Furious Bellow

On the whole, I'd rather be in Philadelphia.

--W. C. Fields' epitaph

Philadelphia is a town that takes its Squaresville role seriously (". . . and second prize is two weeks in Philadelphia"). When I Am Curious (Yellow) opened last month, Police Commissioner Frank L. Rizzo turned I Am Furious (Purple) and denounced it as "unadulterated filth." The city council majority leader, George X. Schwartz, went further: "I call on ministers, rabbis and priests to call on their congregations to boycott this film. If this picture is continued, God knows what will come next in Philadelphia."

What came next was lines a block long. Curious (Yellow) picked up enough long green to gross $86,704 in its first week. What also came next was bomb threats and scalpers who sold $2.50 tickets for $10. The least predictable assault came from the Black Mothers for Liberty, a militant group who objected to the film's reference to Martin Luther King. Mayor James Tate capped the controversy by knocking the audience. "Many of the people who are standing in line," he fumed, "are degenerates." Actually, some are Pinkerton men scanning the ID cards of 17-year-olds, barred by the movie's X rating.

Most Nonchalant. In Washington, D.C., where the film is also playing, the scandal has been federal and political rather than civic and general. Charging that it showed "open fornication" on the screen, Senator Everett Dirksen cited the film as yet another reason for supporting his bill to limit Supreme Court power in obscenity hearings. Had he seen the film himself? "Lord, no," the Senator rumbled. That, and six letters to the theaters, have been the sole Washington grumbles to date.

In New York, where I Am Curious (Yellow) made its debut, viewers have been the most nonchalant of all. Undoubtedly distracted by worries of pollution and politics, audiences uttered no complaint when the subtitles slipped off-screen for one complete show, leaving nothing but nudes spouting Swedish. Apart from Philadelphia and Senator Dirksen, it seems, Curious has caused only one other stir: The over-the-counter stock of Grove Press, the movie's distributor, was selling at $6.25 in October 1968. Last week as Curious (Yellow) moved out to other major cities shares were over $30, and rising.

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