Arts & Entertainment
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Shrine Circus to bring
top aerialist and trainer
By Micki Haller
Senior Editor_
It’s time once again for lions, ti
gers, elephants, clowns, big tops and
trapeze artists as the 43rd annual
Shrine Circus comes to the State Fair
Park Coliseum.
At 7 tonight, the animals and per
formers will parade into town, start
ing at 15th and N streets. From there,
the parade will proceed west on N
Street to 11 th Street, from 11 th to 15th
Street on O Street and back to N
Street.
The first circus performance is at
7:30 p.m. Tuesday. There are per
formances at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. on
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Saturday performances are at noon,
3:30 and 7:30 p.m. On Sunday, the
performances are at 1 and 4:30 p.m.
The acts are diverse, from “big
cats” to fifth-generation circus acro
bats.
Doug Terranova is regarded as one
of the finest animal trainers in the
world. He trained both “The Big
Cats” act and “The Clyde Bros. Ele
phants.”
His tigers and lions have per
formed in the United States, Canada
and abroad. With a simple command,
the wild cals obey instantly.
Almost every young child is fasci
nated by the elephants, and these
should prove no exception. Almost
five tons each, the elephants come
from the jungles of India. They bal
ance and pose with ease. Before the
circus begins, elephant rides will be
offered.
The Shrine Circus high fliers are
The Ramos Troupe, a family aero
batic team led by brothers Andres and
Arturo and including wives Aracely
and Joanna, and sons Sandro and
Engelbert. The Mexico City troupe is
the fifth generation of circus acrobats
in the Ramos family.
“Lorelei” is the featured aerial
attraction at this year’s circus. She
comes from a circus family and has
done many different acts besides her
current act, the single trapeze.
She has performed all over the
world and is considered one of the top
artists in her profession.
Among the more than 20 acts
appearing will be the Kneisley Duo,
Zoe Anna and Her High School
Horses, the Tonys (aerial motorcycle
daredevils performing on the incline
wire), the Flying Guttys, the Lancelot
Chimpanzees, the Shirleys (a rola
bola act), the Sensational Nocks, the
Connors (a unicycle act), the Guilir
rez Family and the Davids (comedy
trampoline acts), and of course, the
clowns.
The clowns will perform three
acts: “Tidalwave of Tomfoolery,”
“Prophessors of Phoolishness” and
“Final Avalanche of Fun.”
Box seats and reserved tickets are
$6. General-admission tickets are $5
for adults and $2 for children.
Proceeds from this Shrine Circus
go to the operational expenses of the
Shrine Temples.
The Shriners support the 22 hospi
tals that they founded for burned and
crippled children. The Shriners Hos
pital system began in 1922 and now
has a network of 19 orthopedic hospi
tals and three bum institutes.
Lesbian cartoonist visits UNL I
By William Rudolph
Staff Reporter
After two delays because of late
planes, lesbian illustrator/cartoon
ist Alison Bechdel presented a slide
show discussion of her art 3:30 p.m.
Friday in the Nebraska Union’s
Regency Suite.
Bechdel, creator of the cartoon
“Dykes to Watch OutFor” and who
has had work published in the
Women’s Journal Advocate,
among other gay/lesbian maga
zines, began her informal discus
sion/lecture with slides of child
hood drawings to an audience of
nearly two dozen in a softly Ut
room. Although as a child Bechdel
drew constantly, her early creations
consisted entirely of men in rather
stereotypical poses, such as “bad
guys and hippies,” among others.
Majoring in art at a liberal arts
college, Bechdel realized that car
toons were considered “low art” by
her professors. As a result she con
centrated on abstract and concep
tual art (works in which the idea is
. more important than the finished
product), whichdidn’tcontributeto
her portfolio after graduation. At
the same time, Bechdel continued
to draw completely different sub
ject matter‘from her head” at night.
Bechdel realized that she was a
lesbian during her junior year of
college. After this, being able to
draw only men made her angry.
While she could draw women from
life, the illustrations in her mind’s
eye still consisted of men.
Eventually, Bechdel discovered
that if she thought of women as
lesbians, she was able to capture
them on paper.
“Dykes to Watch Out For” be
gan as a series of doodles in the
margins of letters to friends. Of that
early work, Bechdel sighed that she
missed “that looseness and weird
ness” of her unpublished drawings.
The first “official” “Dykes” car
toon appeared in the summer of
1983. Bechdel said her early pub
lished cartoons make her cringe,
partly because what she termed her
“own internal homophobia” made
her nervous about seeing lesbian
cartoons in print
“Dykes, which began as a one
square monthly cartoon, eventually
developed into longer strips with
multiple panels and brought a new
challenge for Bechdel: the task of
creating steady characters.
One unique aspect of lesbian
culture Bechdel wanted to integrate
into her strip was women remaining
friends after ending a love relation
ship.
“Dykes” chronicles the lives of
12
Flea market goods eclectic |
By Micki Haller
Senior Editor
Walking into the monthly flea market at
Pershing Auditorium was like taking a crash
course in the history of Nebraska culture.
Am id the smells of musty books and greased
iron farm tools, there were piles and stacks of
postcards with faded, illegible handwriting on
the back, beer cans in odd shapes, buttons of
half-forgotten candidates, depression glass and
hand-painted circular saws.
The buyers and sellers represent the singu
larity of Nebraska; a preponderance of weath
ered old men in plaids and overalls wandered
among the booths.
Almost every booth had old postcards, some
sort of flashy rhinestone jewelry and glassware.
Bill Thornton’s booth looked like every
other booth in many ways, except for the UFO
report from Alan Feinstein lying by the post
cards.
“He’s crazy,” Thornton said, but Feinstein
offers collectibles and other investment deals.
Thornton said he’s been part of the flea
r~ 11 n -i i 11 mm
market since it opened, maybe 15 years ago.
“I suppose I could say I specialize in cut
lery,” he said. He also has postcards and jew- j
elry.
His prices range from 25 cents for postcards
and marbles to $850 for a handmade quilt.
Thornton, a retired life-insurance salesman,
calls his flea market sales a “small business
enterprise.” He has two permanent spots in the
Star City Antique Mall and the Flea Market
Emporium, he said. j
Thornton said his business helps pass the
lime, is interesting to him and provides a “re
tirement supplement.”
Bargaining is welcomed, Thornton said.
“Some things you get tired of,” he said. If he
got the item cheap or it has been around for a
long time, Thornton said, he would be more
likely to cut the price. Also, he is willing to give
discounts for volume purchases. j
Like most booths, Thornton’s goods were !
eclectic. !
Pinking scissors, an antique Chinese em- j
See FLEA MARKET on 13 |
Broadway role helps Broderick
in movie version of ‘Biloxi Blues’
By Kari Kratfcy
Suff Reviewer ___
| “Biloxi Blues** continues the adventures
of Neil Simon *s autobiographical character;
Eugene Morris Jerome. This time, the naive
j 18-year-old from Brooklyn goes to Army
training camp, with amusing, if occasion
ally predictable, results.
“I’ve been in the Army three days, and
already I hate everyone,” Eugene declares.
The first half of the movie is actually quite
funny. Eugene is assigned to the platoon of
a hyper, irrational officer, S&L
Through Toomey, Eugene learns much
about army life, including push-ups, early
mornings, discipline, and rotten food.
Perhaps the funniest part of the movie is
5 when the platoon finally gets a weekend off.
I Allthe boys go to Biloxi, and awkward, in
experienced Eugene loses his virginity to a
’■'T- '
prostitute.
Matthew Broderick performed the role of
Eugene perfectly. His experience with the
part in the Tony award-winning Broadway
play wasevident. Broderick gave aconvinc
ing portrayal of Eugene as an innocent boy,
and the film’s wise-cracking remarks dem
onstrated his typically sharp, impeccable
delivery.
An additional asset to the movie was the I
supporting cast. The boys in the platoon
created memorable, distinctive characters.
Their reactions to service life, Toomey, and
to each other were believable and amusing.
All in all, however, “Biloxi Blues” was
a bit disappointing. The potential for it to be
a highly entertaining movie disappeared as ]
the enure second half dragged on and on
without going anywhere. Lines which pro
vided wit and humor in the long-running
Brpadway play fell flat in the movie version.
• “Biloxi Blues” is playing at the Plaza 4
Theaters.
I SUMMER I
EMPLOYMENT
$300 per week!
ROYAL PRESTIGE MUST SUPPLEMENT
ITS SUMMER WORK FORCE IN THE
FOLLOWING CITIES:
Ashland
Bellevue
Blair
Council Bluffs
Crete
Elkhorn
Fremont
Gretna
LaVista
Lincoln
Milford
Omaha
Ralston
Seward
Valley
Wahoo
Waterloo
Waverly
For more information, come to:
Nebraska Union
(Exact Room posted in
Daily Events Calendar)
1:30 p.m. & 3:30 p.m.
TODAY!