Motion Picture Commission : hearings before the Committee on Education, House of Representatives, Sixty-third Congress, second session, on bills to establish a Federal Motion Picture Commission (1978)

Record Details:

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MOTION PICTURE COMMISSION. 83 Dr. Carter. I certainly am. The Chairman. And you are not in favor of official censorship? Dr. Carter. No. May I call attention to just one thing here in order that it may be answered before I sit down. An objection has been made by Canon Chase, in which he says that this national board of censorship does not censor properly because the voluntary censors are not regular in their attendance, and in their absence the paid secretaries are the censors. That is absolutely contrary to the facts, as you will find m our book of standards aiid in our report. It says that no salaried officer shall vote in any of the subcommittees; none of the paid secretaries has any vote whatsoever. I want also to call your attention to last month's report, to show that what he says in regard to the attendance is not true. We had an average in attendance at each of the meetings during the month of April, 1914, of 4.3. There were four people at least present at every one of the censorship board meetings. I mention that be- cause it has been stated here that the voluntary members of the board are not regular in their attendance, and I wish to say that these people are serving in a voluntary capacity, and there is no com- pensation, absolutely no compensation whatever. The Chairman. We will now hear from Mr. Seligsberg. STATEMENT OF WALTER SELIGSBERG, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., REPRESENTING THE MUTUAL FILM CORPORATION, THE MA- JESTIC MOTION PICTURE CO., AND THE RELIANCE MOTION PICTURE CORPORATION. Mr. Seligsberg. Mr. Chairman, I am very sorry that the represent- atives of the owners of the oxen which are to be gored if this bill becomes a law have to start their remarks at such a very late hour. The record before you is replete with errors of fact in regard to the motion-picture business. I want to correct some of, those errors and answer fully the statements that have been made in a brief which I desire to file with you later. Some of the people who have spoken here and made these errors have innocently misinformed you as to the facts of the business. For instance, the gentleman who has just spoken has referred per- sistently this evening to the three producing companies. There are no such things as three producing companies. Mr. Towner. Before you go any further, will you not kindly give to the reporter your official position, stating whom you represent? Mr. Seligsberg. I am the general attorney for the Mutual Film Corporation, for the Majestic Motion Picture Co., and the Reliance Motion Picture Corporation. I am one of the general attorneys for four companies in New York—the Ncav York Motion Picture Cor- poration, the Broncho Motion Picture Co., the Keystone Film Co., and the Domino Motion Picture Corporation. Mr. Towner. And in your statement before this committee you represent those companies? Mr. Seligsberg. Principally the Mutual Film Corporation, which is a clearing house for all the other companies.