ARS GRATIA ARTIS

In view of the fact that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has released its vault of motion pictures to television, Leo the Lion has been converted into a moderately standard guest in the living room. If you’re set apart by having 20-20 vision, you can scarcely make out the Latin maxim that appears on the television at the start of every MGM picture. It reads “Ars Gratia Artis,” “Art for Art’s Sake”—a slogan which seems outrageously inappropriate when you think of the millions of dollars paid for this “art” by the television sponsors.