Movies & Morals

Churchmen have long been concerned about the influence of sexy movies on U.S. morals. This week they took a hard look at the private lives of some of the people who make movies.

Featured in the March issue of Motion Picture, a fan magazine which normally confines itself, to rhapsodic accounts of the stars' daily routines, is a triptych of articles on "Divorce in Hollywood." The authors: famed churchmen of three faiths --Msgr. Fulton J. Sheen, Rabbi Sidney E. Goldstein, and the Rev. Harry Emerson Fosdick. All three agree that 1) the true strength of a nation rests on the family; 2) the off-again-on-again marriages of Hollywood stars set a bad national fashion--and are at least partly responsible for the soaring U.S. divorce rate; 3) Hollywood marriage, therefore, is not a private affair but a matter of public concern. Dr. Goldstein sums up: "The social responsibility that rests upon each one of us demands that our private life be equal in moral tone and inspiration to our public performance."

From another ecclesiastical quarter came another assault on casual divorces: The Methodist Church announced that it had hired high-priced Radio Writer Carlton (One Man's Family) Morse to do a series of eight transcription shows explaining 13 basic Methodist ideas on how to keep a marriage intact. Sudsy title of the recordings, which the Methodists plan to ship free to every U.S. radio station: So You Want to Stay Married?

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