Those of you
youngsters who are reading this may never have heard of network
television, so I will endeavor to explain it to you. Once upon a
time, the new technology of broadcast television was invented, so the
government decided to award a franchise to their friends so they
could make a lot of money. Three different networks were created,
the red network, the blue network and the eye network (NBC, ABC and
CBS respectively). Ok, this is not exactly what happened, but it is
close enough for our discussion.
The first thing that
would happen if you became a television executive, apparently, is
that, symbolically at least, your backbone was removed. Network
executives became known the world over for lacking a spine, in other
words, they regressed to invertebrates. Hundreds and then thousands
of cowardly decisions were made to keep television lily-white and
inoffensive.
But there was one
moment that symbolized for me the lack of backbone, one decision that
was so cowardly that it seemed to encapsulate all the other cowardly
moments and coalesce them into one brilliant and insane cowardly
moment.
Once upon a time,
when movies were first shown on broadcast television, this was
considered to be an Event. But since just anyone could
switch on the TV and watch, the networks felt that they had to
protect the morality of Americans, that this was their
responsibility. And so, the infamous warning “edited for
television” came into existence, announcing to the world that the
creative work about to be shown had been castrated for your safety.
Artistic Integrity is not a term much used by television
executives.
In the premiere that was the penultimate nadir of integrity that I refer to, in editing for television all that changed was to remove three words out of a full-length movie. Three little
words, how bad could that be? I mean what could you lose with three
words, for goodness sake?!
Well, in this case,
it changed the meaning of the film, and its impact, significantly. The movie was
Cabaret (1972) and the scene was as follows:
And the three words
that were removed? It was Brian saying “So do I” ... in other
words, confessing to a homosexual relationship with Lothar. This was
considered so shocking that it was removed. But removing it changes
everything.
I have a copy of this film online but I am brilliantly unable to find this scene no matter how I look. Of course, one way to look, to start at the beginning and go to the end, would not be possible.
I have a copy of this film online but I am brilliantly unable to find this scene no matter how I look. Of course, one way to look, to start at the beginning and go to the end, would not be possible.
I am still looking for the date of this Event and the network. The Internet is great for research up to a point but at the end of the day it is not a reference library, exactly, but something more amorphous. And so finding this information will take a little digging.
Cabaret (1972) on
IMDB
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