Many comic books describe how to set fires, by methods too various to enumerate. In some stories fire-setting is related just as a detail; in other stories such as "The Arson Racket" the lesson is more systematic.
There are other sidelights, like how to break windows so you cannot be found out; all this highlighted by the philosophy of the character who says:
"From now on - I'm making dough the easy way - with a gun-! Only SAPS work!"
That lesson, incidentally, is true of crime comics as a whole: glamour for crime, contempt for work.
"Fixing" of sporting events has recently been front-page news. I have one accused boy under psychotherapy right now. In comic books that is old stuff: "Here's 500 now, and you'll get 500 when it's over!"
Of course, playing hookey from school is one of the smart things described by comic-book characters:
"But we better hurry or we'll be late for school!"
"Aw, the heck with school, Harvey! I'm not goin' today. Brains will never get you any place. It's MUSCLES that'll do it! Look at the easy duce-spot [sic] it made me just now!"
So varied are "the fortunes of cowhands and mice!"
In the spring of 1951, a teen-ager driving a stolen car tried to run down a policeman who had stepped out of his radio car to arrest him. People wondered at such cold-blooded brutality. How can a young boy get such an idea? For comics readers this is a lesson of the elementary grades, described and illustrated over and over again.
Junior may be too young to wish to forge checks, but many children whom I have seen have forged their parents' signatures for school purposes. Forgery is, of course, also described in comic books. The preferred method is to pick up a blotter which has been used and copy the signature with the aid of a mirror.
Stealing of automobiles has become a great nuisance. Any young boy who succumbs to temptation in this direction, although he may have been brought up not to do it, has seen in detail just how to go about it. Comic books describe it often and fully, from incidental thefts to the 'hot-car racket."
From one book you can learn how to cut through the glass and break into a store and how to stop the noise when you do break in: "Pile the blankets on to smother the noise!"
In countless books, it is brought home that it is wrong not to kill - because the victim may tell. Nothing is overlooked in these crime comics, however mean. One book shows how to steal the money box from the blind man who runs the newsstand. Of course, as in the vast majority of criminal acts depicted in comic books, this particular act is successful and not punished.
The very title of some stories makes it clear that there is a lesson in the story, and what the lesson is. For example:
Lessons In Larceny
Watch for Trouble when a Swindle Backfires
I have seen many children, delinquent and not so delinquent, who kept their school report cards or absence notices from their parents. Comic books give visual aid about "the mailbox angle" used for stealing checks. In an apartment house "with self-service elevators" you let the elevator go to another floor. But how to get the letter out of the mailbox? "Yeah! It's coming out! This pencil and gum did the trick!" I have seen several children who did exactly that - taking mail from their parents' mailbox - and who had learned it from this source.
Many comic books explain in word and picture how to throw knives. In fact, I have learned from them quite a bit about the tricks of it myself. And lest the child might think - as naively as the adult public which permits all this - that the stories are just stories, not applicable in the next neighborhood gang fight, millions of comic books have illustrated advertisements:
THROWING KNIFE. Properly shaped and balanced for throwing . . . Penetrating point . . . Tool Steel . . . Thrilling stunts . . . Hard hitting . . . Easy-to-throw . . .7 inches . . .($1.98)
Children who have thrown such knives have got into serious trouble. The adults who advertise them, supply them and show how to use them have not in a single instance been charged even with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
In the comic-book syllabus stealing of every variety is amply covered. A man's pocketbook is stolen on the subway. Millions of little boys learn how to do that: "Did someone shove a newspaper in your face? And were you shoved from the rear at the same time? I can see that's what happened. The pickpocket got it while you were upset by the shove." Lesson completed.
How to steal a woman's pocketbook is outlined, too. According to the stories it may be done skillfully and peacefully, but if that does not work, just hit them over the head. This sort of thing has been done by a number of children.
In some comic books it is shown how the youngest tots are picked up bodily, held upside down and shaken so that the coins will fall out of their pockets. Not only do I know from boys that they have practiced this, but similar cases have been reported, like the one where children invaded a settlement house, stabbed one of the workers, smashed equipment and "turned boys upside down to get the pennies from their pockets."
Often comic books describe real crimes that have been featured in the newspapers. In adapting them for children the following points are stressed:
the daring and success of the criminals is exalted
brutal acts are shown in detail
sordid details are emphasized
if there are any sexual episodes they are featured
In 1952 three men escaped from a penitentiary. They stole cars, evaded the police, kidnaped people, held up a bank, and were finally caught in New York where they were living with three girls. A real children's story! In the first picture there is an unmade bed, a half-nude man and a girl. The prison break is described like a heroic feat. The ease with which you can steal cars in the country from a farmer is pointed out to youngsters who do not know that yet. One of the criminals boasts to a little boy that he has killed fifteen or sixteen people, "I lost count."
The girls living with the criminals are featured, two of them hiding behind a shower curtain. There are seventy-six pictures of exploits; in the seventy-seventh picture the police take over with a cheap wisecrack.
All this is only a small sample from my collection and an infinitesimal part of the whole story. Juvenile delinquency is not just a prank nor an "emotional illness." The modern and more serious forms of delinquency involve knowledge of technique. By showing the technique, comic books also suggest the content. The moral lesson is that innocence doesn't pay.
Sleeptalking
Until this moment, I think I have never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. Little did I dream you could be so reckless and so cruel as to do an injury to an entire nation. It is, I regret to say, true that I fear America shall always bear the scar needlessly inflicted by you. If it were in my power to forgive you for your reckless cruelty, I would do so. I like to think I am a gentle man. But your forgiveness will have to come from someone other than me.
-Joseph N. Welch (paraphrased)
Back with another thrilling chapter, brought to you by the number 7 and the letter S.
This Week In APORIA
[An APORIA is an expression of real or pretended doubt or uncertainty... especially for rhetorical effect.]
Alan J. Pakula’s "paranoia trilogy" includes Klute (1971), then an adaptation of Loren Singer’s conspiracy thriller The Parallax View (1974), and then All the President's Men (1976). His other notable films include Comes a Horseman (1978), Starting Over (1979), Sophie's Choice (1982), Presumed Innocent (1990), and The Pelican Brief (1993).
I’ve edited this clip from The Parallax View to make it (sort of) family-friendly for YouTube… but mostly to make way for Steve Miller’s Living in the U.S.A.
This movie was NOT a success when it was released in June of 1974. Not sure why the Wikipedia editor would assert that (and it should be challenged). The EXISTENTIAL Ending became de rigueur in the late 1960s so we just had to get used to it. Always leave your audience sitting in stunned silence as the lights come up in the theatre. You could blame the ubiquitous Robert Towne but he was just following in the footsteps of Albert Camus. Towne would probably be the first to point out that, just because a famous publisher loses control of his Facel Vega while driving very fast on a dangerous road doesn’t mean the Russians sabotaged the car to kill an influential Algerian writer. Still, it’s worth noting.
Fred’s Video Collection
The Dr. Kildare episode "Burning Sky" was filmed and broadcast (2 Oct 1962) in color as part of NBC's Color Week promotion. Seven NBC shows normally seen in B&W were shown in color to encourage color TV ownership. Can you identify the guest star?