wing cartoon". Varietys  editor Peter Bart (qv) privately sided with Paramounts boycott,  calling McBride "unprofessional". Bart was subsequently embarrassed  when his letter criticizing one of his reviewers and supporting  studio censorship was leaked to the press. The Los Angeles Film  Critics Association and the National Society of Film Critics then  publicly lambasted Bart for his "dismaying treatment" of one of his  members of staff, saying "the question is not whether any  responsible critic is right or wrong, but whether any responsible  critic must be muted so as not to offend an advertiser or bruise a  handful of tender egos".