‘figures

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COMICS BIG BUSINESS

||

$72 million: worth of
poison for your children

THE COMIC BOOK joined the
Tanks of mass media. of come
Munication in 1935 when Hast-
fm Color Printing Company
Published Famous Funnies, the
first comic book in ‘the now
familiar _ format. From _ this
Modest beginning has come the

Phenomenal development of the

Comic book industry which by

1951 had reached astronomical

figures of circulation. |

According to a New York State
legislative committee studying
the matter, ‘“The comic book in-
dustry has, since the termina-
tion of World War. II, achieved
the greatest volume of circula-
tion of any type book or smaga-
Zine that the country has ever
hown, Its volume of circula-
tion far exceeds that of all other
books, magazines and periodicals
Combined and is exceeded only
by the circulation of daily news-

' Papers.”

a“

Here are some approximate
on monthly sales of
Omics in the U.S.:

1943 18,000,000 per month
1949. 50,000,000 “
1950— 60,000,000, «
1951—100,000,000 “

It is claimed that there are
tween 70 to 100 million read-
rs of comics in the U.S., 40 per-
Cent of them children between
he ages of 8 and 18. Some auth-
Tities estimate that 98 percent
f all children between 8 and 12
Probably read some comic books.
One Survey found that between 6

d 11 years of age, 95 percent
is boys and 91 percent of girls

Toughout the country read an
“erage of 15 comic books per
Month; between 12 and 18 years
bout 80 percent read at least 12
‘very month. These children
re of all intelligence levels and
4 cultural backgrounds.

x x *

¥f VERY FEW of the so-called
‘omics” are in any way funny.
the approximate 300 titles ap-
esting monthly in stores and
th hewsstands, it is estimated
ania dehumanized, concentrated
a repetitious showing of death
th destruction, whether against
© highly realistic background
‘the ‘crime and police comics,’
thé supernatural level of the
ay tman-type comics, or in the
Sead world of the jungle
tha les. The rest ‘contain ro-
“Seah humor, animal stories,
‘2 Bible stories.” |

A recent analysis of 92 comic
8azines revealed they contain-
s the following: 216 major
Mes; 86 sadistic acts; 309
oe crimes; 287 incidents of
“SOcial behavior; 186. in-
{Nees of vulgar behavior; 522

¥ YSical assaults: and the tech-
We of 14 murders in detail.

b As the trend of violent comic
Way, S grew, there was a rising

© of protest, the first major
Sm of any importance be-
S made in 1940. f

qittle action was taken in the
Wor Until the end of the Second
Werth War, ‘Then Dr, Frederick
DeVohinn? a leading New York
lick, atrist, began a widely pub-

an i
Comic |; d vigorous attack on

&

Ooks. In 1947, he said:

comics through their
9,000 weekly circulation

© excellent media of pic-

a and words, present a glori-

Ben On of

sadistic-masochistic
8 attitudes.” :

at two-thirds are “devoted to :

. streets.

Other psychiatrists, quite a
few of whom serve yas paid ad-
visers to the publishers of comic
books, claim that comics provide
an aggressive outlet for chil
dren’s natural tendencies and
have cathartic value. They fre-
quently compare them to the old
folk and fairy tales and find
both media equally. harmless!

* * *

The comic book industry is

now in the “big business’’ cate-

gory, grossing $72,000,000 an- |

nually for the 35 U.S. publish-
ers who print and distribute the
300-odd comic books monthly
and who are out to get as much
more as possible of the $70,-
000,000 a week ($3 billion a
year!) pocket money spent by
young people in the U.S.

The possibilities of major re-
forms coming spontaneously
from the publishers is therefore
very unlikely. Crime sells too

well and protests so far have had '

little decisive effect.

Dr. Harvey Zorbaugh of New
York University adds this note
of warning: “The comics — lika
the press, the movies, radio and
television —- are a mass med-
ium, ‘Mass media .exert tre-
mendous influence. Privately
owned, and largely operated for
profit, their influence is not
necessarily in the public inter-
est. Only an informed, vigilant
and effective public opinion will
keep it so.”

RO RUB CR BUR RR eR Re ce EER CRB E RU BD EU ROR) BURR RUBLE EV BQSUES BURBS ENE NEUEN EEE

WOMEN’S _

news and views

CECB RRM BRE RB SBR RD

SLE ES BET |

CEERI REE EERE SERRE

Soviet maternity homes ‘last word’

Every Soviet maternity home has an operating room which is
the last word in modern medical science, fully equipped to use
surgery, if necessary, to save the life ‘of mother and child. This
picture shows the operating reom at Moscow's Pervomaisky Dis-

trict maternity home.

A NEW style in building has
been set by the U.S. government
in its plans for a street of bomb

ruins to be used for instruction .

of civil defense volunteers. Over
$200.000 will be spent to con-
struct five ‘permanent wrecks”
fashioned after atom-scarred
buildings in Japan.- To empha-
size the realism of this contem-
plated “way of life.’? the train-
ees will encounter, during a
theoretical air attack and its
consequent search for ‘“‘victims,”’
the sound of planes and explod-
ing bombs and fires in the
Once in the wrecked
buildings, they will face jagged
girders. tons of rubble, broken
water mains flooding the base-
ments, leaky gas pipes requiring
the use of gas masks. and live
wires which give the careless
trainee a mild shock.

Of course the cost of this little
project is just a drop in the buc-
ket compared to the total U.S.
war budget this year of $71,-
5100,000.000. No doubt the
whole idea sounds pretty grim
to one quarter of American fam-
ilies who are living in slum tene-
ments, shacks and dilapidated
houses any one of which would
compare ifavorably to the care-
fully constructed ‘‘wrecks” be-
ing built, : ;

* me *

I WAS describing the making
of puppets a few weeks ago. and
I have since found out that they
are made of\a mixture of three
parts powdered asbestos to one
part flour and then water of
course. A pop bottle makes a
serviceable modelling stand, and
when the little head is complet-

ed it is popped into a very hot ~

oven for twenty minutes. Scoop
out the insides as muchas pos-
sible (to make it light) and in-
sert a cardboard neck. Paint
the puppet white first and then
color it as desired.

Katy and John have had a
great time with the rest of their
little JuniomnChamp clubsmembers
completing all the characters for
a version of Cinderella, To hear
them talk, you would think they
intended to make enough money
on one show to subsidize the
youth paper Champion for a
year.

* * *

HERE’S ONE tip this week.
‘rhe Congress of Canadian Wo-
men is holding its second month-
ly sale of goods and tea on Sat-
urday, August 28, in the can-
teen of Pender Auditorium. For
real bargains don’t miss these
regular monthly sales where you
can buy anything from a baby

dress to a baby crib.
* a *

AND HERE’S another tip.

Perhaps you need to replace cups
and saucers, plates or bowls?
Or maybe you’re looking for a
reasonable wedding or anniver-
sary gift? Then drop around to
Dunsmuir Varieties, where I.
Levine, the proprietor, will be
pleased to show you around his
lovely shop at 519 Dunsmuir
Street (near Richards). He has
a wide variety of English bone
china, English cut glass, teapots,
vases, florals and _ figurines.
breakfast and dinner sets at real
bargain prices. And you'll find
too, a large assortment of lug-
gage of all descriptions. Bring
the PT advertisement with you
and save!—RB.G.

Noted British
woman, peace
leader, dead

MISS ANNIE LANSBURY, eld-
est daughter of the late George
Lansbury, one of the outstand-
ing figures in the rise of the
British Labor party, died in
London, July,26, after a short
illness. She was 70 years of age.
Miss. Lansbury was a staunch
supporter of the peace movement
and after a lifetime of close as-
sociation with the Labor party
joined the Communist party
early last year, :

In a letter written to the Lon-
don Daily Workey at the time.
she stated that she joined the
Communist party because she be-
lieved that it is the only party,
“that is blazing the trail toward
real socialism and peace, coop-

eration and comradeship with all

nations.”’

In March last year, Miss Lans-

bury was one of the chief par-
ticipants in a London women’s
peace poster parade, which was
broken up by the police.

The following month she was
one of the sponsors of the Lon-_
don Women’s Conference for
Peace, organized under the aus-

‘pices of the London Peace Coun-

cil.

For many years she kept
house for her father, being a pil-
lar of strength to him during the

. days when he and other Labor

councillors in. London’s Poplar
district were sent to prison for
refuisng to levy unjust taxes.

ZENITH CAFE

105 E. Hastings Street
VANCOUVER, B.C.

UNION HOUSE -

| Peking shops

well-stocked,
visitor found

MRS. MONICA FELTON, Brit-

‘ish woman leader now visiting

China, gave reporters her im-
pressions of life there after
spending a day ona shopping ex-
pedition with a Peking house-

wife, :

“I cannot help making com-
parisons with Britain,” she said.
“I saw such well-stocked shops
and markets and so many people
crowding to buy.’’ She said she
Saw piles of eggs and sides of
bacon, fresh beef and pork and
a great variety of fish and vege-
tables.

Mrs. Felton described how she
was offered spring chickens at
500 yuan each (about 25 cents)
and tomatoes at one-sixth of the
price in Britain. She saw beau-
tiful quilts selling at what seem-
ed very reasonable prices and!
generally thought the variety of
daily necessitiés on gale “ter-
rific” and “fantastically cheap”
——even allowing for the fact that
money wages in China are lower
than in Britain. '

At one department store, she
said, she spoke to young people
in army uniform who were buy-
ing fountain pens. Some of them
told her they could not even read
or write two or three years ago.

“At a fish stall,” she said, “I
asked a woman how she cooked
that particular kind of fish she
was buying. She told me to my
surprise she was buying the ffsh

. for her cat.”

Mrs, Felton was full of praise
for Peking handicrafts, _includ-
ing embroidered tablecloths and
a variety of articles made by

skilled hands.

She said the big Peking de-
partment store she visited was
much busier than any similar
London establishment, The pur-
chase tax and high prices keep
crowds down in British stores,
she said, while in China there
have been two general price re-
ductions this year.

“Everything in Flowers"
FROM... ,
EARL SYKES

56 E. Hastings St. PA. 3855
Vancouver, B.C,

Vancouver
Second Hand Store

@ Stove Parts and Repairs
@ Used Plumbing Supplies
Tools Kitchenware

538 MAIN ST. PAcific 8457

Castle Jewelers |

Watchmaker and
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Special Discount to

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EAST END
TAXI

HAstings
0334

FULLY 24-HOUR
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811 E. HASTINGS ST.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — AUGUST 15, 1952 — PAGE 11