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PAGE 6—February 1,1973
LIFE IN MUSIC
BY THE DAMEANS
You’re So Vain
You walked into the party, like you were walking on to a yacht.
Your hat strategically dipped below one eye, your scarf it was apricot.
You had one eye in the mirror as you watched yourself go about.
And all the girls dreamed that they’d be your partner, they’d be your
partner, and
CHORUS: You’re so vain, you probably think this song is about you,
You’re so vain, I’ll bet you think this song is about you, don’t you,
don’t you?
You had me several years ago when I was still quite naive.
When you said that we made such a pretty pair and that you would
never leave,
But you gave away the things you loved and one of them was me,
I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee, clouds in my
coffee, and .. .
Well I hear you went up to Saratoga and your horse naturally won.
Then you flew your Lear jet to Nova Scotia to see the total eclipse
of the sun,
Well you’re where you should be all the time, and when you’re not
your’re with some underworld spy or the wife of a close friend,
wife of a close friend,
and . . .
by Carly Simon
(c Quackenbush Music ASCAP)
The vain person: that species found only among humans which displays the
following general characteristics:
1. ) Travels in bunches -- the vain person (v.p.) is seldom without the company
of others in the species. They tend to seek each other out as partners for
gatherings and can usually be found near mirrors (either real ones or other
people who can tell them what they want to see.) Isolated, the v.p. tends to
wither since only others in the species can supply the limited diet which the v.p.
must be fed.
2. ) Pre-occupation with self - the v.p. is not good at forming relationships
since life for him is a dead end one-way street, leading to him. He chooses
associates the way he would gather ornaments for Christmas trees, picking only
those which wound enhance his appearance in public. His basic fear is to be cau-
jght with someone other v.p.’s dissaprove of.
3. ) Concern for externals - attracted by the rich and fancy, for example,
apricot scarves, yachts and Lear jets. Partner selection is based much on how
well built the model is. The v.p. is usually too nearsighted to recognize that
externals fade and change with the passage of time and he is prone to trade off
anything old or out out of style for that which is newer, prettier and fancier,
even when this involves other people.
4. ) Slow to grow or let grow -- since the v.p. surrounds himself with those who
tell him what he wants to hear, he can never be confronted or challenged, both
of which are essential to growth. He is never wrong because he works all things
to his advantage. Even when some one sings a song of criticism, he enjoys the
attention and probably thinks the song is about him. The v.p. does not let
people get too close to him because of his fear that someone will eventually ask
him about the mask he wears. He cannot afford to be hurt in this way because
he would have to admit that he has a deeper level than the one he shows off.
Cure: heavy dose of humility, either self-administered (preferred) or inflicted
by means of some crisis (not always guaranteed and sometimes leads to even
further vanity.) The cure is most effective when administered over a period of
time in the presence of someone who sees the v.p. as a person who needs time
and encouragment to take a step in the direction of deeper values and
relationships. Such a person does not hesitate to point out the bad as well as the
good in others. Caution: the v.p. has been known to attack one who attempts
such an honest cure.
Followup: Once the v.p. has been led out of the circle of vanity he must be
reminded continually not to become bitter toward those who are still v.p.’s.
Bitterness is a natural tendency in those who feel they have been used and hurt
(Carly Simon seems to show this a little.) The vain person is still a person and
somewhere deep down is lovable and can love in return. Even though he’s a little
rough to live with when he’s vain, with patience and friendship, even he can be
encouraged to break out of that empty world in which we all live at some time
in our lives.
(All correspondence should be directed to: The Dameans, St. Joseph’s Church, 216
Patton A ve., P.O. Box 5188, Shreveport, La. (71105)
TV Movies
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 4 — 9:00 p.m.
(ABC) - GOODBYE, COLUMBUS (1969) -
No matter what network snipping is done to
make this one suitable for home viewing, it
will remain quite adult in theme via its
open-eyed and uncompromising look at the
generation gap in early-Sixties, affluent
America. The film, starring Richard Benjamin
as an ambitious young man and Ali MacGraw
as the rich college girl he pursues (both as
representing segments of contemporary
Jewish life in America), traces conflicting
social and generational attitudes that result in
a general disillusionment for almost
everybody involved. Much of the story is
devoted to the young couple’s sexual
relationship, and the frank treatment here is
for the mature only. (A-IV)
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 5 — 8:00 p.m.
(NBC) - FUNERAL IN BERLIN (1966) -
Michael Caine is back at his old Ipcress File
stand as nearsighted Harry Palmer,
disreputable British intelligence man. The
plot’s mingling of German, Russian, British,
and Israeli agents defies synopsis but provides
a great deal of action and excitement.
Director Guy Hamilton has the benefit of
Otto Heller’s brilliant color photography but
audiences may find themselves getting a little
tired from all the over-exposure that
undercover work has been receiving. (A-lll)
9:00 p.m. (ABC) - THE BROTHERHOOD
(1968) - Kirk Douglas as an aging, doomed
Sicilian-born, American-bred Mafia Don gives
one of his most memorable performances.
The film, directed by Martin Ritt (HUD,
SOUNDER), is slow and measured, but the
interwoven characteristics of family devotion
and criminal ruthlessness are tellingly exposed
in an attempt to underline the curious Mafia
mentality. With its brutal portrayals and
violent action — as Douglas fights vainly to
preserve position and life in the struggle with
ambitious mobsters - THE BROTHERHOOD
is for adult viewers. (A-lll)
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6 — 8:00 p.m.
(NBC) - FIRECREEK (1968) - Henry Fonda
and Jimmy Stewart star in a big Western that
has a message, if only one could figure out
what it is. The movie is reminiscent of the
showdown situation immortalized in HIGH
NOON (which starred Gary Cooper), but it
lacks the punch. Oh, yes, the elusive message:
the film is saying that (a) fighting and
shootouts are good, or (b) fighting and
shootouts are bad. Take your pick, but don’t
waste your time. (A-ll)
8:30 p.m. (ABC) -- DIVORCE HIS;
DIVORCE HERS (Part I) — Richard Burton
and Elizabeth Taylor star in this two-part,
made-for-TV drama about a crumbling
modern marriage. The gimmick, which
accounts for the two parts, has the same story
told from different viewpoints. The husband’s
point of view is shown tonight, and the wife's
will follow tomorrow night (Wednesday,
February 7). In other words, it’s the lady’s
magazine “Can This Marriage Be Saved”
concept popularized for TV.
9:30 p.m. (CBS) - VISION OF DEATH -
Made-for-TV thriller centers on a psychic
professor’s “vision” of explosive devices being
planted around the picturesque city of
Denver, Colorado. Monte Markham plays the
clairvoyant prof, and Telly Savalas is the
tough, skeptical city detective who checks his
story out. Plot and competent acting provide
a fairly taut TV movie experience.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7 — 8:30
p.m. (ABC) - DIVORCE HIS; DIVORCE
HERS (Part II) -- Conclusion of
Burton-Taylor vehicle on marital breakup,
told tonight from the little lady’s point of
view.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8 —9:00 p.m.
(CBS) - THE PROFESSIONALS (1966) -
Richard Brooks has written a straight action
entertainment that rarely bogs down in telling
its story. Four soldiers of fortune (Lee
Marvin, Burt Lancaster, Woody Strode, and
Robert Ryan) are hired to rescue a woman
(Claudia Cardinale) being held for ransom
deep in Mexican territory. Each of these men
has a particular skill needed to accomplish an
almost impossible mission. The bandit in this
case is an imaginary revolutionary called Raza
sympathetically acted by Jack Palance. Ralph
Bellamy as the aggrieved husband of Cardinale
should also be mentioned for his part. What
raises THE PROFESSIONALS above the level
of the average adventure film is the stylish
manner and steacy pace of its action. But
what is surprising is the liberal use of coarse
language and sensuous scenes in this type of
outdoor action film. (A-lll)
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9 — 9:00 p.m.
(CBS) - THE UNDEFEATED (1969) - Solid,
unpretentious Western has old-fashioned
movie virtues and the great strengths of John
Wayne and Rock Hudson in the key roles.
Wayne and Hudson are, respectively,
ex-Union and ex-Confederate officers leading
bands toward Mexico for a new start. They
meet, clash a bit, and gradually develop a
deep respect for each other, all the while
taking adventure and adversity by the horns.
Good viewing for all. (A-l)
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10 —9:00 p.m.
(NBC) -- THE ADROMEDA STRAIN (1971)
Unnecessarily complicated and
technologically cluttered storyline puts a
strain on an otherwise tense not-so-sci-fi
movie based on the Michael Crichton
best-seller about deadly microbes brought
back from outer space. After wiping out an
entire New Mexico hamlet except for two
inhabitants - an infant and an elderly
alcoholic gentleman - the “Andromeda
Strain” is isolated in an elaborate,
multilayered underground lab, where the
government has enlisted the country’s top
scientists and medical specialists to analyze
the bacteria and come up with something to
destroy it before it wipes mankind off the
face of the earth. Despite being overdone in
many ways, the story itself is gripping and its
impact is sharp. (A-ll)
NO PASSING ZONE - The Pilgrim Church was on the move literally in
Montana recently when St. Theodore Church was moved from Garrison,
Mont., to Avon, Mont., 13 miles away. A truck pulls the church along
Highway 12, blocking the whole road, but movers reported no traffic
tieups because they were enough turnouts to permit cars to pass every
mile or so. The new location is closer to an interstate highway and more
accessible to parishioners. (NC Photo by Sister M. Catherine Dougherty)
The National Council of Churches
BY KAY LESLIE
(NC News Service)
Last December, for the ninth time
since the National Council of Churches
was formed, representatives of its 33
member communions met in general
assembly to decide how to carry out
their ecumenical mission in the years
ahead.
The delegates, meeting in Dallas,
adopted a reorganization plan that was
initiated at the last general assembly,
held in Detroit three years ago.
Under the new plan the basic
orientation of the council will not
change. It will continue to hold the
same fundamental purposes that have
been part of its constitution, the first of
which is:
“To manifest more fully the oneness
of the church of Christ according to the
Scriptures and to further the efforts of
the member churches in proclaiming the
Gospel of Jesus Christ to the end that
all men may believe in Him.”
But the new organizational plan will
enable the council to respond more
flexibly and sensibly to the needs of its
member churches and the people who
make up the churches.
Interest in the Dallas general
assembly was not confined to the
member churches. Catholics had a
special interest because the bishops of
the United States are considering the
question of whether the Catholic
Church should join the council.
After a careful, three-year study, a
high level Catholic Church-National
Council of Churches committee
reported that although Catholic
membership in the council would
involve difficulties, no insuperable
obstacle stood in the way.
Although such high level discussions
have been going on for some time, the
council -- now composed entirely of
Orthodox and Protestant churches - is
largely an unknown quantity to most
Catholics. It is probably best known to
Catholics from its statements, many of
them on social issues, and from the
frequent and vocal criticisms of the
council, largely from conservative
opponents of those statements.
What is the council? As its name
indicates, it is simply an agency through
which national church bodies come
together for fellowship and cooperative
action. Some other religious
organizations are related to the council
or its subordinate units, but the
members of the council are 33 national,
Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican
church bodies.
The council was formed in 1950 to
unite the old Federal Council of
Churches, which dated from 1908, and
eleven other interchurch agencies
working in such fields as foreign
missions, home missions, and religious
education.
The churches forming the council
today differ in theology, church
structure, ethnic composition and other
ways, but they find a basis of
cooperation in the fact that, as the
preamble to the constitution of the
council states:
“The member communions,
responding to the Gospel revealed in the
Scriptures, confess Jesus, the incarnate
Son of God, as Savior and Lord.”
Though the council is the principal
organizational expression of the
ecumenical movement in the United
States, it does not engage in efforts to
bring about mergers among its member
churches. It is sympathetic to move
towards greater Christian unity, but the
responsibility for merger negotiations
remains with the churches directly
involved.
The eight Protestant bodies currently
seeking to work out a merger through
the Consultation on Church Union
(COCU) are all members of the council,
but the council is not sponsoring COCU.
Membership in the council does not
keep a church from establishing any
other contacts it may desire with its
sister churches, whether those churches
are themselves members of the council
or not. Any time two or more churches
want to establish dialogue programs or
service projects on their own, they are
free to go ahead.
As an instrument of the ecumenical
movement, the council maintains close
relationships with interchurch groups on
other levels - local, state, worldwide.
But church councils at each level are
independent. The national council is not
a part of the World Council of
Churches, and local and state councils
are not part of the National council,
though they share common goals and
work in close cooperation.
The headquarters are located in the
Interchurch Center in New York City.
And the staff, numbering about 110 on
the elected or executive level and about
320 others, work under the over-all
supervision of the general secretary, Dr.
R.H. Edwin Espy, an American Baptist
layman.
At Dallas it was clear that the staff
does not control the council. The
general assembly, which elects officers
of the council and determines its policy,
was composed of approximately 750
delegates chosen by the member
churches. These delegates set policy and
approved the reorganization plan.
Presiding was Dr. Cynthia C. Wedel of
Washington, D.C., an Episcopalian
elected in 1969 as the first woman
president of the council. Her
precedessor was a layman of the United
Methodist Church, Dr. Arthur S.
Flemming, who was secretary of Health,
Education and Welfare under President
Eisenhower. Her successor, elected at
the Dallas meeting, is the Rev. W.
Sterling Cary.
The president, who is not on the
council’s paid staff, also presides over
meetings of the governing board, a
310-member body that conducts the
affairs of the council. So it is the
churches that control the council, not
the other way around. As the
constitution states:
“The council shall have no authority
or administrative control over the
churches which constitute its
membership. It shall have no authority
to prescribe a common creed, form of
church government or form of worship,
or to limit the autonomy of the
churches cooperating in it.”
(This is the first of four articles on the
National Council of Churches written by Kay
Leslie of the NCC department of information.
The next article will deal with the sometimes
controversial role of the council in issuing
policy statements of social issues.)
Film Classifications
A
A
A
A
B
c
Section I — Morally Unobjectionable for General Patronage
Section D — Morally Unobjectionable for Adults, Adolescents
Section III — Morally Unobjectionable for Adults
Section IV — Morally Unobjectionable for Adults, Reservations
Morally Objectionable in Part for All
Condemned
CRIES AND WHISPERS (New World
Pictures) . . . Ingmar Bergman’s complex
study of four women. Ingmar Bergman’s
attempt last year to re-establish contact with
a wide moviegoing public through an
English-language film, THE TOUCH, did not
succeed at all. His new film is a return to his
former, uncompromising style, resulting in a
work of concentrated force and simplicity of
treatment. It is likely, moreover, that CRIES
AND WHISPERS will be appreciated by a
much larger audience than any of his works
since PERSONA (1965).
CRIES AND WHISPERS is not a narrative
film but an anguished study of four women.
The setting is a country estate at the turn of
the century, although practically every scene
takes place indoors. The decor of the rooms is
in red, the hue of which changes to fit the
tone of the action. The furnishings are of the
simplest sort so that nothing distracts the eye
from the intensity of the performances and
the interior world they convey. The
household consists of Agnes who is in the
terminal stage of cancer, her two married
sisters who have come to nurse her, and her
devoted servant, Anna.
In this timeless vacuum of a death watch,
each of the women recalls various important
moments in their lives, real and imaginary.
What is important about these recollections is
not what actually happened to the women;
rather, the way in which they think of things
reveals the image they have of themselves.
Bergman gives us clues through close-ups and
through fades to a blood-red screen, but the
viewer must be constantly alert to determine
what is real and what is fancy.
Each of the four characters represents some
different aspect of woman as victim. Agnes
(Harriet Anderson) is a spinster deprived of
love from the time she was a child. She,
however, is the only one to obtain a measure
of peace because she has been able to delude
herself into believing that she has the grace of
perfect harmony with her sisters. The scene of
reconciliation which ends the film is a
counterfeit one to be contrasted with the
genuine article that ends WILD
STRAWBERRIES.
Her sisters are likewise victims of their own
self-delusions which for them are
self-destructive. Karin (Ingrid Thulin) has
been destroyed by marriage and five children
who mean nothing to her. Her disgust of the
conjugal makes all human contact repellant to
her (the film’s most harrowing scene occurs
when she slashes her genitals with a sliver of
glass prior to sleeping with her husband).
Maria (Liv Ullmann) is the beautiful but
empty-headed coquette who must attract
everyone but who can be faithful to nothing
but her own narcissistic needs.
In contrast to these women is Anna (Kari
Sylwan), the simple, uneducated maid who is
the only one capable of an active, outgoing
love. She has suffered through the death of
her daughter, and her pent-up maternal
instinct (visualized by her cuddling Agnes’
head to her bosom) is directed toward her
dying mistress. Anna’s actions are not entirely
selfless and she is not as romanticized as
Bergman’s usual picture of the natural,
uncomplicated woman.
Such a schematic presentation of the film’s
content, however, does not do justice to the
experience of seeing the film. The kind of
insights Bergman deals with are really not
intellectual, but are directly emotional. It is
like the fascination of a dream which is
gripping, not through explanations but
through the vicarious living of it. Too much
criticism has regarded Bergman’s work as an
intellectual puzzle, an approach that too
often deteriorates into symbol hunting.
Bergman’s greatest talent as a director is his
theatrical sense, which is able to elicit
magnificant performances from his stock
company of gifted actors. Harriet Anderson,
for instance, is simply superb, and if we recall
her work in earlier Bergman films, it is all the
more rich and satisfying.
In THE BRINK OF LIFE (1958), Bergman
has portrayed the thoughts and feelings of
three women waiting to give birth in a
maternity ward. IN CRIES AND WHISPERS,
it is the'wait for death that triggers a stream
of consciousness within the characters.
Contrasting these two films tells us the nature
of Bergman’s development as an artist.
Fifteen years ago Bergman was able to end his
film on a powerful and positive reaffirmation
of the value of life, whereas in his later works
this is not possible for him. His view of man
has become darker and more bleak as he has
grown older. Perhaps the most moving scene
in CRIES AND WHISPERS is the parson’s
prayer for the dead Agnes, which is really a
prayer for himself spoken with the anguish of
a believer who has lost his faith. Bergman’s
confidence in mankind has grown dim,
perhaps, but it is the honesty with which he
explores his alienated world that one has
come to respect and value.
THE GETAWAY (National General) Steve
McQueen and Ali MacGraw are the boxoffice
dynamic duo in this super-bloody, fast-paced
chase movie directed by Sam Peckinpah (THE
WILD BUNCH, STRAW DOGS). As a
husband-and-wife bank robbing team with
increasingly raw nerve endings, the pair find
themselves in possession of $500,000 in Texas
bank loot, but with rival gangsters, a
double-crossing colleague, and -- in a distant
third place -- the police on their trail. The
movie’s object is to get the couple across the
border to Mexico (although the movie is set in
the present day, it believes in pre-extradition
eras), but to throw as many violent obstacles
in their path as possible. Peckinpah is a past
master at this sort of thing, and those who
relish an otherwise competent production of a
routine action story will find the movie
seriously marred by the constantly erupting
gunplay and assorted bloodlettings. (A-IV)
TRAFFIC (Columbia) is a delightful
French import, the creation of craggy Gallic
comedian Jacques Tati, who again recreates
the lurching, bumbling, semi-mime figure of
Mr. Hulot. This time, Hulot is charged with
the responsibility of delivering a complicated
camper-station wagon he has designed from
Paris to an auto show in Amsterdam. Just
imagine everything that can go ba-looey! on a
superhighway expedition (European roads are
not all that different from ours) -- and that,
plus a lot more is what befalls Mr. Hulot
and his dauntless road show. This one is
lots of fun (for all) in its engagingingly hectic
way. (A-l)
BLACK MAMA, WHITE MAMA (AIP) is
not a film about bi-racial motherhood; rather
it depicts in sensational style the perils of two
young fugitives from a Philippine prison
camp. The girls (Pam Grier as a tough hooker,
Margaret Markhov as a naive revolutionary)
don’t really like each other but are
nonetheless bound by heavy handcuffs.
Director Eddie Romero, who can do these
Philippine girls’ prison numbers in his sleep,
takes time to show how rotten life is in the
pen for the buxom ladies (plenty of stripping
and whipping by the uniformly lesbian
matrons) and how bloody dangerous it is
outside (lots of attacks by police hoods,
rapists, etc.). Acting, script and production
values share the same low level as the overall
moral perspective -- zilch. (C)
AMERICAN WILDERNESS (Pacific Int’l.
Enterprises) Outdoor adventure
documentaries rely for their appeal on sharply
defined camerawork and informative
narrations that focus on the creatures under
study in their particular environment. Those
who seek such entertainment values in
AMERICAN WILDERNESS, however, are
likely to come away disappointed. This film
amounts to little more than a collection of
self-congratulatory home movies taken during
the past decade or so by an Oregon sportsman
named Art Dubs. It seems that whenever he
was not playing bachelor father to his three
outdoors-minded daughters, Dubs would
round up a couple of his buddies, grab his
high-powered rifle and his 16mm camera (he
shoots wildlife with both!) and head for the
hills, which range from the Canadian Rockies
to Mexico’s Baja desert. When Art Dubs tires
of saluting himself moreover, he invites his
daughters to take over. Miss Joannie Dubs, for
instance, cues in the film’s intermission by
making a pitch for a souvenir booklet that
tells all about her daddy’s exploits. (A-l)
RECENT FILM CLASSIFICATIONS
American Wilderness (Pacific Ints.) -- A-l
Charley and the Angel (Walt Disney/Buena
Vista) - A-l
The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (New
Yorker) - A-l
George! (Capital) -- A-l
The Horror of Blackwood Castle
(Bromberg) - A-l I
Showdown (Universal)-A-ll
If I Had a Gun (Ajay) - A-lll
The Man with the Glass Eye (Bromberg) —
A-lll
A Reflection of Fear (Columbia) - A-lll
Save the Tiger (Paramount) -- A-lll
The Spider's Stratagem (New York) - A-lll
The First Circle (Paramount) - A-IV
Under Milk Wood (Altura) - A-IV
Up the Sandbox (National General) - A-IV