Brattle's Censor Suit May Hasten Burlesque Return

The Brattle Theater's victorious Supreme Court suit against the state's Sunday censorship law, which abolished the censor's rulings as unconstitutional, now threatens to aid Boston's dying burlesque entertainment.

Although the city's leading burlesque athenaeum, the Old Howard, will soon become a parking lot, its former arch competitor, the Casino, has subtlety begun to streamline its vaudeville acts.

The burlesque licenses of both the Casino and the Old Howard were revoked over two years ago because the theaters' performances showed "lewdness and obscenity."

One Boston movie theater has already cashed in on the censors' defeat and is reported to have future plans to show such controversial films as Sweden's "One Summer of Happiness" and Howard Hughes' "The French Line."

Mayor John Hynes of Boston, one of the city's three censor board members, said that he would have to consider whether burlesque licenses could be issued again. "We'll wait until someone applies for one," he added.

The Brattle's suit, which began in May, 1954 and ended last July, questioned the State's right to ban Sunday showings of the movie, "Miss Julie," which began a return engagement at the theater last night.

The Massachusetts court ruled against the Sunday censorship declaring that it was "void on its face as a prior restraint on the freedom of speech and the press."