Today's Looking Back can be found here.

College students are known for their sense of humor and for having too much time on their hands. The result can be some fairly epic practical jokes, as this Feb. 12, 1960 News-Miner item indicates:

STREET OF SHAME — The Polar Star, University of Alaska campus paper, has quite a tstory in its last issue on the uproar that a movie caused on the campus.

Mimeographed notices were recently placed on bulletin boards throughout the campus announcing that the movie, "Street of Shame," would be shown in the Bunnell lecture hall.

The notice went on to describe the picture as "an investigation into the lives of five prostitutes from 'Dreamland,' a brothel in the red light district of Tokyo." The notice added that "in exploring the personal and professional lives of each girl, the camera is exploring the problems of organized prostitution." A list of the directors and photographers of this "social documentary" was given along with a quote from the San Francisco News asserting that "Street of Shame is a fascinating story, carefully and tastefully delineated so that it never offends."

Because this was to be a special limited showing of special interest to educational psychology majors, the film was open only to those over 21. However, minors could attend by getting written permisison from Dean Voldseth.

This caused a rush on the office of the dean and by Wednesday, more than 40 permission slips had been issued.

The grand finale of the "Street of Shame" episode came on the evening set for the movie. The big crowd that converged on the Bunnell Lecture hall was dispersed effectively by a notice on the door of the hall.

The notice stated:

"Street of Shame, unfortunately, is not available for tonight's showing. Next week at this time there will be a double feature: a 1956 production of the 'Brooks Range Eruptions,' and on-the-spot films of University of Alaska students attending a 1960 hoax. Thank you for your cooperation in demanding that better films be shown on campus."