Word: detract
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Another problem with which the Group IV man has to cope is the extent of his interest in outside activities, which detract from study time and yet are worthy. It is not a question of handing out football and hockey scholarships indiscriminately, but of recognizing qualities besides those of intellect--qualities which show themselves in a man's participation in various extracurricular activities. Well-rounded men, thoroughly capable of serving society, are what Harvard tries to produce; and that aim certainly will not be furthered by sending scholars forth to delve exclusively in ancient archives, when society needs...
Alded and abetted by Ethel Merman, whose singing is almost as bad as Cantor's, the beauteous Sally Eilers, and stooge Parkyakarkus, Eddie's latest certainly affords your ticket's worth of amusement. The utter impossibility of the last fifteen minutes of trick photography does not detract from its being darn funny and surprisingly breath-taking...
...sublime their husbands were, for not all relicts of the great write books about their husbands. When they do, the experiment often turns out to be a flop. A more dangerously intimate observer than even a valet, a wife with the best will in the world is likely to detract more than she adds to a man's reputation. But now & again, in spite of its stained-glass windows, a widow's memorial lets in an occasional shaft of light on the human figure within. Like Frieda Lawrence's book on her late great husband...
Here is surely God's plenty for the biographer. Mr. Thompson has given us a good selection of the old stories about Count Rumford and has added some new ones which were worth telling. But his facetiousness and his habit of using Shaksperian tags on every possible occasion detract from the effect which the stories would have had if told in a less decorated manner. The common reader, for whom this book was obviously intended, need not be frightened by the semi-scholarly appearance of the book (bibliography, scattered footnotes, though no index). He may even find himself wishing...
...Ross Alexander, as the lovers bemused by his potions; the spectacle of Joe E. Brown cracking lichee nuts in a manner derived from Once in a Lifetime, as he impersonates Flute, the bellows-mender; and the over-energetic jabberings of James Cagncy as Bottom, the weaver, effectively combine to detract from the real merits of the production. Omitting much of the superb poetry which is the play's chief virtue, the screen version still contrives to run too long (2½ hr.). Nonetheless, by grace of Hal Mohr's magnificent photography, which makes the backgrounds far more effective...