Calgary Herald from Calgary, Alberta, Canada • 30

30 THE CALGARY HERALD Aug. 24, 1967 Opens 10-Day Run Owl, Pussycat Deft Comic Fare tapped in Mr. Dyba's production. Two character plays are attractive to producers because they cost less to stage. They can also be hazardous.

Sometimes the humor of Mr. Manhoff's script flags. Sometimes, his creative gift becomes labored and his situations over-extended, giving the impression of padding the play in order to make it the accepted running length. It is a testament to the skill of the cast and director of this production that they have been so successful in overcoming what would appear to be built in deficiencies and in keeping the kettle bubbling merrily. Wednesday night, the third act showed some sign of un-der-rehearsal.

There was a lack of rhythmic impetus, and the concluding scene so very, very important because it shows the willingness of the two characters to strip bare their pretensions about themselves lacked adequate build-up to the final curtain line. It should be possible to remedy this shortcoming. As the girl Miss Uren was flamboyant, infuriating, and lovable. She gave the right touch of vulgarity to the role, and tempered it with a pinch of naivety. Miss Uren, however, failed where Broadway actresses playing the part have failed: she didn't quite succeed in overcoming the essentially tiresome quality of the written character.

As the owlish young writer, Mr. Haley had somewhat more to work with, and he took full advantage of his opportunity. His performance was a splendid comic portrait of youthful, arrogant By JAMIE PORTMAN Htrald Staff Writer Take a stuffy, bespectacled would-be writer. Throw him into a situation with a raucous uninhibited damsel of dubious repute. What do you get? You get a deft little comedy called The Owl And The Pussycat, that's what.

Bill Manhoff's Broadway success opened a 10-day run before an audience of 150 in the MAC 14 Theatre Wednesday, and it emerged as agreeable comic fare for a summer's evening. Wednesday's performance had several things going for it. The play itself is cleverly conceived, frequently witty, and abounds in comic conflict. Ken Dyba's direction, for the most part, showed its customary inventiveness. And the cast featured two accomplished performers Robert Haley as the owl and Joyce Uren as the pussycat.

The set, depicting Mr. Haley's bachelor pad, excellent. The music was chirpy and ebullient, most appropriate to the mood of the play. Writer Manhoff's basic situation is simple but effective. The aspiring writer finds himself the unwilling host to his neighbor, a girl who has been turned out of her suite by the landlord after being informed bjr the writer of her nocturnal activities.

From this point onward, the pair engage in an often ferociously funny sparring match, both verbal and physical. On the surface, this is a comedy about sex. On a deeper level, it is about personal relationships and self discovery. Both levels are Italian President To Visit Expo em ROME Reuters )-President Giuseppe Saragat of Italy, a staunch anti-Fascist who became a leading exponent of Italian democratic socialism, is to visit Canada in September. The 68-year-old Saragat, a round-faced, bespectacled man with receding grey hair, plans to arrive in Ottawa Sept.

11 and to attend Italy's national day festivities at Expo 67 in Montreal Sept. 13. Saragat became the fifth president of the post-war Italian republic in 1964. Born Sept. 19, 1898, in Turin, he took a degree in economics and commerce at Turin University and joined the Italian Socialist party shortly before Benito Mussolini became Fascist dictator in 1922.

In 1926 he became a refugee from the Fascist regime, settling first in Austria, then in France. He returned to Italy in 1943 but was imprisoned by the German Gestapo. He escaped and joined the pro-Allied Italian government in south Italy in 1944 as minister without portfolio. In 1945 he returned to France, this time as Italian ambassador in Paris, and the following year headed the Italian constituent assembly which drafted the republican constitution. FORMED NEW PARTY When the Socialist party split in 1947, Saragat headed the moderate wing which disagreed with the party's alliance at the time with the Communists.

The outcome of the split was Funeral Friday For 67-Year Alberta Resident Funeral service will be held Friday for Edgar Paul Holmes, 86, of 639 13 Ave. S.E., a resident of Alberta for 67 years, who died Tuesday. Mr. Holmes came west from Ontario in 1R9I to homestead at Grenfell, Sask. for several years before coming to Alberta in 1900.

He taught school in the Red Deer Lake and Pincber Creek districts. In 1917 he joined the International Harvester Co. and retired as credit manager in 1947. He was a member of the Pentecostal Tabernacle and was active in the early organization of the church, a life member of Canadian Photo Color Club, and a president of the Line Trail Hikers. Mr.

Holmes Is survived by his wife, Lily: five sons. Arthur. Bertram. Norman, Stanley, all of and Cecil. Toronto: 14 grandchildren: two greatgrandchildren: three brothers.

Maxwell, Calgary. Harry. White Rock, BC. and Otto, of Edmonton. Service will be conducted by Rev.

K. Bombay at 130 pm at the Utile Chapel on the Conn. 240 17th Ave S.W. Burial if in Queen's Park the formation in 1951 of the Social Democratic party led by Saragat. He served in several Italian governments and in December, 1963, joined Prime Minister Aldo Moro's centre-left admin istration as foreign minister, role which he used to emphasize Italy's adherence to the Atlantic alliance.

Funeral Held For Former Alberta MLA Funeral service was held Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. for William Wallace Wilson, 90, a onetime MLA for Coronation district who died Sunday. Mr. Wilson was born in Fergus, Ont. In 1895 he came to Maple Creek, and the Cypress Hills area where h3 ranched until 1910.

He then moved to the Coronation and Veteran districts where he farmed. In 1917 he was elected to the Alberta Legislature and served for four years. Mr, Wilson moved to Nova Scotia in 1931 where he was instrumental in promoting Shorthorn cattle in the Mari-times prior to his retirement to Calgary in 1957. He was a member of Coronation Lodge A.F. and A.M.

Surviving are his wife, Jane, of Mayfair Home; two sons, William W. and James of Calgary: two djughters, Mrs. A. K. (Katherinsi Robertson.

Kipling, and Mrs. G. F. (Jean) Soderberg, Calgary; and four grandchildren. Funeral service was conducted by Rev.

R. C. Garvin at The Hills ie Chapel 17th Ave. S.W. Cremation followed.

Cy Foster Gooder was in charge of funeral arangements. Flowers were gratefully declined. Rites Friday For Magrath Rail Man Funeral service will be held Friday for Robert Hume Fox. 78. of Magrath.

a retired Canadian Pacific Railway station agent, who died Tuesday. Born in Lucan, Mr. Fox came west in 1909 and was employed with the CP as station agent, having been stationed at various points in Saskatchewan and Alberta, and retired at Okotoks in 1954 after 45 years service. He is survived by three sons. Leonard, Nanaimo.

B.C.. Donald. Kamloops. B.C.. Douglas.

Calgary; two daughters, Mrs. Douglas (Marion i Bourne. Magrath, Mrs. Bruce Helen i Cogh-lin. Gueiph.

Ont 14 grand children: nine great-grandchil- dren. Service will be conducted by I Rev Robert Shannon at 1 pm. at the Chapel of Remembrance 13th Ave and 2nd St. S.W. i Bunal is in Mountain View I Gardens.

(VISIT THE BONNE BELLE MAKE-UP DEMONSTRATION FEATURING THE LATE5T C05MtTIC5 FOR WOODWARD'S FASHIONETTES WILL DEMONSTRATE THE YOUNutR afeT, 1.