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1967: N.S. censors afraid of Virginia Woolf
In the 1960s, police busted a gallery owner for an installation of nudes. More recently, when an artist filmed a cat being killed and eaten, the artist was locked up. Even if the country's definition of obscenity has transformed over time, for decades the debate has stayed the same: Is art censorship an act thwarting obscenity or an Orwellian control?
The province's three film censors -- a teacher, a store owner and a St. John Ambulance employee -- pulled the film, calling it "obscene and blasphemous." According to movie critic Marilyn MacDonald, the province's film industry hasn't seen this much controversy in about a decade.
• Edward Albee's play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is tied with five others for the play that has won the most Tony Awards.
• Albee has also won three Pulitzer Prizes for drama.
• The play's name comes from a scene where the wife's drunken singing to her
husband "Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?" changes to "Who's afraid of Virginia
Woolf?
• Even though it was thought the play's content was too obscene
for film, the studio boss Jack Wagner insisted on retaining all the play's
original elements.
• The film's stars Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor were also married in real life.
Program: In Canada This Week
Broadcast Date: Feb. 4, 1967
Host: George Rich
Reporter: Marilyn MacDonald
Duration: 3:55
Photo: © 1978 Bob Willoughby
Last updated: January 23, 2012
Page consulted on March 28, 2012
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