Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1960)

1 ay, March 22, 1960 Motion Picture Daily ,ensor No Answer to Film Faults: Johnston 1 alls Demand rrational and responsible9 ( Continued from page 1 ) example in guilding children to right choices. ills for censorship, he said, are [invariable end of "irrational and i irresponsible" type of industry :ism. "But censorship is no an, because it doesn't work. It is tive. It can't improve quality. It improve taste. t will actually degrade and lowbte," Johnston said. "Responsible ucers today maintain standards are far higher than could be en into any censorship law. They [his under our Production Code use they feel their obligation to ., public. Sees 'Open Invitation' Censorship would be an open iniion to the irresponsibles, to the (ibuck producers, who cater to the 1st common denominator of pubiaste. It would be an invitation to (a to go as far as the law allowed and with the law's sanctions to them up. I can't conceive that ets want this." ,e noted that "We must help our Iren to make choices along the if we wish them to grow up to lesponsive and responsible adults. ; calls on us as parents to help our iflren choose motion picture enter. nent just as we help them to dis' inate among books and music and jand all the other experiences of Urges Wisdom by Parents | guiding children to motion pici entertainment, the industry does sk parents to do it blindly, Johnsaid. "Even more than in the , we are striving to make inforon available in advance about on pictures to enable you to e wise judgments." hnston ascribed changes in mopicture content to changes that •■ taken place in society, in the ! of television and the consequent -iges in the economics of the mo» picture industry over the past k 12 years. It has been a period langes and growth, he said, in the less of which "there were occail excesses, occasional lapses of and discrimination, but that out lese growing pains the American on picture was emerging as a ire and a great creative art." Points to TV's Effect iced with its changed status lght by television, he said, the stry chose to improve its product, (put on a better and moTe appealprogram than anyone else. It ^ty became a more selective and discerning medium than it had been in the past." "As responsible1 parents, we should all welcome this growing-up process . . . this ability of the screen to deal with broader and more varied and more mature subjects than in the past. In my judgment, it has resulted in more fine motion pictures than during any previous period in Hollywood's history. "And it also should require parents, in fulfilling their responsibilities, to exercise selectivity and discernment, particularly in guiding their children to motion picture entertainment. Reminds of 'Culture of Today' "I think," Johnston said, "we shall find the best results if we all understand, and act on the understanding, that the film of today should be judged in terms of the culture of today . . . of the conditions actually existing today." "Any one who examines the recent record of the motion picture must inevitably realize that this growing-up process has added new dynamism and scope to movie making. I think this promises a great future for a great medium. "In these growing years, of course, not all films produced have been great films. Some, seeking maturity, fell short. Some, seeking sensation, produced nothing of lasting value. Some— and usually these same oneswere also box office failures. Recounts History of Code "We have tried to exercise our responsibility responsibly in the motion picture industry. Thirty years ago this month, the producers in Hollywood voluntarily adopted a Production Code to assure standards of decency and morality on the screen. Just as firmly today as we have in the past, we adhere to these standards. We shall continue to do so." Johnston said parents are "defecting" their responsibility to freedom and liberty by acceding to attempts to curb freedoms and by not actively opposing such attempts. "We run away from freedom," he said, "whenever we run to Washington, or to Albany, or to Harrisburg, or to any state capital to demand a censorship law ... a legislative ukase by which a state or its appointees may tell the rest of us what we may read or not read, may hear or not hear, may see or not see." Three Other Speakers Heard At the morning session of the conference, three other speakers agreed that the mass media cannot be made the scapegoat for all the ills of society. At the same time, they warned of the dangers of the mass media reflecting and reinforcing the worst in our culture rather than taking leadership in raising our values and moral standards. Selma H. Fraiberg, associate professor of social casework at Tulane University's School of Social Work, said, "We have given children trash for daydreams, and it is not only the mass media that are to blame. If mass media have nourished the daydreams of violence and cynicism, we have also nourished the daydreams of "security," of the supremacy of egoistic goals and the privilege of gratification of all needs." Mrs. Fraiberg Decries Brutality Mrs. Fraiberg condemned the cheap fiction and brutality shown on television for blunting the moral sensibilities of children. Viewing this as an almost impossible challenge to the efforts of parents to give their children a moral education, she asked, "How can we teach revulsion against sadism and the destruction of human life when the child's commercial fiction feeds the appetite for sadism and makes murder trivial?" Dr. Friedenberg Hits Broadcasters Dr. Edgar Friedenberg, a Visiting Fellow at the College' of Education of Ohio State University, called for a stiffening of the public's demand for more responsible broadcasting. Criticizing the recent testimony on a network executive who would give sponsors primary control over program content, Dr. Friedenberg said, "Society had better see to it pretty quickly that the economic health of Cites AMPP's Advance Data As Judging Aid broadcasters depends on ethical behavior as well as good business relations." Frederick Rainsberry, supervisor of children's programs for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, said that worthwhile programs for children had been needlessly hamstrung by people who separate entertainment from education. According to Rainsberry, "Children are vitally entertained in the search for information." 'Young' Openings Slated Drexel's "Because They're Young," a Columbia release, will open beginning April 6 in more than 350 theatres around the country, including saturation openings in Los Angeles. A special gala world's premiere will be held on April 2 in the home town of the winner of a special contest centered around the film, which marks the screen debut of teen-age idol, Dick Clark. another UoT one for summer from (UJIjgu^lfgfc