'69 theater aimed at youth
By MIKE SHEARER and DICK HVALE
Tuxedoed gentlemen and befrilled, befurred, young women stood back as the young actor emerged from his Cadillac in front of the theater where he was to play the President of the United States in a new Broadway show.
The play was "Che," and if costume designers in New York were kept busy this year, it was not by "Che" or any one of several unclothed Broadway and Off-Broadway counterparts.
Heads turned when Paul Georgiou stepped onto the curb because he was in costume, or rather out of costume.
In both the cinema and the theater, there was a new frankness in 1969, a new frankness about skin, sex, ethnic background and social movements. The effect was almost always stimulating, sometimes uncreative and forever innovative.
The big films of the year (both in quality and in profit) appealed more to youth than did the top
On Broadway (and off), "Che" and "Oh, Calcutta" had taken the cue from the unveiled "Hair" cast and went a step further, simulating various sexual acts. "Oh, Calcutta!" combined the talents of Samuel Beckett, Jules Feiffer, Dan Greenburg and director Kenneth Tynan with plenty of nudity and sensuality to rate the highest prices ever paid on or off Broadway. In addition to skin and sensuality, the eager audiences were treated to what Time magazine very discreetly called words "beginning with f, c and s."
films of last year, and yet their GMRX ratings were more prohibitive. "Easy Rider" and "Alice's Restaurant" received "R" ratings and "Midnight Cowboy" garnered an "X."
where "Big Time Buck White" and "The Great White Hope" left off earlier. Amos 'n Andy had never been further in the past than they were this year.
Blacks seemed highly prominent in plays on and off Broadway (particularly when compared to their relative disappearance from the cinema this year). "Ceremonies in Dark Old Men," "God is (Guess What?)," "No Place to Be Somebody," and "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" all took up
If the cinema neglected blacks this year, it treated youth prolifically, "Easy Rider" and "Alice's Restaurant" gave perhaps the best portraits of the struggles of independent young people in a structured society. "If," "Medium Cool," "Me, Natalie," "Goodbye, Columbus" and "The Sterile Cuckoo" all added comments on various traumas and dilemmas
Another play, "Indians," voiced indignation at the treatment of American Indians, and still another, "Does a Tiger Wear a Neckie?" was about the black-board jungle and its victims, "Irish killers," "black whores," "Puerto Rican junkies" and others in slum schools.
In cinema, the black man was engineered through the unsuccessful "Slaves" and "The Lost Man" but was captured briefly on Gordon Parks' film, "The Learning Tree."
which face American youth, several adding some wonderful characterizations to the film media.
"When do we live? That's what I want to know." yelled a character in "If," the British movie that American students took to heart. The question of just when do we live seemed to inspire more youth-oriented film-makers and more theater-going youths than any other questions this year. If all of America's youth did not join in the battle cry of "IF: "Death to the oppressor!"—they at least felt comradeship to the film's characters through experiencing common pressures and anxieties.
"Being beaten up for having long hair, getting busted for smoking dope, having parents who worry about what neighbors will say about their hippie kids and being hassled by red-neck sheriffs," were problems listed backstage at "Stomp," a Texas-born play about "when do we live," by some Midwest young people who had experienced these problems.
A Swedish movie that missed a "G" rating by a longshot was "I Am Curious (Yellow)." The film was easily the most revealing of the human body ever shown popularly in the United States, and its showing drew wide publicity as several attempts at banning it were made (including a successful attempt in Johnson County).
1969 politics mixed
But not all of 1969's movies were challenging, "True Grit," with John Wayne, "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford, "Paint Your Wagon," with Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood, and "Hellfighters," with John Wayne and Jim Hutton, attempted little more than adventure and entertainment.
No sooner was the 91st Congress in session than speculation began; will Richard Nixon be a one-term President or, perhaps, a trend-setter? Was 1968 just another election, or a "watershed" election-a breakthrough of the kind that ushers in a new political cycle? It's too early to draw conclusions without the advantage of removed retrospect, but many seem to think the 1968 election may well belong in the latter category.
It was one of those "off" years in politics where the issues and implications become more subtle—the newsworthy happenings perhaps blown a bit bigger to provide the political columnists with topics to hash over and analyze.
And two musicals from last year, "Oliver!" and "Funny Girl," made much profit without carrying a profound message. Inferior to both of the great holdovers was "Sweet Charity" with Shirley MacLaine. Two big musicals opening in the last month of the year are "Hello, Dolly!," with Barbra Streisand, and "Goodbye, Mr. Chips." with Peter O'Toole. Probably the biggest musical on Broadway this year was "Dear World," with Angela "Mame" Lansbury, and Pearl Bailey's carrying of the stage version of "Hello, Dolly!" into the all-time longest run is certainly noteworthy.
Early in the year the Democrat party seemed to be in more trouble than most of its partisans would acknowledge. Republicans, already holding the majority of gubernatorial seats, began to focus on a dozen or so states as key targets for GOP bidding to end Democrat control in at least the Senate.
With nine Republican senators and 25 Democrats ending their terms with the current Congress, some early, effective campaigning maneuvers were certain to be the motive behind much of the logrolling and voting on Capitol Hill.
At the onset, the year appeared basically patterned with only the tactical details undisclosed. However, two major political catalysts occurred and set the carefully predicted trends catapulting off into uncertainty.
Democrats struggle
The Democrats struggled to hold together their curious coalition of New Deal elements who finally rallied to Hubert Humphrey and to strategically "feel out" the growing constituency outside the party. Their "most likely to succeed" candidate, Edward Kennedy, drove off a bridge in Martha's Vineyard, drowning a young secretary and dampening his immediate political future. While he maintained some support from his constituents for pleading guilty to the charge of leaving the scene, the inquest may cast new doubts on even this loyal backing.
The party floundered in the leadership vacuum. Hubert Humphrey retired to teaching, only occasionally disclosing minimal political ambitions and for no more than a Senate seat.
10 KANSAN Dec. 17 1969
Eugene McCarthy, accumulating more and more "cop out" labels, finally announced his decision not to run for re-election.
Throughout the Democratic turmoil, the picture looked rosy for the Republicans. The country seemed to be buying the law-and-order pitch, giving Nixon a chance at his way with the war, and to identify as the "silent majority," eight-hour-a-day patriot who would back the administration.
Then the GOP blew it. Something that was perhaps foreshadowed in Hickel's appointment controversy unfolded in the closing weeks of 1969. The Clement Haynsworth debate set the Senate on fire with sparks flying in every direction and across party lines.
Of the youth-oriented films, "Easy Rider" probably tackled the problem of being young and unconformed better than any other. The film starred Peter Fonda and director Dennis Hopper as two freedom-loving motorcyclists who felt the heavy brunt of America's dislike for the young who attempt to do their own thing in their own time. The result was a film that had everybody talking.
Nixon defeat
Even so, in the South, Nixon's image probably has gained new luster despite the loss. He will get credit for trying as he promises to again look to the South for another candidate.
onstrations in the streets and awakened doubts about the wisdom of those who capsulize the political news.
Nixon's nominee to the Supreme Court seat was beaten in the Senate vote by an unpredicted 55-to-45 margin. It was an undeniable defeat for Nixon, who had chosen to lay the prestige of his office on the line. His nominee was the first to be rejected by the Senate since 1930.
Millions were appropriated for defense and little for our land and ever-graying air. Congress reached an agreement on a low ceiling for U.S. spending and promptly undercut Nixon's foreign aid proposal. The income tax surcharge was extended. Cyclamates were banned and a Senate subcommittee took on the exploration of intolerable conditions of poverty.
Thirty-eight Democrats voted against Haynsworth, but the margin of defeat was provided by the GOP. Seventeen Republican senators, including the top three leaders, defected.
Nixon's prestige also has received a setback, though it is difficult to gauge how severe or long-lasting it may be. If nothing else, the Haynsworth case raised some embarrassing questions about his leadership capacities.
Housing and Apollo
Housing became guaranteed for the urban renewal displacement and, at the same time, with Apollos 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 sitting in storage, Nixon admitted that he was leaning more and more toward space as a top priority in appropriations. For the present, the administration seems to have gained points. It has, for the first time in years, evoked loyalist dem-
The peace movement, momentarily out of breath from internal dissension, appears, to some, to have yielded to the efforts in D.C. And everywhere there are low rumblings that perhaps it is indeed time to return to conventional methods and give orderly politics, including orderly withdrawals and de-escalation of the war, a chance. The war is the big issue again at the close of another year. If Nixon can keep it going until 1971 or '72 and then end it, he's a shoо-in and the Republicans may effectively ride his coattails. If not, the end of the decade—1969—would seem to predict a valid stand again for a Democratic table turning.
"Everybody's Talkin'" was one of the songs from "Midnight Cowboy," the other film that everybody was talking about in 1969. Destined for more Academy Awards this year than any other film, "Midnight Cowboy" is about the strange relationship between two very lonely people, played by Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman, who delivered two of the greatest performances of the decade. Joe Buck and Ratso Rizzo became legends to theater-goers of 1969. Strangely enough, this touching movie received an "X" rating while insensitive movies like "Dracula Has Risen from the Grave," "A Few Bullets More" and "Curse of the Ghouls" all received "G" ratings, open to children of all ages.
But the merely pleasant or the merely entertaining movie seems to be less prominent this year than last, and certainly less prominent this decade than last.
As 1698 transforms into 1970 and as the 1960's transform into the 1970's, it is rather fitting that a new film called "Myra Breckinridge" should be in the offing. It is about the change from male to female (Rex Reed to Raquel Welch), and on the set young Miss Welch has been battling with co-star Mae West (a veteran film star, pushing 80).
While the movie will probably not be the best ever filmed, its topic—metamorphosis—and its filming history—youth against age—seem to set the pace for the opening of a new decade.
Hail, Myra!
Sex leads best-sellers
By LINDA LOYD and KEN PETERSON
Great American reading audiences in 1969 tossed aside recent books about civil rights, the Kennedy's and war to indulge in a topic that's been around since Adam and Eve-sex.
Although the sex expose has been widely acclaimed since Americans first learned to read, 1969 seemed to be the year in which everyone, whether talented or not, got into the act of writing them—your neighbor, your local newspaper and probably your best friend.
Most notable was the collectively authored sex novel, "Naked Came the Stranger," by Penelope Ashe, whose 15 chapters were written by 24 staff members of Newsday, a Long Island suburban newspaper. The idea for "Stranger" originated with one Newsday columnist who was appalled at the success of such novels as Jacqueline Susann's "Valley of the Dolls." Adopting the philosophy, "if you can't likt 'em, join 'em," "Naked Came the Stranger" sold more than 20,000 copies the first month.
In 1969, Miss Susann wrote another best seller, "The Love Machine," which centers on a power-mad TV executive who between vodka and bed is incapable of love and marriage. Equally popular, "Airport" by Arthur Hailey, portrays the men and women who share several airport hours during a snowstorm. Hailey's former best seller was "Hotel" and his next book will probably be titled "Bus Stop."
The film version of Philip Roth's "Goodbye, Columbus" skyrocketed on popularity charts in 1969 as did his "Portnoy's Complaint," which concerns a 33-year-old Jewish bachelor who delivers a frenzied and funny monologue on sex and guilt while stretched out on a psychiatrist's couch.
Not all exposes in 1969 concerned sex. Several revealed inside secrets of well-known personalities and institutions.
Mary Barellis Gallagher, White House secretary to Jackie Kennedy, raised a few eyebrows and insights in her critical "My Life with Jacqueline Kennedy."
How a few multimillionaires run America was told in "The Rich and the Super-Rich" by Ferdinand Lundberg.
Gay Talese, a former New York Times reporter, took readers behind the front page for a look at the New -ork Times' history and staff personalities in "The Kingdom and the Power."
The 1968 election was still on Americans' minds in 1969 and several outstanding books were written on the subject. Theodore White added the third of his
Two well-read books on the Mafia emerged in 1969: "The Godfather" by Mario Puzo, and "The Valachi Papers" by Peter Maas.
"The Money Game" by Adam Smith, in reality George Goodman, explored mysteries of the stock market.
series on Presidents in the 1960's, "The Making of the President—1968." White called it an election year in which events—tragedy, inflation and disorders—overshadowed individuals. In "The Selling of the President—1968," Joe McGinniss disclosed the tremendous care and expense which contributed to molding President Nixon's image for camera and public during the campaign.
Memoirs and histories were popular in 1969. They included "Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story" by Carlos Baker; "The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad" by Harrison Salisbury, "The Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson" by Eric F. Goldman, "My Life with Martin Luther King Jr., by Coretta Scott King, "Prime Time" (about Edward R. Murrow) by A. Kendick, "An Unfinished Woman" by Lillian Hellman; "Jennie" by Ralph G. Martin; "Instant Replay: The Green Bay Diary of Jerry Kramer" and "Present at the Creation" by Dean Acheson.
A list of best fiction books must include "The Salzburg Connection" by Helen MacInnes, "Except for Me and Thee" by Jessamyn West, "Ada" by Vladimir Nabokov, "Bullet Park" by John Cheever and "The Andromeda Strain" by Michael Crichton.
Other outstanding nonfiction were "Miss Craig's 21-Day Shape-Up Program for Men and Women," "The Peter Principle" by Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull, "Between Parent and Teenager" by Haim G. Ginott and "The Arms of Krupp" by William Manchester.