March 1967
So far, Police Chief Bob Werth has had one caller wanting to know if his department is going to allow the showing of the controversial film “Ulysses.” It runs three days at only three theaters in southeast Michigan, including The Hills Theater in Rochester.
James Joyce’s “Ulysses” was published in 1918 but was not allowed in this country until 1933 when Justice John M. Woolsey of the U.S. District Court declared, “Ulysses, in spite of its unusual frankness, I do not detect anywhere the leer of the sensualist. I hold, therefore, that it is not pornographic.” It was published in the U.S. shortly after and found its way to library shelves, including here. Still, many referred to it as "that nasty movie."
Chief Wirth, City Manager Bill Sinclair and theater owner Bud Taylor held a meeting Monday morning to discuss the matter. Chief Werth notes that there is no local ordinance covering such matters. If someone wants to protest, they must go to the county prosecutor and sign a complaint, after having seen the film. It would then need be prosecuted under the state’s obscenity laws. Since one court ruled on the book 34 years ago, there’s not much chance someone could successfully prosecute the matter now.
AT $5.50 PER SEAT, it’s doubtful that the average film-goer is going to casually drop in to view the movie. It seemed like only a few years ago that a controversy was raging over the film “Lolita.” Last Friday night it could have been in everyone’s living room had they turned on their TV sets at 11:30 p.m. If anyone has a strenuous objection to “that nasty movie,” as some call it, they really don’t have any problem. Just don’t go.
In fact, they can invest their money in an exclusive two-day engagement of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Mikado” showing at the Hills Wednesday and Thursday, March 8 and 9. It is being shown at only nine Detroit area theaters, not quite as exclusive as “Ulysses,” but the price will definitely be cheaper.
WHEN THE assistant to the Oakland University chancellor, Herb Stoutenburg, spoke to the Regional Planning Commission a week ago, he was tossed the usual question— “Will Oakland University ever get into football and build a stadium?” The university administration from the beginning has taken a stand against the high-pressure intramural sports. But eventually they have conceded to some of the low-pressure ones such as swimming, track and now basketball. But Herb says that football is out as far as he can see into the future.
Secretly, though, Herb admits with a smile, that a new development might convince him to change his mind in the matter. Seems as though the campus newspaper, the ”Oakland Observer,” has declared that should a stadium ever be built, an appropriate name would be “Stoutenburg Stadium.”
Living only a few short blocks from the campus myself, I can hardly wait until the day a stadium is built and crowd of 50,000 arrives for a Saturday afternoon game. Just think of the money that will be rolling in as cars park all over my lawn!
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SUBURBAN NOTE: Housebroken nowadays means you’re buying one.
