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178 MOTION PICTURE COMMISSION. are only two theaters; they would not want to show more than 8 reels a day, whereas the production is about 30 reels. Mr. Tow^KER. Are there any reels that are proper for exhibition down town that would not be proper for exhibition in the residential sections ? Mr. BRYI.AWSKI. Not that I know of. I have never seen any. Mt. Towi>vER. I understood you to say the other day that there are virtually no children attending the down-town theaters, or that the percentage of children was very small? Mr. Brylaw^ski. We restrict them altogether during the day. The theaters under my management do not allow children during the day, but if they come with adults or with parents in the evening, of course, we do not object to it. The parents know the character of the theaters that they attend, and they take their children there. The parent is the best one to decide where the child shall go. Mr. Towner. In the first place, then, you do not exhibit any pictures down town that can not be exhibited in the residential districts ? Mr. Brylawski. Positively not. Mr. Toavner. That means that you do not exhibit any pictures down town that would not be proper for presentation to the children of the city who attend the theaters in the residential districts? Mr. Brylawski. That is absolutely right. Mr. Towner. Do you exercise a stricter censorship or selection, if you choose to call it such, in the city of Washington than is main- tained in other cities—Baltimore, for instance? Mr. Brylawski. I do not know; but if the owners of the theaters have any consideration for their own interests, they must do exactly what we do. Mr. Towner. I think your statement regarding the attitude that should be taken by the owners of theaters is to be commended.. Mr. Brylawski. The majority of our patrons during the day are ladies. Fully one-half of them are ladies. That is especially true of the down-town theaters, and if those pictures were objectionable, we would lose that patronage. Mr. Towner. I certainly entirely agree with you, and I wish that that might be true with regard to all moving-picture theaters. You think that it is the better policy to present nothing but decent tilms? Mr. Brylawski. It is not only the better policy, but it is the only policy. Mr. Towner. I entirely agree with you. I want to come at this proposition: Are any of the pictures that are sent to you to be used refused by you because of their character? Mr. Brylawski. I have never had that sort come to me. There has been only one picture about whicli we have ever luid any conten- tion, and that was a picture called ''The Reincarnation of Karma." Now, you gentlemen know what that subject means. The police censor objected to it, but the i)roHecuting* attorney, the corporation counsel, and the district attorney all decided that that was the most beautiful picture they had ever'seen—and it was shown three days. Mr. Towner. Do you think that you would be justified in your statement, that no pictures are shown in the outlying theaters—for instance, those that are numaged and patronized by the colored popu- lation—that are not first shown in the down-town theaters?