FILM STARS BRANDED

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 129, 16 March 1950, Page 5

FILM STARS BRANDED

“APOSTLES OF DEGRADATION” . to. • ” WASHINGTON, March 14. Senator Edwin Johnson ((Democrat, Colorada), in the Senate to-day brand-ed-Ingrid Bergman and\Rita Hayworth as “apostles of degradation.” He said that Ingrid Bergman’s “brazen romance” with the Italian film director, Roberto Rosselini, and Rita Hayworth’s romance with Aly Khan had shocked Americans. There was need for strict Federal licensing to keep Hollywood from depraving American morals, he said. Senator Johnson introduced a Bill into the Senate which, he said, would curb “immorality and lewdness” in motion pictures. The Bill would establish a bureau in the Commerce Department to licence actors and actresses. The bureau would deny a licence to any person convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude or who admitted acts constituting the essential elements of such a crime. Senator Johnson called Ingrid Bergman a “powerful influence for immorality” because she bore Rosselini’s child while she was still married to Dr. Peter Lindstrom. » Of Rita Hayworth, Senator Johnson said: “She got herself involved in. a triangle and ended up with a new baby and the title of princess. Now she is being courted by American producers who want to make the most of her spectacular experience. % is sad but true,” Senator Johnson said, “that a spicy scandal of any kind is a great box office attraction. Stars go to gaol for brawling or peddling ‘reqfers’ (marihuana cigarettes), or they get into the papers for negotiating a Mexican mail order divorce. Immediately they are cast in a leading role so that the industry may cash in on their notoriety while it is hot.” v Senator Johnson said his licensing proposal was a “practical method by which the mad dogs of the movie industry may .be put on a leash to protect public morals.”