The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

I in. Educational Sckeen ioo gorillas left in this little domain and they represent ■ source of scientific knowl- edge that is of inestimable value. This tract could be made s permanent sanctuary fOJ the last Of the race, the last of "man's nearest relatives." All the articles are profusely illustrated, and elaborate maps give added accuracy md vividness to the series. The reading Of these articles will he a splendid prepara- tion tor viewing the remarkahle gorilla group when it shall be unveiled. Such museum groups are masterpieces of visual education. When one thinks of the mil- lions that will view them, one realizes the high worth of such expeditions and easily understands the enthusiasm of the author for his arduous work. "As I write this in New York," he says, "with the skins and skeletons all safely here and one gorilla modeled for the group, I can visualize the fruits of the trip. The group can come into being as soon as I can get an artist to Mt. Mikeno to paint, as the background for it, the scene that unfolded itself before our eyes when when we stood by the old male that Bradley shot on the slopes of Kari- simbi and looked across toward Mt. Cha- ninagongo. . . What I went to Africa for I got—but I got a great deal more, a vision of how to study this animal which is man's nearest relative." MOTION PICTURE MADNESS is the title of a strong article in the Christian Herald for June 1st, 1922, by Charles Johnson Post. It is more than merely another slashing attack on the movies, of which there have been so many in the past year or two. It is really a first gun in a significant campaign in which ac- tions instead of words are to be the heavy ammunition. (An article in a later num- ber of the Christian Herald—reviewed elsewhere in this department—gives details on the plan of campaign.) "Think of a business terrorized and ter- rified by its own incapacity and yet into which one-fifth of the entire population oi the United States is willing to pay tribute each week!" There is real ring in this sentence. It is eloquent of intrinsic power in the movie and of tragic failure to realize its pos« bilities. Mr. Post devotes this article mainly to an analysis of the "two elements in this situation," the motion picture per sc, and the men in control of it. He finds little favorable to say of the second element. | "These men took up motion pictures in the early days and have remained in con* trol long enough virtually to characterize it—and are for that matter practically ijg control today. . . These producers gim the public what they think the public warn ■—and since they risk their money in it, and in large quantity, we can credit them with sincerity. They have little imagination of an esthetic kind, their background in gen- eral lacking in any other motive than that of getting the money from anything they can get the money for. . . And the man that they chose as chief and head of theii craft laid his foundations of artistic suc- cess as a manager of prize-fighters—a fad of frank pride." Speaking of the motion picture producing class as a whole, "its cultural consciousness in the literary field possibly rose as high as the dime novel, but probably stopped al the half-dime series. . . They could not understand their own success. . . The motion picture magnates of all calibres have blundered along, getting into hottei and hotter water all the time. They, b) their own unaided efforts, have succeeded in fastening upon themselves censorshi{ laws in many states." There could be but one result of this si^ tiation, namely the state of things that ob- tains today. It is more than pitiful, re- grettable. "It is tragic, this period of motior picture development, for all this came fron the background of dull, sordid, unimagina' tive lives for generations—the dull drab oi ghettos, the poverty of clothing sweatshop;