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1950-1959
- Naked
and The Dead by Norman Mailer, Excerpts
from My Diary by Leon Trotsky, Wise
Parenthood by Marie Stopes, The
Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall, Droll
Stories by Honore de Balzac, and A
Book of the 1000 Nights and A Night by Sir Richard Burton.
Banned by Canada Customs in 1950. [Mind
War: Book Censorship in English Canada, p. 10]
- In
1950, amendments to the Criminal Code were directed against
comic books due to their violence. Forbidden titles included:
Captain America, Weird Tales, Penalty Comics, Super Mysteries,
Gunsmoke, Gun Fighters, Western Outlaws, Saddle Justice, Two-Gun
Kid, Spy and Counterspy, Western Bandit Trails, Moon Girl, All-True
Crime, Amazing Mysteries, Crime Fighters, Crime Reporter, Crime
Does Not Pay, Crime and Punishment, Crimes by Women, Crime Patrol,
Casey, Crime Photographer, Detective Comics, Gang Busters, Guilty,
Suspense, Justice, Lawbreakers, Mr. District Attorney, Headline
Comics, True Crime Comics, True Police Comics, Wanted, War Against
Crime, Women Outlaws, Western True Crime. [Censors
Ban Eleven More Comic Books, Daily Colonist 21 January 1950,
p. 18]
- The
Amboy Dukes (author unknown). In 1953, the Canadian
Federation of Home and School and Parent Teacher Councils charged
that this pocket book was causing Vancouver youths to mimic
the characters depicted by joining gangs, fighting with knives
and razors, and copying their "sex behavior." They wanted
to ban from newsstands pocket books with illustrated covers.
A distributor of this book had been acquitted in the past because
he claimed that it was a sociological book intended for students.
[Delinquents Got Idea in Thrill Book,
The Vancouver Sun 11 February 1953, p. 2]
- Tobacco
Road by Erskine Caldwell. In 1953 this book was removed
from Victoria and Vancouver newsstands. It was removed
from Vancouver stands on the advice of the City Prosecutor.
The police had recently closed the play based on the novel,
and had charged eight actors and other members of the Everyman
Theatre with indecency. [Mind War: Censorship
in English Canada, p. 12; Tobacco Road, The Vancouver Sun 23
January 1953, p. 3]
-
In 1954, Victoria Mayor Claude
Harrison advocated the burning of subversive books, especially those thought
to be communist. "Any books or literature which are of a seditious
or subversive nature will go out of the library as far as I'm concerned... And
any member of the library staff who belongs to a Communist organization
will go out behind the book ... It's time that many libraries throughout Canada
are cleaned up." He stated that tax dollars should not support seditious
works, and offered the use of his own fireplace to destroy the offending
material. MLA Lydia Arsons agreed with the mayor saying, "These books
should be destroyed. If we remove all books about Communism and by
Communists we are not denying any citizens freedom." [Harrison
Wants to Burn Books From Library Held 'Subversive', The Daily Colonist
27 January 1954, p. 1,5]
-
In 1954, the Junior Chamber
of Commerce wanted to use the Victoria Public Library as a depot for crime
comics; ten comics could be traded for one hardcover book. The members
wanted to get the comics out of circulation and were planning to publicly
burn the comics they received. The library refused to participate
in their plan. [The Vancouver Sun 27 November
1954]
- The
Atom Spy Hoax by William Reuben. In 1955, sixty-four
copies were sent to Canada from the U.S. but were detained at
Customs. The author then travelled to Canada, bringing
three cartons of the books, but was denied entry into the country
at the Vancouver airport. This book was not on the list of prohibited
books at that time; Customs sent a copy to officials in Ottawa
for a decision. [Mind War: Book Censorship
in English Canada, p. 14; Book Ban Denied at Ottawa, Daily Colonist
14 April 1955, p. 15]
-
In September 1955, an objection
to a book on Father Divine was received at Vancouver Public Library.
Objectors felt that the book "does not reflect credit on Father Divine."
[Book-Banners
Leave Our Library Alone, The Vancouver Sun 30 September 1955, p. 36; Mind
War: Book Censorship in English Canada, p. 14]
- Peyton
Place by Grace Metalious. Banned by Customs in 1956;
the Deputy Minister of National Revenue felt that it was "shocking,
coarse, and vulgar." The publisher appealed the decision
and, in April 1958, the Canadian Tariff Board removed the ban
and allowed the book to be imported into Canada. [Mind
War: Book Censorship in English Canada, p. 16; Freedom to Read
Week Kit 1996 A Chronology of Freedom of Expression in Canada,
Book and Periodical Council, p. 3]
- Lolita
by Vladimir Vladimivovich Nabokov. In the Fall of 1958
this title was placed on Canada Customs list of banned books.
A shipment from the U.S. was seized at the border, but was later
cleared for import. [Mind War: Book
Censorship in English Canada, p. 16]
- Tropic
of Cancer by Henry Miller. Banned from Canada in 1958.
[RCMP Swoops on Banned Sex Novel, The
Vancouver Sun 14 October 1961, p. 1,2]
- Canada:
The Foundations of its History by Stephen Leacock.
In 1959, distribution of this book was prevented in the province
by the BC Liquor Act, which prohibited the advertisement of
liquor. The book had been published eighteen years previously.
It was sponsored by the House of Seagrams, a liquor company,
whose sponsorship was indicated prominently on the book cover;
thus, authorities felt that the book was acting as a liquor
advertisement. [The Vancouver
Sun 11 March 1959; Leacock's Literary Life, Halifax Daily News,
5 March 2000, p. 36]
- Women
of Rome Alberto Moravia. On the 1959 list of books
banned from entering Canada. [The Vancouver
Sun 9 May 1959]
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