Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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A Coe4 Variety 18 Found By Betty Berk Is a woman's dormitory at a university like an institution with row upon row of identical - fOoms ? Is it. Just a place to hang your hat 4nd deposit your books? Or- is it possible for each room to be different, expressing the tastes of its occupants? New dormitories are being built every day for the increasing stream of women students flow ing into colleges and universities all over the country. In most buildings, each room is much tHi same shape and size, with the same furniture and fixtures. However, there is plenty of op portunity for individuality, and the occupants take full advantage of it. Variety No womaNpwants to be exactly like any other woman, and one , of the best means of expressing her own personality is in the place she lives, whether it be her home or her room in a dormi tory. Such is the case at Carolina. Sims dormitory was remodeled about two years ago. The rooms are equipped with identical fur niture and have similar color schemes, but no two are alike. The dormitory is the place where the college girl 'spends a great deal of her time, and she makes her room as much like home as possible. Most roommates buy bed spreads and draperies to match, and some also buy rugs. How ever, it is the ljttle things to which girls devote the most at tention, for they are the things which show at a glance just who lives in the room. One article that is found in every room is a photograph, sometimes of family or friends, but most often of a boy. Mas culine pictures range from wal let-size prints to huge portraits in elaborate frames. No matter what size they are, they occupy the place of honor, and few rooms are without at least one. Latest Fad Lions, tigers, and everything stuffed ones that is-are the latest fad. They are strewn about on beds, bookcases, shelves, or any other convenient place. These creatures range in size from tiny baby dolls, for the motherly type, to long-legged octopi made of yarn. One room boasts a stuffed Santa Claus in full red and white regalia, with a minia CHARUE PARKER A Jazzmt By Bob Grosse (Editor's N~ote: This Is the first of two articles of one of the greatest of all jazzmen, Charlie Parker.) The old story of the artist in conflict with society has hun dreds of variations, exploited constantly by movies, television, the press, and every mass media; but even the slick magazine boys and Hollywood hucksters would have a tough time putting to *gether a more poignant tale than the true story of Charlie Parker. Charlie Parker lived, and died, a musician. Music surged from within him like blood, from a beating heart, relentless, in explicable, without pausing to ask why. No matter how bat tered his narcotic-wracked body, the ,music, the great soul, was still there untiL the end, and jazz is the heir of that irrepres sible fountain, and we are thank ful. Young Jazasters Charlie Parker played his horn for the first time i~n Kansas City back in 1988; he was 15 and Kansas City was the jazz center of~ the Mid-West, an exciting place for a music-crazy young ster. Basie wss there, and Walter PQke, and Lester Young and all the jazs greats who would be heard around the world in a few Syears. K. C. was musician's town then. Every restaurant, road house, and bar had a band; top orchestra leaders were respected citizens; and every jassman who could tote a horn would find a session going anytime, - day or night. Oldtimaer Sam Price tells it this wav: ".Jam sessIons in cI Viewi GAB SESSION ... Carolina l phases of the life of a Carolins ukelele. Enjoying the gab sessi Smith, Betty Jane Goldsmith, I ice photo by Munn-Teal) ture pop bottle in one hand. It is easy to tell a girl's in terests by the variety of articles found in her room. The nature lover, for instance, keeps-her apartment filled with various plants and vines, all of which are very carefully tended. One girl, frustrated by the fact that she could not bring her dog to school and determined to have some sort of living thing in her room, settled the matter by keeping a bowl of fish. However, two of the fish killed a third, and, evidently tortured by their guilt, committed suicide by leap ing from the bowl. The homicide and double suicide have rather discouraged their owner, so she has given up pets for a while. Big X'i The girl who goes with a boy in another school or another town usually has a large calendar on the wall. She marks off each day with large black X's until she will see her sweetheart again. Of course, the girl who goes with a boy on campus is never in- her room long enough to do much of anything. - Carolina's many beauty queens decorate their walls with ribbons from the bouqrets they have car ried in various contests over the state. Music lovers have ukuleles mn Fights L Kansas City? I remember once at the Subway Club, on Eight eenth Street, I came by fot a session at about 10 o'clock and then went home to clean up and change my clothes. I came back a little after one o'clock and they were still playing the same song." Charlie was able to work then, as he says, not because he was I Calendar Friday, 1:00 p.mi.-Freshman "Y Russell House. 2:00 p.m-Christian Sc House. 8:00 p.m.-S. C. Teacher 102, Russell House. Monday, 1:00 p.m. -' Junio'r-Seni Room, Russell House. 7:80 p.m-Skin Divers, 19 Tuesday 11:00 a.m. - Religious House. Wednesda 1:00 p.m.-Student Unic sembly Room, Russell House. 5:00 p.m.-USC Chapter sell House. 5:00 p.m-Pep Club, Roo 8:00 p.m-Faculty Foru Rouse. Thursday 1, 4, 7 p.m.-Student Un membly Room, Russell Honse. Campi 1ris gather together in an old-fashk a coed, as Nancy Carroll serenades I on if not the music (pardon us, N Kathy Davis, Jackie Ridlehuber, ant or other types of instruments with which they sometimes sere nade their luckless fellow lodgers. Then, there is always the pro crastinator who has spare Christ mas and birthday presents lying about which she failed to deliver months before. Continual party goers bedeck their rooms with favors and souvenirs of college weekends. Before a dance, evening dresses may be seen hanging over doors or windows. The cigaret fiend always has plenty of ash trays around the room, but somehow the ashes are more frequently found on the floor than in the trays. Busy girls have large bulletin boards on which they tack notes and reminders of meetings or appointments. It is even possible to determine what sort of courses a girl is taking, .*nply by a glance at her room. The botany student is easily recognized by the numer ous twigs in jars and bottles and the leaves meticulously arranged and labeled. The business or sec retarial science student usually has a typewriter and can be found pecking away at it on the night before typing labs are due. Of course, the journalism stu dent has a typewriter, too. The only way -to distinguish between Fis Way To good but because musicians were in demand. At first, he just sat in with the band and held long chords; he didn't know much about music and the first time he tried to jam with the boys, he was laughed off the stand. But SCharlie learned quickly and when his true genius began to ripen, it was 'as if he had been born with an alto saxophone in his Of Events I May 9 Luncheon, Assembly Room, ientists, Room 101, Russell s AssoCiation Meetig, Room May 12 or "Y" Luncheon, Assembly ~oom 204, Russell House. May 13 Workers, Club Room, Russell y, May 14 >n Movie, "Quo Vadis," As of the DAR, Room 102, Rus m 206, Russell House. m, Assembly Room, Russell r, May 15 Ion Movie, "Quo Vadi.n As is Life ned gab session, one of the many hem to the accompaniment of her mncy!) are left to right: Carolyn I Dottle Stalvey. (USC News Serv the two is by the fact that the journalism major can be found typing every night. Dogfish in Sims? The art student decorates her walls and shelves with examples of modern art, which to some skeptics aren't half so interest ing as Droodles. Tennis rackets, bowling shoes, rr golf clubs can be found in the room of the sports enthusiast. Finicky peo ple carefully avoid the room of the biology student who may sometimes bring a dogfish or un born pig to her room to dissect and study. Anyone who has ever shared a bath with even one woman knows that the most crowded places in the dormitory are bound to be the bathrooms. The unwary per son who walks in is in danger of being struck in the face by wet stockings, socks, or unmen tionables belonging to the four girls who share the bath. No matter how big or how functional the design of the new dormitory will be, there is no danger of one girl mistaking an other's room for her own. As long as there is no one woman exactly like any other woman, there will never be two rooms alike in any university dormi tory. The Top hands. "Bird" Whether it was back in those Kansas City days or years later during a stint in the army that Charlie got his nickname "Bird" is not sure. It might have been ai corruption of "Charlie" to "Yarlie" then to "YarI," or it might have come from "yard bird," the old nmilitary sobriquet for draftees; anyway, it soon be came "Bird" and the name stuck. To go along with the gag, Parker tunes were given euphonious names like "Bird Lore," "Early Bird," and "Ornithology." Bird got his first big break in 1937 with the traveling band of pianist Jay McShann. With McShann, Parker toured the country for several years, devel oping his technique and making many lasting impressions on fans and musicians alike. After McShann, Bird arrived in New York and spent his first three months there at Jimmy's Chicken Shack in Harlem, wash ing dishes for $9 a week. Mean wvhile, he set up musical quarters at Minton's, an after-hours spot on West 118th Street where musicians met to swap ideas and hold jam sessions until morning. Here Bird met Theolonius Monk, Charlie Christian, Kenny Clarke, D)izzy Gillespie, and other young experliment.alists who were to form such an important part of jazz In the coming years. Crazy Tenor Bird gigged around the city during the early 40's, playing again with McShann, with Noble Sisale, and with the Earl Hines band. With Hinies, Birdi played tenor sax and Impressed many older jassmen like Ben Webster who saw in Bird another Lester Young. "Man, I heard a guy," Reviewer Praises "Bridge" Columbia Pictures and Sam Spiegel have come forth with an award winner: "The Bridge on the River Kwai." Which is the better philosophy; strict army discipline and con duct or flexing rules to one's own diiscretion and better judgment? This was given to the Bridge's audience to ponder. What was made clear was that war is des truction and that alone. The screenplay, about which these ideas evolve, requires 2 hours, 41 minutes to unfold. A troop of British soldiers surren dered within the confines of a Japanese prison camp. The dic tutorial leader (Sessue Haya kawaj of the camp looks as if he had been expecting the fa tigued, shaggy assemblage of Britons. The commander of this legion of men, played by Alec Guinness with all the non-chalance and suaveness required for such a role which won him the Academy award, had an ."unfortunate dis agreement" with the Japanese commander. The Japanese does not think too highly of the Geneva Conference or its rules that the British commander bites off for him to chew. American POW An American POW (William Holden) at the camp is a U. S. sailor who wandered into these same Japanese hands some time before the English arrived. This sailor is supposed to represent the common, wise-cracking Amer ican, only this time, an American with a yellow streak running up his back. He advises the British commander to escape, but the commander does not want his advice, so the sailor takes it him self. After the American's es cape, a great many incidents oc curred. Rank-smelling, sun-baked in dividuals weathered the leeches, bats, sun, etc., until a bridge was completed over the River Kwai (cost to Columbia Pictures: $250,000). During - its construc tion by the English, the scene switches abruptly from jungle Pbi Eps Elect New Officers Steve Baumrind has recently been elected superior of the Phi Epsilon Pi social fraternity. Others elected were Murray Danz, vice-superior; Ronald Fin ger, recording secretary; Barry Goldstein, corresponding secre tary; and Marvin Wolper, treas urer. Also, Leon Rudick, chaplain; Edwvard Setgez, historian; Ira Bloom, senior IFC representa tive; and Bernard Friedman, ser geant-at-arms. Parker, "I swear he's going to make everyone crazy on tenor." In the Hines band, Charlie had to sit through a lot of stage shows. One day, he was on the stand and, trying to relax, had taken his shoes off; he happened to doze off just as it was time for his solo. "Hey, Bird, wake up, you're on," one of the men in the reed section called. And Bird ran out to the mike in his stocking feet; just jumped up and forgot his shoes and ran out front and started wailing. Radical Billy During 1944 and '45, Bird worked with many of the great men of jazz in the experimental Billy Eckstine band, a group that was at least 10 years ahead of its time. There were swingers in the band like Benny Green, Lucky Thompson, Art Blaky, Dizzy Gillespie, Bird, and Eck stine himself who was a pretty fair trombonist. But the band was too radical for its day and folded for lack of bookings. Parker also recorded for Savoy and Dial Records during those years, cutting sides under his own name for the first time. Throughout those early years, Charlie Parker, the musician, was a many-splandore ting ees and R?eaw6 By DIANE WOODSIDE -Sigma Phi Epsilon held a Sunday at the "Y" Camp. Aj the entertaining were: Bud< Carney, Phil Donlin and Jacqu; Linda Hartzog, Gene Sauls g Meeks and Sandra Peeples, Joi Major Pearman and Donna F Jo Church, and John Kenney Here we give note to some Makie Griffin and Bob Shell, Claire Burress. Bill McLean - Dieterle and Frances Barnes i Journalisi The Journalism School pic finesse Monday afternoon at t Wayne Patrick, Patsy Wear Guire, Miff Fischer, Dr. Jen] Neeley, and Dr. Winter were activities. Lest I forget, I would like that the deadline for any nei is Monday afternoon at 3 p.m The Gamecock Banquet ir Monday in the Russell House. tory department, who will sp the occasion. locale to civilization to relieve everyone in the audience, includ ing the actors, of the bare agony at the POW camp. Suspense In the last remaining minutes L of the film, one will not only chew his fingernails and fingers but also claw the padding out of the theatre seat because of the highly calculated suspense. Three-quarters of the movie develops into what anyone might expect, but the ending, as is the theme of Boulle's Bridge, was, like war, "madness, sheer madness." Since the majority of the players were British, their cliches were worn completely dowvn to the rims, such as "I haven't the foggiest," "Good show," pnd all that sort of rot. Director David Lean did an excellent job considering he had a hellish time with Alec Guinness and had to film on location in Bridge on the River K.eal, Alec ( Hawkins. but Charlie Parker, the man, was a wreck. Charlie grew up too fast-he 'was never allowed an adolescence. At 15, when moat boys are enjoying first dates, Saturday afternoon ball games, and vintage automobiles, Charlie was playing all night In saloons, paling around with hoodlums and gangsters and men twice his age, living in cheap hotels, drinking raw liquor; and, he was a drug addict. For 11 years, the habit wasn part of every waking moment of Bird's life, sapping his strength, denying him a decent homelife, and devouring all his money. Finally the strain became too great, and on a West Coast road trip, Bird snapped. Bird Snaps It was in Los Angeles on a hot summer night in July, 1U. nird party for orphans this past nong those who helped with ly Smigmator and Saundra ie Splawn, Fred Wigfield and Lnd Frances Inabinet, Eddie e Gomes and Joanna Walker, 'earman, Walt Copeland and and Jean Riley. of the recently engaged ... and Howard Chapman and md Frances Canady, and Ed ire among the newly pinned. n Picnic mnic went off with its usual ie "Y" Camp. Dean Buchanan, nouth, Jerry and Mrs. Mc kins, Roy Williams, Newton there enjoying the various to stick in a little reminder vs to appear in this column of the week of publication. scheduled for this coming Dr. Daniel Hollis of the his ak, is the drawing card for over-grown, coarse remote Cey lon (which came out well on the screen). He deserved the Oscar if for nothing but bravery and perseverance. Geoffrey Horne had a small part and carried it well. He is beginning to blossom into a good cinema prospect; his good looks and natural acting will take him far. . Wel-acted Bridge is a worthy, well-acted production. Why not "give it a go?" Remember, there is an Oscar given every year by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; this does not necessar ily mean that an Oscar-winning movie is super-exceptional or anything of the kind. It only means that the film that re ceived the award was the best in that particular year. Some years are unproductive-1957 was not. --M. Byars uinness, William Holden, Jack had been particularly erratic during a recording session that* day and, that night, set fire to his hotel room and ran down into the lobby, naked and screaming. They sent him to Camarillo Stat. Hospital for a seven-month cure. After that, Charlie conscien tiously stayed away from dope; moreover, he encouraged young musicians to avoid it as well. "Any musician who says he is playing better either on tea, the needle, or when he is juiced, is a plain, straight liar," he com mented. "Some of these smart kids who think you have to be conmpletely knocked out to be a good hornman are just crazy. It isn't true. I know, believe m." In next week's column, I will tell of Bird's latter yeas, his death, and some of his eontilm tions to jia.