Basic HTML Version
Ufe ls Better Now
(Contlnued frotn page 3)
years of lts exlstence as a sepa–
rata natlon. Unllke its West Ger–
men counterpart. lhe GOR
ls
bleased wllh lew natural re–
aources other lhan lhe
skill
and
-vY ot
113 17
mílion
dtizena.
Oesplle the meager provlsions
ahe started out
with -
and
Whal
HUle lndustry lhe eastem part ol
lhe
otd
Reiell had was taken
~
awey by lhe Aussians In
a
··re–
verse Marshall
Plan"-
lhe GOR
has o1sen from nowhere lo
be–
come the ninth lergest industrial
power In the world. llls an Indis–
pensable. and perhaps
the
alngle mOSJ lmportant, element
ART BUCHWALD
Jefferson's
TV Script
Scrapped
As part of the BlctnttMial
ctlebratlon
Mr.
Buchwald
Itas
gl~n
us permlsrlon to use ont of
the plece1 loe wrott whtn
he
wa.r
coverlng televis/Qn for the Colo–
nial Broadcasting Network
In
1775.
Have you ever
wo~dered
what would have happencd if
the people who are in charge of
television today were passing on
the draft of the Declaration of
lndependence1
The scene is Philadelphia al
WJULY-TV. Severa! meo are
siuing around a large
oak
con–
ference table holding copies of
the dedaration. Thomas Jell'cr·
_In the Soviet Unlon·s enlire East
bloc confederatlon.
Lile In East Germany may, by
our "capltalletlc" standards, be
dull. but
11
ls not Intolerable. The
people work hard but also séem
lo
be
able to relax
lar
better than
lhelr brothers on the other sida'
of the lron Curtaln. They take
lhelr time
and
are generally not
In
as
much of
a rat-race as
Wesl
victorious" or tl"'at ..Soc1atism
gives lile goal and purpose."
On the olhar hand, those In
lhe West - 11 they are honest -
musi al so
as
k themselves
whelher thelr own forma of pollti–
cal and aoc;Jal organlzatlon are
providlngthe anawers lo the
pte–
thora ol problems whlch beset
human aoclety.
o
Europeana.
Ancl
opportunities
POSTERS
bear/ng sociañsr/c
lor
conversallons are generally.
propaganda
are
tound through·
nol neglecled.
out
Easr
G~tm~any.
Tila
a/gn
al
Waslem vlsltors generally
are •
tha right tound on
a
maln weat
embarrassed by lhe
potltlcal
slo-
in Dresden. aays,
"Soc/a//sm
gens plaslered everywhere on
glves meaning and purpose to
walls and blllboardsln every East
the //ves ol the people... Below,
Germen clty whlch repetitíously
an East Europaan youth drMng
procralm that "Sociallsm wlll be
an Amorlcan-bul/t tractor.
son comes into the room Jook–
ing a ünle nervous.
"Tommy," 4ays the producer,
"it's just great.
1
would say it
was a masterpiece."
"Wc love it, Tommy boy,"
the advertising agency man
says.
"ll
sings.
Lots
of drama,
and it bolds your interest. There
are
a
few things that have
to
be
changcd, but Olherwise it stays
intac:t."
"Wbat's wrong with it?" Mr.
Jcft'erson aslcs.
There's a pause. Everyone
loolcs at the network man.
"Well, frankJy, Tommy, it
smaclcs of being a litúc anti·
British. 1 mean, we've goLquite
a few Tory listeners, and some–
thing lilce this migbt bring in a
lotofmail."
"Now don't get sore, Tommy
boy," thc agency man says.
~vou're
lhc best Declaration of
lndependcnce writer in tbe
business. That's why we bired
you. But our sponsor, the
8os-
ton Tea Co., is interested
in
seU–
ing tea, not indepcndencc. Mr.
CornwaJJis, the sponsor's repre–
sentative, is here, and
1
thin.k he
has a few tboughts on the mat–
tt!r. Go ahead. Comey. Let's
hear what you thtnlc."
Mr. Comwallis stands up.
"Mr. Jell'enon, aU or us in this
room waot this
to
be
a
whale of
a documenL
1
think
wc'U
agree
on that."
Everyonc in the room nods
bis
head.
. •Atibe same time we feel -
1
lhink 1 can spcalc. for everybody
r
that we don't wanl to go over
the beads o( the ma.ss of people
who we hope will buy our prod·
uct. You use words lilce despot·
ism, annihilation, migration and
1enure. Those are aU eggbead
woras and don't mean a thing
to the public. Now 1 lilce your
stull' aboul 'life, liberty and the
pursuit or bappiness.' Thcy
aU
tic in grcat with tea. partioularly
pursuit of bappmess. but it's the
WEI!K ENDING OCTOBER 18.
197~
Qer Sozialismus
gibt
dem leben
det Menschen
Sinn-und lnhalt
!
feeling ·or aU or us that you'rc
reaUy getting into controversia!
water .wben you start attac:ldng
the kingof England."
Mr.
Jetrerson says, "But every
word of it is true. l've got lhe
documentary proof."
"Let
me talcc
a
crack al
•t.
Comey,~
the agency man says.
"Look,
Tommy boy, it isn'l a
question of whclher it's true or
no\.
A1l
of us bere know wbat
a•
louse George Ul can be. But
if
you remlñd peoplc of all thosc
taxes George has laid on us,
they're not going to go out and
buy tea. The_y're nol going to go
out and buy_anything."
Mr. Jcffcrson says. "Gentle–
men, 1 was' lold to write a Oec–
laration of_ lndependcnce.
r
discussed it with many peoplc
beforc 1 did the actual writ.ing.
l've worked bard on this decla–
ration - barder than l've
worked on anything
in
my tife.
You either talce il or leave itas
itis."
"We're sorry you feel that
way about it, Tommy," the
agency man says. "We bave a
responsibitity to thc country,
bul we bave a bigger
rt.~ponsi
bility to the sponsor. He's pay–
ing for it. We're not in the
business
of olfendu!g people,
British people or any othet eth–
nic group. lsn't that
so,
Mr.
Comwallis?"
"Cbeclc - unless Mr. Jeft'er–
son changos it the way we want
himto."
Mr. Jelfcrson grabs the decla–
ration and says, "Not for
aU
the
.
tea in Boston,"' and exits.
The producer
~hakes
his
hcad. "1 don't k.now. feUows .
Maybe we've made a mistake:
We could at least bave run it up
a flagpole to see who saluted."
"As
far as l'm conccmed,"
Mr.
Comwalli.s said, "lhc sub–
jecl is closed. Let's
talk.
about a
western series on the French
and Jodían War."
oms.~.a.c..,.,..n..