Too Shocking for TV (1954 TV, That Is)!

The cover line caught my attention. "TABOO! What You Can't See on TV." No, the answer wasn't Liberace, whose smiling face occupied the cover of TV Guide's February 26, 1954 issue. Considering that Lucy Ricardo couldn't say she was pregnant on I Love Lucy a year or so earlier, obviously there were plenty of things you couldn't say or do on the airwaves at the time. But I was curious to see what else was on the list.

As TV Guide reported, NBC's Continuity Acceptance Department was responsible for vetoing anything dicey before it aired on that network. This included not only current programs, but also old movies making their broadcast debut. Here, as quoted in the article, is a summary of one month's transgressions:

"There were numerous deletions in comedy films of men losing their pants and such items as dogs spitting, a fat woman doing a shake dance, kids sticking their tongues out at each other incessantly, an animated tuba spitting, a cruel portraiture of an Old Ladies Home and the inmates of an insane asylum, some scantily clad harem girls..." Among the dialogue deemed unacceptable was, "Who in the flaming hell do you think you are?"

Well, there you have it. Check out today's TV, and see how much the world has changed in 63 years. Whether for better or for worse may be in the eyes of the beholder.