An FYI concerning a more drastic approach to clean flicks and community
morals my family experienced several years ago.  I question today, if
technology had been available for altering flicks locally, would a
business owner have used the technology rather than burning hundreds if
not thousands of videos?  

 

The small Southwest Michigan community of Berrien Springs is a wonderful
place to live.  Berrien Springs, well known for its scenic and
historical setting, is represented by a diverse population from across
the globe because of Andrews University, owned and operated by the
Seventh Day Adventists.   When our first video rental store opened its
doors we felt like we had found another link to the outside world and no
longer had to travel miles to see a movie.  This store conducted a
booming business until it was sold to a local conservative Protestant
family.  The new video store owners, believing they were improving
community morals, staged a burning of "questionable" videos from their
newly purchased business.  The immediate result when visiting the video
store were rows and rows of empty shelves with a limited supply of
Disney, musicals and "older" popular movies from the 1940's and 1950's.
A short time later, an enterprising business man opened another video
store with movies for all to enjoy.  As for the first video store
owners, their business soon failed.

 

On a personal note, I have often wondered about toxic gasses released
into the skies over Berrien Springs that night and if the participants
of the burning party suffered related illnesses. 

 

Rod House

Archivist

Idaho Public Archives   

 

 

 

 


A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org.
For the terms of participation, please refer to http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp.

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask]
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to [log in to unmask]

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>