News in Perspective; Movies and Theater: The Four-Letter Rebellion

National Educational Television and Radio Center · July 1, 1970

This program examines the accelerating trend toward permissiveness in movies and stage productions concerning the use of nudity and foul language and the frank treatment of homosexuality and Lesbianism. The guests, all New York Times reviewers, are Walter Kerr, Sunday drama critic; Clive Barnes, drama critic; Vincent Canby, motion picture critic; and Renata Adler, former motion picture critic, now a contributor. Clifton Daniel, associate editor of the Times, moderated the discussion. Kerr contends that permissiveness in the performing arts is nothing new. I think it recurs almost cyclically as a kind of explosion and ewe lose it, we forget about it because it doesnt go into the history books as much Maybe what happens is that every so often we become aware of how mentally rigid and tight and confined our vision has become we realize that and say, hey, wait, weve got to shake our hands, open our eyes, stretch and look at more. A discussion of the film I am Curious (Yellow) leads the guests into considering the problems of defining obscenity, pornography, and Redeeming social value. Canby likes the film; Miss Adler does not. On the subject of pornography, Barnes says it has a social value and a social function in that it provides a release for people. Thought it has nothing to do with art, he says, pornography seems to have a therapeutic value. Accompanying the discussions are film segments from The Graduate, It Happened One Night, and The Fox, and still photographs from more than two dozen movies and plays. NEWS IN PERSPECTIVE #95 is a production of National Educational Television. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche) This series of hour-long episodes goes behind the headlines of the past month and looks briefly ahead - at the places, people, and events that are likely to make headlines in the coming weeks. A distinguished team from The New York Times summarizes and interprets the major news developments throughout the world and provides a back ground for better understanding of probable future events. Each NEWS IN PERSPECTIVE episode is designed particularly to clarify the complexities of current history. Lester Markel is the editor-moderator of episodes 1 - 89. Clifton Daniel took over for Mr. Markel for the remainder of the series. Max Frankel, diplomatic correspondent for The Times in Washington, DC, and Tom Wicker, White House political correspondent for The Times, are guests on many episodes. Starting with episode 38, the switched switched from monthly to bi-monthly. One of the month's episodes would follow the standard format, with a host and usually Frankel and Wicker commenting on current events. The other episode would be focused on a particular topic and feature subject experts in addition to Times reporters. Throughout each episode maps, photographs, cartoons and slides are used to illustrate the topics under discussion. NEWS IN PERSPECTIVE is a production of National Educational Television, in cooperation with The New York Times. Episodes were frequently produced through the facilities of WNDT, New York. The facilities at WETA, in Washington DC, were used at times, in addition to other international locations. This series was originally recorded on videotape, sometimes in black and white and sometimes in color.