KEEPING UP/Arts and Entertainment

Fall Festivals; Autumnal Activities

It never really turns cool in Dallas until after the State Fair, say the old-timers. Nevertheless, October can be the most delicious month of the year, when just going out to pluck the newspaper off the lawn in the morning can be tonic. The vast inverted bowl under which we live is usually its bluest and brightest, and if the August drought hasn’t parched them, the trees are full of color – not the burning hues of New England, but something subtler, more muted, copper and rust.

There are two things you can do to celebrate this season. You can turn off the air-conditioning, open the windows, put Strauss’ Four Last Songs on the stereo, break out your copy of Keats’ odes, and relish the melancholy of a year taking its leave. Or, you can unzip the sweater bag, press the hanger creases out of your corduroys, and get out in the open air. Fortunately, there are lots of places you can go this month. Here are a few of them.

“October Magic,” the 1976 State Fair of Texas, will be October 8 through 24. The fair’s usual activities will be featured – exhibits, the auto show, circus and musical acts, the midway games and rides. The Pan-American Livestock Exposition will take place October 9 through 17. The State Fair Rodeo, featuring champion rodeo stars, will be held at 8 p.m. in the State Fair Coliseum, October 9-17; admission $6 for box seats, $4 (general State Fair admission included in price of tickets). The musical Shenandoah will be presented in the Music Hall, evening performances Monday-Saturday, matinees Saturday and Sunday, October 8-24; tickets $3-$ll, with general State Fair admission included. Admission to the fair only, $2 adults, $1 children 5-12, children under 5 free. State Fair Box Office, 6031 Berkshire Lane, Preston Center/961-7200.

Neiman-Marcus Ireland Fortnight will be held in the downtown store, Main and Ervay, October 18-30. The store is extravagantly redecorated for its annual festival celebrating the culture of a particular foreign land, and this year features the arts, crafts and wares of the Emerald Isle. And as usual, a variety of special activities takes place each day, with spin-off events in local museums and theaters (see “Art,” “Movies,” and “Theater” for particulars on Fortnight-related events).

Sale Street Fair, the annual street fair in the antique-shop-lined little neighborhood between Oak Lawn and Cedar Springs, will take place October 23 and 24. Proceeds benefit the Creative Learning Center. Display stalls, foodstuffs, and entertainment will be featured, with an Irish theme keyed to the Neiman’s Fortnight. Charles Collum’s house at 3519 Dickason, the Victorian fantasy mansion featured in the July issue of D Magazine, will be open to the public during the Fair. Admission will be charged.

Witches’ Christmas, billed as a “bizarre bazaar,” takes place at 5623 Farquhar, October 14 and 15, 10:30 to 3:30 (if it rains, October 21 and 22 instead). It’s called what it’s called because it gives you a chance to finish your Christmas shopping before Halloween. Everything is handmade, and there will be holiday decorations and Halloween costumes for sale as well as gift items.

The Greek Food Festival, October 28, 29 and 30, at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, Swiss and Haskell, is an eagerly-awaited once-a-year event – at least for everyone who has been to it before. All sorts of Greek goodies are served up, both for lunch and dinner, with take-home packages available. There’s lots of festive goings-on, with live music by the Spartans from New York. Lunch on Friday and Saturday, 11:30 to 2 p.m., $3.25 adults/$1.50 children; dinner all three days, 5 to 9 p.m., $5.50/$2.50. For advance tickets call 521-0146, 691-3740.

Oktoberfest in Fort Worth, October 2 and 3, gives you a chance to have fun for a good cause. An annual fund-raising event for the Symphony League of Fort Worth, proceeds from Oktoberfest go to support the Symphony League’s Student Concert Series (Texas currently ranks 49th out of 50 states in per capita money allocated for student cultural programs). Music, food, games and good-fellowship in the Tarrant County Convention Center.



Music



A Broadway Belter with Soul



Sylvia Syms is a Broadway belter who deserves a distinguished place in the Ethel Merman tradition of show business-as-assault. When Sylvia’s on stage, it’s no-holds-barred and bombs away: She acts and sings her heart out. When she was in town recently in the part of Fanny Brice’s mother in Funny Girl, the press ran out and interviewed her, finding this astoundingly ebullient woman – this ham – forever on, forever talking, bubbling over with confidence and verve. Fans in Dallas remember her from South Pacific in which for years she played the fat and jolly role of Bloody Mary. They still talk about the moment when the lights grew dim and, standing alone, she squeezed every last drop of sentiment from “Bali Hai.” She is a performer, a show entertainer, and as Carol Lawrence’s Jewish mamma, she comes on with all the subtlety of Bella Abzug. She convinces you that the producers of Rhoda most certainly made a mistake by not casting Sylvia Syms instead of Nancy Walker in the maternal role.

But Sylvia Syms is also a torch singer, one of the great torch singers, and a woman who is actually able musically to transmit her own overwhelming pain and grief. She is, as her pal Sinatra likes to term it, a saloon singer, and by that, I suspect, he means one who was raised – as was he – on the sounds of the saloons which spread over 52nd Street in the late Thirties and early Forties in New York. In fact, they weren’t saloons at all, but jazz clubs, the exotic homes of a half-dozen or so certified geniuses – Art Tatum, Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Billie Holiday and, somewhat later, Charlie Parker. The basic lesson these artists conveyed was a simple one: the popular tunes of the day – the standards of Gershwin or Porter or Berlin – were suitable vehicles for jazz playing. Even more, they enriched and inspired improvisation; these songs made the jazz musician more of a jazz musician.

This is Sylvia Syms’ heritage, and today, as her new record demonstrates, she has not abandoned her past. I was surprised to see how good – and how convincing – she was as a musical comedy star. I had not seen her before, and I found myself enjoying the performance the way, say, I remember as a child liking Mary Martin in Peter Pan. She was loud and boisterous and full of fun, just the way a Broadway trouper should be. At first, I suspected that she does such work strictly for money, a way to survive in a world where jazz singers are neither highly valued nor highly paid. But I was mistaken; Sylvia Syms has been doing such shows since 1949 when Mae West asked her to join the company of Diamond Lil, and by now she is a musical actress. She has been pouring herself into these roles too well and for too long not to have had the style deeply affect her. It has rubbed off, and at this point in her career, Ms. Syms is many things, all the more impressive because in spite of her bounce on stage, she is nearly crippled and has an excruciatingly difficult time moving her arms and legs.



“I am beautiful when I perform. I know that because I feel beautiful.” And she is right. Beyond that, at 53 she is, at once, dramatic, squatty and sexy. Her face is wide and her smile is broad. She is all throat and sound, coy and hurt, withdrawn, aggressive, outlandish, demure. Sylvia Syms, you might have guessed, never took a lesson, was never coached, instructed or trained. She learned it on the streets or rather the single street, 52nd Street and the sophistication she possesses as avocalist, which is considerable, has been astrictly natural development.



Ms. Syms’ greatness, however, is not to be found in her Broadway performances, no matter how charming they may be.

Rather, she is one of the last of an endangered species, a jazz singer in the tradition of Billie Holiday who does not compromise when it comes to material or feeling. (It’s important to recall that when Sylvia was a teenager, the two important black female singers were Billie and Ella Fitzgerald. Sylvia went for Billie – no questions asked – and rejected Ella, whose style was too mechanical, smooth and distant for Sylvia’s earthier tastes. It was a marvelously correct choice, one which was made without the slightest bit of self-consciousness.) And of those few remaining vocalists – Carmen McRae, Sarah Vaughan, Peggy Lee, Anita O’Day – Sylvia Syms is unique in a single respect: She alone has successfully combined a Broadway background with traditional Thirties and Forties jazz singing. She has abandoned neither of those two distinct genres; rather she has brought them together.

Lovingly, her new release on Atlantic, proves that very point. Like Billie, she sings out of enormous physical and emotional pain. Like Mildred Bailey, she has been burdened with severe bodily handicaps. So everything is thrown into song – body and soul. And through her art, her pain comes out pleasure, her weight is lightened and she is transformed. True to the tradition, she assumes the sound of a little girl. In fact, at 53 she has never sounded younger. There is the surprising paradox of world-weary innocence, the pose of a small child lost in the world. She’s been around, and you know it. But she’s also fresh and vulnerable, ready to be hurt again, taking a chance on love. She is a torch singer, and imperfection – and her ability to manipulate her imperfections – is part of her vocal art; it’s her act. Her voice will quiver, her vibrato will suddenly collapse, she will sing slightly off-key – and all to her and the tune’s advantage. The song then becomes hers and, for better or worse, she becomes an original creation.

If anyone asked me what good jazz was all about, I would point to “I Didn’t Know About You” or “I’m the Girl” on Lovingly. Her Broadway side keeps her open and expressive. She tells the story and makes certain that you understand the message. “The only thing I never liked about jazz musicians,” she says, “is that they would often turn their backs on their audiences. That’s not my style. To me, the relationship between singer and listener is one between two lovers. I’m looking to give and to get love when I sing.” Yet her phrasing, her shading, her sense of altering the melody owes the greatest debt to Lester Young, the tenor saxophonist who was probably the first modern, lyrical poet in the history of jazz.

Larkins’ piano work and Joe Newman’s trumpeting are especially satisfying. The arrangements are subtle and relaxed, the choice of songs wonderfully varied and rich. There might have been somewhat more spontaneity, the sort of feeling which Sylvia had during this same period – a year or so ago – when the record was being made. I saw her then in New York, at a concert and in a nightclub, and she was devastating. When she said she was going back to the roots, she went all the way, doing a romping medley of Fats Waller stuff. The crowds exploded. She danced around the stage, strutting and teasing, making light of her weight and doing a superb job of seducing everyone within ear’s range. On record, much of that joy is lost, but we can’t have everything.

Nonetheless, Sylvia Syms at middle-age is a vocalist who, within her style as a singer and presence as a performer, has managed to synthesize some four decades of complex musical history. She is, as the newspapers reported, an irresistible and charming force. She never stops talking, not for a second, and continually throws back her lovely head in laughter. “Oh, but I am lucky to be alive, she says, and then begins to recount her many misfortunes – her accidents, her operations, her illnesses. Later, walking out of the restaurant, you are aware of her immediate pain; she is barely able to get around. And you cannot help but ask her how she can perform and keep up with the non-stop show grind. “Ah, but that is the only time the pain goes away. On stage I am loved.” And it all begins to make some sense.

David Ritz



Waxing Critical/Recordings

Tuesday the 15th, Dallas Jazz Or-chestra (private label)



There are musical associations – certain moments, certain sounds, certain images – which, when they are being experienced, are so captivating that we can never lose them, no matter where we go or what we do. I remember, for instance, walking down the steps to Birdland one April day in New York. I must have been no older than 12. From the streets I had already heard it; Basie’s big band – that marvelous, fat sound, the reeds moaning, the brass kicking, the rhythm section smoking. My heart started pounding; I raced into the club – it was dark and mysterious – and I took my place in the peanut gallery (no boozing, no mixing, just listening) and drank in every note as tenor saxists Frank Foster and Frank Wess shouted back and forth at each other. It has been 20 years, and yet even now as I write about it, I grow excited.

There’s nothing like a big band. It has the power and the glory, the most energy and the mightiest collective force that jazz players can muster. The jazz band began as a phenomenon, and even today it has not lost that quality of total surprise. I say phenomenon because most of the primitive bands – the ones formed in the Southwest, around Kansas City and Dallas – relied on head charts. Ten or 12 or 13 men sat down and started playing notes which, for whatever natural reasons, came together. There was no written music, merely intuitive understanding. The best big bands today have kept that sense of spontaneity and sudden energy. And when I walked into Maxine Kent’s a year ago and found myself listening to the Dallas Jazz Orchestra, I knew, from the first few seconds, that the tradition – beginning in the Twenties when Terrence Holder and his Clouds of Joy and Alphonso Trent roared their way up and down Deep Elm – was still vital.

The Dallas Jazz Orchestra was inevitable. Since the Fifties, North Texas has been churning out first-class jazz players who could read and improvise, so to speak, to beat the band. And at the same time, the area has become a haven for quality studio musicians; the commercial recording industry, particularly the jingle business, has grown enormously. And in some sense, the DJO is a product of this community.

It’s especially fitting that the new DJO is live; that, after all, is why the DJO really fell together: some jazz players around town simply yearned for the thrill of hearing themselves wail in an 18-person context. They sought that stimulation which neither a small group, a dance orchestra, nor a lounge combo could provide. They wanted to play jazz – to play it cleanly and emotionally, to master complex charts, to solo under the brass and over the reeds and behind the rhythm. They wanted to swing as only a band of this kind is able to.

Well, they nave. They have’ t made money, the group is still a part-time effort, but the feeling is right. This is not the most brilliant big band in America, nor is it the most original. Rather they are first-rate Dallas musicians who play together, not for profit, but sheer pleasure. The results are uneven, loose, spontaneous and whimsical.

There’s stuff associated with Miles, Monk, Chick Corea; there’s a crazy novelty tune, a sweetly sung ballad and several cookers. The musical influences come from everyone and everywhere: Bill Basie, Woody’s herds, some writing vaguely reminiscent of Gil Evans, a few brassy hints of Kenton. It’s a nice record for those who still crave that chewy satisfaction which comes only with a big, juicy band.

The record is available, at $6, through Galen Jeter, 4305 Pineridge, Garland, Texas 75042.

David Ritz

On a record which now must be at least 20 years old, I recall Eydie Gorme’s overwhelming rendition of “I’ll Take Romance.” It is a beautiful song, and she handled it with enormous confidence and verve. She was, I suspected then, a real musician, a close ally of Frank Sinatra. Today her voice has lost none of its strength; she has all the right rhythmic instincts and her approach to her material is unapologetical-ly emotional.

On this current release she sings in Spanish, and the result is positive and fresh. She seems surprisingly at home with these tunes which, for the most part, are more openly sentimental than their American counterparts. Still, it is a sentiment which works, a combination of European and Latin American pop, the corny sounds of Italy, Brazil and Mexico all blended into one. This is a cosmopolitan record which might require some adjustment for American ears but, surprisingly enough, not for Eydie, who sounds as though she was born to sing such songs.

David Ritz



Soul music is so pretty When you’re living in the city.



That’s the medium and the message as far as Curtis Mayfield is concerned. He is a packager, a producer, a street poet in the tradition of Muhammad Ali. After having left the Impressions and gone out on his own as writer/arranger, Curtis returns now and then to prove to us all that he can still do it. And he can: His falsetto voice, among the sweetest in the business, continues to satisfy. His songs here (and those which he wrote for the movie Sparkle) continue to charm in their naive way. He writes about what he knows – the struggles of the ghetto, traditional problems of the heart. Sometimes the lyrics falter; occasionally they are embarrassing (“at last alone, the natural smells of love are strong/fingers all in your hair, fruit to bear, much to share”), but they are less important than the overall production – the sparse arrangements and, even more, Curtis’ own vocal contortions. He is a squealer and a pleader; his “oooos” are hopelessly seductive and I, for one, am happy to submit to his current advances.

D.R.

Don’t be thrown by the strange packaging (there’s a ridiculous photo of a wasp on the cover) – this is sound, aggressive main-stream jazz. Trombonists Phil Wilson and Rich Matteson (who teaches at North Texas) lead a group whose sound and feeling might remind you of the old days of J.J. Johnson and Kai Winding.

Matteson’s an academician who has mastered the rules and regulations of any number of horns, including the lovely euphonium and the illusive tuba. Jack Peterson, who has been playing around Dallas for as long as I can remember, is on guitar and, as always, it is a privilege to hear him; he has a lyrical facility on his instrument which is rare. Three other ex-NTSU students – Kirby Stewart on bass, Lyle Mayes on piano and Ed Soph on drums – form the rhythm section which does precisely what is required: keep the older cats alive and swinging. Some might think this record is dated, but they will be listeners who have little patience with uncomplicated and straight-ahead jazz, music which has absolutely no interest in fashions or fads.

D.R.



Duly Noted/concerts

Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Eduardo Mata, conductor of the National Symphony of Mexico, and recently named music director for the DSO, will be the featured artist in concerts Sept 23, 24 and 25. Pianist Lazar Berman will be presented in recital Sept 29, and in concert with the orchestra October 1 and 2. Call for times and ticket prices. Music Hall, Fair Park/826-7000.

Dallas Chamber Music Society, Inc. presents the first concert of the 1976-77 Elmer Scott Concert Series, a performance by the Czech Nonet at 8:15 p.m. in Caruth Auditorium at SMU. Season tickets for five concerts are $13, available from the Dallas Chamber Music Society/4808 Drexel Dr/Dallas 75205, or by calling 526-7301 or 521-3831, or the Preston Ticket Agency, 363-9311.

Dallas Civic Music begins its 1976-77 concert season with a performance by the Tokyo Symphony conducted by Kazuyoshi Akiyama, with Minoru Nojima, pianist, October 12, 8:15 p.m. in McFarlin Auditorium. Season tickets for five concerts range from $6 to $30. For information call 369-2210.

SMU Division of Music concerts for October include a recital by Ann Hendricks, soprano, Oct 2; free. The Dallas Civic Symphony conducted by James Rives Jones, with clarinet soloist James Rives Jones, performing works by Brahms, Nielsen, and deFalla, Oct 11, 15, and 17; $2.50, students $1. The Symphonic Wind Ensemble conducted by William Lively, with trombone soloist John Kitzman, Oct 21; $2.50, $1. Choral concert conducted by Lloyd Pfautsch, Oct 24; $2.50, $1. Early Music Society concert, Oct 28; free. All concerts at 8:15 p.m. in Caruth Auditorium.

Community Course presents actor-singer Brock Peters in a one-man show, Birth of the Blues, October 14, 8:15 p.m. in McFarlin Auditorium. For ticket information call 692-2261 or 692-2262.

Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra presents Andre Watts, pianist, in concert with the orchestra conducted by John Giordano, October 10 and 12. Jose Feliciano appears with the orchestra in a pops concert, October 30. All concerts in the Tarrant County Convention Center Theater. Call for times and ticket information (817) 921-2676.

KERA FM 90 Autumn Blockbuster Week, October 6-16, features the prolonged indulgence in the music of a particular composer, artist, style, or genre. Oct 6, 7 p.m.-l a.m.: Close Harmony Blockbuster, blended voices, including those of the Mills Brothers and the Beach Boys. Oct 7, 7 p.m.-12 a.m.: Dixieland Blockbuster, Larry Martin’s choice of New Orleans classics. Oct 8 & 9, 7 p.m.-7 p.m.: Jazz Challenge Blockbuster,with Hugh Lampman trying to attract more station members with jazz than his chaJlengers do with folk music and rock. Oct 9 & 10, 7 p.m-2 a.m.: Rockabilly Threat Blockbuster, a challenge to the supremacy of jazz and folk by the likes of Faron Young, Elvis Presley, and Buddy Holly. Oct 10, 7 a.m.-l a.m.: Bachanalia Block-buster, an entire day devoted to Johann Sebastian. Oct 11, 7 p.m.-l a.m.: Great Radio Favorites Blockbuster, with the best of Fred Allen, Jack Benny, Bob Hope and Duffy’s Tavern. Oct 12, 7 p.m.-l a.m.: Mystery and Imagination Blockbuster, featuring radio dramas performed by Cary Grant, Peter Lorre, Agnes Moorhead, Orson Welles, and others. Oct 13, 7 p.m.-l a.m.: Texas Musicians Blockbuster, covering the whole range of Texas country and rock music. Oct 14, 7 a.m.-l a.m.: Hard Traveling and Hard Times Blockbuster, balladeers from the tradition of Woody Guthrie. Oct 15 & 16, 7 p. m.-7 p.m.: World Champion Folk Revival Blockbuster, last year’s winner in the membership competition, Peter Lesser, presents top names in folk music and tries to hold on to his title. Oct 16, 7 p.m.-l a.m.: Hot Sixties Block-buster, a survey of the sounds of the Sixties.



Downstairs at the Registry features Floyd Dakil through Oct 9. Nightly except Sun. Cover charge varies. Bar by membershiD. Registry Hotel, Mockingbird at Stemmons/630-7000.



Venetian Room. Peter Nero appears through Sept 25. October bookings unavailable at press-time. Mon-Thurs shows at 8:30 and 11. Fri and Sat shows at 9 and 11:30. Cover varies. Reservations. Fairmont Hotel, Ross and Akard 748-5454.



Dallas Society for the Classic Guitar presents Elliot Fisk in concert, Caruth Auditorium, 8 p. m., Oct 16. For further information call 526-6555.



Theater



Why Success

Won’t Spoil

Preston Jones



There is a great deal to be said, personally and financially, for being a hot new playwright, taking for your first Broadway premiere not one, not two, but three plays.

On the eve of the great event, what Preston Jones wanted most was to Get It Over With.

It’s been going on, after all, for quite a while. But the big New York climax is happening at the Broadhurst Theater Sept. 21 with the first night opening of The Last Meeting of the Knights of the White Magnolia, to be followed Sept. 22 by Lu Ann Hampton Laverty Oberlander and Sept. 23 by The Oldest Living Graduate. It amounts to a mini-repertory company moving in, for while each play is complete, the characters overlap and the shows will continue to be played as they opened, one evening after another.

The Bradleyville trilogy, to give the group identification, was born three years ago and the gestation period for the Broadway re-birth has been going on ever since. The three plays came, all within one year, straight out of the New Mexico and West Texas recesses of Preston Jones’ mind, through 15 years of all kinds of theater work at the Dallas Theater Center. With that kind of gestation, it is not surprising that they go to New York virtually in their birthday suits – that is, without major change. There has been some re-writing, of course. Preston listens to actors, and to directors and to producers, among other people. He is a great listener.

Playwriting is only the most recent thing this ample, comfortable man has done at the Theater Center. He acts, writes, directs, stages, produces and has even done his time in the ticket office. Only designing and costuming hasn’t claimed him, perhaps because it has already got his wife, Mary Sue Jones, assistant to Paul Baker, who is managing director. In any case, there are several reasons why the Bradleyville trio happened. One is that it was simply time for Jones to do something new in the theater. Another was that the cozy little basement house called Down Center Stage needed some new, one-set shows. A third was that Preston, picking up an old school annual, got caught in that game of whatever happened to. . .? There was that cute picture of what turned out to be Lu Ann Hampton Laverty Oberlander. And then there was the dual-wondering about the ritual ceremonies and props of his college fraternity initiation; plus the fascination with a Ku-Klux/neo-fascist lodge organization with a flower name that Jones heard about. That, with a little thought and a slight botanical switch, became “Magnolia”. There was no wondering about “Graduate”. It was supposed to have been a wrap-up, an “Our Town” about Bradleyville. But from the first draft, Colonel Kincaid upstaged the Stage Manager and made “Graduate” his very own.

Of course, Dallas discovered Preston Jones a long time ago. The trilogy was first seen in the little Down Center theater, then moved upstairs into the regular subscription series and finally, a little over two years ago, into a seven-day Playmarket that drew critics and producers from over much of this country and from England as well. What they wrote, when they went home, started Preston Jones into the big time.

The American Playwrights Theater contracted almost at once for “Magnolia” which has been playing in various theaters through the US. Robert Whitehead and Roger Stevens took all three plays for Broadway presentation, talked of for last fall. It was February when the company began work and April 29th when they opened at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. Played in successive performances, as they are to be in New York, the run was successful enough to preclude another out-of-town try-run. Instead the trilogy went back to Kennedy Aug. 5 for a sold-out six weeks’ run. That gave the cast just time to get back to Gotham before the New York previews began on Sept. 17.

It’s changed Preston Jones’ life; or some of it.

It has been hectic multiplied by three, but not all of it was drudgery. In Washington, for instance, Congressmen J.J. (Jake) Pickle from Austin, and George Mahon from Lubbock, gave a luncheon for Preston. It was held in the Speaker’s Dining Room of the U.S. House of Representatives and Himself Carl Albert was there, along with Sen. Lloyd Bentsen and a distinguished gathering, as they say, of Texas and New Mexico legislators. What started out, though, to be a high-rent, formal testimonial dealing with such lofty subjects as cultural contribution, turned out, by all accounts, to be a down-home song and dance affair. It was enough, reported one Wash-ingtonian, to restore one’s faith in the Congress.

And Preston Jones?

While all the hysteria and commuting attendant on any opening is going on, the leisurely tenor of his acting, directing, reading, writing, beer-drinking and dart-throwing days is shot to hell. He, who hates to fly, is constantly in the air to New York for another set of interviews, another conference, more plans and consultations. Through necessity, he is on part-time status for the present, at the Theater Center. He has traded the BMW for a Cadillac Seville, but the Joneses are still a one-car family. (“Why have two? One of them would just stand around.”) He is as thoughtful as ever but not quite as relaxed, though two weeks in his beloved New Mexico mountains at the end of August did help. He moves a little more slowly and carries the faintly battered air of a man who has been required to answer too many of the same questions, explain too much nonexistent symbolism and illuminate too many messages he never carried. The blitz of stories in the news-magazines, in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Smithsonian, the piece and cover on the Saturday Review were “nice” but brought little other reaction, except for the conjecture that Jones might be “another” Eugene O’Neill.

“I didn’t like that,” he said, with unusual bluntness. Not because it isn’t flattering, he says, but because it isn’t true.

Like any seasoned veteran of the theater, Jones is absolutely stoic about the outcome of the New York productions. If they go, he’ll have one kind of schedule. If they don’t, he’ll have another. Right now he is waiting to know.

For meantime, Whitehead and Stevens have taken option on his newest play, A Place on the Magdalena Flats, which Dallas saw last season. And it needs some re-writing, there in the last act. Now if he can just get time. . .

Patsy Swank

D RECOMMEN

This time each year, everybody tries to get in the Fortnight act, and since Neiman’s is bringing Ireland to Dallas this year, it’s only natural that someone should memorialize one of the great theatrical events of Irish history – the opening night of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin – by performing the plays that were presented that night. The University of Dallas is doing just that on October 20-23 and 27-30 in the Margaret Jonsson Theatre. The most illustrious name of the evening is that of William Butler Yeats (see above), the greatest poet of the century if not the greatest playwright. His On Baile’s Strand will be performed, along with Lady Augusta Gregory’s Spreading the News, and John Millington Synge’s In the Shadow of the Glen. For ticket information, call 438-1123, ext 314.

IntheWings/plays



Dallas Theater Center. Kaufman and Hart’s Once in a Lifetime opens October 5. Tues-Fri 8 p.m., Sat 8:30 p.m. Tickets $5.75, $6.50 on weekends. 3636 Turtle Creek/526-8857.

Theatre Onitage (formerly Oak Lawn Community Theater). Bruce Jay Friedman’s Steam-bath will be performed at 8:15 p.m. Sept 23, 24, and 25 (with a possibility of a hold-over run through Oct 2). Tickets $3 adults/students $2. Corner of Pearl and McKinney, rear entrance. Call 279-9675 or 691-7137 for tickets.

Theatre Three. Robert Sherwood’s The Road to Rome will be presented beginning October 12. Wed-Sat 8:30, Sun 2:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. on alternate Sundays. Tickets $3-$6 with student and group discounts. Quadrangle/748-5191.

New Arts Theatre. Construction delays have forced postponements of the opening of this new professional repertory company. Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days is tentatively scheduled for an October 19 opening, but call to confirm. Tues-Sat evenings, matinees Sat & Sun. Tickets $6. 2707-B Fondren/691-3215.

Theatre SMU. The 1976-77 season opens with two plays by Tom Stoppard, The Real Inspector Hound and After Magritte, Oct 5-9,12-16 at 8:15 p.m., Oct 10 & 17, 2:15 p.m. Tickets $3.50. Margo Jones Theater/692-2573.

University of Dallas. A triple-bill of Irish plays – Synge’s In the Shadow of the Glen, Yeats’ On Baile’s Strand, and Lady Gregory’s Spreading the News – from the golden era of the Abbey Theatre will be presented in the Margaret Jonsson Theater Oct 20-23 and Oct 27-30 at 8:15 p.m. Admission $1. For reservations call 438-1123, ext 314.

Irving Community Theatre. Neil Simon’s The Last of the Red Hot Lovers will be presented Sept 24-26 and Oct 1-3. Tickets $3/$1.50. 208 S Jefferson/255-4233, 253-3209, 254-6419.



DINNER THEATERS



Country Dinner Playhouse. Robert Morse appears in Play It Again, Sam through Oct 17. Jack Cassidy performs in a Broadway comedy opening Oct 19. Tickets $7.50-$10.95. 11829 Abrams at LBJ/231-9457.

Gran’ Crystal Palace. A cabaret-style comedy musical revue is performed every evening except Thursday. Dinner 8 p.m., show 9:30. Saturdays there are two shows, with seatings at 6:30 and 9:30 p.m. $12.50. 2424 Swiss/824-1263.

Granny’s Dinner Playhouse. Eve Arden ap-pears in Under Papa’s Picture, opening Oct 5. A one-night-only performance by Stan Kenton and his orchestra takes place October 18. Tues-Sat dinner shows, Sunday matinees. The Platters perform nightly Sept 28 through Oct 3. Dinner show and late show. Tickets $6.85-$10.75. 12205 Coit Rd/239-0153.



CHILDREN’S THEATER



Magic Turtle Series. Marco Polo starts Oct 16 at 10:30 a.m. Every Saturday at 10:30 a.m. Tickets $1.75. Dallas Theater Center/3636 Turtle Creek/526-8920.

Theatre SMU. The Madwoman of Chaillot will be presented in the Margo Jones Theater, Oct 30 & 31, Nov 6 & 7; Sat 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., Sun 2 p.m. Admission $1. 692-2573.

Haymarket Theatre. A new entertainment complex with live performances, movies, and marionette shows. The theater opens Oct 2 with puppet performances, other activities unavailable at press time. Tues-Sat 9:30, 10:30, 11:30 a.m., and 4 p.m. Tickets $1. Olla Podrida/12215 Coit Rd/387-0807.



Art



Musings at the Museum



American Art Since 1945, at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts through October 3.



“I could have done that.” Ah, but the point is, you didn’t. Oh, stop eavesdropping, Matthews. Enjoy the show. Remember that time in the Sistine Chapel when the guide elbowed you, slack-jawed before the apocalypse, away and proclaimed: “This is Michelangelo’s glorious Last Judgement!” and his tourist said “Laist whut?” No more existential horror for you that day.

But of course this guy could have “done” Richard Tuttle’s “Cloth Octagonal Number 2.” But Tuttle got there first, and here it is, bugging the hell out of us. A piece of wrinkled cloth. In a museum.

“I can’t understand it, but I like it.”

What’s to understand? Oh, don’t look at the title – that won’t help. Or maybe it will: “Number 9: In Praise of Gertrude Stein.” Bradley Walker Tomlin’s painting is full of letters and numbers, just like Stein is full of words. But in the end a painting is a painting is a painting. Cliche. Strike that.

“It looks like the one Evelyn has in her dining room.”

Now that’s more like it. We need to be living with these paintings, to have them around us. Not forcing us to come on a sweltering day in August to genuflect before them – the way people make pilgrimages to Mona Lisa. Not that I could live with everything here. Morris Louis’ “Third Element” yes. Elegant strips of color. (Evelyn has good taste.) But that pink refrigerator door and the raw rib roast in Tom Wesselmann’s “Still Life Painting” would wreck my appetite every day.

“I’m not going to waste any more time on that!”

Art is long and life is short. I wonder if Willie Cothrum’s here? I’d like to tell him I’d rather have George Segal’s “Portrait of Sidney Janis with Mondrian Painting” in front of City Hall than even Henry Moore. I guess it wouldn’t stand the weather well.

“Whether it took him 10 minutes or 10 years, that’s irrelevant.”

Oh, the old “the artist is really irrelevant” bit. Actually, I think there’s a lot more revealed about the artist in those black slashes in Franz Kline’s “Le Gros”

than in the cool spaces of a Vermeer. Not that I don’t prefer the Vermeer.

“All this contemporary stuff is so inhuman.”

But, no, look at it! How can you look at Larry Rivers’ “The Last Civil War Veteran” and not feel something vital fading away in that flag-decked blur? Or the sexual torment and energy in deKooning’s “Woman, II.” Or something warm and feminine in Helen Frankenthaler’s lovely “Jacob’s Ladder.”

“Why? Because you’re not supposed to climb on it. That’s why.”

“Aw, let’s go to the Health and Science Museum, Mama.”

Now, that’s a shame. I’ll bet Claes Oldenburg wouldn’t mind if his “Floor Cake” got climbed on.

“Oh, my God!”

“I hate to tell you what that reminds me of.”

Exactly. I’ll bet Oldenburg knows his Swift. That cake has the same effect on me that the giants in Brobdingnag had on Gulliver. Gross.

“Gross!”

“This cake is supposed to be one of his masterpieces.”

“This? C’mon.”

“It is!”

“How do you know?”

“I read about these things.”

Ouch!

That’s the problem with writing about art. Especially this art. How can I tell anyone why I like Pollock’s “Number 1, 1948” and loathe Hofmann’s “Flowering Desert” without pouring forth the pomposities? We always have to justify so much. Then a smart aleck like Robert Morris does a nice sculpture like “Litanies” and accompanies it with a notarized “Statement of Esthetic Withdrawal” proclaiming that he “hereby withdraws from said construction all esthetic quality and content.”

Good, this gallery’s empty. I can go back and genuflect before the Helen Franken-thaler.

Charles Matthews

D RECOMMENDS

If the recent flap about Henry Moore displays anything, it is that some people have a lot to learn. Well, don’t we all? The Dallas Museum of Fine Arts is a good place for us to start, especially since it has just put together a show called Modern Art: A Guide to Looking, designed to help people look at and understand the ideas and concepts of artists who don’t necessarily hold a mirror up to nature. The show includes 40 works from local collections – including the DMFA, the Amon Carter and the Fort Worth Art Museum, and private collections – ranging from Mondrian to Giacometti to Pollock to Rauschen-berg, Lichtenstein (whose Peace through Chemistry is shown above), and Warhol, and uses a kiosk display and a handout that gives you a guided tour of eight featured works. It’s an audience-participation show, too, since there will be a questionnaire to fill out, giving your responses to the works, the show, and the learning experience. The show was put together by the Museum staff, under the direction of Sue Graze, who says it’s designed to demonstrate that the DMFA is “the city’s museum, not just a private place for special people.” Sue will be on hand herself a good deal of the time, especially on Sundays, the museum’s busiest day, to answer questions and gather responses.

A Fort Worth Fantasist



One day in the early Sixties Gene Owens was at a Manhattan foundry helping Isa-mu Noguchi cast a new piece when in walked J. Robert Oppenheimer, father of the atomic bomb. After some rather stiff and chilly introductions, Oppenheimer asked Noguchi’s opinion of a sculpture he’d just completed, a lumpish, earthbound figure with neither grace nor energy.

Noguchi studied it for a few moments, then turned to Oppenheimer and said, “Let’s make a deal. I won’t build any atomic bombs if you won’t do any more sculpture.”

The number of scientists who aspire to be artists is undoubtedly less than the number of contemporary artists who, for one reason or another, aspire to be scientists. The mingling of the two disciplines, which have remained more or less distinct since the time of DaVinci, distresses Gene Owens, who now lives and works in Fort Worth.

“I’m essentially a fantasist,” he says, pointing to a tuxedoed bear munching a banana and a circle of nymphs and satyrs dancing across a studio table. “My sculpture is derived from myths and dreams, not from a desire to solve a problem. With so many sculptors these days technical ingenuity comes before feeling and imagination when it ought to be the other way around.”

A fascination with mysteries has led Gene to make everything from tabernacles and stations of the cross to puzzle pieces like “The Numerologist,” in many ways his most representative work in that it is simultaneously enigmatic and simple, like a good fairy tale.

As though on cue, he began reading a story he’d written about a girl, a dog, and a talking bear, acting out each part with the brio of Jonathan Winters. Until he got to the ending – there wasn’t one yet.

“Any suggestions?” he inquired.

I had none.

He laughed and said he’d keep working on it.

He spoke warmly of his apprenticeship with Noguchi, though more cynically of the New York art scene. For five years he cut and polished stones, made castings, and helped install many of Noguchi’s major pieces, including those at the Beinecke Library at Yale and the Fort Worth National Bank. In the process of learning his craft he developed very strong opinions about the need for “public” art.

“Museums and galleries are becoming too elitist,” he said firmly. “They’re taking art away from the average person by suggesting that it’s a kind of magic that only a select few can understand. The result is that the rich go to openings and everyone else watches television. Well, my work isn’t esoteric. It’s direct and explicit and doesn’t scare people off.”

As he spoke I noticed 1 was lingering the hieroglyphs on “The Numerologist” as if they were braille.

“Several years ago I saw a show in Los Angeles that contained only Klees and Ir-wins. Now I admire Robert Irwin, especially for attempting to move art out of the museums into the community, which is what his ’Continuing Responses’ project in Fort Worth is all about. He’s a true social guerrilla. But the work itself struck me as cold and remote, though superb technically, whereas the Klees moved me to tears. So small most of them and yet so powerful. The experience strengthened my belief that I make sculpture in order to move people, to make them feel good.”

If Gene had his druthers, and a few generous patrons, he’d make only large fountains that one could climb on, swim in, and sit under. He’s already done miniature versions in Arlington and Fort Worth, and scattered about his studio are dozens of Hobbit-like creatures who may eventually spurt and gurgle in some municipal park or plaza.

One in particular caught my eye, a sprouting sweet potato that looked more self-absorbed than any we’d seen at Safe-way. Not the beginning of a spud fountain, surely!

Gene replied by quoting from “The Waste Land”: “Winter kept us warm, covering/Earth in forgetful snow, feeding/A little life with dried tubers.”

“Strange as it may sound,” he went on, “tubers are my personal symbol for creativity. Dormant much of the time yet growing quietly, invisibly, until one day they burst forth. My sweet potato man helps keep me going in dry periods.”

The conversation shifted from sweet potatoes to porcelain, a medium in which he’s just begun to work, to peacocks and guinea hens, which he raises, to live oaks, which he plants around the neighborhood with the diligence of a Johnny Appleseed, and eventually back to art.

“I suppose I still believe in the classical notion of inspiration as a breathing in of the spirit. Art keeps us in touch with our spiritual nature, with God if you’re a believer. And when an artist expresses something spiritual he enables other people to discover it. That’s the most intriguing mystery of all.”

We left the studio and walked across a lawn past several partially finished sculptures and a pair of strutting peacocks who looked as though they belonged in an emperor’s garden.

When we reached the car Gene shook hands and then, sensing perhaps that our informal chat had ended on a rather lofty note, added, “Don’t forget about an ending for my bear story.”

David Dillon



Showing Up/Exhibitions



Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. American Art Since 1945 from the Museum of Modern Art, is displayed through Oct 3. Rugs by American artists will be shown through Oct 17. Modern Art: A Guide to Looking continues. Opening Oct 7, America: The Third Century, a portfolio of prints commissioned by Mobil Oil Corporation. From Oct 18, Irish Watercolors, 100 wat-ercolors, 1700-1950, from the National Gallery of Ireland. From Oct 27, Texas Painting and Sculpture 1976, a competitive exhibition, with an invitational show featuring three Dallas artists, Jeanne Koch, Mac Whitney, and Steven Wilder. Tues-Sat 10-5, Sun 1-5. Fair Park/421-4187.

Eaatfield College Art Gallery. Work by Linda Taylor on display October 18-29. Mon-Tues 9-5, Wed 9-7. 3737 Motley Dr, Mesquite/746-3229.

Mountain View College. Works from the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts will be on display Oct 4-29. 4849 W Illinois.

Amon Carter Museum of Western Art. A Bird’s Eye View of the West, chromolithographs of cities, will be on display through Oct 10. Oct 14, photos by Dean Brown and Thomas Eakins go on display. Tues-Sat 10-5, Sun 1-5:30. 3501 Camp Bowie Blvd/(817)738-1933.

Fort Worth Art Museum. A Tribute to Alvar Aalto continues through Oct 17. Tues-Sat 10-5, Sun 1-5. 1309 Montgomery/(817)738-9215.

Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth. The ’Wild Beasts’: Fauvism and Its Affinities, a Museum of Modern Art traveling exhibition, continues through Oct 31. Tues-Sat 10-5, Sun 1-5. 1101 Will Rogers Rd/(817)332-8451.



GALLERIES



Afterimage. Photographs by George Krause through Oct 17. A show by Brett Weston opens Oct 19. Mon-Sat 10-5:30.Quadrangle/748-2521.

Allen Street Photography Gallery. Third Sunday shows at the gallery feature work by local photographers – anyone is welcome to display his work. The exhibit is open 2-6 on the third Sunday of the month and 1-7 p.m. throughout the following week. Gallery space is leased to artists for exhibitions throughout the rest of the month. 2817 Allen.

Atelier Chapman Kelley. Work by Noel Mahaf-fey, a new realist working in oils, acrylics, and drawings, on view in October. Mon-Sat 10:30-5, Sun 1-5, 2526 Fairmount/747-9971.

Contemporary Gallery. Works by Skynear through Oct 15. Paintings by Elaine Breiger from Oct 16. Mon-Sat 10:30-5 and by appointment. 2425 Cedar Springs/747-0141.

Cushing Galleries. Animal art by Jane Currie, Lorraine Hayes, and Gita Packer on display Sept 18-Oct 15. Paintings and prints by Gabor Peterdi on display from Oct 16. Mon-Sat 10:30-4:30. 2723 Fairmount/747-0497.

Cutshall Collection. Paintings by Greg Palmer on display from Oct 15. Mon-Sat 10-5, and by appointment. 3530 Cedar Springs/526-3390.

Delahunty Gallery. Works by Robert Wade, using photo dyes on sensitized canvas, will be shown through Oct 27. Tues-Sat 10-6 and by appointment. 2611 Cedar Springs/744-1346.

D.W. Co-op. Work by Carole Scholder on view in October. Tues-Sat 11-6. 3305 McKinney #7/526-3240.

Fair-mount Gallery. Paintings by Albert Werner on display Sept 24 through Oct. Tues-Sat 11-5. 6040 Sherry Ln/369-5636.

Frogmore. Gallery showing not scheduled at press time. Special workshops for children will continue throughout the fall. 9-5 Tues-Sat. 3109 Reagan/526-7215.

The Frontroom Gallery. Fiber wall pieces by Lee Erlin Snow, Oct 9-23. Mon-Sat 10-5. In the Craft Compound/6617 Snider Plaza/369-8338.

The Kleine Gallery at the Artists Courtyard. Pottery by Georgene Wood and batiks by Lawrence Wood will be on view in October. Tues-Sun 10-7. 12610 Coit/233-9472.

Macy Galleries. The official opening of the Canadian section of the gallery takes place Oct 2. A large selection of Eskimo soapstone carvings and stone prints, and works by Campbell Scott, Tom Mathews, Gordon Peters and Alexander Millar will be on display. Tues-Sat 11-6. 2605 Routh/ 742-4587.



Michele Herling. Pre-Columbian and African art on display. Tues-Sat 12-5:30. Quadrangle suite 260/748-2924.



Phillips Galleries. Works by Paul Anderbouhr, Elizabeth Charleston, Lazzaro Donati, Carlan-tonio Longi and Andre Vignoles. Mon-Sat 10-5. 2517 Fairmount/748-7888.



Shango. Primitive Oceanic and African art. Hours by appointment. 2606 Fairmount/744-4891.



Southwest Art Center. Limited edition graphics by Edna Hibel, Kimura, Brian Halsey, Mel Hunter, and Elmyr. Tues-Sat 9-6. Preston Rd at Forest/233-2702.



Stewart Gallery. Works by Randolph Lee in various media Sept 25-Oct 22. Tues-Sat 10-7 and by appointment. 12610 Coit Rd/661-0213.



Texas Center for Photographic Studies. Polaroid exhibition by Ansel Adams and others through Oct 17. A workshop and exhibition by Lee Friedlander opens Oct 23. Mon-Fri 11-4 and by appointment. 12700 Park Central Place, Suite 105/387-1900.



Tuthill Gallery. Work by Bemie Hawn, a California artist who creates dolls, on display in October. Mon-Sat 10-5:30, till 9 on Thur. Olla Po-drida/12215 Coit/661-1204.



2719. New paintings and graphics by Bart Forbes will be on display from Oct 17. Tues-Sat 11-5, Sun 2-5. 2719 Routh/748-2094.



Valley House Gallery. Portraits by Scott Gentling Sept 23-Oct 14. Furniture by Antonio Gaudi on view through Oct 31. Mon-Fri 10-5, Sat and Sun by appointment. 6616 Spring Valley Rd/239-2441.

Dance

What’s Afoot

The Southwest Ballet Gala ’76, featuring the Greater Houston Civic Ballet, the Delta Ballet of New Orleans, the Fort Worth Ballet Association, and the Dallas Metropolitan Ballet, will be October 24, 2:30 p.m., in McFarlin Auditorium. Tickets $2.50-$10. Season subscriptions, for three productions by The Dallas Metropolitan Ballet, available at a 10 percent discount. For information, call 361-0278.

Mountain View College presents performances by the Mountain View College Concert Dancers, Oct 22 and 23 at 8:15 p.m., Oct 24 at 3 p.m. in the Performance Hall. Admission $2/$l students. 4849 W Illinois/746-4100.



Movies



Coming Attractions



Because of the sudden flourishing of film series, a new repertory cinema, and more programming Aof film classics on TV, these listings are forced to present only a cross section of what’s available for viewing this month. We suggest you call the ex-hibitors listed below for complete schedules.Amarcord (Italy 1974). Fellini’s charming, self-indulgent exercise in nostalgia. It is his most Chaplinesque film, with Chaplin’s humor, his benign view of human beings, but also his sen-timentality and his inability to handle serious intellectual or political issues. Since the film is set in the era of Fellini’s childhood, he has to deal with Fascism, but his capering, fangless fascisti are as embarrassingly inadequate as re-sponses to political reality as Chaplin’s final speech in The Great Dictator. Otherwise, it’s a great director’s most ingratiating film. Oct 21 & 22, call for times, Edison Theatre, 2420 N Fitzhugh/823-9610.Black Orpheus (Brazil 1960). A big success back when foreign films were called “art films” and Hollywood’s products were contempuously dis-missed as slick commercialism, Marcel Camus’ lyrical retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice legend now looks more pretentious than mean-ingful. It still has some exciting carnival scenes and lots of music. Oct 3, 10 p.m., KERA-TV Channel 13. Oct 15-17, 7 & 9 p.m., SMU Cine-matheque, Bob Hope Theater/692-2979.The Blue Angel (Germany 1930). On everyone’s list of classics, Josef von Sternberg’s film, which made Marlene Dietrich a star, should be seen and re-seen by everyone interested in movies. Oct 9, 10 p.m., KERA-TV Channel 13.

Dr. Strangelove (USA 1964). One of the few film satires from the Sixties that still looks fresh, largely because of Stanley Kubrick’s control, his witty use of music, and the performances of Peter Sellers, Sterling Hayden, and George C. Scott. Oct 15 & 16, call for times, Edison Theatre, 2420 N Fitzhugh/823-9610.

Five Easy Pieces (USA 1970). An often subtle and affecting movie, though it’s really rather aimless – so absorbed in exploring its central character, an alienated musician from a “good” intellectual family who turns roughneck for unspecified reasons, that it sometimes loses dramatic force. Jack Nicholson’s powerful performance keeps it together. (With The Last Detail.) Oct 19 & 20, call for times, Edison Theatre, 2420 N Fitzhugh/823-9610.

It Happened One Night (USA 1934). Until One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the only film to make a sweep of the top five Oscars. It’s hard to see why now – but people will probably be saying the same thing about Cuckoo’s Nest 40 years hence. It does at least give Gable a chance to show his comic flair, and Claudette Colbert a chance to be perfectly charming. And it’s all very pleasant. Oct 17 & 18, call for times, Edison Theatre, 2420 N Fitzhugh/823-9610.

Jules and Jim (France 1961). Is there anyone who hasn’t seen this film at least twice? Francois Truffaut’s enduring, endearing film about the eternal triangle has thousands of admirers, few detractors, perhaps because its performances – particularly Jeanne Moreau’s and Oskar Werner’s – are so enchanting. Oct 1-3, 7 & 9 p.m., SMU Cinematheque, Bob Hope Theater/692-2979. Oct 16, 10:30 p.m., KERA-TV Channel 13.

M (Germany 1931). One of the dozen or so films that deserve to be called “classics,” though that label has connotations of stodginess that certainly don’t fit Fritz Lang’s rich, fascinating, detailed portrait of a psychopath and the exciting manhunt that eventually tracks him down. Peter Lorre’s performance is magnificent, and makes one regret that his later career in Hollywood was as a comic sidekick for Sidney Green-street. Oct 2, 10 p.m., KERA-TV Channel 13.

Play It Again, Sam (USA 1972). The Woody Allen film that Woody-haters love and Woody-lovers hate. It’s actually an agreeable comedy with strong performances by Woody, Diane Keaton, and Susan Anspach, though it never reaches the highs of his more rough-hewn movies. Oct 8, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m., UT/Dallas Films, Founders North Auditorium/690-2281.

The Ruling Class (Great Britain 1972). Much too long, but the first hour of this juicy mad movie is wonderful, with Peter O’Toole unleashing his extraordinary talents, and Harry Andrews, Arthur Lowe, and the late, great Alastair Sim doing splendid character turns. Oct 25 & 26, call for times, Edison Theatre, 2420 N Fitzhugh/823-9610.

Ryan’s Daughter (Great Britain 1970). One hundred seventy six minutes of gorgeous Irish scenery, through which from time to time, Robert Mitchum, Sarah Miles, John Mills, and the Irish Rebellion wander. A modest story in a mammoth setting, as one expects from the man who gave us Dr. Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia, David Lean. Oct 22, 7:30 p.m., UT/Dallas Films, Founders North Auditorium/690-2281.

The Shop on Main Street (Czechoslovakia 1966). Funny, moving, touching, and ultimately devastating film, directed by Jan Kadar. (With Zorba the Greek.) Oct 5 & 6, call for times, Edison Theatre, 2420 N Fitzhugh/823-9610.

The Story of Adele H. (France 1974). Francois Truffaut’s film about Victor Hugo’s daughter, with Isabelle Adjani’s award-winning performance. Oct 3 & 4, call for times, Edison Theatre, 2420 N Fitzhugh/823-9610.

Topper (USA 1937). The first of a charming series of films based on the Thome Smith stories about a pair of sophisticated spectres, here played by Cary Grant and Constance Bennett. Roland Young is the titular hero, their put-upon host, and the supporting cast includes fluttery Billie Burke, stuffy Alan Mowbray, and frog-voiced Eugene Pallette. Oct 6, 9:30 p. m., KERA-TV Channel 13.

2001, A Space Odyssey (USA 1968). Stanley Kubrick’s sci-fi film works because of its technical splendor and his witty use of music and despite its sophomoric symbology and metaphysics. Oct 31 & Nov 1, call for times, Edison Theatre, 2420 N Fitzhugh/823-9610.

The White Sheik (Italy 1956). A Fellini film with a screenplay by Antonioni, this meeting of the masters is less formidable than that makes it sound. It’s actually a spoof on the fantasy lives of pulp magazine readers, with wonderful performances by Alberto Sordi and Giulietta Masina. Oct 23, 10:30 p.m., KERA-TV Channel 13.

Z (France/Algeria 1969). Political melodrama at its most absorbing because of its basis in fact, the takeover of Greece by the Greek military. Some will find its tendency toward agit-prop abrasive, but the direction by Costa-Gavras is skillful, and the acting by Yves Montand, Irene Papas, and Jean-Louis Trintignant superb. (With Special Section.) Oct 27 & 28, call for times, Edison Theatre, 2420 N Fitzhugh/823-9610.



Sports



Grandstanding



Baseball/ Texas Rangers. Arlington Stadium. Games begin at 7:35 p.m. except Sept 26 and Oct 3 at 2:05. Tickets: $4, $4.50, & $5; Bleachers $2 Adults/ $1.50 children under 13. 265-9101.



Sept 24,25,26 vs. Kansas City Royals

Oct 1,2,3 vs. Chicago White Sox



Cricket/Dallas County Cricket Club. Matches every Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. at Glencoe Park, Martel Ave at N Cen Expwy (Exits 7 or 8). Spectators welcome, free. For further information, call Patrick McCarthy, 252-3549.



Football/Dallas Cowboys. Texas Stadium. Tickets $6 and $10,369-3211.



Sept 26 vs. Baltimore Colts, 3 p.m.

Oct 24 vs. Chicago Bears, 1 p.m.



Football/SMU Mustangs. Cotton Bowl. Tickets: Reserved $7, General admission (end zone) $3 adultv$2 children. 692-2901.



Sept 25 vs. North Texas State (at Texas Stadium, 7:30 p.m.)

Oct 16 vs. U. of Houston, 1:30 p.m.

Oct 30 vs. Texas A&M, 1:30 p.m.



Football/Texas-O.U. Oct 9 in the Cotton Bowl. 2:30 p.m.



Hockey/Dallas Black Hawks. The Black Hawks open their 1976-77 season on Oct 8 in Fort Worth. The first home game is Oct 30, State Fair Coliseum. 7:30 p.m. Tickets $2.50-$5.50. 823-6362.



Polo/North America Cup Tournament. Oct 3 through Oct 10 with matches every other day. Willow Bend Polo and Hunt Club annual 18-goal tournament. Matches begin at 3 p.m. Regular matches are held most Sundays and occasional Saturdays at 6 p.m., through November. Spectators welcome; $2.50 for non-members. FM Rd. 544, l? miles west of Preston Rd. 248-6235.



Rugby/ Texas Rugby Union. The Texas Rugby Union this fall will include eight teams from the Northeast Texas area, among them the Dallas Harlequins, Dallas Rugby Football Club, Wildebeeste, and Our Gang. Matches are held Saturdays and occasional Sundays beginning about 1 p.m. at Glencoe Park (Martel Ave at N Cen Expwy) and Merriman Park (6800 Skillman at Merriman Lane). Spectators welcome. For further information, call Alan Tatum at 363-9705.



Sailing/MC 16 Scow National Championship. Oct 1,2,3 at Rush Creek Yacht Club on Lake Ray Hubbard. Some 50 sailors from around the country will compete for the national championship in these 16-foot single-hand cat-rigged boats. For further information, call David Greene at 339-6606 or 337-4751.



Thoroughbred Horse Racing/Louisiana Downs. Bossier City, Louisiana on IH 20 (about three hours drive from Dallas). Nine or ten races daily, Wednesday through Sunday. Through Dec 5. Post time 1:15 p.m. Grand-stand $1, Clubhouse $2.50; plus $1 entrance (parking) fee. For further information or reservations, call toll free 1-800-551-8623.



Etc.

Enlightenment



Dallas Airshow, September 25 & 26 at Lancaster Airport, Beltline and Ferris in Lancaster, features displays and flybys with outstanding teams and individual performers. Gates open 10 a.m.; opening ceremonies for each show, 2 p.m. Tickets $3.50 adult/$2.50 child 6-12 in advance; $4/$3 at gate. Tickets available from Richardson Jaycees /Box 1301 /Richardson 75080. For information call 691-1697.

Texas Center for Writers offers courses in creative writing and the teaching of writing, plus sessions on modern literature. Three-day week-end conferences are held on different topics. The first conference is October 1-3. Melrose Hotel/Oak Lawn at Cedar Springs/522-2935.

The Texas Naturally Show, presented by the Fashion Group of Dallas, Inc., takes place October 9 in the Great Hall of the Apparel Mart. Cocktails 7 p.m., dinner 8 p.m., designer show 9:30 p.m. Tickets $25 for barbecue, beer, and show. The show features over 100 garments for men, women and children, created by Texas designers, using only fabrics made from at least 50 percent natural fiber (cotton, linen, wool, mohair). Guests at the show, which will tour the country and has been requested in Australia and Canada, will include Gov. Dolph Briscoe and Dallas Mayor Robert Folsom. For information call Irene Gregory/748-8037.

“Citation 76,” the Texas Fine Arts Association Annual Exhibition, takes place Sept 20-Oct 1 at the First National Bank. Winners of the juried show will go to a competition in Austin, and the state winners will be exhibited at the Laguna Gloria Museum October 15-November 15.

Southwestern Watercolor Society Membership Exhibition will be held in NorthPark Mall Oct 24-Nov 6. The juried show will include winners of $2500 in prize money. There will also be demonstrations of watercolor techniques every day during the show.

Craft Compound Classes cover topics such as mask-making, batik, painting, yarn-dying, spinning, weaving, macrame, drawing, pottery, and design, plus creative expression to music for children 3 to 5 years old. 6617 Snider Plaza/369-8338.

KERA-TV Channel 13 begins its fall season Oct 4. The new schedule includes a change of format for the local public affairs program, “Newsroom,” which will be renamed “The Nine O’clock Report” and fill the 9 p.m. slot Monday through Friday. “The MacNeil/Leh-rer Report,” a national news-commentary program, goes into the 6:30 p.m. slot. Other series premiering in October include “Masterpiece Theatre,” beginning its season with a dramatization of Madame Bovary, “National Geographic Specials,” “NOVA,” and “Once Upon a Classic,” serialized dramas for children including David Copperfield, The Prince and the Pauper, and Heidi.

Mountain View College Community Service Courses include “Defensive Driving,” Oct 9 and 16, $10; and “Stop Smoking Seminar,” Oct 11-15, 7:30-9:30 p.m., $15. 4849 W Illinois/746-4112.

Olla Podrida. Danish Expressions in Textile, a Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibit, Sept 20-Oct 16. Annual showing of weavings and wall hangings by advanced students of Barbara Ryan Sept 20-Oct 16. Lecture-demonstration by artist Robert Garden, author of Anyone Can Paint, I Promise!, Oct 20-22. Fashions from Unicorn Fantasy Fashions will be modeled Oct 25-30. Exhibit of jack-o-lanterns carved by children, Oct 23-30. 12215 Coit Rd.

Richland College. Carl Bernstein, co-author of All the President’s Men and The Final Days, will speak in the Performance Hall, 12:05 p.m. Free. 12800 Abrams Rd.

Spacetimepiece III, is the October show at the Richland College Cosmic Theatre and Planetarium, Sundays 2, 3, and 4 p.m., Wednesdays 8 p.m. $1 adults/50￠ children 6-12. 12800 Abrams.



Good Deeds



The Brandeis University National Women’s Committee needs books donated for its November sale. Proceeds benefit the Brandeis libraries and community libraries in the Dallas area. Call 528-1432 for pickup of books.



Kidstuff



Take a trip through a haunted house at the Jefferson branch of the Dallas Public Library, October 30, 2 p.m. Other library branches offer Halloween activities for kids, plus zoo animals, police dog demonstrations, and films. Check with your local branch for schedule information.

The Great Pumpkin Carnival at Northaven Co-operative Playschool, will be held Oct 3, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is 50c. It’s a combination book fair and bazaar with children’s books, records and posters from the Rootabaga Bookery and handmade children’s items, Halloween costumes, and games. The carnival is a fundraising activity for the preschool at 11211 Preston Rd/661-9066.

Air Sculpture Launching at Rootabaga Book-ery, 6715 Snider Plaza, takes place Oct 9 (if it rains, Oct 16), at 2 p.m. Kids will be provided with crepe paper, string, yarn, dowels, and helium-filled balloons to construct the sculpture. 361-8581.

Children’s Programs, offered jointly by the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts and the Art Education Department at SMU, will experiment with a variety of techniques for introducing children to art. Classes for pre-schoolers ages 4 and 5 will be held Wed and Fri beginning Oct 27 at SMU, with transportation supplied to the Museum. The class for 6-to-8-year-olds takes place 10 a.m. to noon beginning Oct 2; classes will be equally divided between the Museum and SMU. Fee $45/scholarships available. For further information call 421-4187, ext 42.

Learning About Me, a children’s introduction to art, music and drama, will be held on Saturdays at Olla Podrida, October 2-November 20. Classes for children 8-12 are conducted by Pamela Stone and staff. Fee $48 per child. For information call 691-3093 or write for an application form to 7115 Lavendale, Dallas 75230.