Word: raison
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...these men from Philadelphia, can never even approach the chamber music ideal of the string quartet. For one thing, these five woodwind instruments which have somehow found a place in the modern orchestra after centuries of experimentation and sifting have not that tonal and technical uniformity which is the raison d'etre of the string quartet. Of course it may be answered that a woodwind quintet can aim at quite a different and equally valid ideal. Unfortunately, composers have not yet shown what this might be. The two classical works on the program (by Beethoven and Haydn) were both transcriptions...
...give this one eight days on Broadway if it gets that far. A melange of all the worst war movies you have ever seen, The Long Watch has but one raison d'etre: the heartfelt theory of the authors that long-range rescue planes in time of war are a good thing. The reminder of the play is tied around the complex conjugal relations of half a dozen or so WAVES, who manage to turn their air-sea rescue base into a complete shambles in less than three hours on stage...
...most of the recent issues, the latest Advocate's contents are as flimsy as the magazine itself. There is some excellent poetry by writers whose excellence has already been established; the remainder is poor fiction and a piece of long and well-written criticism which seems to have no raison d'etre...
There is a great amount of humor squeezed out of the essentially trite plot of "The Amazing Mr. Beecham." The lines are witty throughout, no words are wasted, and the story is kept from lagging. Though the irrelevant comments of the Earl could be considered the theme or the raison d'etre of the movie, enough social commentary is sprinkled into the dialogue to keep audience interest alive on more than one level...