killed in a plane crash.\nThis war-time event is recounted in "The Man Who Never Was."\nClifton Webb plays Montagu in this true story of a naval reservist's successful attempt to save the lives of thousands of Allied troops on the shores of Sicily. Webb is a very subtle actor with excellent posture who carries himself with his typical aristocratic stage movements that trace back to his career beginnings in theatre. In one scene, we see Webb do something as simple as hold a coffee cup and make it artistic. It's the way his wrist goes a bit limp and he holds the cup up to chest height. His character also in the same scene has been poring over maps and charts for hours and hours on end. While everyone else is all ruffled in their uniforms, Webb's Montagu is still sharp as a straight edge razor.\nWebb's Indiana accent also requires little tweaking to sound as though he's an upper crust Englishman. \nMontagu is played as a very perceptive, logical, and cunningly cold-blooded spymaster who would give Freud a run for his money.\nMontagu knows the German mind well; he knows just how the enemy will react to finding a gift that's too good to be true. The dead body is given the identity of a Major Martin. He gets a new uniform. He gets a set of dog tags. He gets a few orders along with the dummy letters for his brief case. But the Montagu touch is especially clever with this next bit -- he gets a wallet with love letters, receipts from shopping, and letters from people he conducts personal business with. This extra incidental stuff composes the mundane-ness of life and gives the dead man a truthful aura.\nThe real Montagu has a cameo role in this 1956 film by 20th Century Fox as an uncredited role of an Air Marshal. But he's hard to spot.\nAlso in the film is a bit-part actor, Sir Michael Hordern, who was born in 1911 and worked all the way up to 1994, before his 1995 death. He did bit parts, voice overs, cartoons, television appearances and is probably the most prolific bit-part actor to come out of England. He's the type of actor who is in just about every film you've ever seen, but you always have a hard time putting a name with a face, or remembering the last movie you saw him in. In this film, Hordern plays General Coburn of Scotland Yard. \nThe film is an intriguing piece of work, based on Montagu's own book, which could be called a documentary. Not because it was filmed like one, but because it shows step by step a process that was very real during a time so many years ago when "The Greatest Generation" so bravely struggled against Hitler.
(12/13/02 4:59am)
Another IU tradition played out Wednesday night as the Singing Hoosiers filled the IU Auditorium with the "Chimes of Christmas."\nBut the holiday pageantry was in abundance even before the massive audience consisting of mostly Bloomington locals and University employees filled the seats. As we walked into the lobby, a Christmas tree stood tall garnered with ribbon with a musical score print running from bottom to top around the whole tree. And already the idea of delighting people's ears was in place as the IU Trombone Choir under Director Carl Lenthe made the sounds of Christmas classic like "Angels We Have Heard on High" with their wonderful brass.\nAt various points throughout the program, the lights were dimmed onstage and then raised on the orchestra pit to draw the audience's attention to the Wind Ensemble under Conductor Stephen W. Pratt. The Wind Ensemble played a few sections of the program solo, including the holiday standard of "Sleigh Ride." The Wind Ensemble glided through "Sleigh Ride" but it wasn't as wonderful as I've heard by other groups. I think "Sleigh Ride" only comes across well if it has lots and lots of boisterous brass shouting out at the listeners. But "Comfort and Joy" and, of course, Handel's "Messiah" was truly worth its Hallelujahs.\nThe Singing Hoosiers are a group that incorporates clever vocal arrangements including rounds, with a mastery of harmonies and melodies that truly delight the eardrum. They also include some dance numbers that are not worthy of praise from the world of ballet, but are still entertaining and make sense with the music, so the movements serve their purpose. During many of the dance sequences, the dancers tried to convey the emotions of the songs as the vocalists seemed like caricatures of the song's emotions. \nNeither was too successful. For example, I saw a dancer trying to express anger -- a theme the number did not address.\nI thought bringing a Santa Claus out as part of the act to greet the people in the back of the house and on the balcony with a "Hello to all you people back in the cheap seats," was a great touch. It made me laugh. I've never seen it done like that before. Someone dressed up like Rudolph was also on stage for part of "Run, Run Rudolph" when the dancing and prancing by both Santa's senior reindeer and the Singing Hoosiers abounded.\nIn the end, my superior vocal ability was allowed to contaminate the airspace around me as I joined in with the audience singing the carols of the season, including "Joy to the World," "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" and "Silent Night."\nDoug Booher is the IU Auditori-um Director, and he should feel quite proud of the quality of the programs he has continually presented.
(12/09/02 3:59am)
A Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall double feature played last Friday night at Ballantine Hall 013 as part of the City Lights Film Series, sponsored by the Department of Communication and Culture. Despite the cold and slush roughly 30 people showed up to watch the 16mm screening fall semester finale of City Lights.\nThe first show was "To Have and Have Not" (1945) which was released by Warner Brothers. It was based on Ernest Hemingway's book of the same title. Set in 1940 Vichy French controlled Martinique, Bogart played Harry Morgan, a crusty, tough-talking American living on the island who butters his bread by taking rich tourists on deep sea fishing trips. While at sea, Morgan takes jibes at his client's fishing skills with his sea going companion Eddy, played by Walter Brennan.\nAfter one of Morgan's clients winds up stiffing Morgan out of his money, Bogart's character has to find other ways to make money. His most readily available job offer is to help the free French sympathizing hotel keeper smuggle some of his buddies from one part of the island to another.\nWell suited to help in his task is the 22-year-old Lauren Bacall who made her screen debut as "Slim." The character name came from director Howard Hawks' wife Nancy, whose nickname was Slim.\nBogart played the hard-nosed pragmatist who usually knows how to keep himself and friends out of trouble. Bogart is typed as playing an abrasive tough guy who has the market cornered on cigarettes and matches. His lines wouldn't have had the same effect if the cigarette wasn't flip-flopping around between his lips while the dialogue escaped his larynx.\nLauren Bacall's character is far from the typical meek and tender lover interest you often see playing the female lead. On the contrary, she's a vivacious pick-pocket who's got just as many street smarts as Bogey. And she hasn't just got stones -- she's got the whole quarry.\nThe way the two play off of each other is wonderful to watch. Early in the film when Slim first meets Morgan, he tosses her a box of matches that she catches and tosses right back with a little heat. \nLauren Bacall demands your attention when she is onscreen in this film.\n"The Big Sleep" (1946) was the second feature of the evening. Another Warner Brothers flick, the film's production date roughly matches that of "To Have and Have Not." It wasn't released right away because studio executives were trying to build up Bacall's career. It was probably a good idea, since it worked.\n"The Big Sleep," also directed by Howard Hawks, has Bogart playing the hard-boiled private eye Phillip Marlowe. In this film Marlowe pokes around through a maze of intrigue as he tries to help the old and frail General Sternwood fend off an insidious blackmailer. But not only does blackmail play a part, so do frequent breakings of the first commandment.\nBogart plays Marlowe whose got witty and often caustic comeback for everything. In most scenes he's either smoking a cigarette, getting a gun pulled on him or pulling a gun on someone else. It's funny because at one point, Marlowe has disarmed so many people he says something along the lines of "People keep on giving me guns." It's the way he says it. The sentiment behind it is, "now what am I going to do with this. I've only got another 30 in the trunk of the car."\nBacall plays the character Vivian Rutledge, a woman who is out to protect her aging father, her flake of a sister and herself. Like any female lead in a detective noir film, she's got more angles than a trapezoid.\nThe film, based on the work by novelist Raymond Chandler, is an example of film noir, a style characterized by its intense use of shadows, complex plots and an extensive use of night time lighting. It gives the audience a feeling of unease because of the evil that stalks the protagonist.\nAnd talk about complex plots. I needed a score card to keep track of the plot, and I finally just gave up.\nDirector Howard Hawks worked closely with screenwriter William Faulkner and said of the plot, "I never figured out what was going on…I'm never going to worry about being logical again."\nYou know you're in trouble when the director can't even figure out what's going on. A humorous anecdote that comes from the film involves Hawks and Faulkner having trouble with the script because they couldn't figure out who killed the chauffeur. Frustrated, the two telephoned author Chandler. Chandler didn't know himself.\nThis film was confusing, complex and completely enjoyable.
(12/06/02 4:48am)
In the late 1880's, a solitary, black clothed, mysterious and vicious figure haunted London's East-End in a working-class slum known as Whitechapel. This predator who preyed on prostitutes is recognized as the world's most famous serial killer and would become known popularly as Jack the Ripper. \nAnd what happens when you mix the world's most famous serial killer with the world's most famous consulting detective -- you get the 1978 Sherlock Holmes murder mystery flick called "Murder By Decree."\nStarring Christopher Plummer and the affable James Mason, Holmes becomes a predator after his prey -- Jack the Ripper. The hunt begins after elders from the Whitechapel Citizens Committee comes calling at 221B Baker Street. And as soon as the crime fighting duo hear of the latest killing of a London hooker, off they go to the working-class slums to help the dutiful, but not so bright, Inspector Lestrade.\nHolmes is the master of observation, cold cunning, poignant perception and a daring intellect propelling him through the quagmire of justice 19th century style. Dr. Watson is the one who gives Holmes a helping hand in his research by talking with witnesses and suspects, and he often stumbles on information Holmes might not have otherwise gotten. Watson, true to Doyle's own pen, comes across as being sharp as a bowling ball and perhaps a bit of a bumbler.\nEarly on Holmes (Plummer) speaks of his initial thoughts of his latest case. But Watson (Mason) is more interested in getting the last pea on his plate cornered. Holmes then derails Watson's want of the perfectly whole pea, by squashing it with his fork. Watson then speaks for a handful of seconds about how much he wished Holmes would not have done that.\nMason plays Watson as a man with a serious demeanor, but is balanced out with charm and a good sense of humor. As well as the Patriotic fervor he served the Empire in India when he stopped a fast moving piece of lead with his shoulder. \nIn the beginning of the film, Holmes and Watson are attending a Royal Performance of Lucrezia Borga at a London theater. When His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, who would become George IV, king of England, arrives in his box, a group of rebellious street urchins start booing him.\nWatson then yells "God Save His Royal Highness," and saves the day. \nMason's acting capability is unique in that he can convey meaning with conservative body movements, but also with excellent control over his melodic, rhythmic voice. His inflection is so near perfection, that no matter what the scene -- complaining about a pea, cheering a future monarch or bashing some scoundrel with his walking stick -- he never has to raise his voice above conversation volume. It is sheer pleasure to watch Mason's portrayal of Dr. Watson. He is perhaps the most believable and honest actor to play Watson in a film version.\nChristopher Plummer's portrayal of Holmes is also unique.\nDoyle's original analytical, almost cold-hearted and impersonable Holmes was played quite the opposite by Plummer. Plummer played Holmes with the normal attributes of great observation, analytical skills and dogged pursuit of justice. But he also played the role with a sense of humanity that really isn't seen much. He played Holmes with a sense of humor -- he and Watson laughed together about Watson's ability to get himself into trouble, over the pea, in the theatre as Watson carried the day in defense of England's monarchical realm. There is one scene where Holmes is greatly disturbed that he can do nothing for a damsel in distress and shows an intense anger and even sheds tears. \nUntrue to Doyle, yes, but a good way to freshen up the staleness.\nSir John Gielgud also makes a cameo as the Prime Minister in one of the last scenes of the film and plays the part with the dignity and pomposity one would expect from a Victorian era politician of the highest ranking persuasion.\nHistorically, this film does a nice job because it ties in real-life theories of the identity of Jack the Ripper. Those theories indicating a link between government sanctions towards the killings, as well as the Royal Family. Freemasons, a secret society, come into play at various points throughout the film.\nI also found it interesting that two clues pointing to Jack the Ripper in this film (grape stems and a black carriage) were also used in two later films. One called "Jack the Ripper" starring Michael Caine as the famed Inspector Aberline (Lestrade substituted for Aberline in this film), and the recent "From Hell" starring Johnny Depp and Robby Coltraine. \nMy research hasn't led me to believe the grape stem and carriage were clues revealed during the original investigation, though I am inclined to think they were. But I can certainly say that if they weren't the two later films borrowed the idea from "Murder by Decree."\nIf you are interested even minutely in the madness of Jack the Ripper and enjoy Sherlock Holmes mysteries, this is a good film for you..
(12/05/02 4:39am)
Presented by Lucien Hubbard and directed by Hollywood titan William Wellman, the latest silent film to hit the theatres in the closing days of 1927 was "Wings" a story of two men who love the same woman. But these two lovers soon have their lives derailed by oncoming shadows of Mr. Wilson's war. \nWritten by Hope Loring and Louis Lighton, "Wings" tells the story of two dare devil youths. These two dare devils have no intention of being part of the stalemated trench life, they want to be aviators. And the greatest aviator of them all, Charles "Lucky" Lindberg. He is quoted in titles as the film opens and sings the praises of all our brave airmen who fought and had their "wings" wrapped around them as they battled the airborne hun.\nCharles "Buddy" Rogers plays the young and middle class man named John "Jack" Powell who lives for fast cars and who day dreams of soaring with eagles. Rogers plays the part marvelously capturing the carefree spirit of the United States. Richard Arlen is the silver spoon fed David Armstrong who plays the part with more wood than a Sequoia.\nThe girl next door that the boys look at as a mere friend is Mary who is played by Clara Bow, a lady seen more often next to Harold Lloyd than anyone else. Mary loves Jack, but Jack doesn't pay any attention to Mary and her desires for a relationship. Why would he? He's too busy trying to start one up with Sylvia, played by the rather unimpressive Jobyna Ralston.\nAs the two fellows get ready to leave for ground training, there is an incident used involving the exchange of a locket between Sylvia and Jack. The scene not only makes reference to a love triangle between the two male leads, but also serves to establish a stronger narrative with the locket. The locket is seen in the film's early scenes, as well as in the closing scenes of the film. A similar technique occurs when a shooting star is seen during the swing-set scene showing David and Sylvia gliding slightly off the ground. She does. At the end of the film, we see Mary and Jack sitting outside staring off into a dark sky and seeing another shooting start. This technique adds symmetry to the film, as well as telling the audience that Mary's wish probably came true. The swing-set scene, by the way, is also an excellent example of the photographer's skill in seemless back projection.\nTechnologically the film made strides for its time. Photographer Harry Perry integrates not only footage of his own -- usually outdoor studio stuff -- but also stock footage from actual dogfights being waged between the aircraft of both the Allied and Central Powers.\nThis combination of film adds a nice touch because at the time the film was made, newsreels would have shown what it was like slogging around with trench foot at Verdun. Or crawl as close to the dirt as possible dodging Maxim gun fire like US Marines in Bello Wood. But no one to date would have had the opportunity to witness actual combat footage taken from the skies over Europe. It is easy to tell the difference between the actual combat footage and Perry's stuff because the shots have that dirty, cheap film and unsteady hand look. Similar to the combat footage taken by Combat Cameramen that you see on the History Channel.\nNot only did director Wellman oversee strides in the filming side of a motion picture, he also was a bit of a directorial daredevil. He showed blood, something that probably wasn't seen or liked by audiences at the time. He also showed a rather risqué seen of Mary undressing in a Parisian hotel with on of the boys on the bed out cold. \n"Wings" serves as one of the last great films of the silent era. This was an era whose death knell was sounded by the eventual proliferation of sound technology. Typical of all silent films, important points were relayed to the audience in the form of text title cards. The title cards in this case did an excellent job in conveying not only a message, but also an emotional context to go along with the message. This was done by toying around with the text of the cards. In other words, the text would sometimes be larger or smaller, italicized or bolded. Always the messages were easy to understand, succinct, and the typeface manipulation served to provide the inflection and tone missed out on the verbiage of silent films.\nIn an aesthetic observation, the title cards were set up against a backdrop of wind-blown clouds to add the feeling of flight.\n"Wings," the first and only silent film to win an Oscar, is a war film that compares to war films of today. While the comparison is not technological, it is certainly similar in narration and plot devices. In fact, the similarities between the 1927 film "Wings" and the 2001 historical hack-job of "Pearl Harbor" are so obvious, it would be in bad form to not make mention of them.\n"Wings" and "Pearl Harbor" are films about love between to men and one woman. The films are also set against the backdrop of world war, and the spirit of combat aviators. In both films, conflict arises between the two male leads because of the love triangle they are in. Perhaps, a deviation from the comparison is in that Sylvia loves only one of the men. The female lead in "Pearl Harbor" loves both men, but at different times. In "Wings," one of the male leads is shot down and killed. In "Pearl Harbor," one of the male leads is shot down and killed -- but in this instance while saving the life of his boyhood friend. \nSo in style of story writing and narration, the comparisons are fairly strong. There is usually only one or two good ways to tell a story set in a war and about love. I suppose the biggest difference is modern combat films show blood and gore that would have given people coronaries back during the time when Hollywood and sound were just merging. I guess when Hollywood finds one that works, it's better to stick to the tried and tested.\nBut while "Wings" and "Pearl Harbor," an excellent exhibit of a modern day combat film, are similar in the plot movement sense. The styles of acting between the days of the "Wings" era and the current era in Hollywood will also show some similarity. Around the days of 1915 until the early to mid-'20s, acting reflects the likes of Sarah Bernhardt on the stage with brow clutching and villains stroking their handlebar moustaches. But by the time "Wings" was made, the style of acting had evolved into something much more realistic. The main characters all played their parts with subtlety and were like real life people.\nAll in all, "Wings" would be an excellent way to spend part of your hard earned paycheck at a rental place or on Amazon.com. The film will definitely continue to sell well in movie houses throughout the big cities. There is humor to lighten darkness. There is humanity to balance inhumanity. There is action. There is romance. \nThis silent great film will make you silent too.
(12/03/02 4:33am)
The film, "Stagecoach," directed by John Ford and released through United Artists in 1939, is the film that was responsible for shooting John Wayne to stardom and putting him on his way to become America's definition of a man's man. \n"Stagecoach" follows nine interesting characters on a stage trip in the old west bound for Kansas City. They traveled through a land threatened by the Indian warrior chieftan Geronimo. John Wayne's character "The Ringo Kid," comes into play when Sheriff Curly Wilcox sets out to nab the Kid and lock him up so the Kid doesn't get killed when he shoots it out with three hombres who killed his father in Kansas City.\nThe nine characters come from a variety of backgrounds adding wonderful flavors to this film. Appearing in this film are some of Hollywood's most beloved character actors including Donald Meeks who plays the whiskey salesman Mr. Peacock. Thomas Mitchell as Dr. Josiah Boone, a quack and lush who needs to leave town, along with his harlot companion Dallas (Claire Trevor), after the temperance movement makes rigid their moral flexibility. Boone evidently does not have too many stakes to pull up since all he takes with him is his Gladstone bag and door sign.\nBoone and Peacock spend a lot of time next to each other during the trip, especially since Boone found Peacock with his whiskey sample case with them. You'd think they were long lost brothers. There are a few charming scenes when Boone, by this time feeling no pain from anything, helps to keep Peacock warm by bundling him up with an overly large woolen scarf, and deerstalker cap.\nThomas Mitchell was a character actor who played many memorable bit parts including roles in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," "Bataan," and "Gone With the Wind." Mitchell was one of the first actors to win all three major entertainment awards - an Emmy, an Oscar for his "Stagecoach," and a Tony. He also played the first Lt. Columbo on the stage before Peter Falk made the character famous on television. His filmography is so numerous, doing at least four major pictures a year, people can't believe they see him as much as they do and often don't believe its really Mitchell on screen. Mitchell, who died in 1962, was paid $12,000 for his work on Stagecoach indicating the value studios placed on his talent as a character actor.\nAndy Devine, and that distinctive voice trapped in between octaves, plays the stagecoach driver who spends most of the movie humorously explaining to Sheriff Curly why they should turn the stage around and so they don't run into Geronimo and his merry braves on their way to slaughter the white populace. \nJohn Carradine is along as the tall, slender, southern aristocrat gambler named Hatfield, who would bet on a changing traffic light. He reminded me of the character Gaylord Ravenal in "Show Boat." Carradine's Hatfield is the type of man who calls the recent civil war "The War of the Southern Confederacy," deciding to go along on the trip so as to "look after the women folk." His melodramatic flair is a memorable touch to the film. Hatfield may come across as a slimy riverboat card shark, but he'd die before any harm would befall the women. His class and cold cunning bring a great touch to the screen. \nCarradine is father to Keith, David and Robert. In his career beginning in 1930 and lasting until his death in 1988, Carradine's work was seen in over 200 films, and at least 50 television guest appearances. You can tell from "Stagecoach," Carradine is a classically trained actor, and his large repetoire makes one think he truly believed the line: "There are no small parts, only small actors." Carradine made $3600 for his work on "StageCoach."\nEventually a running gunfight occurs between our nine friends on the stage and Geronimo's uprising tribe.\nThere were some really neat shots in the film. First a medium close-up of another passenger named Gatewood, the bank manager. In one of his first scenes of the film, we can see Hollywood's stance behind Roosevelt and his economic policies. He says something to the effect of "what is good for the banks is good for America." Then there is a close-up where we can tell from his expression he's up to no good.\nDuring the final scenes of the gunfight, we see a close up of Hatfield's gloved hand as he extends his pistol to the temple of Mrs. Mallory's head, captured in the arms of fright. By focusing Hatfield's dramatic and effeminate hand gestures, suspense builds to produce a memorable cinematic effect.\nAs for the quality of the Indian extras, it is interesting to watch them. During the gunfight the audience sees one of the stage passengers fire a shot. Then there is a cut to the charging Indians and a few fall. Then there is a cut back to a different passenger as he fires a shot, and it is cut back to another falling Indian. If you look closely, you can see director Ford's economizing as he recycles a few of the Indian getting shot off their horse scenes. (Also, the editor missed a spot where one of the supposedly dead Indian extras gets up and brushes the dust off.)\nEventually the haggard and dust covered passengers wind up in Kansas City where the shoot-out between the Kid and his quest for vengeance takes place. All ends well when Sheriff Curly helps make Dallas' dream come true. \n"Variety" reported in 1939 about the new westerns coming off the production lots and said called them "the rootin', tootin', shootin'est, bowie knife wielding bunch of ride-em-cowboy, major budget westerns the picture biz has witnessed in a decade."\n"Stagecoach," certainly ranks as 'Class A' western.
(11/25/02 5:05am)
Father Psalm," opened last Friday at the Bloomington Playwrights Project, located at 312 S. Washington. Part of the Cabaret Nouveau series, the show ran roughly 52 minutes and told the story of the horse racing Teater family. Duncan is a 13-year-old boy who must watch his father die from emphysema, because he would "walk a mile for a camel."\nDuncan Teater starred in this one-man show that told the experience of an admired father going from a strong protector of his wife, and a man who made his son feel secure as he helped teach him to tie a Windsor knot; to being kept alive by a ventilator. \nHumor, affectionate anecdotes, and parts of a family history make this emotional work written by actor, director, producer and Indiana University summa cum laude graduate something definitely worth seeing.\nThe show enjoyed a full house at its Saturday night performance, with an audience who saw a very convincing personal story of the possible end horrors of tobacco. \nTeater very cleverly made the audience understand what emphysema was by drawing on its similarities to asthma, and then interactively explained what it was like to not be able to breathe by having the whole audience expel the air from their lungs, pinch their noses shut, and wait for the body to enter a series of convulsions.\nAs a former smoker, Duncan Teater and the Bloomington Playwrights Project get a big thumbs up from me for making me realize how glad I am I quite smoking about a month ago. Also, after hearing Teater imitate the whir and gasp of a breathing machine and its tentacle like plastic tubing, I'll never go back.
(11/21/02 5:11am)
The IU Auditorium saw the sparkling lights of a disco ball being shot out, illuminating the sky and contesting the stars as a crowd of just over 1,100 found their way into the Auditorium Tuesday night.\nThey were greeted by a brightly colored muslin scrim decorated with a disco dancer deep in movement.\n"Saturday Night Fever," the stage version of the 1977 film, which played Tuesday and Wednesday, starred the very apt singer/dancer Ryan Ashley who plays the neighborhood tough guy named Tony Manero. Playing along side him was Jennifer Mrozik as Stephanie Mangano, the vivacious broad that makes Tony realize his life is going nowhere. Dena Digiacinto played Annette, the girl who loves Tony even though he strings her along with the hope of an eventual romp in the sack.\nSNF's story starts out with an apathetic paint store clerk Tony, who is a regular at the disco Odyssey 2001 with his occasional dance partner Annette. One night he meets the Stephanie Mangano, a better dancer than Annette, and starts to court her affections. Stephanie makes Tony realize his life is going nowhere, and can change that if he can devote the same determination and passion that he devotes to disco to the rest of his life.\nAshley was fantastic in his well-choreographed pelvic gyrations and corpsical contortions as he danced atop the stage to tunes like "Stayin' Alive," and "Night Fever." His vocal chords carried throughout the Auditorium with the aid of an almost perfectly disguised head set mic, but his pitch came down right on top of the notes and emitted a romantic sound. While Ashley certainly studied the movements of Travolta, he was indeed his own man as he played the avid dancer and heartthrob of women with his well-chiseled upper body.\nMrozik's Mangano played nicely the downtown girl who prefers the uptown girl image. And her voice ranks right up there with Ashley's as her soprano solos delighted the house. Also delightful were her frequent dances with Tony Manero.\nThe choreography throughout the show was elaborate, but not overly theatrical. The movements were well-rehearsed, well-timed and were so synchronized to the beat it resembled a mini Busby Berkeley extravaganza.\nDoug Booher, director of the IU Auditorium, said last week, "This show is one of those rare magical shows where everyone feels entertained and elated as they walk out of the auditorium. Nearly everyone will be humming or singing 'Stayin' Alive' or 'Disco Inferno' as they head back to their cars or rooms."\nI agree with him whole-heartedly.
