Harrison's Reports (1962)

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80 HARRISON'S REPORTS May 26, 1962 Movie 3S o r a I a . . . (Continued from Front Page) Nor did the Washington probers want to settle for the second man in command of the networks. The bossmen themselves had to respond, take the witness stand and give their respective accountings of the manner in which they were protecting the public interests. It didn't make for inspiring listening nor good public relations. " and so, we get back to the Hollywood position in the unstable state of morals which Tv has failed to build with any great solidarity through its program' ming of so many shows that lived or died by the amount of sex, crime and violence that played them' selves out on the little idiot boxes in the living rooms of the nation. It's by this kind of an investigation that the film industry can measure its own position in the field of decent, inspiring, morally inoffensive entertainment. Not that some of the foreign films don't lean heavily on this nature of movie fare. But, that is not Hollywood. Meaning, they're not of the motion picture industry, with its majors, as we know it. Industry i nn lie Proud It is at a time like this when the motion picture industry can take its measure of pride that it has not come under the nature of official attack and criticism that have characterized the recent experiences of the Tv industry at the nation's capitol. It is a pity that so many of the loud-mouthed detractors of Hollywood, with access to the public prints, did not see due reason to compare Tv's state of moral decay to the cleaner kind of house in which Hollywood operates especially when you consider the many millions more that may look at a Tv show as compared with a film. To repeat, we're dealing solely with the entertainment output. Yes, within the industry there is cause for a goodly measure of unselfish pride. We know we have good reason to feel proud of our industry in these days of open probing of entertainment's re' course to moral irregularities to gain an audience. Or else, why this kind of piece? We've said it before, and it's the kind of a thought we don't mind repeating once in a while: We still feel that Hollywood, that bright little, tight little colony of motion picture blueprinting, " has an abundance of creative genius. With the help of their executive associates they're in tune with the tempo of our times, in step with the moral tone of these days, and in deep sympathy with the more elevating demands of an ever-growing youth that is willing to follow if shown the proper way. Many of our picture makers lean their story telling on the en' during tripod of inspiring sentiment, honest heart' interest, the kind of romance out of which poetic beauty wove its own nature of pattern. Like the careful setup of the camera, supported by its own tripod, these picture makers are conscious of this responsibility : The range of their product does not allow the ever-present haze of catch-penny mawkishness, quick-buck pandering, the bold, cold play for the juvenile's emotional response to the baiting of sex, crime and violence in their output to infiltrate the film plot structures, nor blur the entertainment per 20* It-Vox. AB-PT . . . (Continued from Front Page) sand dollars Spyros Plato Skouras, president of 20thFox pointed out. The climb will continue, said Skouras as he addressed an overflow stockholder audience which at times looked as if it would be getting out of hand as some of the people tossed some pretty strong questions at the jovial, easily controlled elder statesman of the industry. He placated them with the "revolutionary new approach" to studio operation and management that will be going into effect soon. When Skouras detailed what big productions will be going into release this year, the stockholders grew more ruly, many at times even breaking out with applause. "AB-PT Earninys Will He Ott,'" Goldenson The president of American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres, Leonard Goldenson, also dealt in figures that weren't well received by the stockholders in attendance. By the time the halfway mark of this year will be reached it will show no substantial gain over the same stanza last year, he said. Theatre operations will be off considerably from the 1961 quarter, said Goldenson. Poor weather, distributors pulling some of their strong attractions out of the blueprinted second-quarter release period and making the attractions stand-by until the third quarter were some of the reasons for the poor showings advanced by Goldenson. At both sessions, the stockholders seemed to be in more of a fighting mood than in the past. While the steady (professional) voices of question and protest are expected to be heard from, judging by their past, this time new recalcitrants took to the floor with vexed feelings and pointedly challenging questions. spective of the motion pictures making their appointed rounds of the theatres of the nation. Films Hine to Grave Responsibilities As the grave responsibilities confront our nation, Hollywood will continue to hold its position to meet her share of these obligations. The moral stand of the movies is the result of the film capitol's widening of its sense of responsibility, its own broad vision and sage-like wisdom. With each passing year and new generation this is in evidence more and more. While Hollywood's objectives (in order to survive) are, besides industrial progress and technical achievement, financial profit also, the motion picture industry however has never been called upon to give the kind of public accounting regarding its vast output, as has Tv. The films' greater danger lies in the manner in which it advertises some of its product. Nor will Hollywood, if the past is to serve as a guide for the future, ever find it necessary to flaunt the simple idealogies of moral discretion so that the viewer-ratings, no matter how ill -begotten, will find the megacycle mahatmas riding their blown-up heights because they inflated their Tv shows with strong potions of the three B's, " "broads and bos' oms" bait. Verily, it's not that even a good movie show has no need for lovely ladies sumptuously endowed. It's the flagrant, almost crude manner in which Tv's biologically volcanic device was put to use that didn't take well with the gentry sitting in Senatorial committee session.