Radio age research, manufacturing, communications, broadcasting, television (1941)

"I have a grown daughter who wears strapless gowns. But some of those I see on television are almost topless!'' Helffrich immediately "suggested" that all female per- formers bring along an extra gown — just in case. When this failed to do the trick he achieved his purpose by hav- ing directors mercilessly flatten the offending protrusion with powerful overhead lighting. "The girls much prefer flattering sidelighting," he points out. The censor carefully studies his weekly flood of com- plaints ("already totalling more than in the 35 years of radio") to gauge what the public wants in its living rooms. A typical day's mail, for example, included the following pet peeves: A mother complained that the lower case lettering on the perry co-mo show was fouling up her son's education. A viewer protested the showing of Richard III because the villain was malformed. A worried mother pleaded that for the sake of her son all "schmos" on television programs didn't have to be named "Melvin." (A sympathetic directive on "Melvins" was immediately sent out to all network producers and directors.) Helffrich worries a lot about the children. His office has files on tens of thousands of films and cartoons with notations on the cuts necessary for an audience of young- sters. The old beloved chaps-and-thunder Western with dozens of corpses littering the mesa, for instance, is now a TV taboo. "We cut lynchings and excessive violence from the old Western films and try to discourage it in new ones," he says. "Instead of all that killing, we prefer wingings and nippings in the arm or leg. There is no reason for bad grammar; and the good guy and bad guy could just as well shoot it out in front of the town post office as in the local bar." Violence and Sex Five films of "Fabian of Scotland Yard" were cut off completely because the combination of violence and sexy negligees was allegedly unfit for the child audience in early evening. When the time slot was moved later, four were released for adult audiences. The fifth is still under wraps. It contains, according to Helffrich, too good an explanation of a so-called perfect crime. Helffrich has a number of TV sacred cows. Old Glory can't be used in commercials. The children's un- touchable is Santa Claus, whose believability cannot be punctured, especially around Yuletide. Not long ago the censor deleted an entire skit of a famous comedian (comedians are his biggest problem children) because Commercial copy administrator and commercial editors confirming code compliance in a clocking session. it involved a lecherous old Santa Claus who only climbed down the chimneys of fair young damsels. Stockton Helffrich is not bashful about cutting. Once, over the howls of the producers, he took a 90-second sequence of a Caesarean operation out of "Medic" as "pointless realism." But he much prefers to find ways to keep things in. "I'd rather say: 'This is how you can do it,' than 'You can't do this.' " A Ticklish Question When NBC produced Richard Strauss' "Salome," Helffrich was faced with one of the most ticklish ques- tions of his career: What about the historic strip tease of the seven veils? He went into a characteristic huddle and finally came up with an answer that was calculated not to offend the varied television audience. "Dress her in a flesh-colored leotard," he told the producers. "Have the camera pan on her neck. Then, once everybody knows she's wearing something under the veils, you can go to town." He had kept his impeccable "good taste," but there is no way of knowing how many cherished illusions about the famous Biblical strip he destroyed through- out America. In addition to his perhaps controversial handling of sex, Helffrich has the serious job of making TV con- form to modern sociological morals. Old "Our Gang" comedies, for instance, have been edited to delete racial prejudice; and he has worked hard to keep national and religious stereotypes off the screen. No one mentions the fact, he bemoans, that most hoodlums on who- dunits now have names of varied or untraceable origin as part of his efforts to destroy the myth of Italian gang- sterism. 24 RADIO AGE