The Coral Gables Times

Thursday, December 14, 1961, page 4 (of 32)

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THE CORAL GABLES TIMES

4 THE CORAL GABLES TIMES Thursday, December 14, 1961

Easy Solution Amid A Bigger Problem

Those are justified howls from area travel agents over the setting up of competition for them in the heart of the University of Miami campus. An airline ticket office is being established, threatening much of their student business. But the evildoers here, it seems to The Times, are not the University but the airlines themselves. It is to them that the agents should look. For it is the airlines, not the University, who are committing the act against their own customers, i.e., the agents. The problem is one in the larger context of how much, if any, business should be operated for students on the University campus. Until now the UM has wisely stayed out of this field. We believe intelligent talk from City officials here to the right parties on campus will maintain that tradition. Meanwhile, the travel agents should direct their umbrage to the culprits, not the handmaidens.

What This Town Needs: Good 25-Cent Hot Dog

Hot dog lovers everywhere—and we want our names prominent on the list—will agree with former Mayor Jack Montgomery's opinion that 35 cents is too much to pay for a hot dog (see story on page 1). While his comment was made relative to the asking price at the just-concluded Gables Open golf tourney, we'd like to add our protest on the grounds that 35 cents is also too much when there is no-tourney. Most of us duffers labor under enough handicap on the golf course without being penalized on the 19th hole. Twenty-five cents is sufficient.

A Straight Answer For Some Mushy Thinking

Well, sir, that was an interesting emotional outburst from Cardinal Cushing up Boston way the other day when he claimed that the city has been "betrayed and blackmailed across this country." Subject of his complaint was that eye-opening, well-crafted CBS television documentary on how a bookie joint operated in Boston with the indulgent overlooking of the local police. The Cardinal, addressing an audience at the annual policeman's ball, said he hasn't seen the film but, "I am not interested in seeing it. I am only interested in knowing who was behind it, who was responsible for it." The Christian Science Monitor, an eminent journal published in the Cardinal's own city, answered him well and swiftly: "Boston has indeed been 'betrayed' to the rest of the country. Not by CBS telecasters. The camera doesn't lie. Not by state troopers. They were on no false goose chase at Swartz's Key Shop. "Not by political reform figures who dared to speak out about the city's shame and the state's shame. "Boston was betrayed, all right. By the policemen photographed entering the key (and bookie) shop. And by those political leaders who sought to shrug off the matter; or who sought to make the reformers and investigators the goats for having dared to show the public how laws were being winked at. "Few citizens doubt that a majority of the Boston police force is honest. But the taxpayers are not interested in hearing the kind of self-congratulation indulged in by their police commissioner and other leaders at the annual Policemen's Ball, when the commissioner has not even troubled to explain to the public why 10 members of his force were photographed entering an illegal gambling place . . ."

Rara Avis

Excellence is a rare bird. We value it so much and see it so seldom that we delight in calling attention to it. What currently has our admiration is a piece of work from the hands of Bert Burris, the City's publicity director. It is a Gables promotional booklet, beautifully illustrated in color and laced with a believable but inviting text. If you want to tell the Gables story to a friend—or a prospect—get your hands on "Coral Gables: Florida's Showcase Community." It is a piece of craftsmanship.

The People's Victory MAILBOX

EDITOR: Your headline in the December 7 Times says "Victory seen as Jefferson Agrees" is sheer bunk. This in my opinion is not a victory for anyone but the store in question. They have still managed to remain open on the prime selling days, in this case Sundays. The statement that they already have their advertising commitments made is a poor excuse for not closing. Their copy could easily have been changed and you as newspaper people know this to be a fact. The owner's statement that this is an economic battle is not true. This is a greedy battle on the part of all the Sunday thieves, my name for these merchants who have stayed open on Sunday and managed to take business away from every legitimate merchant who closes on Sunday. Let Jefferson be the first one to state they will close on Sundays and I am certain of others following suit. I think it very big of them to say they will close on Sundays after Christmas. Of course they will close, there will hardly be any reason for them to be open. I feel certain that in view of their not closing on Sundays that many merchants in Coral Gables will be open on Sunday December 24. Inasmuch as this store is competition to many different types of business, this would be the logical stand to take. S. C. MILLS Tiny Town 275 Miracle Mile.

EVERYBODY'S Business By Rolfe Neill

By Rolfe Neill Impressions After reading Monday's Herald and Doris Reno's interview with the visiting Russian opera star, Galina Vishnevskaya, I expected to see something of a sullen pig farmer or factory worker on stage that evening. Instead, the visitor turned out to be stunning—in looks, voice, figure and dress. (Some Russians even have diamonds, I noticed from the glitter.) That evening I re-read the Reno interview (she had been frustrated in her attempt) and found that despite the column-long complaint of the Herald writer, she had given her reluctant interviewee excellent notice at the end, to wit: "She is exceedingly pretty, especially if she smiles, and has a lovely figure." Well advised. Encore The University Symphony's all-Russian program provided a soggy first-half, in my opinion. And the two selections chosen for the soprano soloist were little better, although the audience responded enthusiastically to her personality. But the final number of the evening, a half dozen pieces from the "Gayne Ballet Suite" of Khachaturian, was worth the whole show. They are wild, exhuberant, crashing works, yet threaded with a haunting melody here and there. In one, the tempo is unmistakably jazz and you wouldn't be surprised to see Benny Goodman on stage. And watching Fabien Sevitzky conduct is to watch a m in charge. He has such suggestive movements — first to scold, then to encourage, perhaps to compliment. He is very much the man of authority, yet no authoritarian. Cleanup The First Christian Church on Menores Avenue is proud of the cleaning recently giv its church, making the outsi walls bright again after a bout with mildew. And the Joy Class there is replacing the diseased palm in front with a healthy specimen. Item From the Associated Press: "WASHINGTON — Pentagon sources report that co plaints have come from less than 1 per cent of the Army reservists and National Guardsmen called into Federal service." The release, put out by the Department of Defense, obviously was done with self-congratulation. They'd better think again. If less than 1 per cent is complaining then America really has gone to seed.

With Eye of Disdain On Teacher, We Shall Reap What We Have Sown

By PHILLIPS RUSSELL Correspondent The nation continues to be troubled about teachers and teaching, about schools and schooling, about educators and education. Yet the root of one difficulty is seldom mentioned, and that is the low status assigned in many communities to teachers. In brief, teachers are not respected enough, valued enough and paid enough. One result is that men have well nigh disappeared from the teaching profession except in the higher and more executive positions. Teachers are nearly all women, and no matter how efficient, how hard-working, they are, they cannot take the place of men, or exert the same authority over young males. The low social status given to teachers did not always prevail. In older days and less urban communities, the teacher, though nearly always ill-paid, was a respected and even honored figure. Parents valued his presence in the community and expected their children to obey him. In Russia, if we may believe travelers, the status of tea er rises even higher than th The teacher occupies a key, indeed a central, position. His work is regarded as of the highest social importance and his pay and social position correspond. His influence on the upcoming generation is noted and rewarded. The system of mass schooling and factory-like educati n that we have adopted is encouraging to the individual teacher. He gets lost in the crowd, and if parochial politics and petty intrigue are felt in his school, he goes through the motions of teaching but is careful not to attract too much attention. This way of doing can be, and often is, crushing in its results. If we persist in it, what eventual effect can e expect?

ART TIMES

By Robert S. Hurwitz Local artist Bert Boucher, displays his best work to date, with a show of 25 drawings and paintings at Village Corner Gallery. The artist and his material must be understood before the true meaning of his message can come across. Boucher, in his best work fixes his paper surface, which is sometimes wrinkled, with a wax base, his color drawing medium is thin crayon. For build-up texture effect, he then scratches with a blunt instrument. A lacquer is sometimes added to seal the wax. Boucher's major works do not light up with gay color or allow you to use the adjective "beautiful"; rather, they are sensitive reflections of the artists' experience or imagination. "Paris Remembrance" and "Remembrance of an Afternoon" use a dark background technique with the vibrations of light portraying the abstract figures, the situation of happy loneliness is well worked out. The subject of love is delicately achieved in "Entangled." Two nude lovers in contemplation are placed in the foreground of a tapestry-like background of half circles. "Conversation With the Night" is a show stopper. The vibrations, foreboding and eeriness of the nocturnal are captured in this painting. There's a dominating figure but not dominating to the degree that the city at sleep and the flickering of lights are allowed to prove it's scene valid. If you've ever walked or awakened in the scary darkness of night, you'll find that you've been in this picture before. Boucher has advanced well in his painting, style and communication. Probably Boucher's work falls apart most when he goes to a big pallet of color in his oils. His stories and subject matters are superb creations of his active mind. My guess is that when technique and subject matter combine with a better use of color balance, his work will become very popular. Sometimes an artist can get lost in the clutter of too much detail, too much motion and too much labor. Boucher does that a great deal of the time. His more immediate response to "Conversation With the Night" and "Turnpike" are good complete reactions, that have been done quickly and succeeded. A good show to study and enjoy.