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Show I Churches to Film Own Movies With Players Unnamed I I The Rev. Paul Smith, Famed in Barbary Coast Crusade, Leads in Movement to Solve Problem of Suitable Tonics THE REV PAUL SMITH has dftnned his armor again. Many will recall I that It was the Rev Rati Smith who chanced the famed Barbary Coast In San Francisco from a flagrant strip of iniquity to a quiet little settlement of law and order I some fNn back. r But this time It in a different sort of fight. f It would be better described as crusade Pr Smith is out to provide motion picture" tha. churches can use. Tears ago churches wouldn't let a motion picture past the front vestibule. But now I'.OOO of them have In-ti In-ti ailed motion picture apparatus and many ere showing films. The big difficulty Is that they cannot get (Jims suitable to be shown In the church they can't get away from the Ri4narlos of sex lure domestic Infldeltts- and bathing girl comedy. Churches to Solve Their Own Problem WFJJ The commercial companies were given a BH chance In pro ide what the churches want Vl hul they haven't done so At a result churchmen have decided to go into the mo-rfHhj mo-rfHhj tJt.n picture business for themselves Dr rdlHI Smith is the head of an extensive "within tmMl I he church'' movement that will do Its own IBij Scenario writing, filming, producing and dis- jHn tilbutlng. The churches are going to get what they want b doing the Job themselves JfL the suppression of a revolting vice condition almost overnight. Investigations revealed not only i he vice conditions themselves commercialized vice. Illicit liquor sales and gambling but a system of police protection of them -11 Dr Smith trund himself at the head of the army of decency, and on the other side were deeply Intrenched political po-litical forces. A Melodramatic Fight It was a melodramatic flht. In thehlek of It one day hundreds of women of the underworld stormed Central Church and demanded de-manded of the pistoi ivhat Was to become of them He mt the situation firmly and talked to tb-m f-enslhly. Then came a big nns meeting, so crowded that 2.000 persons bad to he denied admission There was a demand for a Cleanup. It wa the turning point of the fic.ht It resulted In the appointment of a Morale Squad of policemen with Instructions Instruc-tions to close i be Barbary Coast and the uptown up-town Tenderloin aiRl to give the city a thorough thor-ough cleansing. The rald started In a period of two hours 201 Barbary Coast vice resorts were doaedi They had h"'d 1 -intl women. But the cleanup I t California with the 'tuest'on that the women themselves had propounded when ihej visited Central ueth- odtet Church: What was to he done with then? Dr. Smith took up their cause as earnestly as he had taken up the fight against vice He stumped the State in the j . 'l I - '11 "TTe GOOD AsRTN" Av, CHURCH FILM PLKV SCENE from " MIRACLE MONEV" As CHURCH P1LM PLV 1 j f W, Cnll'ornlr knows Dr. Paul Smith as h fighter even though he is only a trifle over fi feet In height, quiet and unobtrualve. I I buck In 1917 he was quietly tending bin ji;BS flock, which happened to be the congrega tion of the Central Methodlbt Church In San Franclecb He was president of the Federa- EPjM tlon of ChuThes of the city too. One dav there came a modest demand for a neighborhood cleanup. The revelations bthat demand brought out turned a .-mill crusado inio a gigantic statewide fight for Intetest of a rehabilitation farm for them It was during this crusade that the motion mo-tion picture idea came tu Dr. Smith If the whole story of the California sitmtion could bo told In a Mini It Mould be a powerful argument argu-ment In that State and in others and even abroad. Once he nad the conviction he set to work. He found friends who were willing will-ing to finance the venture. He rented a studio ai San Rafael He emplov-d a director direc-tor and a company, and "The Finger of Justice" Jus-tice" was made It has spoken Its message from screens In almost very State in tho Union and In many other countries. The eucoeea c( "The Finger of Justice" gave bit th lo another Idea With Dr. Smith He had seen lust what problem the church' s had faced In getting films suitable for their use. The fact that he had produced Just what he wanted for his cause led him to believe be-lieve that the '.hurdles could produce Just what tr.cy wanted. I'rnm the ver first day that churches gave up the prejudice against the film and welcomed It as an instrument that could as well rpread righteousness and unrighteousness unrighteous-ness the churches have faced that enigma Commercial companies have been making money With Minis that dealt with sex. intrigue, in-trigue, deceit and kindred themes. Occa-lonally Occa-lonally they made one suitable for a church showing, but not with that deliberate Intent The largo companies were successful with what they were doing and were indifferent to I he. church. But the churches had proved what they |
