Brian Damage
05-12-2011, 09:57 PM
http://media.scpr.org/images/2011/05/04/or-newtonminowtoday-lead.JPG
http://www.canadacool.com/COOLFACTS/BRITISH%20COLUMBIA/BCPHOTOS/boat_minnow.jpg
Fifty years ago, the brash young chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Newton Minow, gave what would become one of the most famous speeches of the 20th century. The official title of his address was “Television and the Public Interest,” but it became known as the Vast Wasteland speech.
It was 1961. The quiz show scandal was still fresh in the public’s mind. George "Superman" Reeves was hawking Kellogg’s new Sugar Smacks. "Puffs of wheat, sugar toasted," he says, his lips audibly slippery with the cereal, "and, candy sweet." And "The Untouchables," with Robert Stack, was a hit TV show.
Ask anyone on the street about the Vast Wasteland speech, and they probably won’t know what you’re talking about. But ask them the name of the boat on "Gilligan’s Island," the series created by Sherwood Schwartz, and that's a different matter.
Minow says Sherwood Schwartz, the series creator, "wrote to me and he said that he was insulted by the speech. And then he named the boat after me, the S.S. Minnow, and I was thrilled by it. He and I had a wonderful correspondence together."
When I say I’m surprised Minow was thrilled, Minow says the public interest is also served by entertainment. "Gilligan’s Island" didn’t have sex or violence, he says, and it was good for a few laughs.
http://www.scpr.org/news/2011/05/09/jr-vastwasteland50-news/
http://www.canadacool.com/COOLFACTS/BRITISH%20COLUMBIA/BCPHOTOS/boat_minnow.jpg
Fifty years ago, the brash young chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Newton Minow, gave what would become one of the most famous speeches of the 20th century. The official title of his address was “Television and the Public Interest,” but it became known as the Vast Wasteland speech.
It was 1961. The quiz show scandal was still fresh in the public’s mind. George "Superman" Reeves was hawking Kellogg’s new Sugar Smacks. "Puffs of wheat, sugar toasted," he says, his lips audibly slippery with the cereal, "and, candy sweet." And "The Untouchables," with Robert Stack, was a hit TV show.
Ask anyone on the street about the Vast Wasteland speech, and they probably won’t know what you’re talking about. But ask them the name of the boat on "Gilligan’s Island," the series created by Sherwood Schwartz, and that's a different matter.
Minow says Sherwood Schwartz, the series creator, "wrote to me and he said that he was insulted by the speech. And then he named the boat after me, the S.S. Minnow, and I was thrilled by it. He and I had a wonderful correspondence together."
When I say I’m surprised Minow was thrilled, Minow says the public interest is also served by entertainment. "Gilligan’s Island" didn’t have sex or violence, he says, and it was good for a few laughs.
http://www.scpr.org/news/2011/05/09/jr-vastwasteland50-news/