Holworthy Hall, John Harvard Adorn Prime Time TV Movie

Expos papers and Chem 10 problem sets were put on hold last night as students found an escape from midterms in a television movie about chem 10 and an Expos teacher's husband.

"First Affair," a two-hour made-for-television movie which aired on CBS chose Harvard as the setting to portray a Nebraska student's freshman year, which actress Melissa Sue Anderson spends comping for The Crimson and having an affair with the spouse of a writing professor played by Loretta Swit.

But students crowding House common rooms and the Union's parior room to watch the story of Toby and her three roommates unfold were quick to notice the discrepancies between life in her Holworthy Hall--which sported pink wallpaper--and life in the real college.

"Maybe Harvard could take a hint from this and put wallpaper in the rooms," said Randy Young '86, adding. "They could at least hire Loretta Swift as an Expos teacher.

The campus scenes and references to Harvard drew crows of delight, such as a Crimson editor's tip to Toby when she is about to write her first article. "This is Harvard, expect a high level of comprehension."

Although the film's credits claim it was that entirely at Harvard, only exterior shots were allowed to be filmed on campus.

Filmmakers received special permission to film exterior scenes because the University felt that the movie required the Harvard scenery for its authenticity. When CBS first approached Harvard last spring, the University did not yet have a written policy on filming, adopted last month, which prohibits such activities for commercial or entertainment purposes.

"I watched the movie to see my dorm on TV" said Sharon Chang '87 a resident of Wigglesworth Hall.

But patience with the movie wore thin as the plot carries Toby out of the arms of the 40 year-old husband and into an infirmary bed at university Health Services.

"I hope it ends with the girl hanging herself from Lowell Tower," said David J. O'Brien '84.

Frew thought the portrayal realistic, least of all the freshmen. "Harvard is treated as so unfriendly in the film--it wasn't like that at all the first day" said Victoria Franklin, referring to Today's lonely arrival. "But it is true how you get behind."