University of Virginia Library

September Issue Of Rapier Praised
For Its High Degree Of Quality

By Tom Adams

You've undoubtedly heard of
the "first truly monthly magazine
ever to be published at the
University." It has been called
"slick and sophisticated by The
Virginia Weekly.. It is slated for
national distribution.

Posters around the Grounds ask
if the September issue, on sale
today, "is too lewd." Well, hardly.
Hardly lewd, that is but the
September issue of Rapier is all of
those other things and even more.

This month's Rapier is
deliberately high brow a la New
Yorker, somewhat contrasting to
the often bucolic and provincial
atmosphere of Charlottesville. That
isn't the only shock that awaits the
reader of Rapier. The University
community is not used to student
publications that have more than
one or two writers of talent.

Tears For Dexter

The heart of the magazine is the
Spectator, a collection of
anecdotes, and goings on about
town. The death of Dexter, the last
horse of the U.S. Navy is the sort of
story you just don't find in the
journals. It took Rapier to let the
public in on the complete story.

The flea story, and especially
the paragraphs on Stalin's ZIS car,
which was on display at the
Barracks Road Shopping Center,
were highly amusing.

The masthead of Rapier is a
puzzle. The last issue of Rapier, if
my memory serves me correct, had
Robert Rosen as publisher. He's
now Chairman. I wonder if that's a
promotion or a demotion?

Kevin Mannix is listed as the
photography editor for Rapier.
Inasmuch as there are no pictures in
the magazine, I wonder what he
does. Maybe they keep him around
to photograph the annual dogfood
festival.

Dan Shipp, former managing
editor of The Cavalier Daily, is no
longer with us. He has received his
degree and gone out into the world
to make a name for himself. He
lives on, however in two stories in
this month's Rapier.

A Matter Of Taste

His "Drinking in
Charlottesville" is by far the most
complete listing of ABC liquor
licenses in the area in print. Mr.
Shipp passes no value judgments on
the various establishments he
describes. "There are drinking
places in town that an objective
observer would rate very high," he
states, "but we all agreed that none
of us would drink there if the beer
were free It's simply a matter of
taste, and finding a bar which fits
one's personality."

Mr. is one who would
know Charlottesville's taverns
(perhaps that is why he took a little
longer than the standard four years
to get his degree). He is a man of
many talents, as the Rapier Cover
he did, will attest.

Mr. Shipp's second article is a
review of the Charlottesville Dinner
Theatre. Perhaps he is too harsh in
saying that the dinner theatre is
"custom-made for the group of
forty from Louisa County, coming
to town in their chartered bus to
see a Broadway play." I mean, that
certainly is an accurate description
of Charlottesville. If this town
appears to be provincial, southern
and small, it is simply because the
vast majority of its occupants are
provincial, southern, and
small-minded.

His plan to make the dinner
theatre a dining spot and a theatre
is a good one. He also thinks a
cocktail lounge should be installed
"for those who prefer to dine after
the show." Shades of "Drinking in
Charlottesville" perhaps?

He is correct though in his view
that it is hard to enjoy the theatre
with a toothpick in your mouth
and dirty dishes on the table.

They say that as an
undergraduate proceeds from his
second to third to fourth year, he
becomes more and more dovish.
This seems the case of fourth-year
man John Marshall who, we assume
signed up for ROTC in his first-year
and has lived to see the results of
this action, in the form of Army
summer camp.

His "Six Weeks' War" follows
Mr. Marshall as he blindly and
somewhat innocently stumbles
through the lines, drills, and
lectures of summer camp.

Close To Home

Written in the primer style of a
naive innocent, the effect of his
diary is highly amusing and hits
close to home.

John McVeigh has written two
short articles for this month's
Rapier. The best I can say about his
first article, "The Vicious Rabbit,"
which we are told is "A Fable," is
that it certainly is original.

He achieved considerably more
success with "Politics: The Game."
It was especially gratifying to read
about Mr. McVeigh's game in light
of the vast amount of games people
are writing about these days in
attempts to be humorous. Mr.
McVeigh gives a vague description
of a simple game which has
meaning at many different levels.

Victor Bernstein's review of
three movies, "The Charge of the
Light Brigade, "The Long Day's
Dying," and "Villa Rides" are
something better than the usual
reviews in college publications. In
speaking of Vanessa Redgrave's
acting in "Charge," he states that
she "does not have a very large role
but what she has she handles well."
Hmmm.

The only trouble with the
review is that Mr. Bernstein saw the
films as soon as they came out (he
saw one of them before it came
out) and it will probably be
something like two or three years
before they reach Charlottesville.

Paul Larsen's music review,
"Beatles Revisited," suffers because
the reader gets a feeling of deja vu
in reading it, largely because, I
suppose, Life magazine's
publication of their "official"
biography. But beyond the
biographical information, the
criticism is original except for the
fact that Mr. Larsen falls into the
now standard trap that awaits all
who attempt to interpret the lyrics
of the Beatles' songs.

He chides other critics, not for
finding meaning in the Beatles'
songs where there is none, but for
finding it in the wrong songs. He
has discovered the songs that are
really meaningful.

Nonetheless, Mr. Larsen has
done some original thought and,
agree with him or not, his view is
different.

Register's Boggle

"Col. Eugene Boggle," by Titus
Register (nom de plume) is a
carefully written piece of satire
written by one of the University's
more distinguished graduates. For
that reason, I am told, he must
remain anonymous.

David Greer's "The Veal
Perplexity" is an essay on one of
those small details of life that one
doesn't normally think about, but
it is one detail that will invariably
arise at any gathering of people.

Everyone, according to Mr.
Greer, possesses at least one glaring
misconception. Whether it is that
you think veal is an animal or that
"lb," is pronounced "lab," that
misconception is just waiting in
your mind for the moment when
you will be most embarrassed by
divulging it. After reading his essay,
you will keep your mouth shut for
at least fifteen minutes, pondering
what your misconception could be.

Vaughn's Best

Teddy Vaughn's review of John
Kenneth Galbraith's book "The
Triumph" is the best article by Mr.
Vaughn that I have ever read.
Usually, when a current novel is
reviewed by a student publication,
the review comes off second best to
those in the national publications.
This is not the case here, probably
because the review was
supplemented by an interview with
the Harvard economist.

Although Mr. Vaughn
eventually pans Mr. Galbraith's
novel, he lauds the author for his
views on government and takes the
best examples of these from "The
Triumph."

Mr. Greer, the editor of Rapier,
and his staff have, overall, created a
publication that is certainly better
than this University deserves.
Perhaps Rapier will influence the
dormant UVM enough to improve
the sad standard that for so long
that magazine has been happy to
wallow in.

Wednesday night, a meeting was
held for all those who were
interested in working for Rapier.
The meeting room was packed to
over-flowing with interested
first-year men. Though no true
index of success, the meeting
indicates somewhat a healthy
response to Rapier by a segment of
the University community.

It would be hard to continue
throughout the year with the same
degree of quality Rapier has shown
so far. But Rapier, with no paucity
of talent on its staff, just could do
it.