Censorship
Many interesting views on this most important topic, a large number of which
indicate a drift toward national censorship. Expressions from many prominent leaders
of the industry.
Sure to Come
Censorship is, as sure to come as prohibition.
The national heads of this industry should go
to it, if not already, working to the opinions
of the ruling intellectual elements in this
U. S. A.
. E. V. RICHARDS,
Vice-President and General Manager,
h Saenger Amusement Co., Inc.
Industry Must Organize
T believe if this industry were properly or¬
ganized within itself to combat outside attacks,
censorship legislation would be impossible of
enactment. If legislative bodies make as much
progress with censorship as the,y have in the .
past year, the future of our business will stand
in great jeopardy, and may even face absolute
,ruin. I urge all people engaged in this busi-
* ness to organize into a national body, and only
for the purpose' of- combating censorship legis¬
lation, and" to, fight for the repeal of the
menacing statutes that now stand upon the
books of many state and municipal legislative'
bodies.
If the factors in the industry cannot agree
upon anything else, this is one thing they must
agree upon, to save the business from the
people who are seeking to destroy it.
"AL" LICHTMAN,
Gen. Mgr., Asso. Producers.
Abhorrent ;
Censorship in any form is abhorrent to one
who believes in freedom of speech and press—
and the freedom of the theatre to develop its
own art. We have censorship in New York
How it will' work out only a prophet can tell.
And I am no prophet.
HUGO RIESENFELD.
Educate the Public
The fight against censorship has been from
the wrong angle. The public do not know
what it is all about. Take any ten liberal
minded persons who do not understand the
question and" ask them about censorship, they
will-say: "'Oh! I guess it is alright," hut when
you finally convince them of its Un-American,
unfair and dangerous practice, they will say—
"'NO! We don't want it."
In Indiana, for six years I have met with
those who were interested in better pictures,
and- showed them the evils of censorship and
the good of endorsing better pictures, and we
won, because people know the evils of censor¬
ship,
So, the whole thing is summed tip that you
will have to educate the public against censor-
ship, and then there will not be any censor¬
ship.
We need men with ideas and gilts to put
them over. F. J. REMBUSCH.
Its Great Power, the Danger
. The real danger of censorship is in the
manner in which it is handled, for it is a very
difficult 'matter for any few individuals to he
competent to judge what will appeal to the
general public and just what should be elimi¬
nated, as it comes down to a question of per¬
sonal opinion of a .few individuals. Further
more, the danger of censorship is the great
power which is transmitted to a few, and if
not properly handled would open the doors to
a serious condition and place producers in a
position that they would have no assurance
that almost every production would be cen¬
sored in such a way as to impair its selling
value and discourage the continuation of the
large amounts continuously invested in the
making of productions. Under this heading
might also be considered the attitude in con¬
nection with censorship for which the pro¬
ducers are not responsible, in that certain ex¬
hibitors, catering to sensationalism, have, in
the exploitation of productions, invited criti¬
cisms which the production itself has not
justly deserved.1
R-C PICTURES CORP.,
R. S. Cole, President.
Up to Exhibitors
Censorship will exist until the exhibitors in
the country become seriously interested in its
solution and turn their screens to good account
• in combating the political and ultra reform
elements and their candidates who have es¬
tablished it, J. D. WILLIAMS.
One Set of Standards
Everybody in the industry has a solution of
the censorship question. With New York a
censorship 'state and with Massachusetts vot¬
ing on the referendum and possibly joining
hands with Kansas, Pennsylvania, Maryland
and Ohio, and considering the further fact that
the territory distributed from shipping points
in these states and_ the city of Chicago, which
also has a censorship hoard, we will have more
than half of the theatres in the United States
- showing_ censored pictures. There is no need
to deceive ourselves. Censorship has passed
the half way mark "by states and municipali¬
ties." It is now time to "reform, the reformers"
and "censor the censors." If more than half
the theatres in the country are showing pic¬
tures censored by censnr boards which do not
agree with each other and have different sets
of standards; regulations, etc., we may as well
have one national board with one set of stand¬
ards so that the producer, distributor and ex¬
hibitor may know what he can make, distribute
and exhibit, and not be subject to the whims
and fancies of a lot of people who do not know
anything about pictures or the business in
general. ■
I can hear the old argument against a na¬
tional board now sounding in my ears: "A
national board would not do away with state
boards and would not prevent other states "from
setting up their own censor boards." Of course.
it would not. A national board can not take
away from any state their right to police regu¬
lation or their right to set up an additional
or different standard if they see fit, but what
are we- doing now to stop these other states
who do not have censorship in setting up more
hoards. At the worst we would only have one
more board by having a national board and this
national hoard might and would, in my opinion,
if it is intelligently handled, stop other states
from passing censorship laws. T mean by this
board a national board of regulation for motion
pictures for nuhlic exhibition and visual" educa¬
tion. I would suggest a commission of three
to be .appointed in the same manner that Presi¬
dents of the United States have appointed other
commissions. That, is, one person to represent
the government, one to represent the industry
affected, and one to represent the public. Let
this commission be of such high character
that it will naturally over-shadow the set of
brains_ which, we find on any ordinary state or
municipal censor board. Let this' commission,
which will have one man from the industry on
it, work out a sensible solution, have it passed
nationally and recommend if to the various
states.
President Hardine said in his speech to the
theatrical and motion picture folk in Marion,
Ohio, Ia^t August that in his opinion "one set
of standards wa« sufficient for the American
people." If the President of the United States
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