Word: fatuous
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Relax. Any good kindergarten teacher knows that her kids in fact yearn to read. But Johnny can't read at 4½ because "research shows" that "reading readiness" comes at 6½. Even when he gets the chance, it may not be worth it. The fatuous "basal reader" with its Oh-Oh-Sue-said trivia destroys all joy in words. Mayer calls this "the most serious single criticism that can be made of the schools...
...celluloid gut-spillers were a rousing commercial success-about the only dramatic success in a season of frightful failure. Producer David Susskind's tenuous empire was tottering: his Witness was canceled in midseason, his fatuous debate with Nikita Khrushchev drew critical scorn. As Susskind's hair began to thin and his pockets bulged, his image as TV's angry young rebel became less convincing, but his influence still pervaded the industry, and his Open End consistently demonstrated that conversation, if intelligent, can be entertaining. Jackie Gleason was miserably miscast as the M.C. of an ill-fated...
...program is augmented by a fatuous short, Dances in Spain. High-decibel castanets, surrealist sets with real tinsel trees, effeminate gypsies chasing Tinkerbellesque points of light--these, one is led to conclude, are the cultural outpourings of Franco Spain. Uninspired photography alternates with extraneous quotations by Garcia Lorca. An unfortunate program--but don't miss the music between the showings. The 1812 Overture has gone forever; and the Brattle's all new Altec-Lansing Hi-Fidelity Sound System is devoted to reproducing the brass canzonas of Giovanni Gabrieli. They're restful and reassuring...
...Jesuit-run Spring Hill College in Mobile. It is likely to remain so. Charleston's Bishop Paul J. Hallinan gives his church's explanation: "The Catholics are 1.3% of the population in our state. If the full federal power cannot carry this off, it's fatuous to think we can. I would take the risk on high moral principles, but it would be a hollow victory if it wrecked our school system or did harm to our children...
...arrive. It would wonder what it had done wrong." Comedian Charlie Chester: "It's all bilge. If I want to help the hungry, I won't drag my poodle Sasha into it." N. J. Lambert of the Canine Defense League: "The cardinal's idea seems fatuous. It would be punishing the animals. They would not know what it was for." Then he threw in a bit of startling theology: "We have some animals who behave in a more Christian way than some Christians...