Youngsters S Picket for 'Clean Movies' By John Hildebrand Lake Ronkonkoma-It was the ultimate confrontation in an age of confrontation. Behind the swinging glass doors of the Ronkonkoma Theater was 300-pound manager Fred Cunniff, self-proclaimed impresario of "sexploitation" movies, preparing to show his two features of the evening"K.O. Suzette" and "Animal Love." Outside were a dozen snub-nosed elementary school children, with picket signs and petitions, demanding a chance to see SUFOIK I COUNTY'S FINEST ART THEATRE "Oliver" and "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." But when yesterday's confrontation was over, Cunniff had once again demonstrated his willingness to give the public what it wants. He told the pickets, aged 10 to 12, that he would seek permission from the theater owner to give them a Saturday Kiddie Matinee. Provided, of course, that it paid. "Let's face it, the main thing we're here for is to make money," Cunniff told the children, most of whom go to Hiawatha Elementary School. "I'll give 7 is 15 0J 0 Newsday Photo by Rex Lyone They want 'Oliver,' not 'K.O. Suzette' you Saturday afternoons- -I'm glad to -but it's up to you kids whether we'll keep it or not." "My mother says we can come every week," a voice replied. A dozen heads nodded. After meeting with Cunniff on the sidewalk outside the theater, several of the children remarked that their sally against the theater seemed more fruitful than a similar one staged by their parents about four years ago. In 1967, when the theater began specializing in "art" films, local housewives organized a boycott against neighboring shops in an unsuccessful attempt to bring pressure against the theater. Cunniff, who has such productions as "Love Hunger" ("Desperate Men and Wanting Women") coming up, defended his line of goods on economic grounds. "My living here is to play the sexploitation products strictly for the sex angle," he said. "When the theater was running regular stuff, we were getting 20 or 30 people a night." Now, he estimates, the audience numbers about 250. "The adults, they picketed and nothing happened," said the spokesman for yesterday's group of young pickets, 11-year-old Katie Smyth of 20 Peter Rd. "Now something's happened, because we're going to get what we want." Katie then handed Cunniff a sheaf of petitions seeking a Saturday matinee. She said that they contained 781 signatures of local residents. Earlier, the demonstrators had marched in front of the theater for about an hour with signs that said "Sex Scenes Are Out, Clean Movies Are In" and "Down With X's, Up With G's,' in reference to film ratings. While Katie argued that the Ronkonkoma is the only theater within walking distance of the children's homes, her father, Erank Smyth, stood by quietly. The only parent present, Smyth said that he and other parents had encouraged the demonstration. Did the parents feel that a Saturday matinee would be good for them, too? "Certainly, it would," said Smyth, choosing his words carefully. "Having our children able to see some good children's movies . . and it helps parents get rid of us on Saturday morning," a 10-year-old chimed in.
