University of Southern California
GODARD AND HOLLYWOOD'
DAILY • TROJAN Future,°ffilms
VOL. LIX
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 1968
72
NO. 18
Arts flourish with poetry, film, song
B\ ROGER SMITH
Some days seem to be made for working. Other days are'great for going to a ball game. Still others are perfect for hammocks and sipping lemonade.
But yesterday, of all days, was a day for peotry.
The sunshine was warm, the grass was green and freshly clipped as 200-plus students and professors relaxed and listened to Thom Gunn, former poetry reviewer for the Yale Review.
Taking place in Alumni Park this reading of Gunn's poems was part of the Festival of the Arts, now in its fifth day.
Gunn seemed as pleased with the weather as his audience was. as smiles broke through his dark beard frequently throughout the afternoon.
Gunn, a 38-year-old British born writer, has received the Levinson Prize and Somerset Maugham Award, for poetry. He has had four books of poetry published, and a fifth book. Touch, will be published in the spring.
He taught English at Berkeley from 1958 to 1966.
Most of the poems Gunn recited were fairly brief, as the majority of his poems tend to be.
One of his poems. “Innocence,” Gunn described as being “concerned with how people can be transformed from a state of general pleasantness to a state in which atrocities are committed.”
Gunn said he wrote the poem six years ago as an historical piece re-
flecting on the German peoples of World W'ar II.
“I’ve found, however, that within the past year people have begun to think it refers to Vietnam. In a way, I’m pleased the poem has this effect,” he stated.
The poem mentions “the Corps” (meaning the Nazi SS) committing atrocities which Gunn says some people now take for the U.S. Marines.
Gunn writes approximately half his poetry in free verse and the remainder in meter.
“I really don’t stick to a particular meter," he said.
“Usually the emotion that the poem must convey will determine the meter. If the poem is casual, free verse is probably appropriate. A tense or clenched emotion is better shown through the tighter writing of a metered poem.”
Gunn also noted that the songs of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones. Bob Dylan and other popular groups are producing poetry.
“I think its fantastic. We'll have to wait to see the effect they will have on poetry, but I'm sure the effect is there.”
The poetry readings of the Festival of Arts week will conclude tomorrow when Lawrence Ferlinghetti will read several of his works at 8 p.m. in Bovard Auditorium.
Ferlinghetti, a painter, publisher and novelist, as well as a poet, will also deliver a lecture on “Poetry and What's Happening Today” at 2:15 p.m. in Bovard.
Other Festival events yesterday included noon-time folk music in the Grill by Elaine Gealer, a panel dis-
Elaine Gealer sings folk ballads in Grill program
cussion with director Jean-Luc Godard and a showing of two of his movies.
Today's festival schedule includes folk music by Mark Turnbull in the Grill at noon, rock music in the Grill at 1 p.m. by the Gladridge Taxi and a poetry reading by Joscha Kessler at 2 p.m. in Alumni Park.
Also planned is the showing of student films influenced by Godard. The showings will be at 2 p.m. in Hancock auditorium followed by another panel discussion with Godard at 3 p.m. on “Godard and the New Film Makers.”
Two Godard films will be shown tonight. “Band of Outsiders” will be shown at 7 p.m. in Hancock auditorium, followed by “A Married Woman” at 9 p.m.
“Band of Outsiders” was Godard’s first feature film made by his Colum-
bia-financed company. It is a gangster film based on the novel “Fool's Gold” by D. and B. Hitchens.
Godard narrated the film starring Sami Frey and Claude Brasseur. The $100,000 film was shot in three weeks in a suburb of Paris and did poorly at the box office.
“A Married Woman” one of Godard’s best critical successes, features Macha Meril. Bernard Noel, Philippe Leroy and Roger Leenhardt. The plot centers on 24 hours in the life of an adulterous wife.
The production cost about $100,000 and was filmed in Paris in four weeks.
Admission to all Festival of Arts events today is free. However, tickets are required for the Godard films and may be obtained at the information booth between Bovard and Doheny Library. A limited number of tickets will be available at the door.
By SOPHIE ONG Ask a French film director what’s wrong with Hollywood films and he’ll usually be pretty frank.
Jean-Luc Godard, French director and Festival of the Arts guest this week, was asked. He said they’ve deteriorated.
The panel discussion on “Godard and Hollywood” featured the Frenchman, directors Sam Fuller, Roger Corman, Peter Bogdanovich, King Vidor, and Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times film critic, as moderator.
Why I am angry at Hollywood, is because the producers and exploiters of Hollywood have so many preconceived ideas,” Godard said.
King Vidor said, “It’s a new experience for me to be defending Hollywood.”
“Hollywood is changing, and not altogether for the worse.” said Corman.
In the 20's, 30’s and 40’s, the circumstances were more unusual than they are today. Movies dominated the entertainment scene. In Europe, economic and political problems caused many people in the film industry to flee to Hollywood.
“It was the greatest group of talent,” Corman said.
Now, it is the emergence of European cinema, and television that have practically caused the Hollywood breakup.
“The stars run the racket in a better way then ever before.’’ Fuller said. “Naturally, the directors resent it” The directors and writers should be more emphasized, he feels.
“The characters control the acting and writing. An art film with Cary Grant wouldn't be art,” Fuller said.
The difficulty of finding good subject matter is another problem Hollywood directors complain about.
“There are almost no more original scripts,” Godard said.
Vidor said, “Great amounts are paid for best sellers and popular plays. It s difficult to get interested in an original story or idea.”
The fact that money calls the shots is very well-established. W'hen a film is going to run into millions of dollars, a financial backer will want to have as few risks as possible.
As a result, Vidor said, “You have the bankers making the decisions.
Corman told of the Step Deal that Universal Studios has recently initiated. The writers give the general idea of the story to the studio, but thev won t necessarily say they will go ahead and do it. However, they will put out a “small amount (half a million) to work out a screenplay. Then the studio makes the decisions when they see the script.”
Godard said, “My biggest budget was never as big as the smallest’ Hollywood budget!”
The prejudice against new ideas is beginning to break down. There seems to be a new regime in the middle-priced film range.
"There has been more freedom in the last year than in the last 20 years,” Bogdanovich sa.id.
The difference between personal cinema and commercial cinema is essentially the difference between Hollywood movies and the type Godard directs.
The personal cinema reflects the exact ideas the director wants to bring across. He is usually not influenced radically by other people who are involved.
Hollywood and “commercial cinema” have the problems of being responsible to someone else. The freedom is not as abounding as in Europe.
Fuller said, “If you have an idea, you should stick with it. Godard has done it consistently. Someone had to have the guts to do what he wanted to do.
“What we need now is a backer with the guts to back the director with the guts.
“Our task is to no longer be slaves,” Godard said.
ASSC campaigns start as Mauk enters for student activities VP
The 1968 version of ASSC elections got an early and critical start yesterday afternoon with Bill Mauk's announcement for vice-president of student activities.
Mauk, who was chairman of the Troy Week Committee last fall and is now executive secretary of the Community Action Coordinating Council, launched his campaign with a call for more candidates.
In a statement to the Daily Trojan, Mauk also criticized this year’s officers and political leaders for not involving themselves in the election.
“I’m not criticizing them for the work they’ve done this year, but for not trying to perpetuate that work by seeking out candidates and encouraging them to run for various positions,” he explained.
“That’s a major reason why now, just four weeks before the election, we have a mass confusion over who's going to run for what office.
“Therefore I’m announcing my candidacy early both to encourage these leaders to involve themselves in the campaign, and to encourage other students with ideas to run in April.”
The ASSC Elections will be held Tuesday, April 2, for the offices of ASSC president, vice-president of student activities, and vice-president of university affairs; AMS and AWS presidents, vice-presidents and secretaries; Senior Class president and representative to the ASSC Council; other class representatives: and independent and graduate representatives.
Mauk, who had been considered a possible candidate for the ASSC presidency, said he decided to run for the veep position because of the current political confusion and his own experience.
“Right now we have four legitimate candidates for president, students who have involved themselves in the university, and three other candidates.
“Since only one can win, I figure it’s more important to hold an office than to lose and have no effective participation in student government next year.”
A member and former vice-president of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, Mauk has also served as a Troy Camp counselor, member of Knights and Squires, chairman of the Christmas Project and member of Freshman Forum.
His campaign platform will in-
Councilman Thomas Bradley discusses ‘'The Urban Scene”
Urbanites show apathy to renewal-Brad ey
“The public at large is apathetic to the complex problems posed by modern urban living.” Thomas Bradley, Los Angeles city councilman, said at a forum presented by the School of Architecture yesterday.
The Hoover Redevelopment Project encountered opposition from residents of the area only after “some people from outside the community stirred up some people who lived inside the community,” he said.
“There is an impression that the Hoover Project was designed to serve only the interests of USC,” Bradley said, but he expressed the opinion that the whole community will eventually benefit from the project.
“The unfortunate truth is that urban redevelopment has resulted in Negro removal in the past."
Bradley spoke under the auspices of the School of Architecture in a regular Wednesday Noon Forum on *yhe Urban Scene.”
Tall and athletic, the soft-spoken Negro councilman has a trim mustache and a receding hairline with a touch of grey at his temples.
He seemed at ease with the nearly all-white audience, as Jie reclined in his chair with his legs crossed comfortably throughout his talk and the question-and-answer period that followed.
Jeff Bleman, president of the sponsoring organization, had been apprehensive about the size of the audience before the program got under way.
“It makes me look pretty bad,” he said, “when not many people turn
out.”
His fears were unjustified, as about 60 students attended the talk,
(jlontinued on Page 2)
Black man is
By MARK VASCHE Assistant City Editor
“The best friend the white man in America has is the black man. He has been with him all the way and has died to protect the country,” Jesse Scott, Southern California field director for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said last night.
Speaking at a dinner at the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity house, Scott said the most loyal citizens in the nation are the Negroes.
“You’ll find no traitors among the Negro. He’s very low in suicide and joining the Communist Party. We have areas we’re not too proud of, but we don’t turn against the United States,” he said.
He said the nation is in bad shape when it deprives some of its natural citizens of the rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
“The United States tells the whole world that the individual is the most important thing and that the majority of the Constitution is devoted to his freedom.
“We brag about it, but at best, it is only idealism and means almost nothing to the black men,” Scott said.
He pointed out that the Constitution says all men are equal and have universal rights.
“But yet, the Congress today is debating whether the Negro is really a citizen,” he said.
“It is laughing at everything. It is trying to decide whether to give me protection. To be honest, I don’t think I’ll get it
“Years ago the Constitution set down many principles, but it seems they don’t apply to the Negro,” he said.
Scott turned to riots and told his audience, “I detest riots like any other type of war. But simply to detest doesn’t make them go away.
» “We must eliminate riots or modify them. And not
most loyal
by talking but by doing. I think there's lots to be done.”
He said, “Riots don’t change opinions about the Negro. All they do is bring prejudices to the surface."
The clue to solving the problem of riots may lie in the elimination of second and third class citizenship. Scott said.
“If this could be done, say within five years, the United States could wipe out illiteracy.
“Illiteracy breeds fear, hate and other things," he said.
Scott also attacked misfounded fears about the black population in America. He said many people are hesitant to grant the Negro rights because they envision a horde of black men populating the cities.
“Well, I’ve got news for you. Most black people probably wouldn't want to live by whites. People have preferences to stay by similiar people.
“If it could be proven that the white fears are true, it would be different. But there is no proof. Consequently, what we need is a national commitment that these ideas are bad. foolish and stupid.”
Bringing the Negro’s situation to a local level, Scott noted that very few Negroes are admitted to fraternities.
“You bow down to a black man who can score touchdowns, but you don’t think enough of him to invite him to join a fraternity. Can you justify this action?” he asked.
“How much longer must the Negro wait to get his rights? He’s already waited 100 years.”
In concluding. Scott, who has been active in the NAACP fcr 10 years, challenged the audience to stand up for its convictions.
“We think the dream will come true. But the success lies with the youth.
“It’s up to you to decide whether the United States will be great or only mediocre and if the future is to 4 be better than the past or the present.” ,
NAACP FIELD DIRECTOR SPEAKS
elude at least eight proposals:
1.	Urging the council, before the election, to place several questions on the Choice ’68 primary ballot, on issues ranging from drugs and the draft, to pass-fail and faculty tenure.
2.	A student-manned draft counseling service, because “there really is no one a student, who doesn’t want to serve, can go to now for advice.”
3.	Employment of a senior law student to advise the ASSC on such legal matters as student rights, the student literature code and the dormitory visitation proposal.
4.	A complete investigation of the campus’ decision-making processes ana a report on the findings to the entire university.
5.	Investigation of housing facilities both on and off campus to soli-
dify opinions on dormitory housing and “combat the economic conspiracy of apartment rentals.”
6.	Elimination of the 10-day speakers rule (which says the university may refuse permission for any speaker to appear on campus if it is not notified at least 10 days before) and a clarification of speakers policies.
7.	The creation of adequate audiovisual facilities to fulfill future entertainment and cultural activities.
8.	Immediate passage of a resolution for "adequate Student Union facilities.” including a hall to hold dances and lectures, a large auditor* lum for drama and music to relieve the jam in Bovard and adequate office space for student committees and projects.
Bill Mauk