Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 14 March 1939 — Page 9

a

— AIA en 5 rr

resi re

Lr |

&

e

- than they knew what do with. So, like modern mil-

antiques. :

ized a little Pilgrimage through some of these old |

‘Annual Pilgrimage, . Natchez

-ing a calf which was extraordinary.

- young Viking named Herjulvsson, who technically may

‘From Indiana=Ernie Pyle

. He Got There a Little Late, buy Has a Swell Time at Natchez Where

a Antebellum South Is on Display. |

NATCHEZ, Miss., March 14.—Mrs. Roosevelt beat me to Natchez. And The Saturday Evening Post beat me to Natchez. And the Civil War and ‘the boll weevil beat me to Natchez, too. . But I’ve been on the way all the time. And once here, I'll bet none of the above-mentioned “citizens, institutions and insects were treated any better than I was. It’s just an old Natchez custom. I arrived here an unkempt and unknown Pilgrim. But I looked in the phone book, made one call, and we were off. In all my life I've never been treated as nicely by so many people all in one day. * ‘The point in coming to Natchez is to take part in their annual Pilgrimages. I believe most people think you come here to see the

beautiful flower gardens. But that isn’t it. For most of the lavish

ne Ind

Second Section

antebellum gardens have fallen to | .

waste. What you come to see are the great mansions of the pre-Civil War cotton millionaires. From the late 1700s until the Civil War the plantation owners had more money

Mr. Pyle

lionaires, they put up mansions. They sent abroad for expensive furniture, and paintings, and silver sets. And they collected

Natchez was then a great port on the Mississippi. Natchez-Under-the-Hill was the rough and shameful port city, down on the river banks. But Natchez-Above-the-Hill, up on the 200-foot bluffs, was the rich and haughty part. There seemed no end to prosperity up there. : But the end came, and like a cataclysm. The War Between the States ruined many fortunes. The abolition of slavery was a blow. Cotton prices went down. Natchez believed in the Mississippi River and spurned the newfangled railroads. So everything just went off and left Natchez there in a pocket. She went quietly to sleep. Nobody bothered her for 75 years. : ; The women of Natchez, seven years ago, organ-

mansions. Much to their surprise, 1500 people showed up. So they kept at it. And now, in their Eighth | is known all over | America. . Only a few of the old mansions remain in the original families. A tiny minority are still well off, and maintain their equipages as of old.

The Mardi Gras Spirit

We visited one—Hawthorne is the estate's name— which as late as last November was a falling-down-barn-like affair. Today it is one of the loveliest homes I have ever been in. All the original grace of architecture is still there. The inside fanlights over the doors, the wide central hall, the immense bedrooms, the four-posters. It is old, but they’ve combined modernism to make it comfortable and livable. Downtown Natchez is busy and modern. There are lots of stores, and nice shops. It impresses me as one of the most modern towns in the South. An there's a tall, modern hotel. ] You have to get out around town, and especially out in the country, to see the Natchez that has ‘be- | come famous. Some of the estates are so vast you drive half a mile from the road before you come to the “big house.” A few of the houses are open the year round, for a fee. But you have to come during Pilgrimage to get the real flavor. For then they really put. it on. There is something of the Mardi Gras spirit.

My Day

By Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt

Drives Through Texas Dust Storm; It Resembles Fog in Mountains.

T. WORTH, Tex., Monday—Yesterday I didn’t have time to tell you about our first real dust storm. In the afternoon we drove from Ft. Worth to Sherman, Tex. to dine with Mrs. Grace Ridings and speak for the Texas League of American Penwomen that night. While we were going over, I noticed a rather cloudy look in the distant sky and inquired from our driver if that was the way dust storms came up. He said: “Yes, but we never have any bad ones in this part of the state.” Just as we reached Sherman, the wind, which seems to blow a great deal out here, blew a little harder and suddenly we began to smell and taste the earth. We entered the house before the storm was at its height and everyone told us it was the worst they had seen in a long time. When we started back, the storm had about blown itself out, though we had to stop once or twice because we could not see the road ahead very clearly. It reminded me a little of driving through a heavy fog in the mountains, or along the coast of New England, from the way it alternately settled down and lifted. We returned to Elliott and Ruth's house about 1:30 a. m. It was a joy on Sunday morning to have a chance for a leisurely breakfast with them, for though Elliott had returned home on Friday night, I had seen him just for a moment at the station on Saturday. .

Thrilled at Rodeo They drove us to Dallas yesterday for a speech, which I made there in the afternoon. We had a most amusing time trying to find a place for lunch. I think everyone who motors has the same experience. There are always places you have been to once before on the road which you look for again but never can find. Finally we stopped at a very attractive looking “diner” but had little time left to eat. We were back in Ft. Worth in|time for supper with Mrs. J. B. Googins, Ruth’s mother, and then we all attended the Southwestern Exposition . and. Stock Show. If was my first experience at a real rodeo and I found it very exciting, in fact, in spots a little too exciting. I marvel at the skill of these cowboys. I envy their ability to ride and their strength and agility in dealing with cattle. There must be something in the air out here, for a 16-year-old girl gave an exhibition of roping and throw-

eo Day-by-Day Science By Science Service EIF ERICSSON sailed to America on a tip from a daring young Norseman who got there first. At least, so it appears from studies reported by a Norwegian archeologist, Prof. A. W. Brogger of the University of Oslo . How Leif Ericsson happened to sail on that long voyage which landed him in Vineland, somewhere in America, has been almost as mysterious as the exact location of Vineland itself. It has been said that Leif was doing missionary duty, carrying Christianity to Greenland at request of King Olaf of Norway when he lost his way and discovered the land of the vine. But Prof. Brogger is convinced that Ericsson sailed deliberately to America, not by chance. : His conclusions bring into prominence a headstrong

be the discoverer of America. The story is that when Leif Ericsson’s father, Eric the Red, had sailed from Iceland to establish the first Norse colony in Greenland, in the tenth century, he had been followed by this young Herjulvsson, who got lost on the way and made a landfall in a strange country—Labrador. Herjulvsson got lost because he had insisted on navigating his own ship, despite inexperience. A hard gale and fog drove his ship away from the course, and the detour took him, so Prof.

Brogger figures, to Battle Harbor, Labrador, then back |-

to Baflin’s Land and due east back to Greenland. When Eric the Red heard of it, he dispatched his son Leif to investigate the strange land. The expedition, concludes Prof. Brogger, was a sound and well-

Eehind every famous actor, every accomplished musician and every opremier danseuse is a teacher. Sometimes they are famous to the whole world. Sometimes they are known only to their profession. Some of the more successful teachers—and pupils—are presented in this series. ” » »

By Elliott Arnold

Times Special Writer ‘ ;

EW YORK, March 14.—

Frances Robinson-

Duff was trying to tell Norma Shearer all about talking with her diaphragm so Miss Shearer could play Juliet before the cameras. ~ They were in Miss Shearer’'s home in Hollywood and, Miss Robinson-Duff felt: she was getting nowhere with increasing rapidity. She prepared to start again from Chapter One

‘when suddenly she heard

Miss Shearer’s young baby squawking upstairs. She grabbed Miss Shearer's arm and told her to follow her (tone, high C:—tonique, power, argument). They rushed up to the baby’s bedroom and listened for a while to the infant’s unrestrained argument, and then Miss RobinsonDuff pointed triumphantly to the lower part of the baby’s - back, where muscles were bunching with: each yelp, and said (tone, A:-—desire. description) :—“That’s what I mean.” Miss Shearer saw and from that moment on the diaphragm became all-important in her life. as it does in the lives of all persons whom Miss Robinson-Duff deigns to teach. . This almost legendary Miss Robinson-Duff thinks, talks, eats breathes and sleeps nothing but diaphragm, and she’s given roughly the same attitude to hundreds of bright-eyed stage warmers who had thought previously the diaphragm was maybe something that went with good white wine. Thee She has been probably the most potent force in the American dramatic scene for years, and her stature and importance naturaily increased when the movies learned to make noise. : #2»

ITH her diaphragm under strict control, ‘and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. under strict glee, Miss Shearer went forth bravely to battle out the tragedy with Mr.

Side Glances

. diaphragm naturally.

3 %

Frances Robinson-Duff gives Elizabeth Havey a mirror to teach her mechanics of breathing from the diaphragm.

Leslie Howard, and when the opus was completed, she sent Miss Robinson-Duff a telegram expressing hope Miss RobinsonDuff liked “our picture.” “Children make sounds naturally, with no restraint,” Miss Robinson-Duff said, apropos of the baby incident. She used authority in that statement (that high C again). “They use their It 'is_only when we become older and artificially constrict our speech that difficulties come in.” This teacher was flown specially to Hollywood by Miss Shearer’s company to train Miss Shearer for the Shakespearean role. At one time or another in her long career, Miss Robinson-Duff has taught Helen . Hayes, Ina Claire, Katharine Hepburn, Miriam Hopkins, Ruth Chatterton, Jean Arthur, Nora Bayes, Clark Gable, Dorothy Gish, Cornelia’ Otis Skinner, to mention a very, very few. The pupil list also includes Richard Halliburton, the author with wanderlust, who reports his adventures to ladies’ literary clubs. “I'gave Helen Hayes her voice,” Miss Robinson-Duff said. (You could hear the high C by yourself this time, couldn’t you?) “She could not have done those wonderful . things with her voice in ‘Victoria Regina’ without a full knowledge of the diaphragm. Changing the .voice gradually, from that of a young sweet 2irl, so tender—” tone, B, possibly— hope, aspirations, grace notes— “—to that of the aged woman. It was magnificent.” Miss Robinson-Duff is a handsome woman, charged with force and imperiousness. You don’t go around telling these million doilar babies what’s what without feeling like something. Her studio is at 235 E. 62d St. In her studio, surrounded by tenderly autographed. pictures of the theatrically great, Miss Robin-son-Duff placed the index finger of her right hand against her right nostril and inhaled with considerable noise.. Then she held the same index finger in front of

her lips and whistled out the air

against the finger. This. was

}

prepared venture, conducted by 35 men set to repeat

Se

breathing with the diaphragm. She explained she made the students blow the air against their fingers to make them aware of the physical properties of air. Ed 8 ” ; HEN she startec to say these things in a ringing voice: “Be’-la-be’lei-be’le<be’li-be’lo-belu. Me’ ta - me’tei - me’te - me’ti - me’to - me'tu.” At the same time grabbed her questioner’s right hand and placed it first against her chest, then against the back of her neck, then on the top of

_ her head.

“Do .you feel the vibrations?” she said when she finished. “Sure you can, right through the skull. That is resonance.” ! The first thing Miss RobinsonDuff hands to a new pupil is a mimeographed sheet of paper at the top of which is the following command: “Marry my tone, breathe. Do not bang your words. Articulate. Do not sing, rhythm and tempo.” ; By “marrying my tone” Miss Robinson-Duff . means for the pupils to answer her quickly, using the same voice inflection. A hearty question, for instance, will require a hearty answer. Listed on the sheet is a scale of inflections, based on the musical scale, from low C to high C. Low C expresses: joy, for instance; tone F is described as a trumpet tone; D is self-pity. The pupil must learn to iriflect’ his voice on any of these tones with any phrase in the world. Explanatory phrases are given the pupil to illustrate. Tone A (desire, descriptipn) is, “I want a free life and I want free air” Tone D (self pity), “We are so weary, my heart and 1.” Tone F (trumpet tone, keynote, commencing tone), “I am the youngest son of Sir Rowland de Bois.” Miss Robinson-Duff also instructs the pupil about the anatomical structure of the -torso, chest and head, to show them the passage of sound. The explanation is so realistic, she said, some

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

1—On which coast of South America is the republic of Chile? 2—In astronomy, what is the name of the path described in space by a heavenly body in its revolution around another body? | - 3—Name the Chief of the French Army General Staff. 4—Is aluminum a conductor of electricity? 5—Name the two men who served as Secretary of Agriculture in Woodrow Wilson's cabinet. ; 6—What college is located at Hanover, N. H.? od ” ” »

Answers

1—West coast. L 2—0Orbit. : - 3m Gen. Marie Gustave (Gamein. )

4—Ves.

. 5—David F. Houston and Ed-

ward T. Meredith. 6—Dartmouth College. 8 f J »

ASK THE TIMES

Inclose a 3-cent stamp for reply when addressing any ~estion of fact or information The Indianapolis Times vv as. n Service Bureau, 1013 13th St., N. W., Washington, D, C. Legal and medical

TUESDAY, MARCH 14, 1939

PLES for TEACH] R

. Entered as ‘Second-Class Matter at ' Postoffice, Indianapolis, Ind.

Our Town

The first day t h at Katherine Locke (left, above) tried out for Maurice

Evans’ Hamlet, she read Ophe-

lia's lines, burst into tears. Margaret ‘Webster, play director (above, right) taught her how to play the part.

_ Pupil Havey and Teacher Robinson-Duff * . breathe out, with emphasis on the part played. by. the diaphragm in controlling - the speaking voice.

of the male pupils occasionally

become faint. ” ” ”

* “ry~HE women seem to stand it

better,” she said. “One man, I remember, passed out.” Miss Robinson-Duff’s latest pupil is Miss Charlotte Greenwood, the musical comedy star, who is being transformed by Miss Rob-inson-Duff into a dramatic actress to play the role of Queen Elizabeth in a new Elizabeth-Mary of

. Scots play. Miss Robinson-Duft

is exceedingly proud of discovering this hidden tragedienne. John Colton, who wrote “A Cry Among the Reeds,” adapting it

from a work by Schiller, thought

Miss Greenwood might play the role and sent her to Miss Robin-son-Duff to see what she thought about it. “The first thing I did was discover how much diaphragm she had,” Miss Robinson-Duff said. Apparently she had enough, because the lessons now are proceeding apace. “To meet Miss Robinson-Duff is a great experience,” Miss Greenwood said. “One doesn’t

have time to think of liking or

not liking.” The initial conferences were made around the dinner table, and Miss Greenwood, conscious of girth, steadfastly refused to join her teacher. The dining room was dimly lighted,” “Had the lights been brighter Miss Robinson-Duff would have noticed a slight drool and .all this

because of a tall girl who didn’t

want to add any acorn hips.” Miss Robinson-Duff does a great deal of work with nontheatrical persons. She says she is able to cure stammering and stuttering, and can erase the

heaviest accent. * Her diction les-

sons are events by themselves. When na Claire was awarded a medal for diction she sent Miss Robinson-Duff a telegram in which she said she hoped she had not “disgraced” her. After the critics went to town on Katherine Hepburn for her performance in “The Lake,” this Hollywood ' person

Miss Greenwood said. :

chased over to teacher for lessons. And if Miss Robinson-Duff turns Miss Greenwood into a dramatic discovery, the lady in 62d St. will have a new one for the books.

Last Christmas a wealthy bro-

ker ‘gave his actress friend six months with Miss Robinson-Duff

for a Christmas present.

i

“I should have been wrapped in

- cellophane,” Miss Robinson-Duff

said. ” ” » HE first day Katherine Locke tried out for Ophelia’s role in Maurice Evans’ uncut version of “Hamlet,” she read through part of the script, burst into tears, and flew off the stage. Margaret Webster, who was directing the play, ran after her. “She told me to go home and have a good cry,” Miss Locke admitted wryly in Miss Webster's office in the St. James’ Theater Building. I had this insane fright. I didn’t know what it. was all about.” : ‘It was quite a jump, you see, for the little stenographer of “Having Wonderful Time.” - Everybody else in the cast had played the Bard before. They were old hands. Miss Locke is considered one of the most promising of the younger actresses, but this was something out of her line. : A But Miss Webster, daughter of Dame May Whitty, a New Yorker with a tricky Piccadilly accent picked up from a long residence in London, was determined that Miss Locke make good in her part. Her job was to make Miss Locke forget she was ina theatrical holy-room and try to feel she was just doing another play. When Miss Locke gawked through the Ophelia dancing steps Miss Webster casually suggested she kick off her shoes. The gesture restored normalcy, and Miss Locke turned . lissome, When Miss Locke walked into the mad scene, her hands seeming as big as houses and she suggested holding a fan to give herself something to do, Miss Webster said, sure, go ahead. The director trained her to mouth properly the measured Shakespearean lines and to fight off a tendency to sing-song now and then. Cigaret dangling from lips. and wearing slacks most of the time, she kept the rehearsals at .a necessarily informal pitch, and finally Miss Locke began to

ive all. Fymee biggest shock, without quesi came not from.

on, however, Miss Webster, but from Mr. Evans himself. After :Miss Locke fluttered through a soul-frighten-Ing scene one afternoon, - Mr. Evans, the lad with the godly diction, slipped by her and whispered, convict-wise from the corner of his mouth—“You got it, kid; you got it.”

Next—The operatic debut of Rosemarie Brancato.

Everyday Movies—By Wortman

In.and Ouf of the:Red With Sim.

PAGE 9!

By Anton Scherrer

. With Two Art Shows Going On, I+ Seems Fitting to Recall That Feud Between Gen. Wallace and Critic.

ODAY'’S piece is about the quarrel Alois E. Sinks and Gen. Lew Wallace had back in 1878. I thought it would be kind of cute to run it today as a contribution to the

{ two Indiana Art Shows now being staged in

Indianapolis, the one at Block’s; the other at the Herron Art Institute. = | Mr. Sinks was the first proféssional art critic in Indianapolis, which is to say that he was paid real-fore

sure money for what he thought. For that reason he was an object of considerable curiosity because, up to that time, art criticism, and plenty of it, could be had for ' nothing. Even if Mr. Sinks had not been paid, he still would have been something to look at, for he was as genuine a Bohemian as ever Teacher yaste pafts. His Sowing ie and baggy pants, to say no g of his unconventional manners, Mr. Scherray were a source of perpetual joy "to everybody,

Nobody knows why Mr. Sinks picked Indianapolis as a place to practice. Born near Dayton, O., in 1848, he ran away from his farm home to enter the Union Army as a drummer boy. He was a rattling good drummer because, in less time than it takes to tell, he rose to a position on Gen. Mc= Connell’s staff. He was wounded and discharged before the end of the war and it was then, for some reason, that he decided to become an artist. An artist’s life, said Mr. Sinks, couldn’t be worse than a soldier’s, but he didn’t know what he was get< ting into. Certainly, he had no idea of the run-in he was to have with Gen. Wallace.

Art Critic Sinks had been in town just two years when the Indiana School of Art, led by John Love, startled the natives with the first (1878) big art show ever held here. Included among the ex= hibits were two paintings by Gen. Wallace who, bub for the watchfulness of his father, might have been another Indiana painter.

General Has the Last Word

Gen. Wallace's two pictures were labeled “The Dead Line at Andersonville” and, believe it or not, “Cupid.” Mr. Sinks lit into Cupid. Gen. Wallace, it appears, had painted Cupid with purple wings and it was so preposterous, so utterly repugnant to Mr. Sinks’ artistic and classical conception of what Cupid, the little rogue, should look like that even his vocabulary failed him. But even so, he made it perfectly plain that he didn’t care for cupids with purple wings. The controversy rocked Indianapolis to its founda« tions because nobody could figure out how two such experienced men as the General and Mr. Sinks could have such diverse opinions concerning the proper appearance of Cupid.

The debate might have lasted for years had not Gen, Wallage put an end to it. Biding his time until Mr. Sinks ran out of mean things to say, Gen. Wallace sent a letter to the papers in the course of which he explained that his conception of Cupid might be wrong, but if it was, so was Mr. Milton’s. And just to make sure that Mr. Sinks wouldn't miss the point, he cited “Paradise Lost,” Book 4, I, 764, to wit: “Here Love his golden shaft employs, here lights His constant lamp, and waves his purple wings, Reigns here and revels.”

Jane Jordan Wife Ill, Asks Advice on Taking In Husband's: Mother and Sister,

EAR JANE JORDAN-I am 44 years old and my husband is 50. We have been married 27 years, Our children are all married. I love my husband and he loves me. We always get along fine. His father died when he was a boy of 14, and he took care of his mother, two sisters and a brother.

Now they are all married except one sister who is 50. His mother is 70. | They are both sick. His sister and brother want us to take his mother and the other sister to live with us. Now I have been sick six years and unable to do my own work. I know I will be a wreck if they come to live with us. What do you say? A WORRIED WIFE.

Answer—The old people. have to live with someone, Whether or not it should be you and;your husband depends upon what you have done for them in the past, in proportion to what the other brother and sister have done. ¢ " The care of the old should be equally shared by the productive members of the family. I do not know whether your turn has come or not i I do not know how much you have done before. | If the other members of the family are trying to shirk their responsibility, you are perfectly justified im refusing to be imposed upon, but if they have done their share, I don’t see what you can do but shoulder the burden unless you are financially able to pay for their board elsewhere. ta s =» DEE JANE JORDAN.—I am a young girl of 19, I went with a boy for six months and was pere fectly happy until one Saturday night when he said he was breaking a date with me on Sunday night ta / be with another girl. I love him very much. What

should I do about it? K L.

Answer—Get over it, of course. Your pride is hurt ‘worse than your heart. To hang on to a lost love af» fair is indicative of a lack of courage. You're afraid to tackle another for fear of another failure; so you hang on to what you lost as a defense against making another effort. Of course you'd like to win him back. It would ree store your sense of power. But the harder you try, the less chance you have of succeeding. If you intere est yourself in another boy you'll be better off, and it may pique the pride of your indifferent friend to the point where he will try to win you back instead of vice versa. | JANE JORDAN,

Put your problems in a. letter to Jane Jordan who will answer your questions in this column daily.

New Books Today

Public Library Presents—

pY telling the stories of the great dancers, their p artistic backgrounds, and their contributions to their art, Lillian Moore, a member of the American ballet company, traces, in ARTISTS OF THE DANCE (Crowell), the development of the dance as an art form. : : The era of the classic ballet produced the brile liant Marie Camargo and Marie Sallee, who first harmonized decore, costumes, music, and style of dancing with the ballet theme. The romantic ballet, of delicate and unearthly beauty, had the exquisite Taglioni and the vivacious Fanny Eissler. The magnificent Russian ballet, at its peak under Diaghie leff, had an amazing aggregation of talent—Nijinsky, the lovély Karsavina, Pavlova, Massine and Balane chine, who has brought the Russian heritage to this country. Sea With completely contrasting ideas, believing tha$ all movement should be natural, Isadora Duncan revos lutionized the dance and brought about the modern style. Following her came Humphrey, Weidman ‘and Graham of the most advanced school of the

t | niques, has evolved

modern dance, and Kurt Jooss, who, using al}

Ph