Miami Hurricane, September 01, 1950

              The Miami
Hurricane
Volume XXV
University of Miami, Coral Gables, Fla., September 1, 1950
No. 10
U-M Builds New Theater
10-Year Dream Realized In $110,000 Structure
By JOHN BAIAR
Hurricane Staff Writer
A ten-year dream of Prof. Fred Koch, drama department chairman, materialized this week as ground was cleared in preparation for the construction of the new $110,000 Ring theater. It will be located about 100 feet west of the temporary tent Ring theatre on the student club parking lot.
The cost of the new structure will be financed over a period
of years out of its revenue, making*-
Photo by Baia
A REVOLVING STAGE will be the center of the drama department's new Ring theater, sketched above, designed by architects Robert M. Little and Marion I. Manley. To be completed by Dec. 1, the theater will be entirely open on the sides to suit climatical needs. The bleacher-type seats will be wheeled to enable the audience to be seated in any desired relationship to the stage.
Fall Registration Starts Sept. 20; Law, Sept 18
Registration for the regular fall semester in all divisions except Law begins at 8:30 A.M. Wed., September 20, and ends Fri., September 22 at 4 P.M., according to information released this week by Registrar K. Malcolm Beal.
Law School registration begins Monday September 18 at 8:30 A.M., ending Wednesday September 20 at 4 P.M.
“No one except Law students will be allowed to register before the afternoon of the 19th of September,” Assistant Registrar H. T. Troetschel Jr. said. “We just won’t have things ready until then.”
“Only in cases of extreme necessity will any student be allowed to register at an earlier date,” he added. Troetschel urged students to begin their registration by 2 p.m. on the last day, Friday, Sept. 22, at the latest in order that they may complete their registration before closing time. There will be limited time for late registration beginning Mon., Sept. 25th.
Veterans clearance slips will be available Sept. 5th in Building 92.
Permits to register (the I.B.M. card telling where and when to register) will be available September 6th at the Information window in building L2, Main Campus.
These permits are being made up for all who attended the University since the term beginning in February, 1950 (including both summer sessions).
Registrar Beal urges everyone that plans to register for the fall term to pick up his permit before September 20th.
Reserves Told To Be Ready
A University branch postal employee, just back from two weeks of training at Fort Benning, Georgia, said reserve groups there were told u> get their affairs in order as "greetings” could be expected any tune.
Joseph J. Parker, a reserve captain in the army quartermaster corps, has been at the University oranch post office since last September. During the war he was stationed in Miami and Miami Beach.
Favorable Exchange Rate
Prof Finds Mexico Interesting; Climate Good, People Hospitable
Hospitable people, a wonderful climate, and the wealth of historical interest are a few of the reasons why Mrs. Grace Morrison, assistant professor of Spanish, has spent three summers in Mexico City.
“Not to mention a very favorable rate of exchange—8.65 pesos to one dollar,” Mrs. Morrison added.
While praising Mexico’s cultural* ► development, Mrs. Morrison emphasized the country’s historical interest, pointing out that many streets are named for dates important in Mexico’s rise to independence.
“It would be comparable to naming our thoroughfares 4th of July street or Avenue May 30th,” she explained.
Land Of Great Extremes
The geographic, economic, and historic contrasts of our southern neighbor make Mexico a land of great extremes, Mrs. Morrison declared.
Snow-capped peaks bordered by torrid jungle, 16th century cathedrals standing beside modem skyscrapers, churches filled with treasures accumulated for centuries, all help to make Mexico a land of amazing contrasta, she continued.
Impressed by cultural developments in that country, Mrs. Morrison cited some of the great artists that Mexico City attracts every year.
“They get the very best in fine entertainment," she said. “For ex-
Gallery Schedules Fall Re-opening
Re-opening of the University art gallery, 222 Merrick Hall, has been tentatively scheduled for October 15, Dr. Virgil Barker, director, said this week. Just what the first group of canvases on display will be has not yet been determined.
A painting by Richard Merrick, associate professor of art, is now on exhibit at the Rochester, New York museum. It will be on circuit for about a year. The painting, “Supper at Erasmus,” done in black oils, is biblical in theme.
Grads To Get Gowns
Graduating seniors may get caps and gowns starting Wednesday, Sept. 6, in the Bookstore.
ample this summer Leonard Warren and Kurt Baum of the Metropolitan opera, and Kublic, conductor of the Chicago symphony orchestra, appeared there. Mexico is now on a cultural par with most of the other countries of the world,” she added.
Mrs. Morrison declares that in Mexico, “more cordiality and hospitality per square foot is shown than in any other country in the world. They are especially helpful to tourists.”
Mexico Stretches Dollar
Due to the recent de-valuation of the peso, the American dollar can be un-believably stretched in Mexico. To illustrate her point, Mrs. Morrison cited some examples: movies from 12 to 60 cents; nickel shoe shines; honey-dew melons for 19 cents, and transportation to any part of the city for only two cents.
Campus
Calendar
Friday, Sept. 1, 9 to 12 mid.—Square dance for all students . . . Student Club Patio.
Monday, Sept. 4,—Coral Gables Skish Club, Student Club Lake.
Saturday, Sept. 9, 8:30 to 12 mid.
President’s Reception for Graduating Seniors, Student Club Patio.
Tempo Calls For Staff
Several staff positions are still open on Tempo magazine. The editors arc looking for a promotion mangaer to handle special events and publicity. The magazine also needs about three more staff writers.
Anybody interested in .these positions can see the editor, Hal Bergida, any day except Friday in the office of student publications on the second floor of the Student club.
the project entirely self liquidating, Dr. Bowman F. Ashe, president of the University stated.
The building will be ready by December 1, according to E. O. Strong, representative of Gust K. Newberg Construction Co., unless shortages in concrete develop.
Theater Flexible
The new structure, designed by architect Robert M. Little and associate Marion I. Manley, is different from other ring-type theaters in that it is the only one being built to suit climatical needs, and is the only completely flexible theatre in the country, permitting any type staging, included modified proscenium as well as ring-style.
The central unit of the structure will be a circular auditorium, 100 feet in diameter, covered with a reinforced concrete dome, 22feet high at the peak. It will be free from interior pillars, and entirely open on ithe sides to allow free circulation of the air.
A revolving stage, 30 feet in diameter, will be erected in the rear segment of the larger circle by the technical staff of the drama department. For certain productions a removable proscenium structure can be erected to enclose this stage, on which three sets can be erected at once, and the scene changed at will by revolving the stage.
Plans are being considered to equip the theatre with wheeled bleacher-type seats, supported by metal framework for easy mobility. According to the drama department, this will enable them to place the audience in any desired relationship to the stage, or on occasions, to even hold performances directly under the stars.
Facing the University lake in the rear, a 50 by 60 foot workshop will be constructed, housing the paint shop, prop and scenery shop, electrical shop, and storage rooms. Two curved wings, approximately 37 by 40 feet will be attached. These units will be connected to the auditorium by a covered loggia. In the east wing will be dressing rooms and a
greenroom for the actors; in the west wing a workroom and storage closets for the costume department.
Flooring To Be Concrete
All flooring will be concrete, with the exception of the auditorium. As a result of experience in the parking lot tent, this floor will be covered with a special Macadam formula, which does not “bounce" the sound as does concrete or terazzo.
The auditorium dome will be poured concrete, reinforced by steel rods five inches thick. Steel tension bands with turnbuckles will encircle the base of the dome where it joins the supporting columns. As the concrete sets, these bands will be heated and tightened by the turnbuckles, compressing the dome into a solid unit.
A circular catwalk will be suspended 14 feet above the floor, 17 feet inside the shell of the dome. House lighting will be installed in a grid paralleling the catwalk, and the stage lighting will be contained in an "egg crate” grid suspended from the center of the dome. All lighting will be operated from a control room over the front entrance.
The building will be 256 feet long, with a 74 foot frontage on Miller road and a curved span of 132 feet at the rear overlooking the lake.
Education Grad Now Bandman
A 1949 School of Education graduate is currently employed as trumpet man with Rollo Laylan’s quintet at the Poinciana hotel ballroom.
Thomas Justice, 116 Alhambra circle, has behind him a record of several years in the musical big leagues, including stints with such name bands as those of A1 Donahue and Jack Tegarden.
The Poinciana quintet, besides Justice, is composed of Laylan at the drums; Jerry Gorman, trombone; Ernie Goodson, clarinet; Mrs. Marie Marcus, one-time child prodigy, at the piano.
Justice, a native of Akron, Ohio has lived here three years.
Photo by Baia
LOOKING OVER PLANS for the new Ring theater are the drama department’s Sam Hirsch, left, and Arno Jacobson of the Gust Newberg construction company, builders of the theater.