Wednesday, May 22, 1974 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Threee Memory of 1967 Flaming eatures7 bust still lingers By GORDON ATCHESON Seven years ago, an experimental - some people say obscene - film had its Ann Arbor premier cut short by the city vice squad which quite literally walked off with the show. A heavy-set cop with a crew-cut, ac- companied by a few cohorts, attended the Architecture Aud. screening of Flam- ing Creatures on a frigid January eve- ning in 1967. BUT IT WASN'T the policeman's night off. If it were, he wouldn't have spent his time watching an avant-garde movie in a cramped, dingy theatre. He came to do a job. After 15 min- utes he confiscated the movie for its allegedly lewd content. The cop is gone. Lt. Eugene Stauden- meier retired to the sultry Florida beach- es several years ago. The trial of four Cinema Guild members who were ar- rested for violating state obscenity sta- tues by showing the movie is over. NONETHELESS, Flaming Creatures has not been forgotten by those who were here then and many people who have subsequently heard the story sur- rounding the bust. In many University circles, the movie's title has become something of a "Re- member-the-Alamo" slogan against cen- sorship and outside interference with the student-operated, on-campus motion pic- ture societies. However, the current fracas between the Board of Regents and the film groups over the showing of blue movies is pretty tame stuff compared to the lengthy, well-publicized battle concern- ing the creatures and their antics. IRONICALLY, the content of Flaming Creatures pales or more appropriately blushes compared to the likes of Behind the Green Door, The Devil in Miss Jones and Deep Throat - all of which have been shown on-campus this semes- ter. Banned in New York and Amsterdam, Flaming Creatures in its most explicit scenes featured total male and female nudity, simulated sexual intercourse, and an orgy interspaced with language be- fitting a Marine drill sergeant. Such things have now become pret- ty standard fare for many contemporary "R" rated motion pictures and bear-only a fleeting resemblance to the graphic gy- rations of Linda Lovelace. "TODAY YOU could almost show the movie in a local theatre with a Walt Dis- ney feature and nobody would get up- set," commented English Prof. Hugh Cohen, then faculty advisor to Cinema Guild, yesterday. But in 1967. Marilyn Chambers of Green Door fame and fortune was still in high school and the University cam- pus had not exploded into the full-blown radicalism that would characterize the subsequent half decade. "The movie was shown on the fore- front of the 'new morality' wave and See 'FLAMING', Page 8 Ci to mark 150th birthday on Saturday By ANDREA LILLY It's Ann Arbor's birthday. This fair town will be 150 years old, and this Sat- urday, May 25, there will be a city-wide celebration of the landmark event. According to Lila Green, coordinator of the sesquicentennial celebration, "This is strictly a birthday party, we are discouraging sidewalk sales and so- liciting of any kind." BUT THIS WILL be a birthday party in grand style! As the sayng goes it will offer something for everyone. There will be big bands, a review of musical theater in America entitled "Re- gards to Broadway," circuses, old-fash- ioned swim meets, square dancing, farm crafts and countless other attractions. Green has gotten permission from the Board of Health to have sidewalk cafes outside local restaurants throughout town. She points out that a car is not neces- sary for these events and is probably to be discouraged since the Jaycees will provide free bus service from all over the city to the various events. AP Photo Sticks her neck out Being a giraffe is not always as easy as one might think, and Twiggy, a five- year-old camelopardalis from a zoo outside San Francisco tells her story to the press during a recent interview. Guru Maharaj ii weds secretary DENVER 01}- Guru Maharaj Ji, the The wedding was followed by an ela- The guru has achieved fame in the 16-year-old'perfect master" who claims borate reception at tie guri's $ t,000 U.S. during the past year with several; six million followers, has married his house in a fashionable Denver neighbor- appearances around he country and a 24 year-old secretary - after receiving hood Monday night. Olman said the number of run-ins with authorities. special permission froz a juvenile court party included music and "Christmas judge. lights" adorning the htue. THE OWNER of a whi e Cadillac, re- Barry Ollman, a spokesman for the short, cherubic guru, said about %O per- sons attended the notdenominational wedding Monday night. MAHARAJ JI is spiritual leader of the Divine Light Mission. He says his pur- pose is to bring world peace by impart- ing "the knowledge," which his follow- ers say cannot be adequately described in words. The guru wore a dark tuxedo to the wedding. The bride, Marolyn Lois John- son, wore a white and red gown. Maharaj Ji, who has recently begun sporting a sparse mustache, met his blonde bride about a year ago. Ollman said her parents, Mr. and Ms. D a I e Johnson, traveled to fhe .eremony from their home in San Diego, Calif. OLLMAN described the bride as "a very beautiful, humble person." Other devotees said she played the role of a stewardess in a film made for the mis- sion entitled "Who is Maharaj Ji?" . "It's all happened so fast," Oilman said, "We're all spinning." A HUGE cabin cruiser nounted on a trailer and decorated with yellow ribbons - apparently a gift to the guru - re- mained on the lawn yesterday afternoon. A silver Maserati sports car was parked in the driveway, and "Just married" was written in whitewash on the tear win- dows. Maharaj Ji needed a court order from Juvenile Court Judge Morris .Cole to obtain a marriage license because Col- orado law requires men to be 18 to be married without parental permission. The guru's father is dead and his mother lives in India. MAHARAJ JI claims mre than 30,000 followers in the United States and six million worldwide. The Divine Light Mis- sion, which is the guru's spiritual organ- ization, is based in Denver. Born in India, the Maharaj Ji reigns -over a million-dollar business mission- ary corporation that includes activities such as film production, educational pro- jects and the Cleanliness is Next to Godliness Janitorial Service, portedly another present from his fol- lowers, Maharaj Ji was stopped by cus- toms officials last summer when ne tried to carry a suitcase full of jewelry and other gifts into India without declaring it. A visit the guru paid to Detroit's Coisi- mon Council brought him big coverage later in the summer when a reporter for the underground paper the Fifth Estate hit the guru in the face with a cream pie. Rennie Davis, former anti-war activist and Chicago Seven defendant, came to Ann Arbor last spring to gain converts to Maharaj Ji's faith. Davis told a cur- ious Hill Aud. audience, "If you knew, what I know, you'd crawl around the world to kiss his toe." Davis is not the only new left figure who has come over to the Maiiaraj Ji, leaving old friends and political suIs- porters mystified. He says working for the guru is another way to strive toward the same goal - world peace - that-he espoused in the anti-war movement. THE BRIDE of Guru Maharaj Ji, for- merly Marolyn Lois Johnson of Sass Diego.