The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

io The Educational Screen done the answer is, it has been done drive out foreign competition by thl in a few cases. To do it always will cowardly procedure of instituting a require much more cleverness not tariff walL The y wil1 compete sue- on the part of the spectator, but on cessfully with such pictures when ,, . r .1 i Tu r - they learn how to appeal to the the part of the producer. Ihe foreign J . . rr , , , , , , ' average intelligence instead of re- turns have already blazed the way. ,. , . garding their spectators as morons. Unfortunately all the American pro- A , ,, , . , , , r l And they need not worry about los^ clucers have been able to see in such ing the quarters and half dollars o{ films as Passion and Dr. Caligari is the n i n e-year-olds. The whine for a financial menace to an "infant in- a protective tariff is proof that the dustry . whole public wants intelligent pic- American producers will never tures. Editorial Announcement The Educational Screen is aware that a nation-wide development of visual education can never be achieved by the efforts of any single class or classes within the nation. Vigorous growth of a national idea must depend basically upon the desire and will of the millions, not of the few. However ardent the advocacy of the educational profession—however energetic the ef- fort of ambitious producers of serious slides and films—the healthy success of the idea must await the united approval and support of the general public, of the multitude of thinking men and women who control decisions in the social, economic and religious realms, and who alone can universalize the ideas and achievements of the specialists. The fiat of the public is necessary and it will be final. One of the primary influences in nationalizing public interest in such a question is the varied activity of the social-welfare organizations throughout the United States, including churches, clubs, community centers, parent-teacher groups, etc. They are already busy with this question in many of its aspects, but are often working independently and with too little coordination of effort. The Educational Screen, in an early issue, will start a new department which will aim to serve as an exchange through which such organizations may inform each other of significant things being done, planned and proposed throughout the country. We shall seek to give news, notes, reports and brief articles from the whole field, covering not only the specifically "educational" aspect of the subject but the great question of the theatrical motion-picture as well. The new department will be purely reportorial in character, expressing no editorial opinion whatever, and will be conducted by one who has had long experience in active work with such organizations.