Page Two
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Saturday, April 1, 1972
Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Saturday, April 1, 1972
Growingup -with television
Dear Mr. Surgeon General:
I read your report last night:
Report to the Surgeon General
from the Surgeon General's Ad-
visory Committee on Televis-
ion and Social Behavior.
It wasn't so long ago that I
couldn't fit it in between All
in the Family and Moby Dick.
I'm surprised that you're still
trying to prove that watching
violence on TV makes people
violent.
While you diddle around with
your fancy statistics, our kids
are sitting in front of their
TV sets three or four hours a
day soaking in all the crime
and muck that the networks put
out to get advertisers. I've
watched my little ones go
through the kind of fights they
watch on the Saturday morn-
ing cartoons. It's a wonder they
still have everything they were
born with! Johnny almost lost
his left eye because Jeff hurl-
ed his m a g i c "thunderbolt
death ray" at him. I don't think
he even realized that what he
threw was his dad's golf club.
So what if he does kill his lit-
tle brother - he can just turn
the set on next Saturday and
everybody will be back again.
Someday maybe his little broth-
er won't.
When we grew up, we saw
harmless things at the pictures
on Saturday afternoon like the
Keystone Kops, afternoons with
Captain Marvel comic books.
We didn't come home from
school and glue ourselves to the
TV set. It was healthy stuff like
racing around outside playing
gangster and cowboys and ind-
ians. Stickball in the streets,
lifting an apple from the fruit
market, smoking cornsilk in the
attic. Life was action, move-
ment, participation. Not t h i s
vicarious dependency on the
tube which we see today. Jeff
went on a campout with his boy
scout troop last. weekend and
they had to take a battery-pow-
ered TV with them so they
wouldn't miss the Saturday
Night Movie.
You find correlations in your
statistics between people who
watch much violence and people
who grow up to become violent.
Correlation is not casuality, you
say. Sure, there are deviants
who will do anything you tell
them to. There are adults who
go out and imitate crimes shown
on programs. Every society
has its weak minds.
But you take young child-
ren who have no sense of right
and wrong. How can they help
but grow up into the models
they see? The two-fisted loner
who bucks authority, spurns the
idea of settling down to make a
good decent living, guns and ex-
torts his way to success a n d
proves his superiors wrong. Feed
a whole generation on pap like
this and the real world will be-
come as violent and valueless
as the TV world. Only the good
guys might not always win.
My kids have watched TV
more than they've gone to
school, more than they ever talk
with their dad or me. We
cannot shelter them, show them
wha.t they need to see to be-
lieve that the world is good and
its order is just. How can any-
body, even simple children, have
faith in the world on TV where
norms change from half-hour to
half-hour, where life is one bat-
tle against innumerable foes,
where justice is the fastest gun
or the perfect plan.
As they grow up, their heroes
change. Their idols become hulk-
ing meat-eating football players
or pot-headintellectuals. Name
one hero on TV who is a car-
porate president. Then they be-
gin to watch the news, see all
the bombings, deaths and de-
monstrations. The corporate net-
work establishment has taken
over the duties of parenthood.
They decide what to present and
whether to present it as right
or wrong. They design reality.
"The corporate systems that
run our lives have gone out of
control. Why, it's impossible to
buy a car that doesn't eat up
gas, always need repairs and
pollute the atmosphere.
The government is our last
hope. The representatives of the
people. We elect them, and
they should know what we need
to watch on TV, what we need
to have our children see to grow
up normal and hardworking.
Why waste your money on stu-
dies? Why not put it into some
organization that can control
the media monopoly over in
New York. Have some board
that can prevent the worthless
pulp that fills the screen from
getting on the air. Let's have
more ideal, clean, hardworking,
ideal heroes, like Archie Bunk-
er, Beaver Cleaver and Ed Sul-
livan.
But surely I shouldn't be lec-
turing you. I'm only a simple
housewife. As a matter of fact,
I think my roast is getting over-
done.
-Cynthia Babbit
this WORV
$1.50 8:*O
Arts workshop
The Creative Arts Workshop in
Ozone House is holding an art
sale in conjunction with the cen-
ter's open house on April 9.
The workshop is a non-profit;
organization with the purpose; of
teaching and developinguartistic
skills, and its facilities are open
to everyone.
MANCE LIPSCOMB-"Age aside, he's a wonder;
age considered, at 76 he's incredible."-Downbeat
Magazine
F
See MANCE LI PSCOMB, along with
SON HOUSE and ROBERT PETE WI LLIAMS
APRIL 15th at the POWER CENTER
Tickets are all $3.00 and are available at the Michigan Union
daily 11 -2 P.M.
11
Dial 662-6264 231 S. State St.
Robert Redford George Segal
Zero Mostel
in'
The first fun
picture of the year !
OPEN 12:45
SHOWS AT
1 p.m., 4:30, 8 p.m.
Mon.-Sat. $1.50 until 4:30
Mon.-Thurs. eve. $2.00
Fri. and Sat. eve. $2.50
All Day Sunday $2.50
603 E. Liberty
DIAL 665-6290
Open
12:45
SHOWS
AT
1 p.m.
3 p.m.
5 p.m.
7 p.m.
9 p.m.
ii
H; t Rck
PANAVISION COLORBYDELUXE'
COMING SOON - "THE LAST PICTURE SHOW"
Join The Daily Staff
4
-Daily-Jim Wallace
Screen radiation
- TUESDAY -
I-
TVMovies
TONIGHT:
Cast a Giant Shadow, 8:00 (4)
If Tomorrow Comes, 8:30 (7)
The Wheeler Dealers, 11:30 (7)
SUNDAY:
The King of Kings, 5:00 (50)
The Shoes of the Fisherman, 7:30 (2)
3 on a Couch, 9: 9(7)
The True Story of Jesse James, 11:15 (")
MONDAY:
A Howling in the Woods, 9:00 (4)
Smokey, 9:00r (7)
Made in Paris, 11:30 (50)
TUESDAY:
Revenge!, 8:30 (7)
WEDNESDAY:-
Move Over Darling, 4:30 (7)
THURSDAY:
The Impossible Years, 9:00 (2)
In the Cool of the Day, 11:30 (50)
FRIDAY:
Colossus: The Forbin Project, 8:30 (4:
Classic Shorts, 8:30 (56)
The Glass House, 9:00 (2)
A FEW APARTMENTS STILL AVAILABLE
909 CHURCH
I
I
CINE MA
GUILD
SATURDAY
and SUNDAY
ROOM
SERVICE
Dir. GEORGE ABBOT, 1938
The Marx Brothers in a
farce about a theatrical
troupe stranded in a posh
hotel with no cash.
(When did they ever
have cash?)
PLUS A SHORT
Marx Brothers in
THE SCHOOL OF MUSIC presents
VERDI'S OPERA
FALSTAFF
(IN ENGLISH)
Two Performances only: April 6-7, 8p.m.
Power Center for the Performing Arts
$3.50, $2.50 ($1.00 tickets for U-M students with I.D. cardssold at
Box Office only, no mail orders)
Conductor: JOSEF BLATT BOX OFFICE HOURS:
Stage Director: RALPH HERBERT April 3-5, 12:30 to 5 p.m.
Ticket Information: 764-6118 April 6-7, 12:30 to 8 p.m.
CINEMA II
aud. a, angell hall - 75c
SHOWS AT 7 and 9:30, TICKETS AT 6:00 PM
SUNDAY! ONE NIGHT ONLY!
ULYSSES 1968, STRICK dir.
Joseph Strick's adaptation of James Joyce's novel is:
"A resounding success" - Sbturday Review. "An artistic
triumph"-Newsweek. "The lyric visualization clarifies Joyce's
cryptic masterpiece. The final yes soliloquy is flawless." Spear,
Film Notes.
Shown at 7 and 9:30 p.m. due to length
NEXT WEEK: Fri. and Sat.: TO DIE IN MADRID, a film of the Spanish
Civil War.
SUNDAY: MINGUS and MANCE LIPSCOMBE: A WELL-SPENT LIFE.
JOHN COHEN
and the
PUTNAM STRING
COUNTY BAND
IyZI Hill STREET
7611951
"
housewife
a frank perry film starring
richard benjamin
frank langella
Carrie snodgress
A UNIVERSAL PICTURE - TECHNICOLOR*
conspiracy.
330 Maynard
7:30 and 9:30
INCREDIBLE
JEWEL ROBBERY
ARCH ITECTURE
AUDITORIUM
i
*
,
7& 9 p.m.
75c
CINEMA II
$1 contribution
Free Cider
I
Aud. A, Angell Hall
7 & 9 P.M.
75c
Tickets On Sale at 6 P.M.
4
FRIDAY and SATURDAY: Jan Nemec's
REPORT ON THE PARTY AND GUESTS
(1966, Czech)
From the same period as the Czech films as Closely Watched Trains, Shop On Main Street, and Fifth
Horseman Is Fear; Nemec's Party and Guests is a searing allegory about the people's willingness to
conform to fascism. A picnic is interrupted by a mad guest who persuades the others to join in his
"game" of insults, humiliation, and torture, when one guest declines, he is chased with dogs and guns.
"It is certainly one of the best Czech films ever made, and Nemec is clearly one of the most powerful
and universal young directors at work."-Renata Adler, N.Y. Times
SUNDAY-Joseph Strick's ULYSSES; see Saturday's separate ad.
NEXT WEEK-Fri. & Sat.: TO DIE IN MADRID
SUN.: MINGUS and MANCE LIPSCOMB: A WELL-SPENT LIFE
PARAMOUNT PICTURES IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THE RETURN OF
,- THE GREATEST FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT OF ALL TIMEI
-
WE HAVE 16 PEOPLE TO HELP YOU
WITH YOUR APARTMENT NEEDS.
ONE OF US WILL WORK HARD TO
HELP YOU FIND AN APARTMENT,
THE REST OF US WILL TRY OUR
BEST TO KEEP YOU HAPPY WITH IT.
WE THINK IT'S THE SERVICE YOU
GET AFTER YOU SIGN THE LEASE
THAT COUNTS. VISIT US SOON.
665-8825
lhea qi dam
,1
Anne of the Thousand Days
0
Academy Award Winner
"An instant classic.
has a hammerlock on
history, performance,
and rooting interest.''
It
-N.Y. Post
"an epic
sexes."
battle of
-N.Y. Times
Tonight & Sunday
7:00 and 9:30
$1 cont. free ciderS
CECIL B. DEMILLE'S PROUCoNTHE TEN -COMMANDMENTS
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