Show Star 0 Ks Censor Reforms Are Needed Claims 5 e i rn 1 i s' s I I I 1 tir I r S to 5 S DOROTHY HALL By VIRGINIA SWAIN YORK March 12 NEA- NEA Dorothy Ha hail rode In in the Black Maria to the station n when poH pollee e raided the play in which she was wa's leading woman But Dorothy Hall in censorship Its reached the place when byers lov by- ers of the theatre must look e even ren t to the theatres theatre's most dreaded fo o censorship censorship cen- cen to rescue it from truC tion It If ill o-ill rescUe the drama Im I'm fo Jt MAES MAE'S ATTITUDE had resigned from th company of The Virgin Man Ian and was playing her last week to save savi the manager from loss ot of the rent wh n raiders swooped down on the thc public interest later inter S pla play They stimulated est so that the closing notice was wat I withdrawn and the play prospered In contrast to this attitude is that thai ot of Mae West buxom blonde author and leading woman ot of another ol of the raided pla plays s 's Sex Mae has flung down the gauntlet gauntlett t pran v open stage any kind ot of pla play that vIll bring in the cash customer cus- cus tomer Sue She accuses other playwrights playwrights play play- S wrights and producers of bringing raid through jealousy Seal jeal- about the about the polIce ot of her success Certain producers and theatre P owners had openly announced that tha Miss Vests West's next opus The Tho Drag vold never be able to get a N New NewYork W York theatre It is an exposition of psychopathic conduct which h they feared would bring down government govern govern- meat ment censors upon the entire New NewYork NewYork York theatre Is Mae West Vest by her recent visIt to t police poUce station She is not She says gays she Is going to go right on t talking out loud in inthe inthe the theatre giving the people what they want Sure ule I know what audiences like she abC sa says s And when it comes to sex portrayals portrayals' I know my Onions My play is trUe to lite And how can anybody suppress truth th I believe that whatever Is is fit material for the theatre And just here Miss 1 Hall just as golden hair haired d and possibly pr fera- fera ble has a. a word vord to say The truth is no excuse Many things are true which are not en- en Even when a play is re and restrained It may be dangerous VULGAR AND CRUDE And I consider most ot of the sex pays flow on Broadway merely vulgar vulgar gar and crude Their only purpose is the d demoralize while drag dragging ing ingIn In the money But even such a play playas as The Captive a marvel ot of good writing and staging is out ot of place in America It deals with an un- un health topIc which should be treated by doctors instead of ot play play- wrights Miss Hall believes that audiences I are just as guilty as producers in I sex plays Few ew actors are able to choose the roles they wiil play The rho daughter ot of a a. staid Methodist family of Bradford Pa Miss Hall Hail Hallwas was allowed to come to New York only on the pretext ot of studying interior in- in decorating After about five months she got work as an extra in a motion picture plc- plc ture studio and triumphantly wrote an astonished family that it could I view her work In the local movie I ho house s Just Juet thInk how I felt when I I II learned that the whole sequence iii I which I worked had been cut out From movies she wen ven to the I speaking stage Im one of the lucky girls who dont don't have to take a part they dislike dis- dis S like she says glancing at the I handsome handsom manufacturer husband I who is her insurance against economic economic eco eco- pressure But ut this winter I turned down sO se many roles that at last n despera- despera I 1 decided to try tn The Virgin Virgil I Man The title was the worst ol ot r the show anyway And when they thea let me cut out some of the damns and some of the vamping I though the play was harmless amateurish and dull The solution ot bad plays is ye yet yetto t to c come me meIss Miss Iss Hall says Certainly p p censorship is t. Unless the public revolts am and 1 turns turn a cold on the se sex plays there must be censors But Bu where to find tind wise cool unprejudiced diced persons to do the work I dont don't know |