COMICS. RADIO. MOVIES

- AND CHILDREN

B Y J O S E T T E FRANK



Some appraisals of

COMICS, RADIO, MOVIES—AND CHILDREN

by members of the distinguished panel of 30 critics who

assisted in the preparation of this Public Affairs Pamphlet:

S. HARCOURT PEPPARD, M.D., Director, Essex County Juvenile Clinic, Newark, New
Jersey. (Formerly Acting Director, Bureau of Child Guidance)

"The general tone of this statement is the best that it has ever been my privilege to

read. I am particularly impressed by the success achieved in giving both sides of the

story and thus presenting a very constructive and objective point ot view."

ERNEST OSBORNE, Professor of Education, Teachers College, Columbia University.

"It seems to me that it deals with all the important problems in a very judicious way

and does not take an extreme position on either side. I am sure it will be useful to

parents
."

LAURETTA BENDER, M.D., Senior Psychiatrist, New York University—Bellevue Medical
Center.

"I am glad to report that I found the general tone meeting with my approval."

JUDGE ANNA M. KROSS, Consultant, Youth Conservation Committee, General
Federation of Women's Clubs.

"This pamphlet is a comprehensive yet simple and readable analysis of the most con-

troversial of the new media for reaching the masses. Its sane and impartial evaluation

of the good and bad uses of radio, movies, and comics should commend it to all. I

would recommend it particularly to parents, teachers, and civic leaders."

HARVEY ZORBAUGH, Professor of Education, School of Education, New York
University.

".
. . excellent job, objective and constructive; will be reassuring to parents who have

been made very jittery by newspaper stories and magazine articles."

MRS. SAMUEL A. LEWISOHN, Chairman Board of Trustees, Public Education Associa-
tion, New York, N. Y.

".
. . will be extremely helpful to parents, teachers, and other citizens interested in the

welfare of children."

GOODWIN WATSON, Professor of Education, Teachers College, Columbia University.

"There have been piecemeal attacks before on this problem that has. bothered a lot of

people, but this is the first comprehensive and valid treatment of the problem."

EDWIN J. LUCAS, Executive Director, Society for the Prevention of Crime.

"On the whole, I think it is an admirably done job and should prove to be both read-

able and provocative."

JEAN SCHICK GROSSMAN, Director of Parent Education, Play Schools Association,

New York, New York.

".
. . extremely valuable to parents, particularly now, in view of all the conflicting

opinions that have added to their anxieties. This is a fine clarification of how these

media can be used wisely in the life of a family."

LYMAN BRYSON, Professor of Education, Teachers College, Columbia University,

and Counsellor on Public Affairs of Columbia Broadcasting System.

"It strikes down the middle of the road in advising parents on how to meet the prob-

lems that these mass media create. If anything, I would say it is somewhat too kind in

its statement of the damage that these things can do. The pamphlet will be a

very useful publication."

Oeacfclted



COMICS, RADIO, MOVIES

-AND CHILDREN
By JOSETTE FRANK

COMICS, radio, movies, and television—these are a part of our

children’s world today. They are among the ways by which

words and ideas, our culture and our thinking, are being passed

along to our children. Yet many view these new developments

with misgivings, and yearn for the good old days when a child

could sit down with a book without being distracted by the

voice of the radio and the ever-present lure of a comics magazine.

This wish might astonish parents of not so many generations

ago who looked upon books themselves as breeders of idleness

and daydreaming. When the invention of printing made books

available to everyone, pleasure reading was first forbidden, then

restricted. Not so many years ago Gullivefs Travels and Huckle-

berry Finn were forbidden reading for the young. Today we

not only accept books, we hope and sometimes insist that our

children read them. Indeed, many parents now resist comics,

radio, and movies on the ground that they take time which might

otherwise be spent with “a good book.” Sooner or later, however,

we shall probably accept these new developments, too, and learn

to use them as we have learned to use books.

Josette Frank is Educational Associate in charge of Children’s Books

and Radio on the staff of the Child Study Association of America. She

is a lecturer and the author of numerous magazine articles and of the

book, What Books for Children, published by Doubleday.

Copyright, 1949, by the Public Affairs Committee, Incorporated

—A nonprofit, educational organization—



Some of the Questions Parents Ask

Toward that end we need to know more about these “lively

arts.” What are they doing to our children, and for our children?

What are their values? Their dangers? How can we make them

serve our boys and girls better than they do now? How shall we

manage our children’s radio listening, movie going, and comics

reading? As members of the community, what can we do to

safeguard not only our own children but all children against

the abuses to which all three forms have been subject? How

can we help develop these forms as creative instruments for

children’s pleasure and profit?

This pamphlet is an attempt to answer some of these questions.

THE COMICS

LET’S look at the comics first. What are these comics, anyway?

What’s in them? Why do children—almost all children—love

them so? Why do some adults condemn them? What effect do

they have on young readers? Shall we forbid them? Shall we

ignore them? Can we “improve” them?

Some Facts About the Comics

To begin with, the “comics” are badly misnamed. The name

is a carry-over from the early days when comic strips in the news-

papers were supposed to make people laugh. Many of today’s

comics are not funny, and do not pretend to be, though people

still refer to the comics magazines as “joke books” or “funnies.”

Some of the strips are still humorous, however—a few with deep

and subtle humor, but most of the slapstick and nonsensical

variety. Some comics magazines are sprinkled with jokes and

funny shorts in between other content.

Today’s comics trace their origin back to the hilarious and

sadistic picture strips of Max and Moritz, created by the German

artist Wilhelm Busch almost a hundred years ago. Direct descend-

ants of these two bad boys are, of course. The Katzenjammer Kids

and The Captain and the Kids

,

two strips that appear both in

newspapers and in comics magazines and have been high favorites

with many generations of children. But actually the art of telling

stories in picture strips is older than history. Examples of such art

have been left by the early Egyptians and the cave dwellers.

2



In American newspapers, comics were introduced at the turn

of the century. These were intended for adult newspaper readers,

but the children loved them, so it was natural that others should

soon appear, addressed
^

directly to the young

audience. It remained

for our age of mass pro-

duction to gather the

comic strips into maga-

zine form to be sold on

newsstands, and make

them Big Business.

The figures are stag- '

gering: Today fifty mil-

lion comics magazines are sold on newsstands every month. It

is estimated that of the seventy million purchasers of such maga-

zines annually, about 40 per cent are children between the ages

of eight and eighteen. Of course, each book has many more

readers, since children circulate them by “swapping” or resale as

long as the pages hold together. Surveys point to the likelihood

that 98 per cent of all children between the ages of eight and

twelve read comics. These readers come from all types of homes

and cultural backgrounds, rich and poor, city and country, well-

educated and uneducated. Intelligence quotients seem to make

no difference, for comics are read by bright and dull children

alike, although the bright children are likely to outgrow them

earlier.

What's In the Comics?

What is in these magazines? The greater portion of them still

fall, roughly, into about the same groups that children’s reading

always has: adventure, fantasy and magic, crime and detective,

westerns, humor and nonsense, humanized animals, adolescent

jitterbug capers, stories about real people, and history and

current events.

Along with these, however, are an increasing number of highly

unsavory crime and horror stories, many of them sadistic and

full of sex excitement, whose covers scream with lurid pictures,

often promising more murder or more sex interest than their

inside pages offer. At present, there is no way to distinguish—

without reading them—the comics that are suitable for children

3



from these unsavory ones. In general, the latter are not among

the high favorites with younger readers, but are more apt to

attract adolescents and adults.

In quality the comics differ widely. At the top are some really

fine artists whose drawing is superb comic art and whose strips

are justly famous: Terry and the Pirates

,

originally created and

until recently drawn by Milt Caniff; Soglow’s Little King; and

Bud Fisher’s original funny men. Mutt and Jeff. Some of the

art in comics is mediocre, and some of it is outrageously bad. The

same is true of the story material. In terms of its own kind, some

of it is imaginative, spritely, and funny; some is commonplace

or lacking in taste. Editorial policy ranges from care for details

of background and information, and high standards of drawing

and editing, to the most slovenly neglect of grammar and spelling.

Naturally, too, the social views of editors and publishers find

their way into the comics, just as they do in newspapers. (Twenty

per cent of comics magazines consist of reprints from newspaper

strips.) Sometimes the cartoonist expresses his own social view-

point. Little Orphan Annie has sometimes appeared as the

protagonist of management against labor. Li’l Abner satirizes

Big Business. Terry and the Pirates fights for social justice.

Superman strikes at the roots of juvenile delinquency, and so on.

A few of the leading publishers of comics magazines maintain

advisory boards of educators and psychiatrists who pass upon

their material from the point of view of its suitability for children

and who have set up standards for guidance in this respect.

Why Do Children Love Comics?

What is the fascination of the comics? Probably the greatest

common ingredient is action. Children like things to happen,

and in the comics they do, fast and furiously. The very first page,

even the cover, offers a sort of preview of things to come. And

from the very outset there is never a dull moment. Even the

gentler types of comics never let the reader down, but maintain

a swift pace from beginning to end.

The action is easy to follow; the relation of cause and effect

clear and immediate. As one child put it: “You know by the

pictures what the people are doing, and you know by the balloons

which person is saying what.” You also know by the pictures

which are the “good” people and which the “bad,” and you

know more or less what to expect of them. The young reader

4



gets a lot for his money—and with very little effort. Since reading

is, for most children, a difficult skill to master to the point of

enjoyment, this is no small factor in the popularity of the comics.

The fact that all the action is of the biff bang variety, with

everybody and everything being battered about, is especially

pleasing to youngsters to whom physical encounters are always

fascinating and forbidden. They can hardly take all this very

seriously since they take it quite for granted that the battered

victims will get up in the very next picture and go into action

again, just as, in their own games, the “dead” soldiers or cops

or robbers are expected to pick themselves up after the fight and

join the play.

Very satisfying to the youngsters, too, is the pattern of the

comics. To many of us they seem stereotyped, with endless

repetition of theme and character. But for children this offers

a certain security: They can count on everything turning out as

they would have it, for it always does. There is reassurance in

knowing that the “good guys” will defeat the “bad guys,” no

matter what the odds. Just as in the classic fairy tale, the hero

will be in danger many times, almost outdone, but always tri-

umphant, thus satisfying children’s need for a “moral ending.”

For many children the comics provide a reflection of their own

fantasies. Identifying themselves with the hero or the villian,

they are in there punching.

They fancy themselves strong

and invincible, able to over-

come the limitations of time

and space, defending the

weak and routing evil. Or

they are clever and wicked,

but authority steps in (in

the form of the law) and

their guilt feelings are re-

solved by punishment of the

villain. Perhaps they find in

these fancied roles some escape from the frustrations that go with

being “small fry” in a world full of people bigger and stronger

than they are. Here, too, as in the classic folk tales, children may
find release for pent-up feelings of hate, anger, fear, and aggres-

sion. Civilized living demands that they speak softly and behave

nicely. But along with the fabulous characters in the comics

5



they can fight their enemies, rescue their friends, rough-handle

the people who stand between them and their goals, and generally

break through the painful restrictions that go with learning to

be civilized.

What Is Their Effect?

So much controversy has raged about the comics that it is hard

to separate the facts from the feelings that run so high. The

emotional atmosphere that seems to surround this whole question

will not help solve the very real problems that are raised, not

so much by the comics as such, as by their quantity, their avail-

ability, and the abuses to which they have been subject. Many

of the recent attacks on the comics have made parents anxious

as a result of the scare headlines. This is unfortunate, because

anxious parents may do more damage to their children than

comics reading! The critics are apt to point to the “horrible

examples,” without reassuring parents that comics are not all

like this and children are not all like this. It is deplorable that

sordid and vulgar picture magazines, of any kind, by any name,

should be displayed and sold to children. But it should be

possible to eliminate these abuses without depriving millions of

children of their pleasure in Donald Duck

,

and without terrify-

ing parents into battling with their children over comics reading.

Crime and the Comics

Nor is there any basis in fact for the current news headlines

which blame comics for children’s delinquent acts, or for reckless

claims that they have caused a rise in juvenile crime. Certainly

we cannot accept at its face value the plea of a frightened child,

hoping to please the judge by his “reasons,” that he committed

his crime because he “saw it in the comics” or “in the movies.”

Yet such confessions have been quoted as “proof” of the damage

wrought by comics.

In an article in the Saturday Review of Literature, Dr. Fred-

erick Wertham attempts to trace crime to comics: “A twenty-year-

old youth in New York City has just killed a policeman. Is that

so astonishing when he can see anywhere a typical comic-book

cover showing a man and a woman shooting it out with the

police?” This brings us no closer to understanding the deep

troubles of this youth. And the anxiety it creates in parents

brings them no closer to understanding their children’s needs.

6



The causes of crime are not so simple! Children have always

done dangerous things, damaging themselves and others. They

do not know why they are driven to behave as they do. We shall

not cure the causes of this

juvenile behavior by blaming ^

it on their reading, or on the

radio, or the movies. It lies

much deeper, in our society’s

failure to meet the basic needs

of these children.

In response to an inquiry,

Edwin
J.

Lukas, Director of

the Society for the Prevention

of Crime, writes: “I am un-

aware of the existence of any scientifically established causal rela-

tionship between the reading of comic books and delinquency. It

is my feeling that efforts to link the two are an extension of the

archaic impulse by which, through the ages, witchcraft, evil

spirits, and other superstitious beliefs have in turn been blamed

for anti-social behavior.”

On this question. Dr. Mandel Sherman, Professor of Edu-

cational Psychology at the University of Chicago, states from

his experience: “In studying the causes of behavior problems of

children for many years, I have never seen one instance of a

child whose behavior disturbance originated in the reading of

comic books, nor even a case of a delinquent whose behavior was

exaggerated by such readings. A child may ascribe his behavior

to a comic he has read or a movie he has seen. But such explana-

tions cannot be considered scientific evidence of causation.”

The fact that a large number of comic books deal in crime,

or at least in violence of one kind or another, reflects the desire

of a large number of people, including children, to read about

crime and violence. This is nothing new. The greatest literature

of all time—Shakespeare, Homer, even the classic fairy tales—

abounds in violent deeds. These, in their own time, reflected the

deep inner needs of people. They still do.

The question whether reading about violence provides safe

release for children’s aggressive impulses or may, in some in-

stances, stimulate them to aggressive behavior, cannot be an-

swered readily except in terms of the individual child’s reactions.

Psychiatrists point out that many children find deep satisfaction

7



in sharing the daring deeds of their heroes, that those few chil-

dren who are driven to experiment with danger would be as

likely to respond to any other stimuli. Anything they see or hear

may suggest the pattern if the drive is there. There is no sub-

stitute for parental vigilance!

Do Comics Create Fears?

In the spring of 1948 Child Study asked a number of leading

psychiatrists whether they have found that comics, movies, and

radio create fears in children. All of those interviewed were

agreed that radio programs, movies, and comics do not in

themselves create fears, but may—for certain children and under

certain conditions—precipitate or stimulate anxieties that lie

beneath the surface, ready to be awakened. There were wide

differences of opinion, however, as to the harmfulness or help-

fulness of this material. Dr. Augusta Alpert held that while some

children appear to be more immune than others, “comics of the

thriller variety make aggression too easy and colorful and in

that way threaten the eruption of the child’s own aggressive

impulses.” Dr. Lauretta Bender, on the other hand, saw positive

values in comics reading: “Much of what they find in the comics

deals with their own unconscious fantasies. . . . Comics constitute

experience with activity, motility, movement. Their heroes over-

come time and space. This gives children a sense of release

rather than fear.”

All of those interviewed stressed the need for moderation, and

the importance of knowing each child’s vulnerability and “toler-

ance point” for this kind of excitement. Many children, they

pointed out, seem almost to enjoy testing their own capacity to

be frightened. For some children, however, horror stories,

whether in comics or elsewhere, may be too threatening. Fearful

children often protect themselves by avoiding this type of read-

ing. When they do not, we may have to safeguard them.

All children, even the hardiest, should be protected from the

type of comics magazines whose pages drip with horror and

blood. No good can be served by pictures or stories which ex-

ploit the appetites of a horror-loving public. While crime stories

seem to hold a fascination for many children, as they do for many

adults, the. point at which this enjoyment becomes unwholesome

for the young reader is one which must be carefully watched. A

child too preoccupied with crime or horror is showing us plainly

8



that he needs help. Excessive comics reading, too, may be a

symptom of disturbance. Dr. Edith Weigert, in the survey al-

ready cited, pointed out that “a yearning for anything in excess

is a symptom of some disturbance. The child who is excessively

absorbed in thrillers, whether in comics, radio, or movies, should

be helped to find more creative interests.” The problem then is

not so much to control or limit this reading, but to help the

child find better ways of coping with his difficulties. This can

sometimes be done by channeling his interest into other activities;

sometimes by helping him talk out his problems. Sometimes

more direct psychiatric help is called for.

Comics and Books

Can’t children find in books the same pleasures they look for

in the comics? They can, and many do. The output of children’s

books, well-written and beautifully illustrated and printed, has

increased greatly. Many young readers devour them and beg

for more. For the not-too-skilful reader, however, many of these

books, including some of the classics, are simply too difficult or

too long. Many such children would read nothing at all if they

didn’t have the comics.

Librarians know, too, that many very good readers of very

good books also read comics. Between these two extremes of

non-readers and good readers there are probably many comics

readers who will go on to other reading if books are made

available and attractive to them—not necessarily “classics,” but

contemporary, fast-moving, easy-to-read stories. This introduc-

tion to books does not happen by itself. It calls for help and

guidance from parents, teachers, and librarians. There is no

need for an “either-or” attitude—books or comics. Children can

read both.

Whether comics reading is a strain on children’s eyes is a

question to which more study should be given. In 1942 a study

of “Legibility in Comic Books” was reported by Lukiesch and

Moss in the Sight-Saving Review, citing wide differences among

these magazines in respect to size and readability of the lettering

used. The report concluded that “most comic books represent

a great step backward in the matter of safeguarding the eyesight

of children.” It offered specific suggestions for improved read-

ability of captions and balloons. Some comics magazines have

since made efforts to conform with these excellent and very

9



simple suggestions, but a great many of them are still far below

standard in this respect.

Parents and Comics Reading

Perhaps the most frequent complaint about comics magazines

is that they are so many, so available, and so persistent. Even the

parent who raises objections to them on any or all of the counts

mentioned would tolerate an

occasional comic book. But

hordes of them! Not only

does a child amass them for

rereading, but he clings to

his hoard, guarding it against

housecleaning mothers and

borrowing playmates. Not

only at home, but every-

where he goes there are

comics. One cannot shut

them out for they are every-

where. Forbidding is worse than useless—even if it were desirable

—for it only drives their reading underground.

A child reading a comic is lost to all else. He hears not, neither

does he see. This can be pretty irritating in a household when

chores and routines have to be done. And in the classroom,

how can arithmetic or grammar compete with the surreptitious

comics magazine?

The answer to many of these problems seems to lie in the same

kind of wise and understanding management we use in all our

relationships with our children. There is a time for reading and

a time for other things. There are limits beyond which anything

may be harmful. These limits cannot be fixed for all children

and all times, but are governed rather by the needs of the moment

and the needs of the child. We cannot count on rules and dic-

tums: one comics magazine a week, one comic for every “good”

book read, one old one discarded for every new one bought.

Such devices are meaningless and arbitrary and lead to endless

bargaining and bickering. On the other hand, a child can, if

he feels his parent is sympathetic, accept the reasonableness of a

suggestion to postpone the comics until after his homework is

done, or his practicing, or the dishwashing. He can understand

10



why he should not bring comics to school where more urgent

matters demand his attention. Such suggestions or directives,

however unwelcome, are reasonable and understandable—and

most children will respond to them, especially if they are free

at other times to read as they choose.

The guidance we give to his selection will depend upon our

understanding of the particular child’s needs and interests. His

choices will often give us clues to the needs he is trying to meet

through his reading. Does he prefer the less exciting Disney

animals or the sheer lunacy of Popeye? Does he like true stories

and real heroes, or prefer fantasy and magic? Dr. Katherine

Wolf, has found that usually children progress from one of these

interests to another, as they grow through various stages in their

own development. Young children prefer the gentler animal

fables and cartoons. At seven or eight or nine they turn to the

more fantastic and magical, and thence to the more realistic

“could be possible” tales.

Within each of these categories there are good and bad comics

among which we may help children select those which are better

edited, better printed, and better drawn. We need to know what

is in these magazines and what are the differences among them.

We can help children arrive at standards of their own for selecting

the best and recognizing the unsuitable. As with everything else

within the child’s reach—his play, his sports, even his food—he

needs parental guidance, and he will accept it if it is based on

parental understanding that he also has reasons for his choices,

and tastes of his own. These will change and develop and grow

as his interests and experiences expand.

Can We Improve the Comics?

We can help to raise the standards of publishing in this, as

we have in other fields, by asking for really good story material

and good art work. To succeed, however, we shall have to define

“good” in terms that appeal to children. The children have some

reason to suspect adult recommendations of “a good book”—

they expect it to be dull, or at least difficult. They will not permit

us to take the heart out of their comics. Neither can we safely

resort to censorship laws to determine what is and what is not

suitable reading for our children. Standards must be based on

11



a sensitive understanding of many kinds of young readers as

well as of the comics themselves.

Picture strips offer great possibilities for education as well as

for pleasure. They are one of the most effective means yet found

to tell a story. They convey ideas to many who find reading

difficult. It will be a pity if our impatience with some comics

magazines blinds us to the virtues of others and shuts off further

experimentation with them. Comics can be inspired and imag-

inative, interesting and funny, informative and meaningful.

There is no reason not to make more of them so.

RADIO COMES IN

RADIO attracts children for many of the same reasons as do

the comics. And it raises most of the same objections from par-

ents and teachers: that radio listening interferes with other

activities, wastes time which might better be spent in reading,

athletics, outdoor fun, or creative activity; that what the children

hear dulls their tastes; that listening to crime programs may

inspire them to crime; and, above all, that the horror and mystery

programs induce nightmares.

Radio listening is in certain respects more difficult for parents

to manage than the comics reading. It cannot be confined to a

particular listener—it reaches everyone within earshot, young

and old, sensitive and robust,

receptive and unwilling. It de-

mands even less effort than

comics. Parents complain that

the children sit for hours, let-

ting the waves of sound pour

into their ears. They even do

their homework with their <2-

ears slanted to the loudspeaker.

12



“Ear-massage,” one mother calls it. Yet children can do more than

listen. They can and often do participate. For radio is, in a

very true sense, a people’s art.

It is a young art, however—younger than the movies, younger

than comic strips. Programs for children began almost with the

beginning of popular broadcasting. The earliest juvenile pro-

grams were fresh and creative, some of them more so than any-

thing that has appeared since. Some years ago, the Columbia

Broadcasting System introduced its Saturday morning half-hour

of Let's Pretend in which the traditional folk and fairy tales are

dramatized with a light touch and performed by talented young-

sters, professionally trained. Throughout the years this program

has remained a classic favorite with many children—and their

parents, too. Older children, however, were soon attracted to

serialized adventure-drama. The Lone Ranger has ridden the

western plains three or more nights a week these fifteen years,

to the exciting strains of the William Tell Overture—known to

many of the younger generation only as “the Lone Ranger music.”

What Is There to Hear?

In the short span of years since their beginning, children’s

radio programs have developed in many directions, both for

better and for worse. Improved skills and techniques have gen-

erally raised the level of performance. Today, children can turn

the dials to a wide variety of programs keyed especially to their

interests. These include songs and storytelling, dramatized adven-

tures (some based on comics characters)
,
hobbies, variety shows

with child participants, children’s quiz shows and forums, his-

torical and biographical sketches, science and nature programs,

stories from the classics and the Bible, and music. In the past

few years there has been a considerable development of programs

especially designed for teen-agers: comedy sketches, discussion

forums, book reviews, fashion notes, disc jockeys, and variety pro-

grams, some of the latter featuring name bands, others inviting

audience participation. A few of these are on major networks,
but the greater number and variety are carried on local stations.

The fact that a network program can draw upon more money,

more talent, and more technical skill in its presentation, often

gives it more pulling power than a local program on the same

hour; but this is not always the case. A local program may be
just as acceptable to the young listener as one originating on a

13



network, provided it is also just as good. To be successful, the

local program must be resourceful in using community interest,

talents, facilities, and local appeal.

In radio listening, just as in

are the time-clock for great numbers of school-age children. A

recent offer of an “atomic ring” on one adventure serial recently

—in return, of course, for the usual box-top—brought three and a

half million responses.

While these adventure serials seem to follow a formula or

pattern, they are not really “all alike,” as casual listeners think,

but differ widely, not only in their content and characters, but

also in the skill and care of their script writing and production.

Some of them are hackneyed, lacking integrity in plot and back-

ground. Others are imaginative and sincere, with honest charac-

terization and carefully authenticated background. Some stress

attitudes on social problems—Terry and the Pirates (based upon

the comic strip) builds ties of sympathy and understanding with

the people of the Orient; Superman champions the cause of

minorities in our own country; during the war Hop Harrigan

provided authentic information about planes and flying for air-

minded youngsters; the Lone Ranger has for many years high-

lighted traditions of American frontier life in our Great West.

Thus, some of these programs serve our children, much as books

do, offering entertainment, information, and background. Some

of them offer little beyond suspense and excitement, though the

children seem to enjoy them nevertheless.

It is these programs which have drawn the greatest criticism

from parents, who complain that they are full of violence, sus-

penseful, and over-stimulating. Almost always the program that

is most heartily disapproved of in any poll of parental opinion

comics, movies, and other inter-

ests, children’s tastes differ. Some

boys and girls avoid the thrillers,

preferring the milder entertain-

ment of music or comedy, or the

more thoughtful quiz or forum

discussions. There can be no

doubt, however, that the largest

audience is attracted to the blood-

and-thunder adventure serials.

These are the programs which

14



turns out to be the one enjoying the highest rating with the

young audience. The children, on the other hand, often reject

parentally “approved” programs as dull and unexciting, no

matter how desirable they may be from other points of view.

One committee of parents which issued a carefully selected list

of “recommended” juvenile programs, rechecked a year later and

discovered that all but one of the “approved” programs had

disappeared from the air, though most of the programs not so

listed were kept on the air, presumably by audience demand.

Chills and Thrills

What are they finding in this listening that keeps them coming

back daily for more? Like the comics, adventure programs pro-

vide for many children escape from the humdrum of ordinary

living. Where in their daily routines will most of our children

today find opportunities for adventure? Certainly not on city or

even suburban streets, in communities hedged around with re-

strictions. Not in our shrinking homes, crowded and ill-planned

for childhood. Not even in the routines of school and the super-

vised playground. Small wonder that so many children search

for it in radio listening, movies, and comics. Along with their

favorite hero they can fly through the air, travel to remote comers

of the earth in search of buried treasure, or zoom by airplane to

the deepest jungles. They can live dangerously yet remain

within the reassuring safety of home.

Great numbers of children seem to take in their stride an amazing

amount of blood and thunder and remain seemingly undamaged

by it. Their hero’s perpetual state of jeopardy they take quite

casually, having long since discovered that the hero always sur-

vives these threats—else the program could not continue

tomorrow. They seem to prefer programs with plenty of action,

sound effects, suspense, and violent happenings. Do we have to

give them what they want? The answer again seems to be that

we need to determine for each child how much is enough, how

much is too much.

Whether or not such programs are over-stimulating or frighten-

ing will depend on the particular child who listens, and some-

what, too, on the quantity of such listening. This has already

been discussed in relation to comics. That these programs some-

times provide the stuff from which nightmares are made is not

15



surprising since everything in the child’s experience is grist to

the mill of his fantasies. The fact that a particular experience—

whether radio program, comics, or movies—gives form to his

dreams does not necessarily make it harmful. It may possibly be

helpful in providing a pattern for working out problems of his

own. We do not know, with certainty, how far such experiences

provide release or how far they increase tension. Psychiatrists

suggest, however, that where a child seems to be unduly disturbed

by radio, movies, or comics, he may need to be protected from

such experiences. But beyond that, parents will want to examine

other factors which may be contributing to his fears. Talking

over his fears with him may give us the key to his problems—and

only by understanding these can we really protect him from

experiences which may be too much for him. Just prohibiting

a particular program won’t solve the problem. And general pro-

hibitions against listening will, in the long run, not work. We

want to enrich the child’s life, rather than restrict it, by provid-

ing attractive activities, new interests, real adventures that may

supply those things which he lacks and for which he is seeking.

Responding to pressure from parents, the networks and some

producers of children’s adventure serials have made efforts to

tone down the excitement in their programs, and especially the

suspense of the “cliff-hanger” by which they hope to carry over

the child’s listening interest from one day to the next. A number

of the serial programs have been converted to half-hour complete

episodes. Some parents complain that the programs are still too

exciting. Children complain that they are not exciting enough!

Children and Adult Programs

One disconcerting result of some of the efforts to “reform”

children’s programs has been to divert young listeners to adult

programs which are not subject to censorship as “juvenile” enter-

tainment. Certainly we cannot insist that all programs on the

air be geared to children’s needs. Yet more children listen to such

programs as The Shadow and The Inner Sanctum than to any

so-called “juvenile” program. It is not hard to see why. Even the

most daring juvenile adventure serial would be hard put to it to

compete with the violence, the pace, and the grueling suspense

of these adult crime and mystery programs. Evidently children

like it rough, and when they don’t get what they want in their

own programs, they take it where they find it.

16



One network (which has no “juveniles” in the late afternoon)

has attempted to handle this problem by announcing that it now

schedules no crime or mystery programs before 9 p.m., E.S.T.,

thus making them unavailable for young listeners in one time

zone. If this plan were generally followed by all networks and

stations (including rebroadcasts in different time-belts) it might

meet part of the problem. It would safeguard young children

from programs not geared to their capacities. Further, it would

relieve the so-called juvenile programs from pressure to compete

with more and better murders on the adult shows. It would not,

however, solve the question of providing these particular young

listeners with the thrills they seem to be looking for. Experience

warns us that they will turn elsewhere for excitement.

A surprising number of children, girls more than boys, listen

to daytime dramas—the so-called “soap operas.” Parents are

often amazed to find their youngsters listening breathlessly to a

medley of intrigue, romance, divorce, jealousy, blackmail, love,

and hate in melodramatic scenes never intended for young ears.

Much of this would seem to be far out of range of their childish

understanding and experience. Why do they listen? Perhaps for

the very reason that such emotional matters in adult affairs are

usually carefully veiled from our children. Yet they have already

sensed that more goes on in the adult world than meets the eye—

or ear—and they want to know. Unfortunately, the distorted

pictures they get from these heart-throb dramas will hardly

clarify these dark matters for them. At six or seven or eight (they

listen as young as that!) they will get only the emotional over-

tones and a sense of satisfaction from just being included. But

the nine- or ten- or eleven-year-old may find the soap opera’s

standard of human relationship mystifying or even disturbing.

Here again it is not by forbidding such listening but by listening

with them and then by talking over and interpreting what we

hear together that we can best help our children. Many a good

family discussion has been inspired by a bad radio program!

Learning to Discriminate

Along with all the sound and fury—adventure, crime, and

mystery—the young people are also listening to quiz programs,

educational and informational discussion, dramas, comedy, music,

sports, and news. Some of it is first-rate radio; some of it is pure

com. Such programs as The Aldrich Family and A Date With

17



Judy have a large teen-age listenership. The Great Gildersleeve,

Charlie McCarthy

,

and Baby Snooks draw children of all ages.

Some boys and girls are highly selective in their listening; some

listen indiscriminately. This sampling, of movies and comics

as well as radio, is one of the ways in which children learn not

only what there is in the world to choose from, but also what

they like and what they don’t. It is one of the ways of learning

to discriminate. Our job is to keep them in touch with a variety

of things that are being offered, to offer them a balanced diet,

and to help them arrive at their own standards of selection.

Listening Together

Our wisest course is to listen with the children to the programs

they most enjoy, not with a view to criticizing their choices or

ridiculing their tastes, but rather to keeping informed about what

they are hearing and being prepared to discuss the programs with

them. Listening together is a sharing of experience which can

replace the fast disappearing practice of family reading together.

If we are patient and tolerant, we can watch the evolution of

our children’s tastes and interests, watch them discard one pro-

gram and go on to others, as they grow in discrimination and

judgment. We can invite them to listen with us to the programs

we enjoy, and find a common ground of fun and interest in

comedy, drama, music, or sports. We need not expect them to

desert their childish delights and to accept ours overnight. But

in homes where the adults habitually listen to good programs

(“good” in its widest sense, covering many interests) the chil-

dren will grow eventually in appreciation and discernment. In

families, taste is contagious.

18



Time for Listening

When radio listening cuts too heavily into a child’s time-

schedule, parents can help him budget his time to include the

things that must be done: a time

for homework, music practice,

outdoor play, household chores,

etc. Usually these “musts” can

be fitted in with due regard for

certain favorite program hours.

Talking it over with the child

will determine in a friendly way

which programs may have to be

dropped, and which can, per-

haps, accompany some of the

chores. Doing homework to the

accompaniment of radio seems

to be almost universal, and par-

ents as well as teachers are con-

cerned about this. Where a

child’s school marks show plainly that the homework is suffering,

this should be a convincing argument even to him. He should

be willing to experiment for a while with homework unaccom-

panied by radio, and if his marks improve, he may concede

that homework and radio do not mix happily, at least for him.

Teachers report, however, that many students combine radio with

their homework with no apparent damage to their marks. They

seem to have developed a technique for listening with one ear!

Books and Radio

Since listening is so much easier than reading, will today’s

children never become acquainted with books, especially the

classics? Facing this question, several juvenile programs have

brought books to children via radio. One program. Adventure

Parade

,

offered excellent serialized reading of a wide range of classic

stories from Dickens to The Arabian Nights, with the accent on

adventure. This program was deservedly praised by parents,

teachers, and librarians and had an audience of all ages. Its wide

acceptance seemed to suggest that children’s thirst for adventure

can be met wholly through tried and trusted classics. Such a

thesis leaves out the important fact that children live in a con-

temporary world. They welcome the superb adventure in these

19



classic stories. But a listening diet, however good, which comes

no closer to jet-propulsion and atomic energy than Jules Verne's

fantasies can hardly hope to satisfy boys and girls born in this

atomic age. Although they enjoy these great stories, they are en-

titled also to stories about today. Adults who think nostalgically

that “classics” are safer may be interested to learn that many of

these beloved stories had spots so horrendous or brutal that they

had to be revised greatly to make them acceptable for broadcast

by the same network that unblinkingly presents The Shadow.

Contemporary books, too, have been adapted for radio both by

Columbia's School of the Air and on recordings by the Junior

Leagues of America. These recordings, heard through local sta-

tions under the title Books Bring Adventure, have been note-

worthy for the way in which they have created community co-

operation, enlisting the efforts of local libraries, schools, Parent-

Teacher Associations, and bookstores, first in publicizing the

program to young listeners, and then in making available the

books that have been dramatized on the radio—a valuable tie-up

of these two media which suggests possibilities for wider use.

Radio and books have much in common; yet each has values

distinctly its own. Radio can undoubtedly be used to stimulate

good reading. We must, however, guard against evaluating radio

programs by whether they will lead to the reading of books.

Radio is an art in its own right.

Radio in the Classroom

There has been far too little development of programs geared

directly for in-school listening. The Columbia Broadcasting

System’s School of the Air was a pioneer in this field. For many

years it broadcast directly to classrooms daily programs of science,

history, literature, current events, and music. This program was

later shifted to the late afternoon hours for after-school listening

and was recorded for school use in local rebroadcasts. Unable to

obtain sufficient cooperation from the schools, CBS finally was

forced to discontinue the program altogether. Part of the diffi-

culty arose from the impossibility of network broadcasts fitting

into the school schedules in all of the different time zones.

Although some cities and a few states have developed excellent

teaching programs for the schools, educators and school admin-

istrators in most places have been slow to recognize radio as a

tool for teaching. The number of schools in the United States

20



equipped for such use is still small. In a recent address. Chairman

of the Federal Communications Commission Wayne Coye said:

“We are faced with the chilling fact that this tool is largely un-

used by the nation’s educators. . . . Every schoolroom in America

should be equipped with its own radio set. It should be freely

integrated with classroom work as a major educational tool. As

soon as television becomes available in a community, every

schoolroom should be equipped with a television screen—the

electronic blackboard of the future.”

The Box-Top Appeal

Many people criticize radio for its high-pressure salesmanship

—the commercial that interrupts the story and leaves its climax

hanging in mid-air. If we accept the idea of commercial sponsor-

ship we shall have to admit that a sponsor has a right to adver-

tise his product on children’s programs as on others. We have a

right, however, to ask that such advertising be handled with

greater artistry than it is at present. Children, like other people,

resent the interruption of their stories “just at the most exciting

part.” They do, however, enjoy the business of writing in for

something. Putting their names on bits of cardboard and address-

ing them trustingly to their radio hero gives them a feeling of

prestige, of belonging to that big outside world. There is even a

chance that their names may be read on the air—a reward often

more coveted than the prize in a contest.

It is a form of participation that can be, and occasionally has

been, used to excellent purpose. When the Superman program

offered prizes for the best interpretation of the sentence: “All

men are created equal,” over a million boys and girls were led

to think and write about these meaningful words.

All too often, however, children are exploited by the commer-

cials carried by juvenile programs. The worst abuses of this

kind have been stopped. Children are no longer exhorted to save

the life of the hero’s mother, or the mortgage on the heroine’s

farm by purchasing the advertised product. Nevertheless, boys

and girls still listen to exaggerated statements about the miracles

of health and growth to be expected from certain foods or bever-

ages. They are often disappointed, too, by the flimsy premium

that comes in the mail after days of waiting and listening to a

build-up by a smooth-voiced announcer. When, however, the

ring or compass or badge is all it was expected to be, the young

21



recipient—now a full-fledged member of his hero’s special club—

is filled with pride and pleasure out of all proportion to the dime

invested. This universal desire of children to “write in,” to

belong, is sound. It should be encouraged but not exploited.

Children participate in radio in other ways besides “writing

in”—and are sometimes exploited in other ways, too. Where the

participation is on a professional basis, it often offers real oppor-

tunity and training for talented youngsters. A program which

simply exploits “smart” children to provide laughter for adults

fails to serve the children themselves.

Spontaneous appearances on quiz or forum programs are fun

for the children and may help to build self-confidence.

Whose Responsibility?

Radio is an art, and it is also an industry. But radio is also a

public trust. Unlike comics and movies, radio, because of its

use of the air waves, has certain obligations to the public, a

portion of whom are children. To be sure, children are a

minority of radio’s listening public, and thus the question of what

proportion of “public service” time and effort should be given

to them may be proper subject for debate. We have a right to

expect radio to take children seriously.

As to whether radio has discharged this responsibility, there

are wide differences of opinion. Parents and educators say “no.”

The industry says “yes,” and points to its public service features.

The facts are probably somewhere in between these two con-

tentions. Some stations and some networks have given children’s

programs considerable time, thought, and money—but not nearly

enough. Some have all but ignored children. To some extent the

failures of radio in respect to children may be laid at the door

of commercialism. The juvenile audience doesn’t pay off as

well as adult programs. There can be no doubt that this has

been the yardstick for measuring time-allotments. Perhaps chil-

dren’s programs could be made to pay. But in our complex set-up

of packaging programs, with the initiative and control divided

between producing agencies, advertisers, and networks, it is no-

body’s job to find out how. And the networks have encountered

so many problems in connection with these programs that they

have tended to give up on them. Writers and producers of

children’s programs must please two audiences at once—chil-

22



dren and parents—which are often poles apart in their tastes and

interests. Unable to satisfy adult critics and still hold the young

audience, many of them have found it easier, and just as profit-

able, to turn their talents to adult programs.

To some extent, however, the fault lies also with the public.

It has offered little constructive guidance. Parents and educators

have been critical, demanding, belligerent—but not helpful. They

might be both. Most of us have been so absorbed in the storm

of controversy about what is on the air for children, that we

have neglected the far larger consideration of what is not on the

air for them. We have at our service this highly effective medium

for reaching millions of children—non-readers as well as good

readers, boys and girls of all ages and all degrees of intelligence

and background, at work and at play—and we have not learned

to use it.

For example, there is very little on the air today (nothing at

all on the four major networks) for children of pre-school age.

Yet there are great numbers of home-bound children who, with

their parents, would profit by programs beamed to kindergarten

and nursery level. We need programs which will give our school-

age and teen-age boys and girls realistic reflections of the world

they live in and the country of which they are a part, of their

own place in the world’s work, their own dignity and worth, their

responsibility to their community or to their nation. For the

information and inspiration of our young people toward socially

useful ends, radio has fallen short of its possibilities.

Whose responsibility is this? The radio industry? Educators?

Parents? All three, perhaps. Together we might achieve what

none of us has achieved so far: a well-rounded, inspired, and

inspiring use of radio for children.

GOING TO THE MOVIES

NONE of the movies shown in motion-picture houses in this
country are made especially for children. This is despite the

fact that children are heavy movie-goers. Even the shorts and

animated cartoons, which children have taken unto themselves,

are designed to interest the whole movie audience. Many of these

are amusing and childlike, but some are sophisticated, vulgar.

23



or frightening, and highly unsuitable for children. Serials and

westerns, usually offered as Saturday afternoon children’s specials,

certainly have a strong appeal for the young audience, though

these are also aimed at adults. Feature pictures from Dickens to

Disney, are primarily intended for adults. Many are excellent

for children, or for the whole family to see together; others range

from the merely unsuitable to the downright undesirable.

The motion picture industry contends that motion pictures

for children would be unprofitable, since this would automatic-

ally limit their audience. This is probably so. It says, too, that

youngsters prefer adult entertainment.

Too Young for Movies

For young children, movie going is much more manageable

than radio listening. They can be kept away from the movies.

There is little in the motion picture theater that is at all suitable

for children under six. Furthermore, just sitting still and keep-

ing quiet for the duration of a full-length movie is more than

should be expected of children of this age. Some of the best

efforts of parents to organize special matinee movies for children

have been hampered by the attendance of large numbers of two-,

three-, and four-year-olds who are not yet ready for movie going

of any kind. The Motion Picture Association suggests eight as a

minimum age, and even then the child’s first movie going should

be in the company of an adult, preferably a parent, for the

impact of this experience, alone and in the dark, may be devastat-

ing or, at the least, confusing.

24



Planned Programs for Children

For school-age children, however, special children’s programs

are offered by some public-spirited exhibitors, with or without

community sponsorship. It is estimated that approximately 2,500

motion picture houses over the country now put on special week-

end programs for children. How far this falls short of the need

is indicated by the estimate that 9,000,000 children go to the

movies every Saturday afternoon!

These Saturday Special Programs are designed to satisfy the

perfectly natural desire of the eight-to-twelve-year-olds to “go to

the movies.” How suitable and how satisfying these offerings

are depends, of course, upon how wisely they are selected. It is

no easy task to satisfy children of this adventurous age with

material we consider “good” for them. Here, as with radio and

comics, the problem of guidance in selection calls for both skill

and insight into children’s needs and interests.

As they approach the teens, boys and girls grow more restive

and impatient of restraints and directives, and “going to the

movies” takes on a more social meaning. They go with one

another, and their choices are apt to be based on “what every-

body’s seeing.” They take the good with the bad. Along with

much that is trivial, or laden with crime and horror, they are

also seeing some excellent drama, from modems to Shakespeare,

musical plays, historical pageants, and fine documentaries such as

Louisiana Story. Here again, as with radio, sampling is a way of

learning to discriminate. Teen-agers still welcome, however, sug-

gestions from parents of good films to see, and the informed

parent can still offer helpful guidance.

Guides to Selection

The Motion Picture Association of America has organized a

Children’s Film Library consisting of films of other years rated as

suitable for children by the Children’s Film Library Committee.

This committee, a voluntary group of educators, parents, and

youth agencies, then checks its selections for interest before an

audience of children. These films are offered to exhibitors at

reduced rates for week-end showing to children, who also pay

reduced rates. Lists of these films are sent to any community

agency requesting them, together with suggestions for enlisting

the cooperation of local exhibitors in starting a special week-end

schedule. To meet the demand of the young audience for a

25



double feature, a selected list of current films suitable to accom-

pany these pictures is also supplied to exhibitors. This list is

compiled with the help of national organizations and community

groups who evaluate each film from the standpoint of its moral

and social implications.

The library contains such classics as The Adventures of Huckle-

berry Finn, Alice in Wonderland, Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage

Patch, Anne of Green Gables, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, The

Prince and the Pauper, Swiss Family Robinson, A Christmas

Carol, and Penrod and Sam.

Many of these classics are readily accepted by parents although

they contain adult material which might be objected to in lesser

known works of literature or new films. This has always been

true. Certainly it was true of the fairy tales we read. We must

remember that the classic of tomorrow will be derived from the

artistic productions of today.

Aids to selection are provided by various community agencies

such as the Schools Motion Picture Committee which prepares

reviews and selected lists of movies, graded as to age and interest.

This committee’s lists are published regularly in newspapers and

magazines, notably The New York Times and Cue. Parents

f

Magazine also publishes such a guide list. The United Parents

Associations of New York City, Inc. have helped parents to

formulate a set of eighteen standards as a guide for producers

and users in evaluating films for children.

Parental Responsibility

It is not enough, however, for parents to select or to help their

children select good movies. The double feature, the shorts,

even the news, make it practically certain that the young movie-

goer will be exposed to a lot of things besides the one picture

so carefully chosen. A boy or girl who goes to see a fine historical

film about Lincoln or a Mark Twain classic remains to watch a

second feature which may be a murder mystery, a gangster thriller,

or a sensational drama of broken marriage and illicit love. The

conscientious parent who tries to whisk his child out of the

theater before that second feature may find that the results are

not worth the struggle.

Parents should know what their children are seeing and be

ready and willing to interpret for them the conflicting standards

of behavior they find on today’s screen. Talking over with chil-

26



dren the many ideas presented, helping them to discuss their

reactions and clear up their confusions about what they see and

hear, is our best safeguard against the danger that they will get

“false ideas” from the movies. Whether movies incite young

people to crime raises the same questions which have already

been discussed earlier in the pamphlet in connection with comics

and radio.

As has already been said, too, in connection with comics and

radio, some children, more sensitive than others, may need to be

protected from over-exciting or frightening screen showings.

Sensitive children are apt to know their own limitations and will

cooperate with sympathetic and reasonable parental guidance.

We do not always know, however, what to protect them from.

Several psychiatrists have expressed the belief that children may

be more disturbed by child-like film stories, such as Snow White

,

Dumbo
,
and Barnbi, which come close to the child’s own fantasies

than by the more remote adult dramas. Yet the former are the

very films parents feel are most suitable for children, and many

boys and girls do enjoy them seemingly without harmful effects.

Excessive movie going, like excessive radio listening or comics

reading, suggests that something is amiss in the child’s life. Too

great reliance on this escape into a world of unreality, or too little

else to do, or will to do it, are equally signals of distress.

Films for Education

Psychiatrists agree that the movies—because they provide visual

experiences—are likely to have a greater and more lasting impact

on children than comics or radio. It would seem important, there-

fore, that all children, and especially those already under tension,

should be safeguarded in their movie going. By the same token

it would also seem that motion pictures have high potential value

for education and instruction. Yet the school use of motion

pictures, like the use of the radio, has lagged far behind their

commercial development. Despite the growing interest in, and

perfection of, the 16 mm. films as learning aids in many fields, the

number of schools in this country equipped to use such aids is

woefully small.

The growth of film libraries makes films on educational sub-

jects increasingly available for school use. The various industries

have many excellent films available for such use. Teaching Films

Custodians, Inc. has transferred a large number of commercial

27



“short subjects” to 16 mm. film. New York University Film

Library has a large and varied list of films available to schools

on a rental basis.

An excellent development, too, which need not remain unique

to motion pictures, has been the growth of high-school courses

in photoplay appreciation, first initiated by the National Council

of English Teachers. It is estimated that approximately 6,000

high schools over the country now include such courses in their

English programs. Thus the photoplay takes its rightful place as

a part of our culture, along with other forms of literature and

art, to be evaluated and understood. This approach—teaching

appreciation and therefore discrimination—might well be ex-

tended to radio programs and comics.

Perhaps the development of television, merging as it does the

techniques of comics, radio, and movies, may bring a more intelli-

gent appraisal of the over-all impact of the mass media on our

children and spur the use of all three of these powerful aids to

supplement the formal education provided by our schools.

AND NOW— TELEVISION

TELEVISION is no longer “just around the corner.” It is here—

not yet in the homes of tens of millions, as radio is, but available

nevertheless in enough homes, shops, and public places to be

reaching a very sizable audience, including, of course, children.

Whoever installs a television set finds his home immediately inun-

dated by youngsters, especially in the late afternoon hours. Re-

cently, in Hoboken, New Jersey, the police found it necessary

to clamp down on some big-hearted saloon-keepers who were

clearing out their regular patrons from the bar each afternoon

from five to six “to let the kids come in and see the television.”

So far, television’s “kiddie shows” have shown a marked depar-

ture from radio’s juvenile programs. Adapting movie and vaude-

ville techniques, they have offered animated cartoons, puppet

shows, children’s parties, contests, and amateur hours with audi-

ence participation. To date there is a notable absence of box-top

appeal, a lack which parents value more than children do. For

the most part, these programs have been kept on a childish level,

replete with slapstick, nonsense, and hubbub. Even the titles

label them as designed for the kindergarten set: “Howdy Doody,”

28



“Scrap Book,” “Small Fry Club,” “Junior Frolics,” etc. Ireene

Wicker’s enchanting nursery stories and songs, which have long

since disappeared from the air, have been revived for the young

television audience. “Howdy Doody,” a lively busybody of a

puppet, has sprung to instant fame and fortune with a devoted

audience of young folks and old.

Like radio, however, television cannot select its audience, and

children are not easily pried from their seats after the “kiddie

show” is over. Revivals of the old-time western thrillers, intended

for adults, are lapped up by the same young audience that has

loved the radio adventure serials. But there is a difference: in

television the action is much more graphic. Shooting frays and

cafe brawls are vivid, with victims “biting the dust,” “dead”

riders falling from their horses, guns “pouring lead,” murdered

corpses being tossed about and frisked—all in the day’s work for

a ranger. There is nothing new about this type of entertainment,

or about the fact that children love it. What is new is that it

now becomes available to any three- or four- or five-year-old who

happens to be within range.

The problems television raises for parents are, or soon will be,

twice as compelling. Young children will have to have their

television sessions time-scheduled, with other activities to take

them away from the screen when their show is over. School-age

children who have developed a technique for listening to radio

along with other activities—homework, for example, or washing

dishes—will find that they cannot similarly watch television “out

of one eye.” Yet essentially the parent’s job will be the same,

calling for sympathy with children’s interests, wise management

of time, and sane guidance in selection.

For older children and young people, television offers really

thrilling fare: sports—they can actually watch the World Series,

play-by-play, in some distant city; news—they can meet face-to-face
the personalities who are making world history; politics—they
can sit in on party conventions and actually watch the wheels

go round; travel—they can see the native life, as it is lived day by

day, in India, China, Mexico, and Palestine; drama—they can
see the best plays, modern and classical, adapted and beautifully

presented with talented acting. What opportunities for expand-

ing young people’s experiences and range of vision!

If we are wise, we shall make this fascinating new medium

serve our children more fully than radio has. Visual images, it

29



has been said, make deeper and more lasting impressions than

auditory ones. Now is the time, while it is still in its early stage,

for educators and parents to explore television’s possibilities.

Instead of blaming bar-keepers for letting the children in, we

might better see to it that somewhere in the community the

children have a chance to see television in suitable places. In-

stead of berating the showmen of television, as we have in radio

and movies, intelligent parents will do better to work with them

now

,

developing ways for making the most of this challenging

new resource. With intelligence and forethought we can help

determine whether television is to be an asset or a nuisance.

Skilfully used, at home and at school, television can widen cul-

tural and educational horizons for our children to an extent

never before attained by textbooks, movies, or radio.

WHAT TO DO?

IN evaluating these different media, we must take into account

not only what each has to offer but the combined impact of all

of them upon the children. While we have no way to measure

the effects of any one program or movie or comics magazine, yet

we must consider the sum total of this barrage of sound and fury

to which all our children are subjected from all sides. Our task

is to find a balance.

What Can Parents Do?

1. Try to understand the basic needs of children—and of your

own children in particular.

2. Know what your children are reading
,

seeing, hearing.

Listen with them to their preferred programs, or go with them

to movies of their own choosing. Introduce them (not too in-

sistently) to other reading, other programs, other movies which

you think they will enjoy. Invite them to listen with you to cer-

tain of your favorite programs, or go with you to a movie of your

choice.

3. Discuss their favorite programs, comics, movies, with them.

Such discussions (if they are without censure or condescension)

often help break down barriers and create mutual understanding.

4. Respect their rights and feelings—don’t throw away their

comics without their consent, don’t shut off their radio or inter-

30



rupt their programs needlessly, don’t drag them out of a movie

in the middle.

5. Help them develop critical standards by pointing out

values

;

good drawing or good content in a comics magazine, good

production or good writing in movies or radio programs. Help

them to recognize these differences.

6. Help them budget their time, for homework, music practice,

outdoor play, necessary chores, allowing for their favorite radio

programs, some comics and other reading, and occasional movies.

7. // you find that certain programs or movies upset them,

suggest that they skip these for a while. If they are really dis-

turbed they will probably be glad to cooperate in this. But if

they still seem to want these disturbing programs or movies, you

may find that just sitting with them while they are listening or

watching will be reassuring. If radio listening or movie going

absorbs the children to the exclusion of other interests and

activities, talk this over with them, too. Together you may arrive

at a sensible plan for cutting down or selecting more wisely.

8. See that they have plenty of enjoyable things to do, places

to go, wholesome friendships, varied experiences, and real ad-

ventures. Encourage their hobbies and help them get the needed

“makings.” (Puppet making has been greatly stimulated by

television.) Include them, too, in your own fun and interests.

What Can Teachers Do?

1. Recognize that comics, movies, and radio are prevalent

interests and common experiences—don’t ignore them.

2. Be familiar with some of the favorite comics and radio

programs, at least enough to discuss them with the children and

help them grow in their ability to discriminate.

3. Occasionally invite class discussion on these subjects. En-

courage the children to expand these interests into more creative

activities, using their comics or radio characters as a basis for

written stories, dramatizations, puppet shows, drawing, modelling,

or painting. They provide a familiar theme on which all the

children can contribute.

4. Direct their attention to radio programs or movies they

might not know about—not as “required listening,” however,

but for their fun and interest.

5. Introduce the children to an ever-widening range of inter-

ests. As their reading ability grows, help them find books that

31



are inviting, fast-moving, easy-to-read, so that reading books too

will grow as a pleasurable experience.

6. Suggest that comics magazines be deposited in a safe place—

to be reclaimed at the end of the day—if they prove too distracting

in class.

7. Make full use of the school radio and movie projector—or

work toward getting these if there are none in your school.

Utilize whatever school broadcasts are available in your com-

munity, tying them in with classroom discussion and study.

What Can the Community Do?

1. Stimulate and promote research by competent specialists

to determine more definitely than we know now the effects of

various kinds of reading and entertainment on children of

various ages. Work out ways for guiding parents and teachers on

the basis of these findings.

2. Look over the recreational and cultural activities your

neighborhood offers its children. See to it that there is plenty of

opportunity for boys and girls of all ages to have fun, creative

interests, and satisfying activities.

3. Know what is available to children—on the newsstands, on

the air, at the movies—and make your knowledge more than

cover-deep.

4. In parent-teacher groups, radio councils, or motion-picture

councils, study and discuss the needs of children in these fields

and evaluate what is being offered in relation to these needs.

(The children might well have a voice in these discussions, since

they are the ultimate consumers.)

5. Support with your approval programs, motion pictures, and

comics magazines which you believe are maintaining good stand-

ards for children's entertainment or education.

6. Express your protest, too, by writing to those responsible

for programs, movies, or comics you believe to be harmful or

unworthy. Informed, thoughtful criticism is more effective than

hysteria.

7. Enlist the cooperation of local radio stations and motion-

picture exhibitors in offering programs of special interest and

value to children and young people—especially radio programs

in which the young people can participate.

€i^2||^|5|k» 145

32



middle

•

Instead,

parents

are

urged

to

get

to

know

what

their

children

are

reading,

seeing,

hearing-~to

listen

with,

them

to

their

preferred

program

to

read

their

favorite

comics,

and

to

discuss

them

together.

to

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the

pamphlet

suggests

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parents

see

that

their

children

have

plenty

of

enjoyable

things

to

do,

places

to

go,

varied

experiences,

and

real

adventures,

so

that

radio

listening

or

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does

not

(MORE)



are inviting, fast-moving, easy-to-read, so that reading books too

will grow as a pleasurable experience.

6. Suggest that comics magazines he deposited in a safe place—

to be reclaimed at the end of the day—if they prove too distracting

in class.

7. Make full use of the school radio and movie projector—or

work toward getting these if there are none in your school.

Utilize whatever school broadcasts are available in your com-

munity, tying them in with classroom discussion and study.

What Can the Community Do?

1. Stimulate and promote research by competent specialists

to determine more definitely than we know now the effects of

various kinds of reading and entertainment on children of

various ages. Work out ways for guiding parents and teachers on

the basis of these findings.

2. Look over the recreational and cultural activities your

neighborhood offers its children. See to it that there is plenty of

opportunity for boys and girls of all ages to have fun, creative

interests, and satisfying activities.

3. Know what is available to children—on the newsstands, on

the air, at the movies—and make your knowledge more than

cover-deep.

4. In parent-teacher groups, radio councils, or motion-picture

councils, study and discuss the needs of children in these fields

and evaluate what is being offered in relation to these needs.

(The children might well have a voice in these discussions, since

they are the ultimate consumers.)

5. Support with your approval programs, motion pictures, and

comics magazines which you believe are maintaining good stand-

ards for children's entertainment or education.

6. Express your protest, too, by writing to those responsible

for programs, movies, or comics you believe to be harmful or

unworthy. Informed, thoughtful criticism is more effective than

hysteria.

7. Enlist the cooperation of local radio stations and motion-

picture exhibitors in offering programs of special interest and

value to children and young people—especially radio programs

in which the young people can participate.

145

32



PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE, Inc.
22 East 38th Street
New York 16, N. Y,
MUrray Hill 5-4331

For Release--Monday, March 7

PARENTS URGED TO STUDY

COMICS, NOT TO BAN THEM

Parents are warned against banning the comics reading, radio listen

ing, or movie going of their children in a new, twenty-cent pamphlet,

COMICS, RADIO, MOVIES--AND CHILDREN by Josette Frank, issued today by

the Public Affairs Committee, Inc. of New York,

Miss Frank advises parents to respect their children's rights and

feelings. Don't throw away their comidis. Don't shut off their favorite

radio programs needlessly. Don't drag them out of the movies in the

middle

.

Instead, parents are urged to get to know what their children are

reading, seeing, hearing--to listen with them to their preferred program

to read their favorite comics, and to discuss them together.

Parents are told to watch their children's reactions to exciting

programs or movies. If they appear to be too upsetting, parents can

suggest to their youngsters that they skip them for a while. Just

sitting with the children while they are listening or watching, however,

may be sufficiently reassuring,

"A child too preoccupied with crime or horror,” the pamphlet de-

clares, "is showing us plainly that he needs help. Excessive comics

reading, too, may be a symptom of disturbance.”

Finally, the pamphlet suggests that parents see that their children

have plenty of enjoyable things to do, places to go, varied experiences,

and real adventures, so that radio listening or movie going does not

( MOf^E

)



PUBLIC

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or

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It

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also

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to

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local

radio

stations

and

motion-picture

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offering

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(SPECIAL

I'TQTE

TO

EDITORS:

As

a

convenience

to

us

and

a

service

to

your

readers,

the

Public

Affairs

Committee

would

appreciate

it

if

you

would

include

reference

to

the

Committee

*
s

address

and

the

price

in

your

story

based

on

this

release,)



PUBLIC

AFFAIRS

COMMITTEE,

Inc

22

East

38th

Street

New

York

16,

N,

Y,

MUrray

Hill

3-4331

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- 2 -

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Bbsorb them to the exclusion of other interests and activities.

Miss Prank reassures the anxious parent that there is "no basis in

fact for the current news headlines which blame comics for children's

delinquent acts, or for reckless claims that they have caused a rise in

iuvenile crime.... The causes of crime are not so simplel They lie much

deeper, in our society's failure to meet the basic needs of these

children."

In suggesting ways by which the community at large may help solve

the problems raised by comics, radio, and movies, the author declares

that the community must see that there is plenty of opportunity for boyr

and girls of all ages to have fun, creative interests, and satisfying

activities

.

Parent -teacher groups, local radio or motion-picture councils, and

other citizen organizations are urged to study what is actually avail-

able to their children on the newsstands, on the air, and at the movies.

Such groups, it is suggested., should express their approval or dis-

approval in writing to those responsible for good or bad programs, movie

or comics. It is also possible for them to enlist the cooperation of

local radio stations and motion-picture exhibitors in offering programs

of special interest and value to children.

The pamphlet recommends that research by competent specialists be

•‘stimulated and promoted to determine more exactly the effects of various

kinds of reading and entertainment on children of various ages.

COMICS, RADIO, MOVIES—AND CHILDREN, by Josette Frank, is Pamphlet

No. 148 in the series of brief, factual, twenty-cent pamphlets issued

by the Public Affairs Committee, Inc., a nonprofit, educational organi-

zation at 22 East 38th Street, New York 16, N. Y.

# # #

(SPECIAL NOTE TO EDITORS: As a convenience to us and a service to your

readers, the Fublic Affairs Committee would appreciate it if you would

include reference to the Committee's address and the price in your story

based on this release.)



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THE PUBLIC AFFAIRS IDEA: 1936-1949

N
OW more than ever the Public Affairs Committee, Inc., organ-
ized in 1936, is fulfilling its purpose of placing accurate facts

on current questions before the American people. The publication

of the Public Affairs Pamphlets—now in their fourteenth million

—

is one of the activities of the Committee, whose purpose as ex-

pressed in its Constitution is "to make available in summary and

inexpensive form the results of research on economic and social

problems to aid in the understanding and development of Amer-

ican policy. The sole purpose of the Committee is educational.

It has no economic or social program of its own to promote."

Publication of a pamphlet does not necessarily imply the Com-

mittee's approval of the views contained in it.

Maxwell S. Stewart, Editor of the Pamphlet Series

Mabel C. Mount, Associate Editor

Violet Edwards, Director of Education and Promotion

THE COMMITTEE

Luther Gulick, Chairman

Donald R. Young, Vice Chairman

Erling M. Hunt, Acting Secretary

Beulah Amidon, Treasurer

Eleanor C. Anderson

Philip S. Broughton

Earl Brown

Robert E. Cushman

J. Frederic Dewhurst

Brooks Emeny

Samuel H. Flowerman

William Trufant Foster

Harry D. Sideonse

George T. Guernsey
Howard Henderson

Pendleton Herring

William L. Holland

F. Ernest Johnson

S. M. Keeny

Harry W. Laidler

Robert P. Lane

Robert M. Maclver

Frieda S. Miller

Walter E. Myer

Walter R. Sharp

Harold S. Sloan

George Soule
Mark Starr

Ordway Tead

William H. Wells

All rights reserved. No part of this pamphlet may be reproduced without permission,
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First Edition, March, 1949

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PUBLIC AFFAIRS PAMPHLETS
1. INCOME AND ECONOMIC PROGRESS

5. CREDIT FOR CONSUMERS

6. THE SOUTH'S PLACE IN THE NATION

23. INDUSTRIAL PRICE POLICIES

33. THIS PROBLEM OF FOOD

38. FACING THE FACTS ABOUT CANCER

39. LOAN SHARKS AND THEIR VICTIMS

53. WHAT IT TAKES TO
MAKE GOOD IN COLLEGE

62. HOW TO BUY LIFE INSURANCE
69. VITAMINS FOR HEALTH

76. WORKERS AND BOSSES ARE HUMAN
85. THE RACES OF MANKIND

89. HAVE WE FOOD ENOUGH FOR ALL7

90. THE AMERICAN WAY

93. FREEDOM OF THE AIR

95. THE NEGRO IN AMERICA

96. HOUSES FOR TOMORROW

97. SOCIAL WORK AND THE JONESES

98. EPILEPSY—
THE GHOST IS OUT OF THE CLOSET

101. THE STORY OF BLUE CROSS

102. VETERAN'S GUIDE

103. CARTELS OR FREE ENTERPRISE?

106. STRAIGHT TALK FOR DISABLED VETERANS

107. RACE RIOTS AREN'T NECESSARY

109. GYPS AND SWINDLES

111. THE REFUGEES ARE NOW AMERICANS

113. BUILDING YOUR MARRIAGE

114. WINGS OVER AMERICA

115. WHAT SHALL WE DO ABOUT IMMIGRATION?

116. FOR A STRONGER CONGRESS

PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE,

22 East 38th Street, New York 16, N

117. YOUR STAKE IN COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

118. ALCOHOLISM IS A SICKNESS

119. SHOULD THE GOVERNMENT
SUPPORT SCIENCE?

120. TOWARD MENTAL HEALTH
121. RADIO IS YOURS

122. HOW CAN WE TEACH ABOUT SEX?
123. KEEP OUR PRESS FREE!

124. WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT BLINDNESS?
125. WAR AND HUMAN NATURE
126. RHEUMATIC FEVER

127. KEEPING UP WITH TEEN-AGERS
128. OUR NEGRO VETERANS
130. AMERICA'S STAKE IN WORLD TRADE
131. WHEN YOU GROW OLDER
132. WORLD MINORITY PROBLEMS
133. MAKE YOUR TOWN SAFE
134. BUYING YOUR OWN LIFE INSURANCE
135. BROKEN HOMES

136. PLANNING YOUR FAMILY

137. KNOW YOUR HEART
138. GOOD NEWS ABOUT DIABETES
139. LIVE LONG AND LIKE IT

140. THESE RIGHTS ARE OURS TO KEEP

141. ENJOY YOUR CHILD—AGES 1, 2, AND 3

142. POWER, MACHINES, AND PLENTY

143. NEW THREATS TO AMERICAN FREEDOMS

144. UNDERSTAND YOUR CHILD—FROM 6 TO 12

145. BLOOD'S MAGIC FOR ALL

146. WOMEN—AND THEIR MONEY
147. YOUR TEETH—HOW TO SAVE THEM
148. COMICS, RADIO, MOVIES—AND CHILDREN

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