Saint Ursula Academy - Scroll Yearbook (Toledo, OH)

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Cook Collection Art Review By Patricia Stalder 3 The Building of ,lalna By Mazo de la Roche Book Review By Vera Morrison The Toledo Museum of Art has on exhibit sixteen of the five hundred paintings from the invaluable Cook Collection of Richmond, Surrey, England, which has been sent to the United States to insure its safety. The Collection was begun more than seventy-five years ago by Sir Francis Cook, a prominent London merchant. Cook's standard of judgment has always been that of quality, not that of fashion or the cur- rent estimate of money value. Because of this he has made few mistakes and even has had many pleasant surprises. All the schools of art are represented completely, and each work is not only a masterpiece of the artist but also of his particular school. Filippo I.ippi's The Adoration of the Magi is considered the gem of the collection. Two other outstanding works are Diego Velasquez's The Omelet Maker and Albrecht Diirer's The Procession to Calvary . Other Master artists whose works are displayed are Rem- brandt, Rubens, Van Dyke, Clouet, and Raphael. These paintings have never before been exhibited in the 'United States, and the Toledo Museum is indeed privileged in having them. In 1927 an unknown Canadian writer, Mazo de la Roche, won the At1antic's 310,000 Prize with her novel, jalzm. Since, it has been translated into a dozen different languages. With The Building ny' jalzza. Miss de la Roche has now written nine books about the Whiteoak family, books with the warmth and tenacity of Trollope which have established her as Canada's leading novelist. Gertrude Atherton says of her, I wish she would write a jalna book a year for the rest of her life. In her new novel Miss de la Roche goes back to the year 1850. She shows us Adeline, the tem- pestuous, impulsive, Irish beauty, whose husband, Captain Phillip Whiteoak, gives up his commission in the Hussars in India to go to the new country, Canada. The uncut, romantic country of Canada is given a chance to shine forth on its own. The little jeal- ousies, the humor, and the fierce attachments that come the way of the Whiteoak family lend brilliance to the story. THE SCROLL

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f it , aww' tt l.l. 1-1 l.- -1 . ,, ,.,,-1-. H gf, I- ll, r i -45f4'Zf2 'Zf,Q'?ii'fil 1.5 L -- 'xwzpir .fm L:-fig '. '3F'1-ii. '-'f, :Li ' i Hg , --5.1 .' ' -lg, 0 5.55 gi, W ,pw Q Q5-,ii .JP .H g VI., V tg, '.' f W ff? .'s.,igr f -M 1. 1 f' 7. ' , ' '32 ith w. if .vga ff : . l T . , -,J ,g ...g li, 1 M rilFx-h x -I 4 .,..' .ig An improvement on the novel, the long-awaited 20th Century Fox picturization of the Cronin narra- tive played to Toledo audiences for several weeks during the late winter months. Employing the flashback device, the film opens where the Bishop's emissary, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, is breaking the unhappy news that his Lordship wishes Father Chisholm's retirement. It is while the dignitary is preparing to retire for the night that he chances upon the old priest's journal-and the play is on. As the Monsignor reads, one again meets the Father Francis Chisholm of novel fame-first as a small boy, later as a youth who thinks himself half in love with God and half in love with his cousin, Nora, then as the ordained of God, who after num- erous failures as a curate, is sent to China to estab- lish a mission. It is in China where most of the action takes place. There the priest struggles against famine, plague, rebellion, civil strife, and the misunder- standings of his co-workers. Finally, however, his virtue wears well and his spirituality is recognized for what it isg he is accounted a success and a saint. He returns to his native Scotland and becomes pastor of the parish from which he is about to be removed. In the end one has the feeling that the Monsignor will have something to do with changing the Bishop's mind. Gregory Peck, as the ascetic, perhaps overtolerant Father Chisholm, is excellently cast, Rose Stradner, in the role of the arrogant Reverend Mother Maria Veronica, fills her part most adequately, Angus Mealey, classmate of Father Chisholm, and ironically enough, the Bishop of the ejection plot, is played bombastically by Vincent Price. The Chinese char- acterizations are aptly interpretedg as is that of the happy-go-lucky pseudo-atheist by Thomas Mitchell. As the novel has been the target for much con- troversy, so also with the film. But the criticism here is of a much lower temperature, as many incidents offensive in the novel are either handled more deli- cately or entirely deleted. The Legion of Decency rates it an A picture. The Keys to the Kingdom Movie Review By Carol Diethelm gy. THE SCROLL

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Communism as a philosophy or a political power is not a threat to the United States, but Communism as a foreign policy is. Thus declared the Reverend Wilfrid Parsons, SJ., professor of Political Science at the Catholic University of America, in his talk entitled, Is Communism a Present Threat to the United States? Father Parsons, who opened the Catholic Forum series of 1945, continued by saying that Communism is just another ism , a philosophy or a plan for man and society. He referred to the founder of Communism, Karl Marx, and said that Communism is often called Marxism, that the chief danger lies in Communism as a foreign policy to further Soviet Russia's expansionist aspirations, lt is a menace in that it has the ability to break down the patriotic allegiance of men and women in other countries to support and gain adherents for the Soviet cause. Father Parsons said he believed that Communism has not penetrated the brains of the people of the United States very much, because it is too alien to our traditions. He concluded his speech with the thought that Communism would probably never wholly affect Catholicism. Distinctly and characteristically of the Cronin genre, The Green Years has been acclaimed among the popular bests of the last few months. It recounts in the author's effortless, fascinating style the early life of Robert Shannon, a Catholic Irish-Scotch lad who is forced, because of the tragic deaths of both his parents, to make his home with his Protestant maternal grandparents. Although he is treated kindly by the immediate family, any manifestation of Catholicism on his part is met by ridicule or petty acts of violence by the townspeople-all reminiscent of the Chisholm epi- sode in the first pages of the The Keyr lo the King- dom. His faith is severely tried and becomes thread- bare in more than one instance-at one crucial point he even repudiates it-but in the end he comes back to God, a prodigal who is made heir to a meagre fortune left him by his great-grandfather. ln the character of the aforementioned patriarch Dr. Cronin has achieved a master creation of rascal- ity, but withal a great heart and a sympathetic under- standing of the plight of the not-too-epical hero. It is a book which affords an emotional exper- ience not soon forgotten. Is Communism a Present Threat to the United States? By Reverend Wilfrid Parsons, SJ. Lecture Review By Vera Morrison -tl.,- The Green Years By A. DI. Cronin Book Review By Patricia Bechtel THE SCROLL