OCR Text |
Show II SALACIOUS PICTURES 1ST I LEAVE SCREEN , SAY MAKERS; I SEX-APPEAL PLAYS BANNED I- . (By Benjamin B Hampton) Ml During the last few year, in almost P every state of the union thero lias r SDrunsr Into existence an atfgrtSSlVS I demand for censornhlp of motion plc- i turos. Many states and cities have ! created censorship boards The move- - mont has alrcadv reached such a point Gj as to threaten the exlstenco of the plc- ture ert and industry- Ijf A few weeks ago I auhmlUed the jt entire situation to the Kenernl public. S through a maRazlne, The I'lctorlal j 1 Review. In an article entitled. "Too hi Much Sex Stuff In the Movies.' WHOM SI Fault Is It?" In that article I stated H piainlv that the screen wan burdened H bv subtly salacious sex pictures andj U declared my belief that the Industry n was Incurring the wrath of thought- 1 l ful men and women I The thcatro owner was not to I ) blame. The public flocks to the thea- I tres showlnc spicy plays and gives 1 meager attendance to the hOUM sliov- j lng clean plav The box office tells I the story,"' atid the exhibitor bad to! I get into line with sex appeal pictures 1 or go out of business. I stated that the majority of plc-B plc-B ture makers and theatre owners uie M clean men, desirous of building their H business on the solid rock foundation H of "family trade" and that if the pub-H pub-H J.- rallied to their support the sala-H sala-H rlous play woubl jki out of existence s quickly as tb w.i r play died after H the glgnlnp of the armistice N TKiN l. .ri.TI)N H The dally newspapers throughout H the country published liberal extracts H from the article and literally thou- H sands of news articles and editorials H were printed. A tremendous aglta-l H tion followed with the result that pub- H lie opinion expressed itself, first, asj H opposed to unclean plays, and second.! H as anxious to co-operate with film H interests to make the screen safe for H th- growing generation. H Results have followed with such1 H startling rapidity that today U is pos- H siMe to announce that the greatest! H reform ever known In the history of H entertainment Is now In actual op- H eratlon. Not only hae the motion picture people "cleaned house' but their ac-H ac-H Hon has the co-operation of the vaude- villa interest;! and the music pub-H pub-H hshers. No slow, tedious cumbersome, un-American un-American censorship accomplished H these results. The men in these In- dustries, aided by the press and pub-fl pub-fl lie, accomplished In a ft w weeks con- Btructivo results that would n vr h;ive been possible through I ensorshlp. r AKI VIGOROUS i l In New York at a pieetlnvr at Del-monlco's Del-monlco's a committee presenting all producers and distributors r- cept three. I .an did toci-i ln-r md nilopt-ed nilopt-ed resolutions whit h will make it 1m-possible 1m-possible for exhibitors to show their productions where such exhibitors I show salacious pictures. All service will bo withdrawn to such exhibitors. Ailolph Zukor, president of the Famous Fa-mous Plajtors-Lasky company was selected to lead in industry. Mr. Jiukor said: "So far wo have been successful In putting all picture menaces men-aces propetiy before the various legislative legis-lative bodies, but all this will do no good unless wo malco pictures eliminating elim-inating salacious elements." Clean pictures was the keynote of various addresses by Hugo Helsenfeld, .lessn I.asky, Kdward P. Albec, John Bmerson and others. Wild, DOUBLE Hi STN1 5S In los Anneles, the most largely; attended meeting of the Motion Picture Pic-ture Directors' association of America, was addressed by W. W. Hodklnson the distributor. Mr. Hodklnson toldj the directors that tho total volume of theatre business now Is about eight hundred million dollar a Jfegr and, that It would increase to a billion and; a half dollars the first year of clean pictures When mothers and fathers can permit their children to k to th'atres freely tho box office will i doubio its business. ' I Samuel Ooldwyn Issued Instructions to his Culver city studio as follows: "No pictures showing sex attraction attrac-tion in any suggest Ive or ImprOpC! manner shall be produced': and there must be no sal&OlOUSneBB In photoplay titles and advertising mailer. "No picture shall be produced which makes drunkenness or gambling attractive, at-tractive, and stories dealing with the underworld shall not be presented unless un-less surh scenes are merely a part of a conflfct between right and wrong. N'othlnc Is to be pictured which might instruct In the methods of committing commit-ting crime. "No incident in a story shall neod-lessly neod-lessly offend the holders of a religious belief " lIII. DN ES " Jesse ! L8slV has promulgated a list of "14 points' 'to be observed in l future pictures produced by his com- pany. They Include: No pictures showing sex attraction I in a suggestive or Improper manner. No Picture dealing wl'.h "white Stories ot t UP on i'.Mci? !oe per- i, ...... .il lesson. Nakedness banned inviting dances eliminated. Unnecessarily prolonged passionate! love scenes No stories principally concerned with the underworld. No pictures which might instruct th- morally weak In crime methods.) No stories which ma offend any re-' llglous sect. No, Incidents showing flisrespec for, tiny religion SugU'Ml I ' .uiin-d ba ri ! "Unnecessary depiction of bloodshed" blood-shed" must be avoided. No salacious titles nor adver- j tiding m , I Mr l.askv declared he undertook the purification of his own volition and was not Influenced in any way by censorship or "blue law" agitation-He agitation-He asserted also ho would make no effort to Induce his fellow pr&ducers to lake similar steps. j il. mm; Mv Ml BIO In a Los Angeles vaudeville house last week one net presented on t he- ( opening bill contained several Innuendoes. Innu-endoes. After its first perform an os the management disciplined the actor ac-tor severely. Tho president of one largo vaudeville vaude-ville circuit has sent out orders to the effect that nothing of a vulgar nature na-ture Is to bo permitted on any of his stages. The board of governors of the Music Mu-sic Publishers' Protective asoclatlon in New York decided to urge every publisher of modern songs In the country coun-try to turn down any lyric that should not be rated chemlcnlly pure. hle from tho fact that publishers publish-ers do not wish to be sponsors for songs capable of Indecent construction." construc-tion." said K C. Mill", executive secretary, sec-retary, "tho purely commercial aspect as-pect of the situation Is that from now on SUCh songs are to he barred from the better vaudeville theatres and I publishers who back them may find professional support withdrawn." JtKTs WITH PUBLIC Unquestionably tho entertainment interests of the country have placed the burden of responslbllit y where It belongs, squarely on the shoulders of I the pubii.- The people can have clean1 pictures by encouraging and support-1 lng those producers and those theatrei dealing in clean pictures. Till our story to the bOX office, anil you will 1 find i he film people anxious to provide pro-vide the form of photoplay you li ma nd oo |