'Goodnight Moon,' Smokeless Version(digitally revising history alert)

www.nytimes.com ^ | 11 17 05 | EDWARD WYATT

[freepatriot32]

In the great green room, there is a telephone, and a red balloon, but no ashtray. "Goodnight Moon," the children's classic by Margaret Wise Brown, has gone smoke free.

In a newly revised edition of the book, which has lulled children to sleep for nearly 60 years, the publisher, HarperCollins, has digitally altered the photograph of Clement Hurd, the illustrator, to remove a cigarette from his hand.

HarperCollins said it made the change to avoid the appearance of encouraging smoking and did so with the permission of the illustrator's estate. But Mr. Hurd's son, also a children's book illustrator and author, said he felt pressured to allow it. And the move has touched off something of a tempest in the nursery, with some children's booksellers expressing outrage. One has even mounted a campaign to have the original picture restored.

[freepatriot32]

One Minute You See It, the Next You Don't: Airbrushing has removed the cigarette from the hand of illustrator Clement Hurd on an upcoming edition of 'Goodnight Moon.'

there is a online petition you can sign here http://www.goodnightreality.com/ to try to get the publishers to stop the stalinism from the website. When you place your vote, you will have the additional option of sending an email to Harper Collins.

"In a single stroke, Harper Collins has changed our collective history, and created an alternate reality in which Clement Hurd does not smoke. It calls to mind a censorship tactic most famously associated with Joseph Stalin, who falsified the archival record of the Soviet Union by literally removing images of his political enemies from photographs in an effort to recreate history in his own image."

Reject the selective histories of corporate Stalinists! YEZHOV

NO YEZHOV

[freepatriot32]

ping

[js1138]

I've done that with a couple of family photos.

[justche]

So not to be obtuse - but how does this affect the book itself?

[FreedomCalls]

So not to be obtuse - but how does this affect the book itself?

It's not about the "book itself." It's about historical revisionism.

[freepatriot32]

So not to be obtuse - but how does this affect the book itself?

Becasue they are not just altering the picture on the bac of the book they are removing picture illitrations from the book itself

In the great green room, there is a telephone, and a red balloon, but no ashtray. "Goodnight Moon," the children's classic by Margaret Wise Brown, has gone smoke free

[massgopguy]

No one could read that book like Christopher Walkin.

[Drawsing]

Ahh...the sour smell of history revisionists in the morning.

Quick someone needs to remove all of Churchill's cigars and put big lollipops in their place.

[dfwgator]

No one could read that book like Christopher Walkin.

Goodnight Cowbell.

[Old Professer]

The truly obtuse are innocent; the obdurant generally operate from motive.

[tbird5]

You're kidding, right?

[brownsfan]

The anti-smoking nazis are out of control. Disclaimer: I smoke cigars, roughly 4 a week, always outdoors while walking the dog. So, I am almost unaffected by this crap.
Where I live, the county wants to ban smoking in all public places. The government doesn't need more rules. If people don't like second hand smoke, they won't go to those places. If they don't go, the business will change it's own rules.
But the nazis, (socialists), know what's good for us. They are smarter than us. So, they can't wait to make rules for the stupid people. Grrrrr.
Right now, it's smokers. Mark my words, tomorrow it will be overweight people. And then the debate over how much overweight is acceptable.
Our freedom is going away, and we are rolling over.

[polymuser]

But, if he was gay, I bet they'd scramble to show a 'partner' with him. Maybe put a rainbow pin on him. What's the dif?

[HamiltonJay]

Frankly, my son's copy of the book didn't have a photo of this guy at all, thank goodness. with or without cigarette, he'd probably give kids of the age that books written for nightmares.

Revisionism history? I suppose if they had cropped it to just show his face that would be revisionism too?

[2Jedismom]

I took the cutest digital picture of a friend of mine's toddler daughter sitting with a hotdog on a plate beside her. Except there was a fly on the hotdog! Ack!

I just edited that fly right out and emailed the picture to her mom, who thought it was the nicest picture! LOL!

[polymuser]

"Goodnight Moon," the children's classic by Margaret Wise Brown, has gone smoke free.

And truth free.

[SheLion]

Thanks for the ping!

[marsh_of_mists]

Man, I used to love that book. I'd see no problem with replacing the illustrator's photo with another one of him, if they could find one, but digitally altering it like that skirts into Memory Hole territory.

[2Jedismom]

I suppose if they had cropped it to just show his face that would be revisionism too?

Actually that's not a bad idea...instead of pretending like the guy was never holding a cigarette.

[stevio]

Ahhh. "Goontga goo" as called by my then 1 1/2yr old. One of my favorites.