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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 13, 1981)
IM. ■s -£ * a "S • ! a . High fashion leads to hospital th S United Press International urgical scrub suits show up on people in parks, on bikes, meandering in supermart aisles, at the movies, on the beach, be hind the wheel of pickups, puf fing along the jogging trail — almost anywhere. Oh, yes. They also show up on doctors, nurses and other types assigned to operating room duty in the nation's 6,000 hospitals. The original purpose of a surgical scrub suit. While they're showing up at all these non-hospital places, sometimes a surgeon searches in vain for one inside a hospital, claims a report in "Hospitals," journal of the American Hospit al Association. The fact that scrub suits are showing up as a "hot" fashion item all too often pains hospitals in the cashbox, too, says the re port. The situation is expected to worsen. The report says fashion trendsetters even predict the scrub suit may replace the west ern look. That may be so. But to say the scrub suits are a "hot" fashion item means more than they are popular — in too many cases, it means they're stolen. Authorities say stolen scrub suits are costing individual hos pitals thousands of dollars a year. The pilferage has led to some elaborate procedures to end the drain — including machine-dispensing of the out fits. One such machine is acti vated by an authorized person's plastic card. The machine was imported after several years of success in hospitals in Europe. It is called Autovalet. "Much like the now popular automated bank tellers, the Autovalet works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, dispensing scrub uniforms to staff members and recording frequency of use," the "Hospitals" report said. "Once the uniform is re turned to the Autovalet's soiled- linen chute, laundered, and re placed on its hanger, the em ployee is credited for the re turned garment." The popularity of scrub suits also has led a hospital supplier to turn out scrub suits for retail fashion outlets. Superior Surgical Manufac turing Company, the firm mak ing the suits for retail outlets, claims comfort is the main reason people hanker after oper ating room togs. Superior's Spencer Cohen, a vice presi dent, says it's a lot of hogwash to c; fash I "the that garr that gooi R circt swe; dyec retai feeT Empire Continued from page 1 relation Luke has to Vader as his son? If Vader really is Luke's father why didn't Ben Kenobi tell him? What is to be gained? When Ben is telling Luke about his father and Vader he talks as if they are definitely two different people. If this is true, then Ben's be havior is understandable. But if Vader really is Luke's father, why didn't Ben tell Luke? Of course he wouldn't have told What is Darth Vader's real identity? (or who is that behind those Foster Grant's?) Luke too early on, to save him from the shock, but how about later on the planet in the Dago- bah system? Surely Ben could see enough into the future to know that Vader might reveal this fact to Luke during battle and use it during a weak moment on Luke's part to seduce him over to the dark side of the force. Ben would have wanted to prepare Luke for the shock of this news should it be used, wouldn't he? Wouldn't he have told Luke ab out his father while Luke was trying to decide whether to in- terupt his jedi training in order to go and save his friends? Knowing Vader was his father might convince Luke that he must be a completely trained jedi knight in order to face him. Luke mentions while on Yoda's planet that it seems familiar, like in a dream, like he's been there before. Has he? Maybe Luke is also a clone of his father, growing up from a child, which would explain why he feels he has been on the planet before, training with Yoda, and why the face inside Vader's mask looks like him. Another big question that needs answering is who is "the other" hope Yoda mentions? Is this hope someone who will de feat the Empire or is it someone with another long-term mission in mind? The Emperor has forseen that it will be Luke that defeats him but then what is the mission of "the other?" One popular belief is that "the other" is Princess Leia. After aU, she did hear Luke's mental plea for help as he hung on the underside of the cloud city. Maybe she has the force and will develop into the Rebellion's savior. Probably not. Not from this assumption alone, anyway. She may have heard Luke when he called, but there really wasn't anyone else available. Han Solo was already carbon frozen and you couldn't really expect the wookie or Lando Calrissian to hear him. Leia probably hears him because of the close mental tie that friendship brings, not because she is the last hope of the Force. But maybe. George Lucas has said in in terviews in Rolling Stone and Starlog that the audience has to remember that it only knows two parts of a nine part series (three trilogies). One trilogy takes place before episode four ("Star Wars"). Another trilogy takes place after episode six ("Revenge of the Jedi"). The "other" may be someone we have no knowledge of yet, who either makes his appear ance in the first trilogy, or does not show up until the last one. That may explain why Yoda, with his 800-year lifespan, is privy to information that Ben Kenobi isn't, so it may not be possible to guess accurately at this time. Wouldn't that be a wonderful question to end "Re venge of the Jedi" on? Lucas has also said that the "other" will be someone fairly obvious to the audience, that once they find out will say to themselves "Oh, it's him, we should have guessed that." This doesn't help matters any. If Princess Leia turns out to be the "other", the Rebellion's sal vation, think for a moment of the repercussions. George Lucas is almost single-handedly responsible for the resurgence of science fiction and fantasy in the motion picture business. The video game market is actually an offshoot of this boom and the games are for the most part a direct reflection of Star Wars. Lucas's impact is tremendous and the way we think of space, video games and the box office these days is due a lot to him. Remembering all of this, what happens if he makes the big hero of his epic a woman, Prin cess Leia? What if she is really to become a Jedi knight and the ultimate savior of the universe? How will that affect how we think of women? Of ERA? Will children growing up now use Leia as a role model and think it possible that anyone can be a hero, regardless of their sex? If you'll pardon the pun, Star Wars could be a real force for equality. Still, the "other" could still wind up being the wookie, Lando Calrissian, Jaba the Hut or Darth Vader himself, so none of this may help. Do you get the idea that Darth Vader does not know that Yoda trained Luke and not Ben Keno bi? Vader mentions several times that Ben cannot help Luke now. Vader doesn't even seem But if Vader really is Luke's father, why didn't Ben tell Luke? to know about Yoda. It's possi ble. Ben Kenobi, while training Darth Vader, may have never mentioned Yoda, and may have FOCUS Editor Cathy Saathoff Cartoonist Scott McCullar Focus will accept any items submitted for publication, although the decision to publish lies solely with the editor. Deadline is 5 p.m. the Thursday before publication. had no intention to until after Vader was supposed to have overcome the dark side of the Force, which eventually over came him. That makes you think that if Vader did know of Yoda he would have tried to destroy him and his planet with the Deathstar or the Imperial hard ware of the Empire. Then Luke would have been small pota toes. What does Jaba the Hut want with Han Solo? Just money? Doesn't seem likely now. Maybe Jaba has a bigger scheme. Who knows? All of these questions are asked with the understanding that the movie plots are very changing things, and that ques tions are not answered to in crease suspense and because answers haven't been figured out yet by the writers. Just don't let your expectations keep you from enjoying "Revenge of the Jedi" when it comes out because you guessed wrong. And now to answer the big gest question: who cares? Well look at all the excitement caused Another big question that needs answering is who is "the other" hope Yoda mentions? by trying to figure out who shot J.R. last year. Who cares? You might. Ask me again the sum mer of 1983. After all, no one's going to "force" you to find out. COLLAGE Annie at home in old mansion WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. — After decades of childish antics on the funny pages. Little Orphan Annie finally went to college this summer. But it was a movie set, not a diploma, that the lovable orphan sought. For the film version of the musical "Annie," producers spent months seeking an appropriately lavish mansion to house Dad dy Warbucks, the benevolent billionaire who becomes Annie's benefactor. Finally, on what production designer Dale Hennesy described as a last-ditch trip, they viewed Shadow Lawn, the limestone mansion originally built for a dime-store magnate but now the centerpiece of the Monmouth College campus. For Hennesey, its 130 rooms, 2,500-square-foot main hall, and elaborate marble, wood and mirrored trimmings were a dream come true. Shadow Lawn, with its 300-seat theater, 17 master suites designed on international themes, gymnasium, bowling alleys and outdoor-nine-hole golf course, quickly became the setting for over half of the "Annie" filming. The mansion was dressed up, polished and furnished in the Warbucks manner, much to the delighted surprise of Mon mouth students, who are used to attending class in essentially bare rooms. "We just took the place for granted until they brought in the furniture," said one Monmouth student. "When I saw it all set up, I said 'Wow! Has this been here all the time?"' —- Collegiate Hedlines ■r