Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-01-18
BY TRUMAN TEMPLE
Star Staff Writer


Star staff Writer
NEW YORK, Jan. 1S.-The
usually blase crowds at noon
on Broadway stared In aston
ishment yesterday at a pretty
young girl carrying a placard
I'm Lust" the sign said.
Farther up the street were
half a dozen other attractive
women bearing such tidings as
I'm Envy" I'm Anger" and
I'm Pride"
For those curious enough to
read leaflets handed out by
the girls, the explanation was
simple. A new movie from
France starring Jean Pierre
Aumont opened yesterday at
the Sutton Theater. It's title:
THE Seven Capital Sins"
1T was an extraordinary
measure we wouldn't ordinarily
USE" said Robert Weston, a
publicist for Embassy Pictures,
Inc, distributing the film. I'VE
held back for a week or so, but
you can't wait forever"
Crowds Theater
Seven Capital Sins" was
lucky. Despite a general news
paper strike that has crippled
the entertainment industry
here since December 7, the
press agentry did the trick.
This writer found the theater
crowded on opening night.
other distributors, not so in
genious, admit they are hold
ing back a number of foreign
films from release until news
papers resume publication.
THE Quare Fellow" for ex-
ample, based on a Broadway
play, has been kept in reserve.
other have been launched with
mixed success, using advertis-
ing in radio, TV and speciality
papers such as the Greenwich
Village Voice and the New York
Standard, the latter put out
by the American Newspaper
Guild as a public service.
The low budget for French
and English films ran heavily
on initial success in the So
phisticated New York market.
Foreign films have to make
their nut here with reviews"
explains one theater owner
Without these, they face trou-
BILE in other cities"
Most of the Hollywood
blockbusters have been doing
we'll because of advanced pub
licity in magazines and other
media. An exception is How
the West Was Won" a multi
million-dollar epic directed by
John Ford and due for release
next month.
Wait for Newspapers
1T will be postponed If the
strike continues here in New
York." said an MGM official in
an interview. you don't re-
lease a movie of this stature
when New York papers are
dead"
In the scramble for alterna-
tive news media. obscure tab
loids are flourishing as the
worst strike In newspaper his
tory goes into its 41st day. In
addition to the Standard one
can find the New York Daily
published by II Pro-
gresso; the Metropolitan Daily,
and the New York Enquirer.
Their news content is hap
hazard and skinny, their stock
,ables fragmentary or nom
existent and at best they reach
)nly a fraction of the ST. mil
ion circulation that nine New
York newspapers enjoyed be-
ore the strike began.
AS a public service, radio
stations have stepped up news
,overage and have put books,
concert and theater critics on
the air, reading their reviews.
Yesterday, Tennessee Williams
new play, THE Milk Train
Doesn't Stop Here Any
more" opened on Broadway
and Howard Taubman, review
ing it over WQXR. found it
disappointing" The play
Jared slightly better on another
station where Cleveland Amory
said Tennessee Williams fans
would like it.
WQXR, operated by the New
York Times, also has put the |
newspapers correspondents to
work broadcasting. There are
a few we wouldn't hire as an
nouncers," said a station Off
cial with a smile. But they
sincere and realistic"
Perhaps the ghostliest mo-
ment in the day comes when
Theodore Bernstein, a Times
editor, tells listeners what they
would have seen on page one If
the newspaper had been pub