Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 81

(Chicago (Tribune Friday, December 15, 1978 Section 6 Variety For an old- Cbnstmas, museums fashioned turn back the clock By Natalie Levy "CHRISTMAS" and "old-fashioned" go together. Everyone cherishes fond recollections of the Yuletide excitement of childhood. Historical societies and ethnic museums are natural and accomplished custodians of such nostalgia, and many of the genre in Chicago, the suburbs, and the hinterlands welcome visitors to gala holiday celebrations featuring Christmases Victorian, Edwardian, ante-bellum, pioneer, and European. Most of these repositories lovingly and respectfully preserve their community's roots, often in a gracious private dwelling donated by a civic-minded resident where volunteers gather, catalog, store, and arrange various treasures and traditions. They deck the stately halls with boughs of holly and evergreens, trim fresh, fragrant trees with antique and handmade ornaments whimsical, elegant, and often edible surround the brimming wassail bowls with plates of holiday cookies, conduct candlelit housewalks, serve high teas, and from their collections display such appropriate memorabilia as toys, games, dolls, and greeting cards.

There are carols around old-time pump organs, antique and handmade gifts for sale, and demonstrations of crafts of another era all to the greater glory of almost everyone's favorite holiday. Along with savoring Yuletide cheer, visitors can also get acquainted with their neighborhood's roots; marvel at mastodon bones found near Aurora; see the bed Lincoln slept in on a visit to Waukegan in 1860 (during which he helped put out a warehouse fire); learn that Arlington Heights was first called Dunton after an Oswego, N.Y., stone cutter who settled there; or that certain nude sculpture molds in Kankakee once caused a national scandal. So while plastic-ornamented streets and mechandise-stocked windows herald the reality of Christmas present, Illinois museums invite you to relive memories of Christ-'mases past. (Many museum phones are- manned only during museum operating hours, which are limited in most cases to a few days a week, so check the schedule before dialing.) THE CHICAGO Historical Society's old-fashioned Christmas matches the 1977 theme of "A Boy's Christmas" with this year's "A Girl's Christmas." Toy trains have given way to a parade of some 20 antique dolls from Kewpies and porcelains to Shirley Temple. There is also a dollhouse lavishly furnished In Victorian detail and decorated for Christmas from the tree in the parlor to wreaths on the windows to reindeer on the roof.

Each miniature doorway has its own tiny fretwork cornice. Interior walls are stenciled to resemble the fashionable wallpaper of the era. There are also exhibits of children's holiday finery from earlier eras, full of velvet and lace, and a display of antique Christmas cards. The holiday panoply is on view from Sunday to Dec. 31.

The society is at North Avenue and Clark Street. Regular admission prices and hours prevail: $1 for adults; SO cents for children, 6 to 16; 25 cents for senior citizens. (Monday is free day.) Hours are 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Saturday; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. Phone 642-6400.

Glessner House, built in 1887, has been a restored city landmark since 1960. The 35-room mansion houses the School of Architecture Foundation that brings to life at this time of year the Glessner family's own Victorian Christmas celebration. The mansion is decorated according to a description in its former owner's journal and from 1888 photographs. There are glass bead garlands and glass ornaments, strings of popcorn and cranberries on a large tree in the main entry hall. It is topped, as in Glessner's day, by a rooster, signifying resurrection.

The Christmas boutique is open through Dec. 24 for giftseekers. The hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday; 10 a.m.

to 4 p.m., Saturday; and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Boutique shoppers who want to take in the Glessner House tour should schedule their visits between 10 a.m and 4 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday or between 11 a.m.

and 5 p.m. Sunday. Tours are $2 for adults; $1 for seniors and students. The CTA Culture Bus includes Gless and secular activity in the Pennsylvania German tradition, and a replica of downtown Lombard, circa 1880, in holiday decor of the era. A variety of historically oriented gift items are on sale in the museum's Emporium, including reprints of Victorian wrapping paper, paper dolls, and children's books, among them a recipe book for wee cooks.

The sewing bee ladies have fashioned a variety of handcrafts pocket dolls, rag dolls, patchwork and needlepoint pillows, needle cases, pin cushions, and bun and tea cozies. Many of them are made from authentic early patterns and some even have fabric and trim gleaned from great-grandma's sewing basket. There are also eight silk screen-on-glass prints of historic Lombard buildings, notepaper, homemade lye soap, and postcards. The museum is at 23 W. Maple' Lombard.

Regular museum hours are 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Admission is 50 cents for adults; 25 cents for children. Student tours by reservation cost 10 cents a person. Call 629-0402 or 629-1885.

"MANY PEOPLE take Christmas for granted," says Frances Wolf of the FarsonMills House, Oak Park-River Forest's repository of things historical. "We have a perfect diamond of a museum, and at Christmas we offer appropriate exhibits in our Great Hall." The museum's regular "favorite son" exhibits (Burroughs, Wright, Hemingway) are rotated and restoration clinics are held regularly for people wishing to refurbish older homes authentically. The museum, at Pleasant and Home avenues, Oak Park, is open from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday' Continued on page 4, Children's Day with a "Preparing for Christmas" demonstration. Depending on ground conditions, there will be either a horse-drawn hay or sleigh ride.

At 2:30 p.m. Sunday, the Du Page College Chamber Singers carol, adding luster to the open house. The museum, on Aurora and Webster avenues next to the high school in NaperviUe, is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesday and Sunday. Admission is free, but donations are welcome.

Phone 355-0274. "We're a little different," says Sena Krieg of the Lombard Historical Society. "Our building is a typical 1870s mjddle-class residence, rather than an imposing mansion, and our Christmas decor reflects that lifestyle." Garlands and wreaths of live greens greet visitors through the efforts of the Lilacia Garden Club. The tree is deporated with gingerbread men, cornhusk dolls, popcorn, and Victorian ornaments and candle holders. The gingerbread men are the handiwork of the society's junior historians.

UPSTAIRS ARE displays of Victorian toys, a charming Christmas tree yard, an elaborate landscape of biblical ner House at 1800 S. Prairie Av. on its itinerary. Glessner House's festive season finale occurs Jan. 7, with the annual Twelfth Night Party, which welcomes new members.

Phone 326-1393. Community participation in events visual and musical keynote the Christmas calendar at the Naper Settlement, the Historical Society and Museum complex in NaperviUe. ON WEDNESDAY, a high school history class started the festivities by decorating the Caroline Martin-Mitchell home with fresh greens and an old-time tree and refreshments to make it a party. Thus prepared, the mansion is holding open house from.1 to 4 p.m., Friday and Saturday and from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday.

The tinkle of the Mitchell museum's music box collection mingles with welcome smells of samples from Granny's kitchen. Saturday is Movies Too many cooks spoil the froth: Sloppy 'Superman is a fun but fumbling film i' 11. -1 'A By Gene Siskel Movie critic TRIBUNE MINI-REVIEW: SLOPPY, YET FUN, with most of the magic Love conquers all fault being supplied by a love story rather than by special effects that's the bottom line on the "SUPERMAN" new $40 million "Superman." The film's Dlractad by Richard Donnar; tcraenplay by Mario Puk, David much-talked-about flying sequences are nei- ther as embarrassing as the gOSSipmOngerS production daalgn by John Barry; mutta by John Williams; produced by Plarra Spang lar; a Wamar Bros. rataeaa at tha Eaqulra would have us believe, nor are they as exciting outtying tiwaiaraVRaiao pq. as we had hoped.

The film is a delightful the cast mess. Good performances sioppy editing. Cheap nonflying Special effects. Funny dialog. Suparman Clark Kant ChrlatopherRaava in sum, "superman" is the kind of picture critics tear apart, but still say, "You ought to "ant Girm Ford see it." I had a similar reacUon to "Grease." If there is a culprit for the uneven quality of "Superman, it that the picture lacks a vond-An Maria schaii unified direction.

There were five screenwri- ters and two producers on the project, all t-a suaannanyor battling with the director to finish the film for. Christmas release. As recently as two weeks' ago optical effects were still being worked on in London. Unlike most movies, "Superman" written and directed by George is being released without the benefit of pre- Lucas, but using the same principal actors, view screenings and re-editing. After last Sun- They're terrific.

day's Washington, D.C., premiere, the film's At the center of the picture stands the Man first public screening, director Dick Donner of Steel, played by Christopher Reeve, an confessed he was under extreme pressure to accomplished off-Broadway actor who has complete the picture on time and that there worked in soap operas. Reeve is totally believ-- were things he would still like to change. able as Superman no small achievement in THE BEST MOVIES these days are written these cynical times and he's even more and directed by one person. Singularity of charming as the gawky Clark Kent. His Kent vision is what "Superman" lacks.

At times it's disguise of glasses, hat, higher-pitched voice, a fantasy; other times it tries to be real, and round shoulders could reasonably fool Frankly, I'd rather have seen a "Superman" even a 1978 Lois Lane. Christopher Reeve takes to the skies (above) as Superman, but his never-ending battle tor truth, justice and the American way has less impact in the film than his relationship with Lois Lane (Margot Kidder, left, with Reeve as Clark Kent). Pi' i 1 imiiuu tnumumwmmmmmmmmmM icicle-filled world of Krypton. Marlon Brando, playing Superman's father, banishes three criminals who will return to haunt Superman in the already filmed "Superman, Part II." Brando then tenderly says goodbye to his son, who is being sent by rocket ship to Earth before Krypton is destroyed. It has been widely reported that Brando received $3.7 million for this brief role.

He's worth it. His "name value" will help sell tickets, and who else could walk around in an all-white ski outfit, say goodbye to a baby, and make it sound as if he were reading Shakespeare? THE OPENING two reels of "Superman" are tedious. We want to see the guy in the cape, but he doesn't make his appearance Continued on following page The story follows Superman from his infancy on the planet of Krypton, to his adolescence on a Kansas farm, to his dual adult role as Superman and Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for the Metropolis Daily Planet, a full-size newspaper. After we sit through five minutes of "Star credits, the film opens on the.