Monument to Pauline Johnson in Stanley Park. ‘ wo New overture to be presented ARTHUR POLSON, one of Van- couver’s most talented young musicians, has given New Fron- tiers permission‘to perform his new overture at the Pauline John- son Memorial concert to be pre- sented by the national cultural magazine in Ukrainian Hall here on Sunday, March 28, it was an- nounced this week. The over- _ture, as yet unnamed, has not been presented publicly before. Program for the concert, which is intended to honor the great Can adian Native Indian poet and _bring from obscurity her most progressive and least known works, was released to the press by the New Frontiers committee here this week: é Crane stamp considered THE POST OFFICE department © is considering the suggestion of the Vancouver Natural History Society that the whooping crane « be depicted on a new Canadian stamp as a means of enlisting public support in the campaign to save the rare bird, which nests _ in the Canadian North, from ex- ‘ tinction. Ottawa amounced that the pro- posed stamp might be issued as part of the 1955 or 1956 wild life series, pointing out that new stamp issues are prepared months in advance. v4 al EVERY SAT. 7.20 P.M. » LABOR-PROGRESSIVE POINT. of VIEW by NIGEL MORGAN SOLOIST AND CHOIR: to concert OVERTURE: Composed by Arthur Polson, using the modern idiom to link together a group of Pacific Coast Indian folk melo- dies depicting the everyday life of the Native Indians. DANCE: Native Indian dancers. READING: “Give Us Barrabas.” CHOIR: “Once to Every Man and Nation.” \ DRAMATIC SKETCH: A cabin scenei in which four readers participate in a dramatic pre- . sentation of the poems, “Wolv- erine,” “Beyond the Blue” and “Half Mast,” concluding with ithe song, “The Song My Paddle Sings.” INTERMISSION Vancouver,” set to music’ by ~Searle Friedman. READING: “Ballad of Yada.” DANCE: Native indian dancers. READING: “Cry of an Indian Wife.” : SOLOIST AND CHOIR: Riel. READING: “The Cattle Thief.” CHOIR: O Lovely Land. ~ GROUP: “Legend of Vancouver.” CHOIR AND. ORCHESTRA: “Hymn for the Nations.” ; The program is woven together by a narration giving the high- lights of Pauline Johnson’s life. | Invitations ‘to the concert are obtainable at the People’s Co- “ eperative Bookstore, 337 West Pender Street, here. ZENITH CAFE 105 E. Hastings Street “ Vancouver, B.C. UNION HOUSE — Louis S.H.BROWN. | PLUMBING & HEATING» 371 Johnson Road R.R.1 White Rock - Phone 5661 | ba) — (-) (6) — (5 —— REO CAFE 1224 Granville St. PA. 0559 . Roast Duck, Goose and Capon © “Toast to - : Our Specialty ; oo nes BOOKS -Weaknesses mar talent shown | innovel on Ukrainian Canadians | A NOVEL dealing with Ukrain. ian Canadians is an event of great interest and” importance indeed. So far there have been many studies, reminiscences and some short stories published on that theme. There is also a lengthy novel, Sons of the Soil by Ilya Kiriak in the Ukrainian language. Now Vera Lysenko has written a novel in English, Winnipeg-born Vera Lysenko is the author of Men in Sheepskin Coats, which gave as good a story of the background of the Ukrain- ians and their settlement and his- tory in Canada.as has yet BPP ed in print. There is no question about it, she has the gift and her first novel is often quite: moving and ~ should receive a wide audience. Yellow Boots (obtainable here at the People’s Cooperative Book- store, 337 West Pender Street, price $3.50) contains some fine description of Ukrainian folk customs, some tales and sayings, interwoven in the plot. . In fact the plot is devised just to give the opportunity to describe those things. On the other hand there are some serious shortcomings in the presentation of Ukrainian lore. While the settlement in rural Manitoba Vera Lysenko writes about is supposed to be Bukovin- ian, names, customs, etc., are a mish-mash from various sections of Ukraine and from Russia. She would have done better if she had made it a mixed com- munity (in the Ukrainian sense) and thus been able to present the diversity within the common set- - ting. There is a sense of unreality about the story and the commun- ity. The time is the decade fol- lowing 1929, but the conditions and ideas are reminiscent of 30 years previously, and there is not a hint of the depression which colored everybody’s lives in those years 1929-39. ~ The old superstitions are vivid- ly portrayed, even exaggerated but there is hardly a hint that there was anything else. RADIO THERE’S plenty of news in radio and TV: these days—some of it good, some bad. Start with the bad first, -because © there are things we can do some- thing about by protesting to that institution known as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. + Rawhide (Max Ferguson) is going. off the air on March 26, more than a month earlier than usual, That this program, one of the most popular on the CBC radio net, should be dropped so soon and with no guarantee that it will be back, is something that should raise a coast-to-coast howl. His 25-minute stint is one of the few breaths of fresh air that blow in Canadian radio. But there's only a week to induce the CBC or whoever’s meaponsiple to change their minds. A CBC release ‘says fs pro- gram makes great demands on l Ferguson who feels he should dis- continue it “at least temporarily.” came the GM axe. | | fc a OTA) Was there a Ukrainian com- munity anywhere in 1929, no mat- ter how backward, that did not know Shevchenko, Franko, Fed- ‘kovich (since we’re talking about Bukovinian Ukrainians), that. did not have anything to say about Rumanian occupation of Bukoy- ina or the question of Ukraine, that did not read papers, argue, have views on various topics, Can- adian and “old country”? Is there a single community where the remnants of supersti- VERA LYSENKO tion (and by 1929 they were only remnants) were not combatted from within, the community? ~ Vera Lysenko, does not show this. Possibly she wanted. to avoid “controversy,” but’the novel suffers as the result. | x * * WE CAN’T agree with her gen- eral approach. Apart from the . heroine, who is a strange charac- ter, the Ukrainians emerge as backward peasants, incredibly cruel (the heroine’s father is an- noyed because she does not die fast enough, for example), with no redeeming features except their folk lore, which is very fine — and the question arises, how could such heartless and soulless people create such noble songs, tales, sayings? ‘CBC goes looking for trouble | by taking — off air early | ‘We wonder how much help CBC has offered to lighten the de- mands? + The -CBC also ought to be told—as Gordon Sinclair of the Toronto Star and Herbert Whit- . taker of the Toronto Globe and Mail have already. said—that the Canadian public doesn’t like the idea of General Motors censoring off the air good Canadian plays by Canadian playwrights. Allen’s play, The Legend of the Baskets, was scheduled for GM’s ZV show. It had even been, ad- vertised. It had been so well received after its recent perform- ance on the CBC Stage series un- der Andrew Allen that it was quickly taken up for TV. Then No basket for GM. Too anti or too pro some- thing for the U.S.:Morgan outfit. At any rate it was dropped with- out explanation, The. question is, who’s Funing CBC TV—the > cor- whole character and growth of meds . ‘It’s scheduled for CBC Wednes ‘day Night March 24 (radio). Thi§ _ Friday, March 19 (Dominion Net _ing of 17th century Massachusetts _a Salesman was done pn ths, p “PACIFIC TRIBUNE — MARCH. 19, 1954 — PA The non-Ukrainians on, the 4 other hand, are all very humane — and civilized. It is they who sav the heroine. She escapes from | her own people and goes to Win: 7 nipeg and there among non- rainians finds the help that makes her a great singer. ‘ Now it is trite to feneae that “there are good, and bad among | all people.” But certainly the | road by which Ukrainian cult i heritage is brought to the Cana | dian people is not by runaways: | but by the Ukrainian Canadial — cultural institutions. ‘ Even a Tony the Troubado started out by studying and peh forming in “the hall.” Even those who afterwards leave their people received their training in the rainian organizations of oné brand or another. : ‘There is no other way for the realization of the task which Ver Lysenko set herself: to show how national groups in Canada’ must bring their specific contributio® to Canadian culture. The fact is that, notwithstand ing remnants of superstition aD! backwardness (and Ukrainiat® have no monopoly on that), the Ukrainian people in Canada hav® in many ways been among the advanced sections of the Cana dian people and have receive? | recognition for that from theit neighbors. Having torn her heroine from her own community, in whid) there is no progressive force we are to believe the author, thé the heroine becomes unreal. Het friends see some kind of mystic 4 power in her most commonplac® — words, she sings without the 2& cessity of music lessons, sb@ | grows from within herself alon® | But having said that, we must | congratulate Vera Lysenko on work she put into her first novel. _ If it is not yet the great Ukrainia? | Canadian novel, it is the first 02° _ And of course, Ukrainian Cal adians and Canadians gener will want to’ read it and have —JOHN. WEIR. poration or General Motors? From | what we understand, the. contract says CBC ‘has the final say 1 what goes on the air. x * 1 IT’S MUCH more pleasant #9 | write about some of the tol : things coming up. Such as, {Org instance: |. + Mavor Moore’s new operett@ | based on Stephen Leacock’s Ca” adian classic Sunshine Sketches ought to be a real highlight. + Ford Theatre, directed bY Alan Savage, will do Arthur ler’s famous play The Crucible 0? work at 6 p.m. PST. This is fay play | that utilizes the witchhust ; to point up the menace of wite hunting today. Miller’s Death ° gram last | month.