True Romance Blossoms, But The Globe Spurns Episode Of Doonesbury

An episode of the comic strip "Doonesbury" that depicts a couple in bed together was dropped yesterday from several major newspapers, including The Boston Globe.

The strip, which appears in today's Crimson, shows the characters Joanie Caucus and Rick Redfern in bed, as one episode in the story of Joanie's growing interest in the star investigative reporter.

About 15 newspapers have either omitted this episode or objected to its content, Lee Salem, managing editor of Universal Press Syndicate, which distributes "Doonesbury," said yesterday.

Banned in Boston

Salem said many editors found the strip "offensive" or "not suitable for a family newspaper."

Salem added that he and the cartoonist, Garry Trudeau, had expected some newspapers to object.

Reached in New York, Trudeau said half jokingly, "Human sexuality has reared its ugly head, and everyone has run for cover."

Trudeau declined to comment further.

"Doonesbury" is cut from newspapers "relatively frequently" due to its social and political content, he said.

Otto Zausmer, associate editor of The Boston Globe, said he decided to delete the episode because it was "too offensive and in poor taste."

When asked about the relative propriety of the sexual content in other regular features such as Ann Landers, Zausmer replied that "there is a hell of a difference between this and a serious discussion" of sexual matters.

Zausmer said he plans to run several paragraphs of explanation in today's Boston Globe.

Several other papers throughout the country, including the Chicago Tribune and The Milwaukee Journal, have decided to omit today's strip.

A few papers plan to cut all of next week's cartoons. These episodes delve deeper into the relationship between Caucus and Redfern, although none are as visually explicit as today's strip.

Although The Globe has no plans to omit other episodes of the comic strip, some newspapers--including The Chicago Tribune and The Milwaukee Journal--have decided to cut all of next week's cartoons.

But Dick Smith, assistant to the editor of the Los Angeles Times, said yesterday that "our readers would be angry if we didn't run it."