Yellow Jacket (Brownwood, Tex.), Vol. 38, No. 17, Ed. 1, Wednesday, March 17, 1954 Page: 2 of 4
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PAGE 2
THE YELLOW JACKET
MARCH 17 1954
HPC Speech Students
By DALE GORE
A number of HPC speech stu-
dents presented "The Silver Cord"
by Sidney Howard the other eve-
ning and while Mr. Howard's
play might no: have gained any
more prestige it certainly did not
lose any. At least it did not suffer
a poor production.
The production in fact was
tdownright good thanks to a ca-
pable cast an adequate director
and an erstwhile production staff.
Bob Lynch senior directed the
;play. His directions were abrupt
A CONNIVING MOTHER A BROKEN ENGAGEMENT AND HYSTERICS
Robert Phelps Edward Rogers standing right) ha ; just broken his engagement with Hester (Glenda
Perrin lying on the couch) and the girl is indu'ging in some high-powered hysterics. Christina
(Jerry Graves) is doing her best to calm the girl while her husband David Phelps (Bill Simmons)
and Mrs. Phelps the source of it all (Flora Frazer) look on. This is a scene from "The Silver Cord"
presented by HPC speech students Thursday evening March 11.
The Focus Week
By R. B. COOPER
HPC BSU President
Our Focus Week story began
last April when the faculty and
administration voted to have such
an activity and to invite the Bap-
tist Texas department of student
work under direction of Dr. W. F.
Howard to help us. Letters went
out immediately and machinery
began rolling.
Twelve team members have
been named from a number of
vocational fields representing va-
ried interest and experience in ap-
ol ig Christian principle? to all
I n t
LOW
tau
JACKET
Published weekly by the
students of
HOWARD PAYNE COLLEGE
"The College Where Everybody
is Somebody"
Brownwood Texas
Dale Gore Editor
Norman Fisher Sports Editor
Paul Ferguson Sports Writer
Bobby Seale Business Mgr.
Bobby Stokes. Circulation Mgr
YF
i u
Flora Frazer in Role of Frustrated Mother Capable Cast
Make Good Theatre Stirring Entertainment; Lynch Directs
and to the point sharp and clearly
defined. It is very possible that he
dealt a little too kindly with his
cast by keeping their characteri-
sations on a slightly higher plane
.nun Air. Howard intended. But
his misdemeanor might be justi-
iecl considering the audience
.vhich Lynch knew would attend
he production.
To prove our point: In discuss-
of life.
The campus last semester se-
lected two co-chairmen Sylvia
Rundell and Billy McClellen
who selected the various commit-
tee co-chairmen and their com-
mittees. When the committees first met
with Dr. Howard Jan. 5 action
really began. Faculty advisers for
each committee have been chosen
in addition to two general advis-
ers. A Focus Week steering com-
mittee composed of all co-chairmen
has been meeting regularly
every Tuesdav morning from 10
to 10:30 o'clock to complete plans.
"When Christ Is Included" has
been . elected as the theme for the
week. Our purpose is to relate
c h life to The Life and to show
' hat will happen in every life
iv every ohase of life in nil
valk and mteiests of life ''when
Ch-M is included."
Ovist ian Focus Week is best
"xpl'uned in this manner: Chris-
Kin just what it says; focus
'o evaluate and investigate the
Christian life to see its impor-
tance; week from chapel period
Monday March 22 to chapel pe-
riod Fridav March 26.
Focus Week is not a revival
not a sor'es of evangelistic serv-
ices. Focus Week is not a dedicated
devotions week. It will not deal
so much in vocations as in mak-
inq Christian life the vocation.
Focus Week is not a BSU af-
fair. It is campus-wide an administration-sponsored
week for
all.
Present an
ing the play with a number of
people we have found the lines
I most remembered and the char-
! acterizations most appreciated
were those which drew laughter.
An HPC speech instructor was
once overhead to say that comedy
is best appreciated here. And we
are prone to wonder if his state-
ment though not a profound ob-
servation is not a true one.
Story
Activities of the week will in-
clude chapel services each day
9:30-10:30 a.m. when team mem-
bers will speak; classroom visita-
tion by team members at invita-
tion of teachers to relate the sub-
ject at hand to the Christian way
of life; seminars on all fields and
interests tuned to our campus
needs.
From 4 to 5 p.m. Monday
through Thursday seminars on
love courtship and marriage will
be conducted. From 7 to 8 p.m.
all subjects will be discussed.
Evening services will be con-
ducted each evening at 8 o'clock.
Team member will speak.
PcvMinal conferences with any
t( am member concerning any sub-
ject will be available en request
of any student. A peisonal confer
ences committee will make ar-
rangements Tuesday and Thursday nights
dormitory sessions will be con-
ductedone each in Taylor Hall
I IPC Hall the Little White House
and Yantis Hall.
LSB Conducts
Youth Rally
The Life Service Band of HPC
conducted the services at the Con-
cho Valley Youth Rally at Eola
Saturday night February 27.
The group on the trip included
Eva Nell Turner Svlvia Rundell
Florine Griffin Bob Gooding J.
T. Bolding Howard Ford and
Lloyd Conner.
Excellent
Therefore we might say that
the real flaw in any HPC drama-
tic production is the audience.
"Cord" deals with an outwardly
sweet mother who seeks by every
sly device to play on her sons'
sympathies and to strangle their
natural impulses to fall in love
with women of their own genera-
tion. Mrs. Phelps the mother was
brilliantly played by Flora Frazer
senior. From her first entrance the
audience was completely en-
thralled by her evil conniving.
Of course Miss Frazer was ably
asisted by the play's author. Mr.
Howard wrote more or less of a
character study in three acts.
Anyone else who happened along
was meiely a foil for the person-
ality of a woman long possessed
with an unhealthy awareness of
her unusual significance.
Miss Fra.er's performance was
electrifying and many times in
the course of the evening more
than horrifying. She knew the
woman she was playing and she
knew her well. Not content with
a merely good performance she
was constantly striving for a per-
fect one. And if at times she tried
a bit too hard we would not hold
that against her.
We are not quite sure whether
it was Miss Frazer's fluent inter-
pretation of the part or Mr. How-
ard's writing of the part itself
which kept her before us even
when she was offstage but we do
know that each reappearance was
greatly anticipated. Had her per-
formance been anything less than
wonderful this might not have
been the case.
We call to mind Miss Frazer's
performance as the mother in "Ja-
cob Comes Home" last year as
well as her interpretation of "mo-
ther dear mother" in the Junior
Varsity Show melodrama earlier
this year. All of which simply
goes to prove that she is a versa-
tile actress even if her roles are
confined to mothers.
David Mrs. Phelps' older son
was played by Bill Simmons.
David Phelps never knows what
is right. At thirty years of age
he has just married and is just
now beginning a profession. At
thirty years of age he is practical-
ly lost to himself but not quite;
somehow he manages to allow
himself to be saved. It is not quite
clear how he does it but some of
the credit goes to his wife. We
shall discuss her later however.
Simmons' interpretation of the
role was on a rather limited scale.
He conveyed however those nu
merous lctreats into himself as
his wife painfully reminded him
with an adequate sense of per-
spective if not a thorough under-
standing ot his role.
The part of David Phelps is not
a very interesting one primarily
because David Phelps is not a
very interesting person. That fault
lies with his creator the play-
wright himself. If then the char-
acter was less than his usual unin-
teresting self the blame is on Mr.
Simmons' characterization.
It is to his credit however that
he did not have very much to
work with a number of stilted
lines which are really quite silly
when you think about them. But
Mr. Simmons' quiet portrayal was
the perfect sounding board for the
less quiet emoting of Jerry Graves
as his wife Christina.
I uiihih: uaviu nnsuna is very
interesting. It is a wonder to the
i audience that she ever married
'Silver Cord'
such a man as David. She must
have seen in him something we
did not see. Nevertheless as a
scientist she knows an odd-ball
when she sees one and immedi-
ately he recognizes Mrs. Phelps
for what she really is.
It is in the third act showdown
that Miss Graves really shines. It
takes her a while to get going but
when she goes she really goes. It
is only regrettable that she had to
vent her wrath on such a strong
personality as Mrs. Phelps. Her
performance was overlooked by
many in the shadow of the Frazer
art.
Well in the first instance Miss
Graves looked the part a suc-
cessful young career woman
smart and casually sophisticated
In the second she acted the diffi-
cult part well; her first-act chat-
ter was bright and sharp wher.
necessary; her pleading with Da-
vid in the second act sparkled and
seemed to be from the heart; and
her third-act explosion was per-
fect. Miss Graves knows her limita-
tions and stays within bound
Therefore she is a capable actress
Robert the younger son carries
he tragedy of the play. For in a
sense he is the tragedy. In the
nd he is unable to escape from
his mother partly because he pi-
Mes her but mostly because her
hold on him has become too great
through the years. In him is a
person whose possibilities we are
unable to see simply because his
weakness has overcome any pos-
ibilities whatever.
Playing the role with something
of miraculous adroitness was Ed-
ward Rogers. He was very good.
While he looked a Little too phy-
sically strong and slightly more
mentally alert than the part called
for he spoke his lines with abso-
lute feeling. In his one big scene
in which he breaks his engage-
ment he was master of a situation
in which he was to give the im-
pression that he was not master of
himself. If that is confusing it is
nevertheless the truth.
For lack of a better description
of Mr. Rogers' portrayal let us say
we enjoyed his performance bet-
ter than anyone else's excluding
Miss Frazer's of course.
And we felt sorry for Glenda
Perrin. We think she was miscast
in the part of Hester Robert's jilt-
ed fiancee.
It is obvious that Miss Perrin
did not think so for she tried with
all her powers as an actress to
convey the part to her audience.
Sometimes she succeeded.
The scene in which Robert
breaks their engagement and
takes back the ring was her great
opportunity and she plunged into
it with a gusto that came as some-
I thing of a shock to those people
who know the real Glenda. Hs-
leues iiru noi ner ione out mv
gave them all she had and her au-
dience was well-pleased so -were
too.
Glenda wo do not mean th.-.
unkindly. We just like you bettei
in a nurse's uniform (i.e.. "Mua
Walls").
Ina Simmons as the maid pro-
vided the suspense of the play;
we kept wondering if she was go-
ing to say something. She didn't.
(On second thought yes she did
at the opening of the first act.)
For the rest of the play she was
content to walk on and off ar-
ranging tea things occasionally.
"The Silver Cord" by HPC
players was a great success. They
are to be congratulated. The stage
et greatly enhanced by the pres-
ence of a new cyclorama was
"orv attractive. Wo only regret
that more performances could not
have been given.
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Yellow Jacket (Brownwood, Tex.), Vol. 38, No. 17, Ed. 1, Wednesday, March 17, 1954, newspaper, March 17, 1954; Brownwood, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth92386/m1/2/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Howard Payne University Library.