Variety (Jan 1942)

Vol. 146 m 5 STAGE NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7, 1942 212 PAC}ES THE FIFTH FREEDOM NOTHING that has happened since Pearl Harbor subtracts from the ideal of "The Fifth Freedom." The business, or art, of diverting people at peace is a necessary part ot national life. It is even more essential to a people at "war. Hence, this fundamental neces- sity of diversion for an entire nation, any nation, and the freedom of those who provide this diver- sion in all its entertainment forms, has been named by this publication as 'The Fifth Freedom.' * * * THERE is no need for show business to hold it- self lightly or have any seH-doubts. Its function is a major, not a minor, role, in the war to be fought and won. That the matter of diversion wUl often seem tepid and artificial compared to the realities of war should not persuade the stage, screen, radio, or other entertainment forms to feel that they are hopelessly unable to come to grips with the times or to attune themselves to the dimen- sions and tempo of the headlines. Modern war is also fought and won in terms of morale, and this is where the experts at entertainment are indis- pensable. ♦ • ♦ DIVERSION is an inescapable prescription for morale, and is why morale will need regular en- tertainment of all kinds. Including sports. But show business, all of it, will need to exert a posi- tive, not a passive, attitude. * * ♦ THIS freedom of self-expression is basic to the kind of show business and the kind of broadcast- ing that belongs to and is a natural expression of our American way of life. In normal times it is a self-expression that extends up to and across the border of politics, economics and the delicate ques- tions of social reform. Our playwrights may treat of the issues of the day. They may bring the force of their craiftsmanship to bear on controversial matters. They are not banned by Government edict from a whole range of subjects. ♦ ♦ ♦ THE reactionary 'culture,' or dictatorship, is always easy to recognize. Among the very first fitted for a Government strait-jacket is enter- tainment. Showrmen are intimidated and so, for safety, they go back hundreds of years to the classics. All contemporary vigor disappears. But even the classics must be discreetly selected in a dictaitorship so that out of the mouths of strong characters do not emerge remarks with offensive connotations to tyrants of the day. * * * SHOW business helps its Government in the United States, but show business is not an arm of the Government. It is not slavish or obsequious nor afraid to satirize the-Administration. Nor is radio, despite its very license to operate being under Government control, bulldozed into meek compliance with bureaucratic orders. These are among the fundamentals of a democracy of great latent vigor, a democracy which will not, we be- lieve, collapse or rot away. * * • WHICH is hot to overlook the prospect that we may have economic convulsions after the war, and. that political neurasthenia and other trying 6X7 periences will tax our national strength and sanity. TO preserve 'The Fifth Freedom' through this test and the post-war tests, it is first necessary to understand what is vital, basic, inalienable. It is necessary to understand that these liberties are and of necessity must always be distasteful to re- actionaries, anti-democrats, censors, bigots and ar- rogant, power-made suppressors who have the souls and the mental attitude of the Inquisition. IN recognizing what is essential to 'The Fifth Freedom' and not to be undermined, discounted, belittled or traded in for shiny, new, but false, political slogans, the entertainment world needs more imagination and perspective than some of its members currently reveal. Against this, however, part of the leadership and a considerable'conting- ent of the rank and file of modern American show business seems well informed. BUT before there can be a vigilant defense of 'The Fifth Freedom' there undoubtedly ought to be a considerable step-up in the level of the self- consciousness of those who benefit from it. In other words, show business needs to be more aware of what it now possesses that is precious, of who might or would like to deprive it hereafter of these privileges, and what type of agitation or pro- posal is a probable danger sign of a serious, as dis- tinct from a frivolous attack. SHOW business is not without faults. It should not deny them nor foolishly attempt to excuse the occasional chance-taker who badly oversteps the line of decency. Nor is there any need to quibble about decency being a matter of the year and the geography of the incident. Elsewhere in this edi- tion readers may note that the gags that were offensive in the old vaudeville days are mUd and routine stuff in 1942. Definitions of decency are often traps that common sense does well to avoid. 'Indecency,' to the bigot, takes in everything. The opposite kind, in contrast (and who also lacks balance), admits nothing. The public will;accept neither extremity; - — * 4i • AT any time American amusements are, of course, only relatively 'free.' There is no freedom to be pornographic, no freedom to be seditious, no freedom to. incite to riot. The theatre and the screen and the radio may not indict whole races or creeds. They may not do violence to commonly ■ accepted good taste or family traditions. ALL this is of the essence of common sense. The reductio ad absurdum of liberty is anarchy. All liberty to be true liberty recognizes the other fel- low. In this the democracies differ fundamentally from a Nazi ideology that exalts the 'liberty' of the leaders—not the masses. ROUTINE criticisms of the taste of a given en- tertainment have, by themselves, no great signi- ficance. The exceses of reformers make them ridiculous and today the old style reformer is not much of a problem. Nor are the loose, non-specific damnings of radio programs, for children or adults, too serious, except that radio producers must never forget that public opinion is their master, not they the master of public opinion. * 4> * THE public, or any portion thereof, may in a democracy assert its disapproval oi entiertainment, comedy, jokes, lyrics, scenes, points of view, im-. plications which they deem unfair. They are free to raise the hue and cry of 'propaganda.' We have an active literature of controversy in the theatre in films and in radio. We indulge in political quips and freely comment on all public affairs. Pow- erful men are lampooned. Even the President is not exempt from jibes. * « 4i WHAT is important, therefore, is that show business recognize these privileges, exercise a wise self-control of them, defend them, refuse to yield them and understand that these things are first things—not minor by-prOducts—of a working democracy at war.