Boxoffice-December.17.1962

'Arbitrary Censorship by Detroit
Papers Confuses City's Exhibitors
DETROIT—Occasional objections raised
in the last few years by advertising directors
of the local daily newspapers to specific
illustrations and expressions in theatre
ads has local motion picture people a bit
confused.
A few ai-e openly resentful of what they
view as "arbitrary censorship." The latest
incident bobbed up on advertising for "The
White Slave Ship." The papers objected to
illustrations of women behind bars and in
i a screen game,
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HOLLYWOOD AMUSEMENT CO. .,
3750 Ookton St. * Skokie, Illinois
chains, a few with very low neck lines, and
to the title, according to Bill Brown, managing
director of the Pox Theatre where
the film played. Brown conceded that
"while slave" in its modern meaning was
improperly used in the title of this picture,
v\ hich depicts an incident of several centuries
ago.
That the newspaper policy is one of selfinterest
and not "agin" anybody or group
is evident, although there has been a "hurt"
reaction among some exhibitors.
"We appreciate the business of movie
houses." Harry C. Weidler, business manager
for the Detroit Free Press, commented.
"We are trying to 'clean up our page,' and
we are going to continue to do so. Tliere
has been a strong tendency toward this objoctional
advertising. We are very serious
in om' position—we are not going to print
any objectional art or copy. It is a big
problem, and we've been working on it for
years. It's a continuing problem."
Laurence T. Herman, director of advertising
for the Detroit News, also pointed out
there has been no change in standards.
"We are trying to hold the line. We are
not trying to hurt anybody," he said.
The general policy, or motive of the
newspapers, was suggested by Robert Reese,
public relations and promotion director for
the News: "Anything that goes into the
home should require some objective standard
of good taste. This is a matter of individual
judgment. We are interested in
preventing any offense, or inference of offence,
because we are primarily a family
paper."
As Reese pointed out, the newspaper objections
are based on individual judgment,
and are not always consistent, and result
not so much from .specific words or illustrations,
but from a combination—from the
overall implication.
Thus on "White Slave Ship" it was the
combination of the title, the girls in chains
behind bars and low necklines; in the case
of "No Morals," it was presumably a nude
silhouette, the catchline, "A swim in the
nude at a picnic," and the title and other
details.
Each paper obviously works independently.
And it has happened that one ad will be
rejected, then later the same type is accepted.
To this, the newspaper spokesmen
explain that this happens usually when
copy comes in very late—usually at night
—and escapes review by top personnel.
The newspaper practice is to treat each
case .separately, and sometimes, the decision
naturally is influenced by letter and
calls by readers.
Prom the exhibitor viewpoint, there is
no clear-cut i-ule by which they may judge
their own advertising. Naturally they
would prefer this, but apparently the newspapers
prefer to leave it up to the theatremen
to decide if their ad copy and illustrations
are in "good taste."
For example, the Trans-Lux Krim Theatre
ran into difficulties with both papers
on advertising for "No Morals." The Free
Press objected to the girl's silhouette to be
used in the preopening insertion, and the
theatre refused to eliminate it, so the ad
just didn't i-un, managing director Eric H.
Rose explained. The regular opening ad
ran without change. The News on the
other hand accepted a different ad and
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