Evening Star Newspaper, August 1, 1937, Page 76

2 Pre-Views B CARL GLICK For two seasons Carl Glick was a very bad actor — so he says. For several years he has been a very good Little Theater direc- tor and short story writer — so his record says. He has played a big part in the Little Theater movement now sweeping the country — writing and directing plays and even creating the Little Theaters them- selves out of anything he found handy: at Waterloo, Iowa, it was a remodeled church; at Bal- four Lake, N. Y., a remodeled barn; at Missoula, Montana, a remodeled army barracks. As a reward for good performance, perhaps, Glick directed the first city-built and city-owned Little Theater in the country, at San Antonio, Texas. He also wrote the first original drama to be produced by the government, “The Unconquered,” put on in New York in the summer of 1934 by the Federal Portable Theaters. When he isn’t producing plays or lecturing on the drama, he writes short stories about his favorite fiction characters — the people of Chinatown. In an early issue you'll find a delightfully humorous story of how a little Chinese boy, ably assisted by a dead cat, helped to solve a noted crime: “VICTIM NUMBER SEVEN" [ N J For many years Mary Heaton Vorse lived on the wind-swept sands of Cape Cod, one of the brilliant Provincetown group of writers and artists which in- cluded, at one time or another, Eugene O’Neill, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Susan Glaspell, George Cram Cooke, Charles W. Haw- thorne and Frederick Waugh. Today she spends most of her time in Washington — when she isn’t being the injured bystander in the Youngstown riots or at some other scene of excitement — but the roar of the Atlantic still echoes in her heart. She has put her knowledge of the sea’s anger and its occasional cruelty in a gripping story which runs in an early issue. Watch for: ‘“THE THREE BROTHERS’ THIS WEEK Try |.|vmg Do the hardest thing first by WILLIAM MOULTON MARSTON USED to hate salads. Mother said they were good for me, and I must eat them. So I ate them first. If I waited until I had eaten my steak and mushrooms I simply couldn’t eat my salad. The contrast was too great. But if I ate the green stuff at the be- ginning it worked the other way — my favorite meats or fish tasted doubly delectable. ) The other day a high school girl came to me. “I simply hate shorthand and typing,” she said. “But father says I must take them, to help me in college and afterward. Well, Doctor — I flunked those subjects last month. Can you help me?”’ “No,” I said. “I can’t tutor you in typing and shorthand and I wouldn’t if I could. But I know your father and he isn’t going to let you escape so easily. Tell me, which of your home lessons do you study last?” The an- swer was what 1 expected — the sub- jects she disliked most, typing and shorthand. “Look here,” 1 advised, *“‘do your hardest work first. Dig into that shorthand manual every day when you first get home. Practice typ- ing on the machine before you open vour French book, or begin reading vour English literature. Then let me know your school marks next month.” That girl raised her marks from a flunk to the highest credit given in two months. Moreover, she confessed to me before the end of the term that she had begun to like typing and short- hand. Of course she liked it — she had learned to concentrate her efforts on the tasks that were hard for her in order to get them done quickly and go on to more pleasant occupations. It’s a funny thing— we humans speedily learn to enjoy any work we put genuine interest and effort into. And if we like one thing less than another our efforts are stimulated by an expectation of the more enjoyable activity still to come. Hundreds of similar postponements of dreaded undertakings come to me every day. I tell them all the same thing — do the hardest thing first. Whatever you think is going to be hard, do it now. That is living: you can learn to enjoy the hard thing by doing it first. Think a minute — what do you mean by the “hard” thing to do? You actually describe something that you are retreating from, trying to escape. Once you do it you no longer feel that it is strange, unfamiliar. The fact that you go after it instead of letting 1t pursue you removes your fear. You may not master the new project in- stantly. But you will master your own dread of it the first time you attack 1t instead of running away; and there- after the task will become easter and easier and more and more pleasant. If it is an activity to be often repeated, such as the use of a typewriter, the anticipation of a reward — that is, activities you have already mastered —at the completion of each practice period will hasten the learning process. Soon you will number the “hard” thing among your accomplishments and your newly acquired skill will carry its own reward. Thus it is in all things: the way to ensure a pleasant and successful future is to learn to enjoy the “now.” THIS WEEK FICTION BACK YARD IDYLL The Prettiest Girl in Town Finds Adventuwre PATTERSON DIAL Hlustrated by Leslie L. Benson ALL BLOOD IS RED, Port V Revealing the Wor-Mystery of China GEORGE AGNEW CHAMBERLAIN Hivstrated by Jeles Gotlieb ONE ASSIST, ONE ERROR A Fast-8all Pitcher Goes Wild OCTAVUS ROY COHEN flustrated by C.C. Beall ARTICLES AND FEATURES TRY LIVING Do the Hardest Thing First LUCKY STARS How Some Hollywooed Folk Won Fame “HEAVEN IN SUMMER" Helen Menken Finds It in ke Cream WILLIAM MOULTON MARSTON GROVER JONES GRACE TURNER FOR SNAPSHOOTERS The Way to Get Good Action Pictures BEAUTY BREVITIES A Woman’sCrowning Glory GOOD TASTE TODAY STRANGER THAN MAN ANIMALGRAMS kfbo Tomato Gets Bottled Up . HERE'S WHY DOG TIRED A Poem of Boyhood FATAL FOOLISHNESS it's Silly to Drown . Decoration by Major Felten The Proper Goarb for Summertime Weor Are the Mother Seals of the Pribilef Islands . You Should Never Say You're “Too Old to Learn" MARTHA LEAVITT EMILY POST CARL KULBERG GEORGE HOPF IRA S, WILE, M.D. ARTHUR GUITERMAN PAUL W. KEARNEY Cover Design by Karl Godwin Magazine Section B Snatches RecenTLy a bill was offered in Alberta to abolish the Redcoats — the Northwest Mounted Po- lice. They would be merged with the rest of the state police and wear drab uniforms. This 1s a blow to all the romantic and ad- venturous folk, which is most of us. The Northwest Mounted has been an inspiration to adventure writers for many years. Their slogan — “Get Your Man” — has been many a youngster’s in- spiration. Clothes may not make the man, but the Red Coat dresses the hero. Tue most famous authority in the world on stammering is an Englishman named James Lewis Orton. He has been helping the King of England to overcome his impediment. He is quoted as having said that he believes King George will always have a hesi- tancy in making public addresses. Doctor Orton has come to this country to lecture on stammering at some of our universities. One of the test sentences for stam- merers is: Seven times seven seems simple sometimes. But try any limerick beginning with s or ¢. Doctor CLype FisHER, the fa- mous astronomer of the Ameri- can Museum of Natural History, is married to a very beautiful Indian girl with the musical name of Te Ata. She was promi- nent in Indian public affairs, is an artist, a student of North Ameni- can Indian lore, has interpreted Indian legends on the stage before European royalty and recently played before President and Mrs. Roosevelt at the White House. She accompanied her husband to Peru, where he went to study the total eclipse of the sun in June. While there, she made an extensive study of the descendants of the Inca Empire. It has been said of Doctor Fisher that he not only knows the stars, but how to pick one. Copyright, 1937 United Newspapers Magazine Corporation