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Chicago Sun Times
Saturday-Sunday, July 30-31,1977
Glencoe cops seize play poster
as obscene
By Charles Nicodemus
Glencoe police have made their first obscenity seizure in the
history of the northern suburb.
They confiscated an advertising poster for a critically acclaimed
“little theater” group that is
headquartered in the basement of a Highland Park Catholic church
and is now on-stage at Chicago’s Jane
Addams Theater.
The poster, for the Steppenwolf Theater group’s bitter comedy,
“Our Late Night” was removed
from the window of “Big Al’s” hot dog restaurant
at 712 Vernon, in downtown Glencoe.
Said the village’s public safety director, Robert Bonneville:
“Lt. (David) Morris went over there and had it removed ,
after a citizen called up the station and
complained about it. He brought it back here to the station because
he considered it obscene. And having
seen it myself, I agree”
NO CHARGES ARE being filed against anyone. Bonneville
said, “because you don’t always
have to run around arresting people to get things done.”
In addition to the usual theater data, the 18x24 inch poster
includes a drawing of a high-rise
apartment stylized as a phallic symbol, and four small, line
sketches depicting portions of couples engaged
in sexual acts.
Although some members of the Steppenwolf group express concern
about the “civil rights”
aspects of the police action, the play’s director, Gary
Houston, thought it was “hilarious”
“This poster is the hottest item in town” he said.
“The only trouble we have is that people are so
eager to get the posters that they snitch them most places we
put them up. We finally put them on sale at
the box office. It’s really a moving item”
HOUSTON SAID HUNDREDS of the posters were put up all over
the Chicago area- in
bookstores, on poles, in record shops and bulletin boards.
“We haven’t had trouble anywhere else” Houston
said. “No where except in Glencoe are we
obscene.”
Houston added that, although the subject of the play is sex,
“it’s all verbal. There’s no nudity,
nothing explicit.”
Allan Gerber, owner of “Big Al’s,” said, “We’ve
got this big front window and we always let
people put up their notices and posters and things. You can’t
even see them from inside, and I hadn’t
noticed the poster. I never look at that stuff, myself.
“I wasn’t here when the police came.” he said.
“But the lieutenant told my workers that the
person who called up complained that out in front of our restaurant
and the ice cream shop next door is a
big congregating place for kids-- which is certainly true. And
he (the lieutenant) said he wanted it out of
the window. Then he took it with him.
“After I heard about what happened, I called him up and
asked him to bring it back and show me
what it was. When I saw it-- well, if I’d have seen it before
it went in the window, I wouldn’t have
displayed it, because of all the youngsters around.
“It’s not for kids,” he said. “But obscene?
Well - - - that’s another question.” |
