This is topic Theatre edits Center of the World in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
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Posted by John Scott (Member # 520) on 06-11-2001, 10:01 PM:
I am not sure if anyone has heard about this but apparently a theatre in Ohio was caught editing Center of the World.I for the life of me can't understand what would posess them to do this...
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2001/06/08/loc_esquire_theaters.html
Posted by Jeremy Spracklen (Member # 18) on 06-11-2001, 10:13 PM:
It's easy to understand if you forget about it being some big crusade for censorship and realize that it was just some horny projectionist that was adding the clip to his "private collection".
Posted by Jerry Chase (Member # 660) on 06-11-2001, 10:35 PM:
Remember all those little munchkin guys in "Wizard of Oz" and the song they sang while dancing as if they had to go to the bathroom?"We represent... the lollypop guild, the lollypop guild, the lollypop guild."
Guess they knew something we didn't.
Actually, it smells suspiciously like some guerilla cheap marketing to me. Dare I say it??? Ah, what the heck. There's an all day sucker born every minute. 
(run, duck and cover)
Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 06-12-2001, 05:21 PM:
What that theater did IS censorship. Cincinnati is a haven for Christian fundamentalist and "family values" interests. Ever see The People vs. Larry Flynt?In 1998 a Utah theater censored Titanic and As Good as It Gets because the owner (a Mormon) doesn't like nude scenes. Paramount pulled Titanic and billed the theater for the cost of a new print. Sony pulled As Good as It Gets and blacklisted the theater, period.
Artisan did the right thing in pulling The Center of the World. Is Artisan going to blacklist the theater?
Posted by Ky Boyd (Member # 23) on 06-12-2001, 05:25 PM:
Anybody remember the name Robert Maplethorpe??? It was at the Contemporary Art Center in Cincinnati where the sheriff tried to ban the exhibition of Maplethorpe's work as obscene. Having lived in Cincinnati at the time of that assault on the 1st amendment, having a business owner decide he can censor artistic work doesn't surprise me. Guess he never read his exhibition license from Artisan (or any other company for that matter). Some theatre in Utah tried something similar with Titanic and also promptly got thier print yanked.
Posted by Greg Anderson (Member # 235) on 06-12-2001, 07:25 PM:
For once, I thought I'd see a censorship story which didn't give Utah a black eye... and then you guys have to bring up the old news again.
Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 06-13-2001, 01:51 AM:
When I lived in Cincinnati, I ran the "other" theater in town with a screen devoted to art product. We always had a good repore with the Esquire and I saw many films there, including The Crying Game and The Bad Lieutenant.My, how times have changed. Apparently ownership and management has changed. I can't imagine anyone I knew there doing something like this.
I guess I won't be doing any reminiscing there next time I'm in town.
SHAME ON THE ESQUIRE!
It does remind one, though, of the Camden Drive-In Theatre's (the first drive-in, in 1933) grand opening ads ... "abridged features, with all dull or uninteresting parts omitted, will be featured at the theatre". Although the Esquire seems to have removed the lively, interesting parts. 
Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 06-26-2001, 11:41 AM:
Update: The theater has banned BOTH the newspaper that broke the story and the paper's movie critic.Even though the theater's president ordered The Center of the World to be censored Artisan does not plan to sue or blacklist the theater. If Artisan is having money trouble as has been reported that's a sorry response on the part of the company.
Posted by Mitchell Cope (Member # 32) on 06-27-2001, 12:31 PM:
Self censorship was fairly common in the late 60s. I remember two examples that were cut, "The Pawnbroker" and "If He Hollers, Let Him Go!". Does anyone know when this common practice "officially" stopped? Back then, theater managers and (and projectionists) did have to contend with spending time in jail if their films did not meet community standards.
Posted by Bob Maar (Member # 763) on 06-27-2001, 03:14 PM:
I know that up until 1967 +any films that we wanted to show in Boston had to be approved by a town censor. He would inform us what could or could not be shown. This was standard practice in those days. In other areas of the country including Detroit, Washington D.C., Baltimore, New York City there was a sort of self censorship on films. Attention was paid to what the local churches would say about a film. It the Roman Catholic Church gave it a Condemned rating "C", we many times had pickets show up at the theatres.Once the Industry came up with the film rating system, Boston did away with the censorship office and the Catholic church lighten up on their criticisms. Julie Rifkin and Gene Picker headed up the NATO comittee that developed the original ratings and I believe they were first used in 1968.
Posted by Jason Burroughs (Member # 68) on 06-27-2001, 03:53 PM:
Dallas was one of the last major cities to disband its "film rating comission" They occasionally forbid the exhibition of some movies and severly restrected the showing of others, as time went their powers were diminished thankfully and were eventually dismanatled like it should have been a long time ago.
Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 06-27-2001, 03:56 PM:
When the Camden Drive-In opened in 1933, Hollingshead advertised that "abridged features, with all dull or uninteresting parts omitted, will be featured at the theatre". This allowed him more showings per night.I also remember a retired union projectionist telling me that he had "edited" Saturday Night Fever or some such film down to a PG rating for their theater.
Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 06-27-2001, 05:32 PM:
Adam: Paramount edited Saturday Night Fever for a PG re-release. In its original R version it was a smash. In its edited PG version it tanked. 
Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 06-27-2001, 06:57 PM:
Musta been something else, then.
Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 04-18-2002, 04:38 PM:
Update: CityBeat has reinstated listings for the Esquire Theatre -- the arthouse that censored The Center of the World. The Esquire, however, continues to ban the writer who broke the story.By sheer coincidence that particular theater is scheduled to run Y Tu Mama Tambien starting tomorrow.
Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 04-19-2002, 02:01 PM:
Hey Greg, I am with you on that!!! everyone always assumes that utah and censorship go hand in hand. There was that theater that did what they did and they paid a very big price for it. There was also a video store that was cutting the scenes out on request of the tape purchasers as well, and they got hit too. But this kind of thing goes on all over the place.There is a box now that is supposed to eliminate bad language from tv and movies, by reading the CC encoding and replacing the bad word with a good one... in a test, they used the Dick Van Dyke show, and what came out in the audio at the beginning of the show was "The Happy Van Gay Show". Censorship is just a bad thing.
Dave
Posted by Greg Anderson (Member # 235) on 04-21-2002, 12:28 AM:
Let the record show that anybody who wanted to see the correct, James Cameron cut of Titanic in Utah had no trouble finding any number of theatres showing it that way (when the movie was still in theatres, that is).I heard that someone used one of those "automatic" TV cenorship devices on the TV show Third Rock From the Sun and every time someone talked about John Lithgow's character (whose name is Dick) it used the word "Jerk" instead.
Yes... I often decide not to see certain movies because I'm not comfortable with what I consider to be immoral or offensive. But that's just it. I decide not to see the movie at all! I don't start looking for ways to make it more palatable. Furthermore, I find it quite easy to tell whether or not I'll object to something in a movie based on a wealth of available information. The TV ads and trailers are usually a very good indicator. Beyond that, there are reviews all over the place and MPAA ratings. Anyone who sees a movie these days and is surprised to find something offensive is just clueless to begin with.
Posted by Jan Hackett (Member # 1231) on 04-22-2002, 08:15 PM:
Remember Cinema Paradisimo!All the censorship the priest ordered of the kissing scenes?
Well it made for a really good ending. That ending still brings tears to my eyes. Censorship makes for a good storyline but makes a rotten public statement about society when it is done. 
------------------
Jan Hackett
Theater Operations Manager
Extreme Screen Dynatheater
NM Museum of Natural History Foundation