The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-03-11
M E N w o M EN
 A N D THIN G s

II you ever get. tired of the movies
 Ted up on vaudeville, surfeited with mus
 icaI extravaganzas, bored with gran,
 opera, and unresponsive to the legitimat,
 drama, don't give up hope until vol
 have witnessed a college night per
 formance, put on by a lot of happy
 hearted girls.
 confess that of late I have been "or
 my feed so to speak, when it comes tt
 the bill of fare which the amusement
 caterers are furnishing to the BirmIng
 ham patrons of their joy restaurants. Iti nos their fault, however, as the offerings in all lines have been unusually good this season. It's just my jaded appetite from surfeiting
 ! Now know you wilh be surprised when
 1 state that if you find yourself in the same fix and wish to return to normaIcy so far as the amusement world is con cerned, the best way to do so is to cut out the highly spiced shows and take on a sure enough to goodness amateur per formance, played and staged by purely home talent without the guidance or med ding of any professionals. z
 I know it is the fashion for many the atregoers to turn up their nose at the mere mention of anything which smacks of amateur theatricals but the more they bear the earmarks in acting, costuming, staging and directing the better I like them, for to me the poorest exhibitions n GA0 pnn nv rfC fessionals. I prefer to take my acting straight, some topers like to guip their whisky without diluting it with water.
 l never like to see a show by home talent go through without some hitch, for it always adds to the excitement when the curtain fails to go up or down prop erly, the scenes get mixed, the costumes come apart, the actors forget their lines or the orchestra gets out of tune. Some thing, must go wrong to make it real istic amateur affair, even though it near ly breaks the heart of the stage man. ager and the cast.
 never like to look at a programme, and I much prefer not to know the plot of tragedy, the story of a comedy, or the lines of an opera. I want to have the pleasure of seeing the tragedy de- velop before my eyes, the comedy sur prise me with unlocked for situations and the opera charm me with it's unimagined scenes. l know this is not the orthodox way of regarding the repertoire of the theatre and the opera as most pIaygoers desire to be familiar with the play, the dramatized books or the thread of the story around which an opera is built
 Now, I had my wish gratified on ''coi- lege night" at Montevallo as the girls Of the Alabama Technical Institute and College for Women, gave what to me was a delightful exhibition of the thing l am talking about. I do not mean that much ability was not displayed both in the orig inality of the acts, the songs, the toasts and the stunts, for each and every one bore evidence that they had not been copied from any source whatever, but college lassies
 Clever as was much of the acting ano the staging and the skits, there was just enough mishaps to keep the crowd on tip toe and bubbling over with fun. and to add to the expectancy of the occasion no one knew what was coming next, for the various acts and stunts had been guarded with jealous care. It was one show in which there was no programme and we had to wait for the president of th' honor board to make each announce ment before we could even guess what we were about to witness.
 The school had been divided into two sides, the college colors, purple and gold designating the division. Heretofore 1t had been contest of classes on college night" but this being the twenty-frtn anniversary, it was thought best to make 1t contest between larger units Each side rendered college songs, each side gave toasts, each side recited poems, ach side pulled off stunts. and each side, presented play. It was up to the three judges to score each offering and then hand their decision to me, and it was my job to present the prize
 
 Believe me, the rafters rang when 4o girls sang in unison. Believe me, some of the stunts showed originality in thought as well as ingenuity in express sion. I cant mention all but in one or the plays when the footlights were called, three lovely headed girls took their position on the outer edge of the stage. and the drop curtain consisted or two charming misses who held in front or them pieces of white cloth with appro- priate letters, while the scenery was very much alive in the person of beautiful young girls who, like the dryads of old were imprisoned in the trees.
 In another play there was a stage set ting showing the main building of the school and the marvellous changes old Mother Time was enabled to make of the pnny, the lliterate. the fast the siangy. and the slovenly girl was most refresh ing, and made the audience wish that the transformation could be so quickly done instead of requiring a college course to do it The masterpiece was tho Sly2i A, T, l. s& c. W woman who would go back to her community as the exempiar of all that was womaniy
 think the thing which most impressed ne in the whole performance was the grit of one Of the girls. who receiving her part late in the afternoon, had little time in which to commit it to memory. on endeavoring to speak her lines rather