doiu
Toilet bowl tragedies offer true acting test
"It's a mouthwash you could
!o',".-." Could you say that with a
straight fjce when you knew that
rr.iSlb-.s .vould laugh at you and retch?
T -;:'.'- '.-,3t makes a true professional,
i :. ; I-- 4 .3 admired people who
ij.. ::.. ..Tough to say such
t .-; ' j ' :n '. '.ViO'i.
It T'j.t ' .it training for actors.
I; is mihtairted that the best
.-sj y; young performers is to
v.o.''s a ShjKsp'.we company or in
i ' -ock doing Bertolt Brecht,
z G'V.-iiI, A'-t'vjr Miller the
f-:Hy by thj great playwrights,
if you pause to think about it,
thiit ail wrong, because the greatest
plays J: -ly must Ix? the easiest to
perform. It's easy to sound good when
you say, "It is the east, and Juliet is
the sun" or "That was the unkindest
cut of all." It may take subtle
intonation to. speak Shakespeare
ingeniously, but it takes a French
accent to speak it badly.
Novice actors should avc'-' great
plays and seek out bad ones. Lousy
lines can give them a sense of the
challenge involved in conveying sense
and personal feeling. Budding
musicians can play Chopin without
mistakes, but that doesn't mean
they're ready for the concert circuit.
There are examples. Look at
William Shatner, who played Captain
Kirk in Star Trek. He started his career
playing Shakespeare in Canada, and it
didn't do him any good; when it came
time to deliver all that cornball
space-age philosophy, he was reduced
to inane punctuation and widened
eyes.
I always had the sneaking suspicion
that Dr. Spock wanted to knock him
out with his Vulcan nerve-grip.
moi kielcboord
you hove my word
Look, on the other hand, at John
Bernardino, star of the soap opera
Genera Hospital, a perennial TV actor
who recently challenged all comers to
an "acting contest." I don't know
what in the world an acting contest is,
but if one ever were held, ' think
Bernardino probably would hold his
own. When you've been saying things
like "Jessica, are you sure want the
baby?" for ten years, "friends,
Romans, countrymen" is pud.
It is the toilet bowl tragedies, the
underarm soliloquies that test an actor
to the utmost. The small-timers who
bravely attempt "don't squeeze the
Charmin" and "for the first time in
years, I need a laxative" are those
suffering spirits, dear friends, who
raise my admiration even as their
words turn my stomach. Have some
sympathy for these poor devils,
although they lay your soul to waste.
Segal's Love 'Blumes' again
n Glenda Jackson's garden
Is.1' v,. ii4.
George Segal is having trouble with his love
life lotely. Social and Bume In Love left the
Cinema 1 theatre last week. Now he is back
j -mi, co Vijiniu) with Glenda Jackson, in a
',M'! loo; -toi'y, A Touch cf C7?ss.
v' ,'.;.'( , p'Oihuj'id and directed by Melvin
Fi 'ik '."!,.' Ims bi.en writing, producing and
,: ,;v-ti'".'; v..' minor comedies since 1942),
A Tcir:r -f O.iss is encumbered by what has to
t; - o n.' 1f l',- oldest plots in trie world.
Vt American businessman living in London,
S. : has h series of incredibly coincidental
!,!;iin.?s with Jackson, a young British fashion
t! ::-.irrer who is more than happy to return his
at v ;snces.
T'.i- t wo I dv d v.''(4. - long .jffair in Malaga
v. i.n'oi tunatoly for them, they fall in love
a! d unfortunately for the audience the story
tur'e. to cliche' Segal isn't prepared to give her
up i ;r, ,e i
ji c, J,i!
Am 1
th.nt; ,;:e :ht. u'ual slip ups such as, putting on a
.Ot.k, Hud coveuips i he trios to keep his
wi'e !; ijtn finding out.
The best parts of the film are the crisp,
well handled comedy scenes in Malaga. Hoping
oruj'rwiliy for some simple no-strings sex, their
p. ship soon deteriorates. Arguing,
shouting and insulting each other, their scrap
evct.tUc.My ends up in a good old fashioned fight
whef. ii . Htompts to rape her but can't get his
zipper c)o un.
i -'.! J i.- ;on Hr: a brilliantly matched
hi , r .My vr.nr.'.! 'hey actually don't fit
together at all. They are dynamic in their
attraction for each other. Jackson gives more
insight into her character, but Segal, a good
actor who has never really hit it big, gives one
of those enjoyable performances that wins a
person over.
He is also director Frank's vehicle for what
moralizing is found in the film. Segal is a sharp,
classy executive at the beginning of the movie,
but his amorous adventures lead him from one
comic faux pa? to another. When adultery is
replaced with love after he returns to London,
fjrf.
I'M! ifyf'Mdr' te" I
4?:. , k
."..ual. the haunting image of his wife
en luiks in the background.
i we iidve seen so many times before.
greg ukow
key grip
his life is so frazzled that he Incomes pitiable.
In spite of Segal and Jackson, A Touch of
Class is only intermittantly enjoyable. It deals
with the comedy and tragedy of a love affair,
but lacks the luster to liven up this age-old
story.
s-
This week's offerings in the Charlie Chaplin
Film Series are The Circus (1928) and The
Immigrant (1917).
The films begin at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Friday
and at 3 p.m., 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Saturday i
Sheldon.
Mime Marcel Marceau stars in The Mime of Marcel
Marceau, the 'ree Lively Arts fi;m in Sheldon Art
Gallery Sunday at 3 p.m.
t ii s. si i a. r I j- 1 ( I "V"
CI iiVciUU WUUUIIU MINI
Unseasonably wet weather to clear by weekend
k Chtir.h j'lti Omar Sharif head the cast of Doctor
?.';':''), this week's weekend film at Henzlik Hall. The
' ! K .!'- spect'icular will be shown at 7 p.m. Friday,
; ; . ;--H ?u vi jy for 75 cent',.
M"l
"71
is : geriuine masterpiece of staggering
;; coortions." -Edward Behr, Newsweek
'f, not a 'dirty' movie. The film is stark,
sensitive and completely shattering
in its intensity. Yes, by all means, see
L as t Ta n g o '. " -Aaron Schindler, Family Circle
i' ijr-3 J
ili
United Arlis.s
If the weather seems cooler
and wetter than usual this
month, it is, according to John
Birdsall of the National
Weather Service office in
Lincoln.
Temfxiratures have averaged
two to three degrees below
normal for September, he said.
The coolest recorded this
autumn was 34 degrees on
Sept. 18.
The average first freeze in
Lincoln is Oct. 18, but it has
occurred as early as Sept. 24 in
some years, he said.
The recent severe weather
and extended rainy period was
an indirect result of hurricane
Irah located near the Baja
Peninsula of Mexico, he said.
Warm, mo;st air was drawn
north from the Gulf of Mexico
by the hurricane and clashed
with a cold ront from the
Pacific Northwest over
southeastern Nebraska. It
resulted in a series of tornadoes
and thunderstoi ms.
Lincoln has recorded 5.94
' Thii it our iPOionl Open your hoart to
' tvdina and dinofor the heollh giving
fun of the open air while getting there
under vur own power. Il l Americo't
(nilntt niowina outdoor port . . . but to
'J f&Z$gr rffflZZL' Sh,nn blko Aligned for the
5r adult rider.
ene, St
""Xin wheel
Onfililw make the differ
Schwinn quality that provel itielf
eli, bearing, frame, ond moil im
r p ,rtant. the ride, Slop in and icleft
A. . -i-., -i in . r...A
(rom our nuge lemnu" w .r---.
r . . J . i 1 . n mnnll
f WmWrM SCHWINN CYCLERY
i'V
3321 Pioneer 488-2101
Daily
8 5 Thur.
8 8 Sat. 8 3
inches of precipitation so far
this month. That compares
with an averaye of 2.53 inches.
Friday's forecast calls for
gradually clearing skies with
temperatures in the 70s. There
is little chance of more
P'ecipitation.
.... ; rvvi.Aioii'
1 '. il .-'II ii llhIC
P I ' it I " I I I " L
j Jo"H.m's
i Nook
daily nebraskan
2710 Vine
Antiques Books
Collectables
Sat.
10 am 6 pm
friday, September 28, 1973