Page:1954 Juvenile Delinquency Testimony.pdf/194

182 Mr. . I am not concerned with what the other people do.

Mr. . Which of your books would you say is Jike Cain and Abel and Shakespeare's Macbeth, and some of these other names you have given us?

Mr. . I think the story of Cain and Abel is in some of tho issnes of Bible stories.

Mr. . Which of the horror comic magazines would you say compares to Cain and Abel? .

Mr. . I cannot offhand say, but I would be very happy, Mr. Hannoch, to have anybody from your committee, or all of the commitiee, come up to our office, and go through every book we pub- lished for a long time and try to assist you in every way possible,

I am sure we can find the answer there. I am making the point that occasional tales of violence, savagery, even crime, has stemmed from the year 1 in literature.

Crime comics, weird comics, gangster movies, western and science fiction might give the otherwise passive child an opportunity at least to repress violence. It may he true that such entertainment is an act of deterrent to the criminal impulse.

I believe we have heard some testimony from reputable people to that effect.

This is not an argument for or against a few weird comics. I merely wish to show that such comics generally are a modern adaptation of age-old themes in literature.

Mr. . I have no questions.

The. Senator Hennings?

Senator. I have no questions, Mr. Chairman. TI do think that Mr. Froehlich has expressed some very important parallels or analogies in terms of the great literature of the world and great plays.

Hamlet has a number of assorted felonies. Macbeth, the Rape of Lucretia, and so on.

Certainly Huck Finn was a juvenile delingnent himself by the stand- ards of that day, if not of this, And the saga of Billy the Kid and the Jesse James stories.

lL know Tread all of these. Maybe I would be a lot better than I am if I had net read them, but I read them with great interest and delight, and certainly the Shakespearean plays are playing on Broad- Way now.

It is difficult to single out which one of these things may have an adverse impact and to what extent.

Mr. . May I add just one more thing. I think there have been some misstatements made to date which might unfairly brand the entire comic industry.

No. 1, the volume of sales. We figure, and I believe that we have a fairly accurate yardstick to use because we are publishers, distribu- torswe have onr own men out to evaluate these things properly that the sale is not anything like 70 or 80 or 100 million a year.

At the present time I would guessnot guess, but a real good esti- mate, would be in the area of 40 to 45 million per month.

Mr. . Sales?

Mr. . Sales.

Mr. . How many printed each month?

Mr. . Possibly double that at the present time. Normally you might figure there is a 60 to 62 or 63 percent sale.