KEEPING UP/Arts and Entertainment

Dance



Star Teamwork for the Dance Season Opener



Suzanne Farrell and Peter Martins, with the Dallas Ballet at the Music Hall, Sept. 5, 7, and 8.



Dallas Civic Ballet launches its new season in September with two guests from the New York City Ballet on the bill alongside homegrown talent. It will be the second season for the fledgling Dallas Ballet, and the second appearance in this area of the NYCB duet of Suzanne Farrell and Peter Martins (the first was last spring in Fort Worth).

Farrell is, of course, that attractive young thing who singlehandedly brought the word “quintessence” back into the English language (and is speeding it on its way out again because of overuse by dance critics). The ultimate Balanchine ballerina, she has been the inspiration for many a stunning ballet from this greatest choreographer of all time. Farrell is, with all due respect, the human version of a thoroughbred. Descriptions of her sound like descriptions of Secretariat: long tapering limbs, wide chest, graceful neck, small head, with speed and strength to match. An ideal vehicle for the Balanchine neo-classical style which takes ballet, gymnastics and geometry and fuses them with music. Farrell may start with both feet on the floor, but soon thereafter you can expect to see one foot pointed at the ceiling at least half of the time. But fluidly; she does nothing jarring no matter how athletic the steps become.

Martins, a Danish product of a dancing family, is easily among the top male dancers in America. With Balanchine’s tendency to spotlight the woman, Martins has remained more or less obscure (certainly as compared to a Baryshnikov) until recently. Martins’ name is heard more often these days because talent like his inevitably sticks out even in a company which refuses to have a star system. He is simply an excellent dancer, tall and blond with a face and body so perfect as to seem a bit unreal. He can, in fact, look too much like a statue in Balanchine numbers which call for no facial expression. Too much perfection is disconcerting.

As a partnership, Farrell and Martins have a cool elegance which puts them in a category by themselves as far as historic partnerships go. Don’t anticipate a lot of personality from either of them. Not that they don’t have it – he can be quietly charming and she can dazzle with sensuality. But personality is frequently not in order for the numbers they dance. It is choreography on the intellectual rather than the emotional plane, but it is nevertheless entertaining and often moving.

Balanchine will obviously be the unseen third and dominant member of a trio of dance magicians, especially when Farrell and Martins perform his choreographing of a Tchaikovsky pas de deux. They will also be seen in Jerome Robbins’ version of Afternoon of a Faun.

If there is anything missing when you see these two dancers it will be the rest of the New York City Ballet – the Agon pas de deux they performed in Fort Worth last May looked a bit odd out of context and lost its impact without the rest of the company. The Dallas Ballet company will be performing three other works, the most interesting of which is the Haydn Surprise Symphony, as choreographed by James Clouser, the brilliant young choreographer whose firing from the Houston Ballet last year was a cause célèbre – and something of a cultural tragedy. If Clouser’s collaboration with the Dallas Ballet is a harbinger of a future relationship with the company, things may be looking up indeed for dance in Dallas.

Victoria Lowe



What’s Afoot



Dallas Ballet. Suzanne Farrell and Peter Martins of the New York City Ballet in two pas de deux; the Dallas company performs three works, including a new piece choreographed by James Clouser, formerly of the Houston Ballet. Sept 5, 7, 8 at 8:15 p.m. at the Fair Park Music Hall. Call the box office at 526-1370.

Fort Worth Ballet. The North Carolina Dance Theater performs Sept 16 and 18 at 8:15 in the Ed Landreth Auditorium, TCU. Call (817)731-0879.



Art



Fauvism in Fort Worth: A Stunner at the Kimbell



The Wild Beasts, at the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, from September 11.



This spectacular show of Fauvist art. which has already had highly successful in stallations at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, is easily the most important exhibition to corne to the area since the Impressionist show from Russia that visited the Kimbell a few years ago. Fau-vism may not be as well known to the general public, however, as the movement in art that preceded it, Impressionism, or the one that followed, Cubism.

In 1905 a French critic reviewing the Salon d’Automne coined the phrase “les fauves” (wild beasts) to characterize the work of a group of artists centered on Henri Matisse. Then, their art was shocking; 70 years later, Fauvism is still at least perplexing. In fact, there is still disagreement about who the members of the group were and whether Fauvism can be considered a movement. “Movement” in art history implies coherence in style, subject matter, or ideology. The label of Fauvism was applied to a loose association of artists who exhibited and worked together during a brief period (1905-1907). The Fauves developed from diverse backgrounds, experimented with similar problems and discovered different solutions to them. Their common denominator was the use of pure color to create form and to serve as a means of self-expression. One of the group, Kees van Dongen, said, “One can talk about the Impressionist school because they held certain principles. For us there was nothing like that; we merely thought their colors were a bit dull.” The core of the group, Matisse, Derain, and Vlaminck, was joined at various times by Dufy, Braque, Friesz, Mar-quet, Manguin, and van Dongen. Their use of bright colors and flattened space to create simplified forms filled their paintings with an energetic vitality that celebrates individual expression. This vigorous, subjective quality of Fauvism, coupled with the self-conscious experimentation in various surface treatments, could not sustain constant unified growth. As Braque said, “You can’t remain forever in a state of paroxysm.” By 1908, Fauvism per se was dead, fragmented by the individualism of the members of the group, whose visions no longer converged.

The show at the Kimbell Art Museum will not supply the viewer with a definition of Fauvism. Instead, it presents a view of what was happening in art between Impressionism and Cubism, largely in France. One sees the background of these experimentations – Impressionism, pointillism, the styles of van Gogh, Cezanne, and Gauguin – and the various approaches taken to the shared problems of the use of color. The clearest elements of the Fauve style are found in the works of Matisse, Derain, and Vlaminck. There can be little doubt that Matisse exhibits the most creative approach of the Fauves, through his self-conscious probings into the use of color and his exploration of various surface treatments and techniques, often within the same canvas. His Girl Reading (1905-6) and The Open Window, Collioure (1905) are examples of the artist isolating, reworking, and refining his vision, one which soon surpassed the excesses of Fauvism. Done within the same year, Matisse’s Luxe, calme et volupté (1904-5) and Landscape at Collioure (1905) illustrate the breadth of his vision; the first is reminiscent of pointillism, the second moves toward an abstraction of colors. Derain has not received his fair share of exposure in the past, but this show includes some of his finest Fauve works, indicating his enormous vitality and bold forms – The Turning Road, L’Estaque (1906), The Dance (1906), and Seine Barges (1906).

One of the exciting aspects of the Kimbell exhibition is the opportunity to see different artists’ interpretations of the same subject. There was a spirit of friendly competition among the Fauves, many of whom spent summers painting together, so the show includes several portraits of one artist by another (such as Vlaminck’s startling portrayal of Derain), the landscape of Collioure as viewed by both Matisse and Derain and views of L’Estaque by Derain and Braque. The stylistic differences between Matisse and Derain can be visually grasped in a comparison of their nudes. The nervous, angular, almost writhing forms of Derain’s figures in Bathers (1907) contrast with the calm, rounded and rhythmic interpretation given the human figure by Matisse in Blue Nude of the same year. The show also gives us the opportunity to witness a single artist experimenting with different modes of perception, as in two works by Derain of 1905 – The Charring Cross Bridge and The Mountains, Collioure. The first retains a sense of spatial depth, with Turneresque skies and broad blocks of color, while the second is a surface-oriented scene created with staccato brushstrokes. Some of the paintings from 1906-7 are representative of the phase of Fauvism which drew on the style of Cezanne for a stronger structural organization (Dufy’s Old Houses at Hon-fleur, 1906) and hinted at the coming of cubism (Braque’s Still Life with Pitchers, 1906-7). In contrast to this return to geometry and order is Vlaminck’s Flowers (Symphony in Colors) (1906-7), which moves daringly toward pure abstraction of color.

If you still can’t define Fauvism, don’t worry – even Matisse, years later, remarked, “I still have no idea what the word Fauvism means.” In the end, “The Wild Beasts” gains its strength not as a presentation of a movement, but in the works of the individual artists. Fauvism itself derives its importance less from its direct impact on future art than from the inherent vitality and quality of the works themselves.

Louise Ellen Teitz



Showing Up/ Exhibitions

Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. 8 X 10: Ten American Photographers continues through Sept 6. American Art Since 1945 from the Museum of Modern Art, is displayed Aug 18-Oct 3. Rugs by American artists will be shown Sept 15-Oct 17. Explaining Modern Art opens Sept 15 and continues through Dec 26. Tues-Sat 10-5, Sun 1-5. Fair Park/421-4187.

Eastfield College Art Gallery. Ceramics, airbrush paintings, and drawings by faculty members shown Aug 23-Sept 3. Mon-Tues 9-5, Wed 9-7. 3737 Motley Dr, Mesquite/746-3229.

Amon Carter Museum of Western Art. A Bird’s Eye View of the West, chromolithographs of cities, will be on display Aug 26-Oet 10. Tues-Sat 10-5, Sun 1-5:30. 3501 Camp Bowie Blvd/(817)738-1933.

Fort Worth Art Museum. A Tribute to A war Aalto opens Sept 1 and continues through Oct 17. Joseph Chakin. director of the Other Theater in New York, lectures Sept 1 at 8 p.m. in the solarium. Free. Paul Zimet, director of the Talking Band, an experimental theater, lectures Sept 8 at 8 p.m. in the solarium. Free. The Kalevala, new works by Chakin and Zimet, will be performed in the Scott Theater by the Talking Band Sept 10 and 11 at 8:15 p.m., and Sept 12 at 2 p.m. Tickets $4, $6, $8. Museum hours Tues-Sat 10-5, Sun 1-5. 1309 Montgom-ery/(817)738-9215.

Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth. The ’Wild Beasts’: Faurism and Its Affinities, a Museum of Modern Art traveling exhibition, opens Sept 11 and continues through Oct 31. Tues-Sat 10-5, Sun 1-5. 1101 Will Rogers Rd” (817)332-8451.



GALLERIES



Afterimage. Black and white photography by George Tice July 27-Aug 28. 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. Works on paper by Cornelia DeLee, Willie Young, Frank Jones, Noel Mahaffey, and Chapman Kelley will be on display. Mon-Sat 10:30-5, Sun 1-5, 2526 Fairmount/ 747-9971.

Contemporary Gallery. New works by Miro Aug 20-Sept 11. Mon-Sat 10:30-5 andby appointment. 2425 Cedar Springs/747-0141.

Cushing Galleries. 18th annual exhibition by students of Ann Cushing Gantz Sept 12-17. Animal art by Jane Curne. Lorraine Hayes, and Gita Packer on display Sept 18-Oct 15. Mon-Sat 10:30-4:30. 2723 Fairmount 747-0497.

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

D.W. Co-op. Paintings by Ron Moody and Danny Williams on display Aug 14-Sept 9. Exhibit of works by co-op members opens Sept 11 and continues through Sept 30. Tues-Sat 11-6. 3305 McKinney #7/526-3240.

Fairmount Gallery. A group show featuring Arie Van Selm continues through Sept 22. Paintings by Albert Werner on display Sept 24 through Oct. Tues-Sat 11-5. 6040 Sherry Ln/369-5636.

Frogmore. Paintings and drawings by Malcolm Hill and jewelry by various artists will be on display Aug 29 through Sept 18. Paintings by Reginald Coleman, who has executed murals based on the Egyptian Book of the Dead for the British Museum, will be shown beginning Sept 25. Special workshops for children will continue throughout the fall. 9-5 Tues-Sat. 3109 Reagan ’526-7215.

The Frontroom Gallery. Ten artists participate in an invitational raku and smoke-fired potters show opening Sept 4. Mon-Sat 10-5. In the Craft Compound/6617 Snider Plaza 369-8338.

The Kleine Gallery at the Artists Courtyard. Tapestry and stitching wall hangings by Irene Nicolaou and weavings by Jeanne Young will be on display Aug through Sept. Tues-Sun 10-7. 12610 Coit/233-9472.

Macy Galleries. A new gallery specializing in contemporary work by both local and Canadian artists. A group show by area artists will be featured throughout Sept. Tues-Sat 11-6. 2806 Routh/742-4587.

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

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

Stewart Gallery. Works by Randolph Lee in various media Sept 25-Oct 22. Mixed media photorealism by James Martin on display through Sept 23. Tues-Sat 10-7 and by appointment. 12610 Coit Rd 661-0213.

Texas Center for Photographic Studies. Polaroid exhibition by Ansel Adams and others Sept 17-Oct 17. Mon-Fri 11-4 and by appointment. 12700 Park Central Place, Suite 105/387-1900.

Tuthill Gallery. Silk screens by Ray Shaves and watercolors by Amado Pena will be on display Aug through Sept. Mon-Sat 10-5:30, till 9 on Thur. Olla Podrida/12215 Coit/661-1204.

2719. Prints by Corita Kent, Ted Naos, and Mickey Myers through Sept. Tues-Sat 11-5, Sun 2-5. 2719 Routh. 748-2094.

Valley House Gallery. Works by contemporary European and American artists through Sept. Portraits by Scott Gentling Sept 23-Oct 14. The “Masterpiece of the Month” is a 17th century Japanese hanging scroll. Mon-Fri 10-5, Sat and Sun by appointment. 6616 Spring Valley Rd/239-2441.



Music



Rocking with Ray at Six Flags



Ray Charles at Six Flags.



There was something weird and, at the same time, something wonderful about seeing Ray Charles at Six Flags the weekend of the Fourth. I wasn’t planning on celebrating; I wasn’t planning on being patriotic. In fact, I had planned on hiding out until the holiday and all its hoopla had safely passed into history. But I couldn’t, and I didn’t, and I’m delighted to report that the two concerts I attended – both the early show and the late one – were moving events. Socially and musically, the mix between Ray and his Arlington audience was something of a small miracle, a symbol of just how far we have all moved in the last 15 to 20 years.

Six Flags’ summer concerts are held in a large amphitheatre in the middle of the amusement park. There are no seats, only uncomfortable metal benches. Yet the setting is surprisingly intimate, and when the evening is cool and the sky crowded with stars, the place is relaxed and soothing. The crowd – at least on the night I was there – was strictly country. I hadn’t seen so many pink pedal-pushers on women and porcupine-looking crew cuts on men in years. Children threw large chunks of sticky cotton candy at one another, waiting for the first show to begin. Whole families grandpa, granny, mom, dad and the five kids – marched in, took up an entire bench by themselves and sat quietly in expectation. Everyone looked overweight. I could feel the crowd’s appetite; it wanted to be entertained – directly and simply- and didn’t seem much in the mood for compro-mise. It was a tough group, this Arlington audience, and m many ways reminded me of the throngs who regularly attend the ice hockey games at the State Fair or the wrestling matches at the Sportatorium. Surprisingly, no more than 5 percent of those who came to see Ray Charles were black.

Just before I left my house, I glanced at a New Yorker which had just arrived and which included a review of Ray at Carnegie Hall by Whitney Balliett. I was late for Six Flags and only had time to read the first line: “Ray Charles is the noblest jazz singer since Billie Hobday.” That description seemed right to me, and yet it also seemed strange: Brother Ray has mainly been seen as a street singer – probably the street singer – and he’s usually typed as a blues or soul musician. But Balliett is nonetheless right; Ray can and does sing jazz. He carries an 18-piece big band with him wherever he goes and always includes at least three or four straight jazz numbers in his routine. But the surprise of the night was that a country audience thinks of Ray as a country singer – that’s what the Six Flags shows were all about. There is something phenomenal, I think, about a singer who, on a Monday, is designated a noble jazz singer and then, on a Tuesday, goes out into the heartland where he makes the truck drivers break down and cry, singing what used to be called hillbilly music.

The evening had a theme which was provided not only by the holiday but by the very nature of Charles’ musical conviction. The main subject was America. And I can think of no one else who could have pulled it off. It’s interesting to remember that Ray began his career with literal imitations of Nat King Cole. In the Forties, Cole was one of the few black singers who had crossed over and captured a large white market. And, like Ray, Nat was a piano player who, later on, discovered he was also a commercial singer. Always interested in making money – and always interested in the white market – Charles tried out the golden-throated smooth-as-silk ballad approach. His imitation was nearly perfect, but the singing wasn’t genuine and the commercial results less than overwhelming. So when rhythm-and-blues became all the rage in the early Fifties, Ray had an opportunity to become himself – the nastiest of low-down blues-and-gospel wallers – and make money at the same time. He caught on and has been moving ahead ever since with unrelenting rockers like “What’d I Say” and “Hit the Road, Jack,” with straight old-fashioned ballads sung in a churchy mode and later, in the early Sixties, with pure country-and-western. No black man had ever done that before and remained essentially black. And those hits – his million-selling country numbers – were what sold most solidly at Six Flag

He sang all of them: “I Can’t Stop Loving You” was introduced with a brief arid heartbreaking monologue – “I don’t know where you are tonight, darling, but it worries me. . .1 don’t know who you’re with tonight, sugar, but it worries me.” Then followed his mournful, anxiety-ridden interpretation. Ray constructed his version of “Born to Lose” with a sparse piano solo built on block chords, uncompromising in its logic. On “Crying Time” the man simply cried, inconspicuously picking up a white handkerchief and drying his eyes. The startling aspect of Charles’ country self is that he is able to cling to his identity – as a get-down soul singer – and still move another ethnic group by singing their music. It would be something like Charles Aznav-our being able to bring down the house at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem by singing 12-bar blues.

There were other marvelous invention!). Ray took apart Gershwin’s sinewy “How Long Has This Been Going On” and put it back together again. First he treated the song tenderly, letting the reeds moan behind him and allowing his master trumpeter, Johnny Coles – surely the most underrated jazz player in the country – to introduce the theme with great subtlety. Finally, though, Ray reached down and grabbed the heart from the song, turning it into unadulterated gospel. He left Ira Gershwin’s splendid lyrics behind, shouting, “I’m talking to my woman. You know you’ve got my nose open, oh yes you do.”

In the end it was one song which did it. Ray Charles singing “America the Beautiful” brought the house down during both shows. The ovations lasted for five minutes. To begin with. Ray sang the first verse, one which hardly anyone remembers, and when that was through, he introduced the more familiar words by saying. “When I was in school, we used to sing it something like this.” Of course everything about the corny song was changed, and somehow the triteness was transformed to conviction] When Ray sings. “Sweet America. I love you, America,” in his most Southern and funky manner, you know he means it. And that, I suspect is what comes across; that’s what moves his fans at Six Flags – the gas station attendants, the waitresses, the working people. I looked around and saw tears – real tears – streaming down their faces. There was no equivocation in their tremendous regard for Ray. In 1976, in Arlington, Texas, they were on their feet, applauding the efforts of a man whom they recognized as very black and very American, someone who, in addition to understanding himself, also understood them.

David Ritz



WaxingCritical/Recordings

Sparkle, Aretha Franklin (Atlantic)



Some soul records can set the tone for an entire summer. Martha and the Vandellas’ “Dancing in the Streets” was such a song back in 1964 and, I believe, Aretha Franklin’s remarkable Sparkle will, in much the same way, endure as the anthem of the Summer of ’76.

Sparkle is a perfect vehicle. As a movie, despite its overwrought sentimentality and obvious conventions, I found it moving and spirited. Credit must go to Curtis Mayfield, who wrote the music and words to songs which were originally intended to be approximations of soul hits of the Sixties and now have actually become hits in their own right. Curtis has gone back, rekindling the fires which he lit under his old group – the Impressions – during that same period. In fact, most of the songs sound as though they might have been part of the Impressions’ repertoire from the Sixties. Either way, this is the real stuff. I’m not sure there’s anyone around who understands urban soul music – and who can write, arrange and produce it – any better than Mayfield.

The singing in the movie was excellent, though it was not done by Aretha Franklin. At first I questioned Mayfield’s decision to call in a vocal star to remake the soundtrack, but after hearing Aretha’s version, I’m in no mood to complain. It is the best record Ms. Franklin has made in nearly a decade. Curtis has brought her back, all the way back to those days when she was singing at the top of her form, the days of “I Never Loved a Man” and “Natural Woman” and “Respect.” The collaboration is enormously successful, and the result is one of those rare instances when both producer and singer are continually providing one another with fresh fuel.

Aretha’s gift is hard to define. There have been other gospel-turned-soul singers, other vocalists with staggering technique and tremendous voices. Yet Aretha remains the only one since Bessie Smith who has that quality of penetration, the ability to split open our heads and place her song inside. Psychologically, I think that’s because of Aretha’s shyness. She seems a withdrawn and often frightened woman who is able to open up only in her music. And when that happens – when she finds the right material and the right mood – it is as though her entire life is poured into a four or five minute song.

Certainly that’s the case with Sparkle. The theme is an old one, perhaps the oldest one for American black singers – crossing over into the promised land. Sparkle is about making it, the story of a trio of sisters who become national stars. “So much hope for material things,” Aretha sings, expressing the desire to escape the abject poverty of the ghetto. Yet the way to escape is through those very rhythms and sounds which the ghetto provides. Just as the ghetto conditions a boxer and gives him the ability to fight his way out and maybe even make a fortune, so can it propel a soul singer. To reflect the ghetto musically – to capture its lullabies and dances – is often the ticket out. Aretha knows what that trip is about – she has already taken it – and she transforms herself easily in these songs; she becomes a timid yet determined teenager all over again. It is an acting job as well as a vocal performance, a role in which Aretha assumes a sweet sort of innocence.

Sparkle is teen-age music, just the way that most of the enduring soul music – think of Motown – has always been essentially teen-age music. Aretha sounds 17 years old; she does, in fact, sparkle, radiating the glow of a young woman who hungers for stardom and love: “People say I’m much too young,” she complains, “to know where I’m coming from.” Mayfield’s arrangements are just spicy enough – the drum is well-recorded and hotly mixed; there is precisely the right amount of bump-and-grind (particularly on the burlesque-like “Hooked on Your Love”); and the love songs are devastating (“Look into Your Heart,” sung in the movie as a duet, becomes the album’s most exhilarating moment).

So Aretha really is back. Like Muhammad Ali, she went away for awhile and was lost among the stars. Also like Ali, she has returned to fight for and successfully regain her throne. Yet, strangely enough, Sparkle has taken her even further back than I would have imagined – beyond her period of early Atlantic soul hits, beyond those days when she was cranking out jazzy Broadway tunes for Columbia – all the way back to when she herself was a teenager, the daughter of Detroit’s famed preacher C.L. Franklin, a young singer for Checker Records around whom a legend had already grown: Reverend Franklin, a critic then wrote, has a daughter who can go tell it on the mountain and make other mountains shake. Sparkle proves that fifteen or twenty years later, the lady has the same ability and that her spirit, in spite of the pressures of show business, is as fiery as it has ever been.

David Ritz

Those Southern Knights, The Crusaders (ABC)



The Crusaders, several years back, used to be the Jazz Crusaders. They were guys from Houston playing straight-ahead, post-bop jazz, with some restrictions on their improvisations – not too long, not too complicated, not too avant-garde. They were looking to make money on a somewhat old-fashioned jazz sound. Only moderate success resulted from those efforts and so, in order to relate more directly to their market, they dropped the “Jazz” from their name and became simply the Crusaders. As a result, their music became more direct as well – earthier, more soulful, less complex. In essence, they became a modern rhythm-and-blues band. It worked. They hit their market between the eyes and to day are among the most successful groups in this genre.

Those Southern Knights is a relaxed and comforting record. Never have the Crusad ers sounded happier and more self-assured The big hit is “Keep That Same Old Feel ing” and, more than any other, the song says what the band is up to. There are no lyrics other than a continual repetition of the title line, and Wayne Henderson’s trombone solo and Joe Sample’s piano work manage to be loose and structured at the same time. The rhythm section is muscular – a wonder of strength – the band dependably rocks on, and if easy listening has reached a higher plateau than this, I don’t know about it.

D.R.



Wagner, Lohengrin: Thomas, Silja, Varnay, Vinay, Crass; Sawallisch (Philips).



This “new” Lohengrin is actually 14 years old – a live performance from the Bayreuth Festival of 1962. Its release was delayed because Wieland Wagner was reluctant to have it distributed, but now, ten years after his death, Philips has gained his estate’s permission to release it, partly because it completes their package of live performances from Bayreuth during the Wieland Wagner era. It has, then, at least historical interest. To my mind it memorializes much that was great, but also much that was pernicious about that era.

It is, like so many of Wieland Wagner’s productions, full of intensity, but strangely devoid of humanity. Play any other recording of the third act love duet, and you are likely to hear singers at least trying to sound tender and impassioned. But as sung by Jess Thomas and Anja Silja on this recording, the duet sounds more like a debate. This comes, I think, from Wieland Wagner’s somewhat oratorio-like staging, in which the chorus was arranged in stiff, tiered ranks, with the soloists posed in hieratic positions in the center stage.

The dryness of the love duet may also result from the vocal limitations of these two artists, neither of whom had a beautiful voice. Silja was Wieland Wagner’s Trilby, plucked from light soprano roles and rushed, while still in her early twenties, into the heaviest of Wagnerian parts. Though she was, from all reports, a sensational actress, the effect on her voice was disastrous. Now, at age 35, when a soprano should be starting a career as an international superstar, where is she? Thomas, too, rushed swiftly from roles for which he was suited, Lohengrin and Walther, to roles he should only now – if ever – be assuming. Tristan and Tannhauser, and his voice has failed prematurely. This album, then, memorializes the abuse of voices.

At the same time, however, it provides one of the few opportunities on commercial recordings for us to hear two singers who nursed their voices into long and distinguished careers. Astrid Varnay, the Ortrud, is a great singer who never achieved the fame she deserved because of the premium put, in the recording era, on beauty of tone rather than sureness of technique. Her recorded voice is harsh, but the dramatic intensity is overwhelming, particularly in the great outburst, “Entweihte Gotter.” And Ramon Vinay, here heard at the end of a distinguished career in which he moved from baritone to heldentenor and back to baritone, is dramatically impressive as Tel-ramund.

This recording, then, while not entirely acceptable, has distinct merits. The only beautiful voice on it is that of Franz Crass, the King Heinrich, but if you want the power if not the glory of Lohengrin, then it’s worth it. It’s worth it, too, for its impressive spaciousness of sound, documenting the fabled acoustics of Bayreuth, and for the fine conducting of Wolfgang Sa-wallisch.

Charles Matthews



Funky Kingston, Toots and the Maytalls (Island)

Follow My Mind, Jimmy Cliff (Reprise)



Reggae was literally invented in the last decade as a popular musical form. It is a bastard child of a stormy and sensual mixed marriage. Papa was a rolling stone – American soul music, James Brown and Fats Domino, Little Richard and Wilson Pickett. Mama was Calypso, the island romantic, the ocean peaceful and calm. Reggae grew up in Trenchtown, in the slums of Kingston, Jamaica; it’s full of revolutionary anger and revivalist fervor. Now it’s a young adult, but it shows sign of staying young forever.

Toots is the roughest reggae singer, Cliff the smoothest. For my money, Toots is better. Funky Kingston consists of songs done some time ago, and the music is frightening in its rawness. I close my eyes and think of Otis Redding; it’s hard for me to believe that Toots isn’t shutting his eyes and thinking of Otis, too. His “Time Tough,” “Funky Kingston,” “Louie Louie,” “Love is Gonna Let Me Down” are overnight classics. His voice is an open wound. The merry-go-round rhythms are simple, haunting, compelling. The melodies are almost chants, and you can dance your head off to this stuff. It’s religious junk music, religious soul music – one ear towards the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, the other towards Ethiopia. (I wonder: Are there female reggae singers? Ah, to hear the reggae cousin of Esther and Dinah!)

D.R.



Duly Noted/ Concerts



Dallas Symphony Orchestra. The 1976-77 season opens with a concert version of deFalla’s La Vida Breve, conducted by Louis Lane, Sept 10 and 11. Eugene Fodor, violinist, will appear in an all-Tchaikovsky program conducted by Louis Lane Sept 16 and 18. Eduardo Mata, conductor of the National Symphony of Mexico. will be the featured artist in concerts Sept 23. 24 and 25. Pianist Lazar Berman will be presented in recital Sept 29. Call for times and ticket prices. Music Hall, Fair Park 826-7000.

The Dallas Jazz Orchestra performs at Performance Hall, Richland College. Sept 14 at 12:05 p.m. Free. 12800 Abrams Rd/746-4494.

Casa Manana, Fort Worth. Gary Collins and Mary Ann Mobley appear in Cabaret Aug 16-28. Jack Jones performs Aug 30-Sept 4. Jesus Christ Superstar opens Sept 6. For ticket information call (817)332-9319. 3101 W Lancaster, Fort Worth.



Downstairs at the Registry features Jesse Lopez Aug 23-Sept 11, and Floyd Dakil Sept 13-Oct 9. Nightly except Sun. Cover charge varies. Bar by membership. Registry Hotel, Mockingbird at Stemmons/630-7000.



Venetian Room. Carmen McRae, Aug 16-28. Sept 13-18, Peter Nero. 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.



Sports



Whatever Happened to What’s-His-Name?



He graduated from Auburn in 1962 and – an indication of things to come – he was not drafted by any professional football team.

The Cowboys gave him the once-over-lightly look as a wide receiver at their training camp and wished him luck – as a stock broker or an insurance salesman.

But he returned to Dallas in 1963 as a linebacker and has been here ever since. By 1965 he’d become the starter at outside linebacker. He was part of Cowboy teams so miserable that mass suicide seemed the only solution. And he was part of their grand emergence and of the Doomsday Defense that keyed three Super Bowl trips.

But through it all, he never even caught a glimpse of stardom. Like some kind of athletic chameleon, he seemed to blend with his surroundings every Sunday. It is said of some players that they spend their careers in the shadows of others. He spent his in the dark. His name was lost amongst the bigger names like Lilly, Howley, Meredith, Jordan, Green, Thomas, Hill and Renfro. And every year it seemed that someone younger – a Stincic, a Kiner, or a Barnes – was being groomed to replace him. But no one ever took away his job.

In 13 years he started 178 NFL games and missed only two. His defensive coaches called him a model of efficiency. In a sport that worships the strong and the quick and the violent, he was a study in the worth of experience and intelligence and discipline. But in all those 13 seasons, he never received All-Pro mention. There were no Pro Bowl invitations, no commercial endorsements, no books, no TV shows, no headlines.

And now even his retirement has been a glorious non-event. His goodbye press conference was called one day after the Cowboys’ pre-season veteran roster arrived minus his name. The Cowboys will in all likelihood give his #52 to some suitably anonymous rookie.

And no doubt some Sunday soon at Texas Stadium, some Cowboy fan will watch a young, fast linebacker named Breunig or Henderson or Hegman make a crunching tackle and turn to another fan and say, “I wonder what happened to old. . .uh. . . what’s-his-name.” And not too many years from now his name will come up in a terrific trivia contest. A fan will lean over to his buddy at the bar and say, “Here’s a real stumper for you. Who was Dave Edwards?”

Norm Hitzges



Grandstanding



Baseball/Texas Rangers. Arlington Stadium. Games begin at 7:35 p.m., except Sunday games (Sept 12 & 26) at 2:05. Tickets: $4, $4.50, $5; Bleachers $2 Adults/$1.50 children under 13. 265-9101



Sept 7,8,9 vs. Minnesota Twins

Sept 10,11.12 vs. Oakland A’s

Sept 13,14 vs. California Angels

Sept 24,25,26 vs. Kansas City Royals



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/Da//as Cowboys. Texas Stadium. Tickets $6 (general admission) and $10 (reserved). 369-3211.

Pre-season game:

Aug 28 vs. Pittsburgh Steelers, 8 p.m.

Sept 4 vs. Houston Oilers, 8 p.m.

Regular season games:

Sept 12 vs. Philadelphia Eagles, 1 p.m.

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



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

Sept 11 vs. TCU, Cotton Bowl, 7:30 p.m.

Sept 25 vs. North Texas State, Texas Stadium, 7:30 p.



Golf/Dallas Civitan Open. Sept 8-12, Brookha-ven Country Club. The nation’s top women golfers compete for $50,000 in prize money. Schedule (with gate admission prices): Sept 8, Pro-Am Tournament ($3); Sept 10, First Round ($4); Sept 11, Second Round ($5); Sept 12, Championship Round ($6). A season pass for admission all four days is $10. For tickets and further information, call 638-6512



Polo/ Willow Bend Polo and Hunt Club. FM Rd 544, 1 1/2 miles west of Preston Rd. 248-6235. Matches every Sunday beginning about 6 p.m. Occasional Saturday matches. Spectators welcome. $2.50 for non-members.



Quarter Horse Racing/Ross Downs, Hwy 121. four miles southwest of Grapevine. 481-1071. From 9 to 19 races every Sunday year ’round, beginning at 1 p.m. Adults $2 children $1.



Rodeo/Mesquite Championship Rodeo. Professional rodeo stars compete every Fri and Sat night through Sept beginning at 8 p.m. The arena is located off LBJ Freeway at Military Parkway exit. Box seats $3.50, Grandstands $2.50/$1.50 children under 12. For tickets and further information call 285-8777.



Sailing/ White Rock Lake. Competitive sailing every Sat and Sun year ’round. Races begin at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturdays, at 1:30 p.m. Sundays. Various size classifications. Spectators welcome. For racing information call 327-9667.



Tennis/ATP Celebrity Pro-Am. On Sept 13, the second annual Association of Tennis Professionals Awards Banquet will be preceded by a doubles tournament featuring top tennis pros and entertainment celebrities. (For further information, see the special section in this issue.)

Movies



Coming Attractions



The Alphabet Murders (Great Britain 1966). Tony Randall as Hercule Poirot? No wonder Agatha Christie insisted on tighter control over the filming of Murder on the Orient Express. Middling mystery with Anita Ekberg and Robert Morley. Sept 3, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m. UT Dallas Films, Founders North Auditorium, Richardson.

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 sentimentality 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 responses to political reality as Chaplin’s final speech in The Great Dictator. Otherwise, it’s a great director’s most ingratiating film. Sept 22, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m. UT/ Dallas Films, Founders North Auditorium, Richardson.

David and Lisa (USA 1963). A film less important as “art” than as one of the first successful independently-produced movies. Its treatment of love and madness is superficial and sentimental, though because it was hip sentimentality rather than Hollywood sentimentality, the film was a critical success. Now it looks rather dated, but can be enjoyed if you don’t take it too seriously. Sept 18, 8 p.m. Southwestern Cinema, Zale Lecture Hall, D1-600, UT Health Science Center, 5323 Harry Hines/688-2021.

Day of Wrath (Denmark 1943). Carl Dreyer’s moody, oppressive masterpiece, a photographically and psychologically stunning film. Sept 1. 7:30 & 9:30 p.m. UT’Dallas Films, Founders North Auditorium, Richardson.



King Lear (Great Britain 1971). Peter Brook’s Royal Shakespeare Company stage version of the sublimest of tragedies was brilliantly unconventional. His film version is just unconventional – too heavily influenced by the theory of Polish critic Jan Kott that Lear is the forerunner of absurdist drama like Endgame. Few attempts to bring Shakespeare to the screen – Olivier’s Henry V, Welles’ Falstaff- have been successful; Brook’s Lear is not among them. With Paul Scofield, Irene Worth, and Cyril Cu-sack. Sept 15, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m. UT Dallas Films, Founders North Auditorium, Richardson.



Lacombe, Lucien (France 1974). Louis Malle’s widely-acclaimed film about a teen-aged collaborator during the last days of the Nazi occupation of France. Sept 28, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m. UT/ Dallas Films, Founders North Auditorium, Richardson.



The Loved One (USA 1965). It’s not a patch on Evelyn Waugh’s great satiric novel, and like most Tony Richardson films, the humor is laid on with a sledge-hammer, particularly by Terry Southern’s shrill screenplay. But the actors – Robert Morse, Jonathan Winters, Rod Steiger, Milton Berle, James Coburn, John Gielgud, Tab Hunter, Liberace, Roddy McDowell, and Robert Morley, to name a few of them – are fun to watch even when Richardson obviously doesn’t know what to do with them. Sept 24, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m. UT/Dallas Films, Founders North Auditorium, Richardson.



Loves of a Blonde (Czechoslovakia 1965). Before Milos Forman left Czechoslovakia and hit the bigtime with One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, he made several modest and funny features in his homeland. Loves of a Blonde is an almost Chaucerian comedy, with the right blend of romance and ribaldry. Sept 11, 8 p.m. Southwestern Cinema, Zale Lecture Hall, Dl-600, UT Health Science Center, 5323 Harry Hines/688-2021.



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. Sept 25, 8 p.m. Southwestern Cinema, Zale Lecture Hall, Dl-600, UT Health Sciene Center, 5323 Harry Hines/688-2021.



Phantom of the Paradise (USA 1974). An entertaining mess of a movie, with such high spirits going on not only on camera, but behind it (director Brian De Palma is obviously freaked-out on movies), that one can easily forgive it when its tricks don’t work. It’s a rock-musical quasi-parody of horror films, with good performances by Paul Williams, Jessica Harper, and Gerrit Graham. And it gives one a rare chance to see the glory that was Dallas’ Majestic Theatre – the “Paradise” of the title. Sept 17. 7:30 & 9:30 p.m. UT Dallas Films. Founders North Auditorium. Richardson.



Scenes from a Marriage (Sweden 1974). One of the few films for grown-ups. Edited down from a television series, it is a straight and uncompromising look at the lives of two people whose relationship is paradoxically destroyed by marriage and renewed by divorce. A searching, literate script, astonishingly fine performances by Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson and masterful direction by Ingmar Bergman. An absolute must for anyone who is. has been, or might become married. Sept 7. 7:30 & 9:30 p.m UT Dallas Films, Founders North Auditorium, Richardson.

Theater



“Sam” as He Might Have Been



Sam, at the Dallas Theater Center



At the center of this new play by Sally Netzel is a rather appealing portrait of Samuel Clemens. He has been given an extensive selection of the historical Clemens’ aphorisms, one-liners and the like, and the focus of the play is thus nominally on the wit of one of America’s great humorists. But around him Netzel has arrayed a collection of gratuitous characters and incidents in such a haphazard pattern that her play ultimately resembles a ragged Neil Simon script, more fanciful but with even less structure.



One is supposed to get some satisfaction from speculating whether any of what goes on here actually took place, (Netzel suggested in her program notes that “more than half the lies in Sam belong to Mark Twain,” and as I just noted, probably more than half the lines do too). We are assured, for example, that Harriet Beecher Stowe really did live in the same block as the Clemens family, and that she really was batty in her later years (the play is set in 1885). But Netzel uses this only as an opportunity for cute bits like having Stowe screeching across the stage on a bicycle stolen from the paper boy, and getting accidentally drunk with Clemens’ idiosyncratic old mother and passing out on the floor. Similarly, Netzel inserts the fact that Huckleberry Finn was banned by the Concord Library Committee only to give rise to a few aimless discussions between Clemens and his wife on his taking up a “more serious” kind of writing; what his feelings on the matter were, except for his immediate reaction, aren’t even made clear. To paraphrase a line from one of Shaw’s plays, what does it matter if any of this is true, if it is pointless?



To be fair, the play does attempt in one way a serious approach to Clemens’ character, by way of a figure named Brown, a phantasm visible only to Clemens, who is always urging him to take the day off to go fishing, or to drop his attempts to behave respectably and instead indulge his more unsociable inclinations. Always dressed in darker clothes than Clemens, Brown is emblematic of some vaguely defined other half of Clemens’ character, and he functions nicely for most of the play to provide a degree of dynamism otherwise lacking in the proceedings. But the problem of definition becomes acute at the conclusion, when Clemens finally sends him away, for he departs at the point at which, both in the play and in actuality, Clemens was beginning to listen to his darker self – when he was developing that irascibility and cynicism which strongly colored his works and his character.



Along with its tenuous relations to facts of historical incident and character, Sam suffers from shoddy craftsmanship, a good example of which is the burglar who turns up early in the play stealing the silver service from the Clemens’ living room. Sam, who catches him at it, converses agreeably with him before buying back the lifted goods. Funny enough, and funnier still when he proves to be the same as the Mr. Burrows who arrives the next day to install a burglar alarm (although it’s typical that Netzel suggests but never specifies that Clemens catches on to the deceit). Rather than dropping it there, however, at which point it is only another of her many unexplained fanciful occurrences, Netzel insists on turning this bit into a motif, and it recurs every 25 minutes or so afterwards: burglar appears the next night in different disguise, having entered through upstairs window, Sam buys back silver again, Burrows returns next day to alter alarm system to protect upstairs also, burglar enters that night in yet another manner and disguise, etc. While this is going on, the alarm bell is being used as one of the oldest and most primitive of devices: it is set off accidentally every now and then to bring all the nearby characters running on stage, where they may be used to spark additional action which will keep things moving.



The Theater Center staging made what it could of this mess; as is usually the case when the DTC is producing a play by one of its own, a great deal of care was lavished on it. Ryland Merkey (as Sam) and Jacque Thomas (as his wife Livy) had a number of charming moments, and the rest of the performers were as competent as was required of them. But neither their efforts nor those of director Bryant J. Reynolds succeeded in making this vacuous blend of fact and fancy work as drama.



John Branch



Arlecchino, the Servant of Two Masters, by Carlo Goldoni at the University of Texas at Dallas.



This little experiment in theater archaeology turned out worse than the idea behind it deserved, but it’s worth some notice merely for the fact that it was attempted. For what UT-D was after is an uncommon thing in local playhouses: the recreation of an old style of staging long since departed from the boards and retired to the history books. In this case it was the commedia dell’ arte tradition, with its raucous performance style and its familiar stereotyped characters like Harlequin and Pantalone, that the UT-D troupe proposed to revive.

The formal aspects were captured quite nicely: the bare platform used as the playing space, backed only with a painted drop through which entrances and exits were made, the masks worn by the actors, who sat visibly off stage when not involved in the action, the music used to bridge the various scenes. But was ever commedia in this manner played? Surely the essence of the style has more to do with its vitality – for it was based on a highly developed form of improvisation – and its broad, often vulgar humor – for its characters and subjects belong to that farcical family which extends back to the Roman comedies and is still flourishing in, for example, the sex comedies in our dinner theaters. But little of this was apparent in the staging; there were double entendres unnoticed, opportunities for slapstick passed over, lines rendered stiffly, characterizations fuzzily outlined, and much energy unexpended.

There were a few scenes which somewhat redeemed the rest, but the experiment was valuable primarily in making clear that it should be attempted more often.



John Branch



In the Wings/Plays



Dallas Theater Center. Sherlock Holmes returns Sept. 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11. and 16, 17, 18. Performances at 8 p.m. Thurs and Fri and 8:30 p.m. Sat. Tickets $4.25-$5.50 students $3. 3636 Turtle Creek 526-8857.

Theatre Onstage (formerly Oak Lawn Community Theater). Bruce Jay Friedman’s Steam-bath will be performed at 8:15 p.m. Sept 9, 10, 11 and Sept 16, 17, 18. Tickets $3 adults students $2. Corner of Pearl and McKinnev. rear entrance. Call 279-9675 or 691-7137 for tickets.



DINNER THEATERS



Country Dinner Playhouse. Hans Conried appears m the premiere production of Gold Diggers of 1633, through Sept 8. Tues-Sun dinner 6:45, show 8:20. Tickets $7.50-$17.95. 11829 Abrams at LBJ’231-9457.

Granny’s Dinner Playhouse. Pat Paulsen appears in the Dallas premiere of Neil Simon’s God’s Favorite through Sept 26. 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.



Etc.



Enlightenment



Ralph Nader lectures on consumerism at 12:05 p.m. Sept 16 in Performance Hall, Richland College. Free. 12800 Abrams Rd/746-4494.

Texas artist George Goodenow’s works will be displayed through Sept at KERA Channel 13/90 FM. Part of a continuing series of monthly exhibits showcasing area artists. Mon-Fri 8-5. 3000 Harry Hines/744-1300.

The Quadrangle celebrates its tenth anniversary Sept 16-18 with photographic exhibitions of life in the Routh Street area circa 1900, craft demonstrations, and square dancing. For further information call 742-8679.

Pottery classes begin Sept 6 in the Pottery Studio at the Craft Compound, 6615 Snider Plaza. Morning and evening classes available. Classes for children 7-14 begin Sept 11 and continue to Oct 2; four lessons on Saturday mornings. Call Sherry Bain at 369-1258 or 522-0198.

Olla Podrida. Special exhibits include the third annual Best in Texas Quilt Show Sept 1-17.

Egyptian fashions and art Sept 1-17. 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. 12215 Coit Rd.

Explore offers eight-week personal growth courses for women beginning Sept 27 at several Dallas locations. Cost $30. Babysitting available at one location. Call 341-4831 for registration information.

The Dallas Public Library’s September activities include films, mobile making, and Diez y Seis celebrations. Call 748-9071, ext. 287 or your local branch for details on all activities.

The Craft Compound will offer fall adult and youth classes in pottery, macramé, drawing and design, among others. For more information, call 369-8338. 6615 Snider Plaza.



Good Deeds



Annual Women’s Festival celebrating “Molly Pitcher Day,” will be held Sept 19, noon to 5 p.m. at the Walnut Hill Recreation Center (Walnut Hill and Midway Roads). There will be artists and craftswomen displays, entertainment, sports events, community interest group booths and demonstrations, prizes, and things for the kids to do. Proceeds of the Festival benefit the Women’s Center of Dallas. Tickets are $1 in advance, $1.50 at the door and kids under 12 come free. For ticket information call 522-3560.

The Tenth Annual Art About Town Auction benefiting the Dallas Society for Crippled Children takes place Sept 10 at 6:30 p.m. at Llove. Tickets ($25-$75) for the dinner and auction may be obtained by calling Mrs. Reed West at 521-0495.

KERA-TV, Channel 13, will broadcast its Fourth Annual Auction Sept 12 through Sept 19. Proceeds benefit public broadcasting.

The Junior League of Dallas and the North-Park Merchants Association sponsor a carnival Sept 19, 4-7 p.m. at NorthPark. Events include a tasting bee and arts and crafts exhibits. Proceeds benefit the Community Service Trust Fund of the Junior League.

The Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon for Muscular Dystrophy will be broadcast by KXAS-TV (Channel 5) from 8 p.m. Sun, Sept 5 to 5:30 p.m. Mon, Sept 6.

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



Kidsluff



Learning about Me – a Child’s Introduction to the Arts will be taught at the Park Cities Bap tist Church, 3933 Northwest Parkway, Tues or Thurs, 3:30-5, Sept 21 through Nov 18. Cost is $44.50. Contact Pamela Stone at 691-3093.

Trapeze artists, clowns, and jugglers perform in Red Bird Mall’s Center Court Sept 8-18. Shows at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 4 p.m., and 7 p.m. Highway 67 and Camp Wisdom Road.

D RECOMMENDS

If you think Polaroid s instant photography is only for snapshots of your kids’ birthday parties, take a look at the show opening this month at the Texas Center for Photographic Studies. Ansel Adams’ ’Church, West Virginia 1956,” from his book Ansel Adams Singular Images [Morgan & Morgan, Inc.), was made with a Polaroid Type 52. The exhibit also includes work by Walker Evans, Emmett Gowin, and about 15 other photographers, whose talents were enlisted by Polaroid for the show. It will be on view September 17 through October, 17

D RECOMMENDS

Dallas is reaping the musical benefits of detente this month. First, Eugene Fodor, the 26 – year – old violinist who won the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and became the first important American musical folk hero in Russia since Van Cliburn, will be performing with the Dallas Symphony in an all-Tchaikovsky program September 16 and 18. Then on September 29, Lazar Berman, the Russian pianist who usually has the epithet “legendary” attached to his name, will be featured in a recital under the Symphony’s sponsorship, to be followed by concerts with the Symphony in October.

D RECOMMENDS

One of the nice things about local film series is that not only does one get a look at golden oldies, but one also gets a chance to see recent films that were sadly neglected by local distributors and exhibitors. One such is Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage, which had an absurdly brief run in the theaters last year. Now UTD has brought this superb study of married life back for a screening on September 7. Meanwhile, the SMU Cinematheque starts up its fall season with Claude Chabrol’s psychological thriller, Le Boucher, on September 10-12, and Robert Bresson’s Lancelot of the Lake, on September 24-26, sandwiching in a classic, Cocteau ’s Beauty and the Beast, on September 17-19. For further information on both series, call UTD 690-2281, and SMU 692-2979.