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New Fine Arts Building Is Scene of Much Activity
Art Department And
Excerpted From The March 1967 Issue Of The Mercerian
May 5, 1967 • THE MERCER CLUSTER
Senator Herman Talmadge and Postmaster General Arthur Summer-
field at eerrioee dedicating the Walter George Memorial stamp in 1960.
Senator George And The
Great Six Word Speech
By Bill Dayton
Back in the days when Eugene Talmadge snapped his red
suspenders at Georgia political rallys and Franklin D. Roose
velt was busy trying to implement the New Deal, there were
six words one hot afternoon in 1938 that caused comotion all
over the country. The speaker was a Mercer graduate, Georgia
senator Walter Franklin George.
the way (o represent the people in
President Rooeevelt was trying
to remove what he sometimes called
the “Obstructionists” from Con-
iresa, and replace them with men
prone to go along with all the New
Deal policies and ideas. Senator
George of Georgia was considered
an obstructionist.
There was an election coming up
and President Roosevelt had a New
Dial man whom he wanted to
place in Senator George's seat. It
was announced that the President
would speak at a large Democratic
rally at Bartlesville. George and all
the other important politicians in
the state would be there and people
gathered from miles around to hear
the speeches.
The day was warm. President
Roosevelt, resplendent in his white
t. was escorted out to the speak
ing ground ready to make his
play. Bands played, flags waved,
politicians in white suits smiled
born the platform and the crowd
lalhered around to hear the Presi
dent and the other speakers.
liooaevelt gave a long s|>eech
•hout what a great man Walter F.
George was, how much he had done
for Georgia and the nation, and
about how he had outlived his time.
The nation needed young men who
followed the presidential policies all
Annual Folk Festival
l-ast Saturday night Mercer pre
sented its annual folk festival in
Willingham Chapel. The featured
I )>■(-embers Children" delivered an
outstanding performance and dis
played talent that is bound to lead
them nowhere but to the top. The
“Children” were especially moving
in their rendition of "Georgy Girl."
Tho "Decembers Children" left lit
tle to be desired in the light of
their performance and they should
•oon rank among the best in folk
(roups around the country.
The individual performers come
Under a different heading however
Except for the individual talents of
Steve Olson and Ted Borck, what
*«■< labeled a “folk festival" turned
out to be a "be kind to dead beat
(Uttar players" convention. The
hlnme for this dismal failure does
■ot lie in the coordinators of the
Festival” however, but in the lack
°f cooperation and participation of
*uiny of the talented individuals on
°ur campus who backed out or
hirned down invitations to par-
form. If students expact more and
Votter student activities then aaore
would be
that goal,
ival has been
an un named member
aa a “dying
activi
support-
and attending.
congress, the President stated, and
Senator George simply did not fit
in with the needs of the new order
It was time for "Mv good friend
Senator George" to gracefully re
tire, Roosevelt said.
As soon as the President had
finished, just as the brunt of his
speech was sinking in, Walter
George left his chair, walked over
to the microphone and said "Mr.
President . . I accept the chal
lenge.”
The crowd went wild, those six
words about ended the rally (the
President rescinded with "God
bless you Walter "). » Senator
George was led away from the
grounds as a triumphant hero and
an old story has it that Roosevelt
had to call a taxicab to get back to
town. Politicians came from many
states to help Walter F. George
out in his campaign, newsiiapers
all over the country reprinted the
Macon Telegraph's sarcastic
“Thank You Mr. President" edi
torial (it took the line that Roose
velt’s actions were a reminder that
there was always someone like him
around to take away the rights of
the people, if those rights weren't
guarded) Senator George obtained
a very substantial victory, and was
still the Senior Senator from Geor
gia years after Roosevelt's death.
George was born on a farm in
Webster County Georgia He at
tended Mercer, was editor of the
annual in 1898 and was a member
of Sigma Nu Fraternity He was
in the Senate from 1922 until he
retired in 1957. He was the ambass
ador to NATO when he died in
1957.
Where does artistic talent come
from' 1 How is it developed? For
Marshall Daugherty, chairman of
the art department at Mercer, it
began at the age of 14 with his high
school teacher. Miss Florence
Bernd She recognized his talent
and fired his determination to de
velop that talent. "She taught me
•o much more than facts and date*.
She opened to me the lives and
thoughts of great men of the past,
and gave me the opportunity to
react creatively to the art, philoso
phy and literature of Ancient
Greece and the Renaissance by
making drawings, pottery and clay
models, and hy a free discussion of
ideas. She let me (in fact all of her
pupils or bunnies as she called us)
see and touch articles collected in
her travels. This |iersonal contact
gave us insight into the spirit of
the |>eople and the times "
and the subject was Mr. Burden,
one of the first founders of Burden
Smith in Macon. "I guess an artist
always remembers his first works
more clearly than others They
may not be the liest. but they stand
out the most "
After absorbing all the artistic
opisirtunity in Macon at that time,
he entered Yale University School
of Art For the next four years he
studied under some of the foremost
art teachers in the country. After
those few years. Miss Florence
Bernd once again entered his life
and helped make it ixwsible for him
to attend Cranbrook Academy of
Art. where he studied under the
famous Swedish Sculptor. Carl
Milles "This man was ama/ing. an
artistic genius In my opinion he is
the greatest sculptor of this cen
tury Although not much is written
of him in art hooks or s|x>ken of
Mr. Daugherty's second enthusi
ast was Miss Mollie Mason. She
had a private studio in Macon
where he spent a great deal of time
cultivating his artistic ability. It
was during this period, at the age
of 17, that he was commissioned to
do his first sculpture. "My father,
who was superintendent of the
Methodist Home in Macon for
many years, introduced me to Col
Houston, a wealthy cattle rancher
from Darien, Georgia I was quite
surprised to learn that the sculp
hired work was not to lie a bust of
himself, but of his prize hull As it
turned out. Col. Houston and I
were both satisfied. He got a statue
of the bull for his living nxim and
I got $150.00."
The following year Marshall had
the opportunity to actually do his
first bust The material was bronze
him by art critics, he is the best
since Bernini. Perha|>s no single
man influenced my work as he did
In fact, at one time I found myself
almost copying his style For this
reason, 1 left his tutorship, f knew
that 1 must create and master a
style of my own "
Marshall left Cranbrook and
came back to Macon where he got
his first job as Art Supervisor of
several high schools in Macon. In
addition, he instructed a class in
sculpture at Wesleyan College
where he later initiated their
Bachelor of Fine Arts Program At
the end of five years, Daugherty
found this running back and forth
quite tiresome so he decided to try
instructing at one place
“The hospital for war veterans
at the old Cochran Field was in
need of an art director to teach
patients sculpturing and painting
and menial therapy I was hired ”
After most ot the veterans were
removed from Cochran Field, he
came to Mercer and initiated an
art class on the third floor of the
chapel. "We didn't have the most
mixfern equipment or the best
working facilities, but we had talent
and the willingness to make Mer
cer's art department something
special."
During the past twenty years.
Mr. Daugherty has succeeded in
making the program a vital depart
meat on Mercer's campus, but he
has not devoted his ability to
tea< hing alone. He has been in
voiced with numerous independent
art projects both in |>ainting and
sculpture One of the most interest
ing things Mr Daugherty has done
is to initiate a new art movement
called cineform. The artist sculp
tures a piece of clay and with each
new movement of design a moving
picture is taken. When the entire
process is finished the motion
picture, set to music, reveals the
entire sculpturing of the clay form
and makes it appear animated,
somewhat like the "Pillsbury
Dough Boy" seen on television. “It
is an extremely difficult process,
very long and involved Not only
do you have to take a picture for
every phase of work, but you put
the whole thing to an appropriate
beat " Over the past years, he has
made ihri-e such films which are
now stored in the Guggenheim
Museum in New York. After in
(Continued on page 4)
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