Moving Picture Age (Jan-Dec 1921)

January, 1921 MOVING PICTURE AGE 13 The National Motion Picture League Through boosting good motion pictures, this organization, whose list of approved films begins on page 20, is encouraging better productions By Adele F. Woodward President, The National Motion Picture League, Headquarters, New York City. AS A medium for entertainment and education, the motion picture is a powerful agency. It is therefore necessary for right thinking people to exert every influence possible to turn this potent force into proper channels. Producers are ready to produce as many clever wholesome motion pictures as the public will patronize. The National Motion Picture League is a co-operative, non-commercial, non-political organization. Its purpose is to secure wholesome motion picture conditions. It is composed of, and financed by individuals and groups of social workers, having no financial relation to any phase of the motion picture industry. It owns no films and receives no profit from the sale or rental thereof. No funds may be contributed by any persons interested in motion pictures commercially. The judgment upon all films of all producers is thus rendered impartial. The plan is positive in every detail. A reviewing board in New York City consisting of about twenty-five members and composed of clergymen, educators and social workers select from all motion pictures, produced for national distribution, the names of those pictures which are suitable for adults, young people and children. These they list in current weekly bulletins before the pictures are released to any theaters. All pictures listed are first viewed in their entirety by a committee of the board. No picture considered harmful to the immature mind in detail or otherwise, is ever listed. The board is assisted in this work by other reviewing committees in various parts of the country. How the League Is Encouraging Better Films The current weekly bulletins containing advance information on worth while films viewed and approved by the reviewing board of the League, give to the general public the power of selection. Our educational campaign is carried on through publicity in newspapers and magazines, including the publication of the lists of endorsed pictures now reaching millions of readers, by means of addressing public gatherings, and by the constant use of positive measures for turning the tide of attendance upon the movies to clever wholesome programs. Thus the League seeks to educate the general public to select only worth while motion picture recreation. This ever-increasing demand for wholesome films stimulates their further production. The lists of endorsed pictures are sent to the motion picture trade at cost, giving them the opportunity of observing the reaction of the thinking public upon their pictures. The current weekly bulletins extend to schools, churches, clubs and all other organizations, desiring to give special programs under their own auspices, the opportunity of selecting motion pictures viewed and endorsed as clever and wholesome by this impartial board of educators and social workers. Theater managers, by referring to the bulletins, are enabled to select the type of pictures whose high artistic and entertainment value bring large box-office receipts and whose moral quality merit commendation from audiences of culture and refinement. The League makes no public comment upon pictures which it rejects as unsuitable for its lists. The New York City Board of Education has made a yearly contract to pay for enough bulletins of the League so that each week, every school principal in the city receives a copy of the weekly list. These in turn are expected to be published in school papers so that practically every public school child in New York City has the advantage of taking the list of endorsed pictures soon to be played in a near-by theater, into his home. It is hoped that other school boards throughout the country will avail themselves of this opportunity of serving the children in their own communities. Lists of Endorsed Films Motion pictures arouse thoughts. Shall they be thoughts of murder, suicide, hatred, jealousy, cowardice, fear, rebellion, sensuousness, or shall they be thoughts of power, courage, heroism, hope, fun, sports, love, freedom, life? You need the power to select the kind of movie recreation you wish. At present you have no way of telling what the show to which you are going will be like. You need to have someone look the pictures over and tell you the ones that are clean, and funny and clever. The reviewing board of the National Motion Picture League does this very thing. They can furnish you with advance information on worth while films. They do not prohibit you from going to see the unwholesome ones, btit if you really wish to be wholesomely entertained, the weekly lists of endorsed films which the League publishes will save you from wasting your time on pictures that are not worth while. Give the endorsed lists a trial for one year. The League is non-commercial and non-political. The following are some of the organizations co-operating in this movement : Loyola School of Sociology. New York Women's City Club. National Kindergarten College. Jewish Welfare Board. Protestant Big Sisters. Chicago Commons Association. Girl Scouts of America. University of California. Child Conservation League of America. International Sunday School Association. Training Department Chicago Public Library. Woman's Department, Chicago Church Federation. Catholic Woman's League Protectorate, Chicago. Natonal Child Welfare Association. National Kindergarten Association. League of Catholic Women, New York. American Social Hygiene Association. Northwestern University Settlement. American Humane Educational Society and Mass. S. P. C. A. National Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teacher Association. In order to assist communities in securing better motion pictures, local branches of the League are established. These branches create and co-ordinate a demand for wholesome pictures locally. The League thus secures a country-wide demand for the pictures receiving its endorsement. It seeks to encourage a patronage so strong as to make endorsed pictures more profitable to their producers than pictures rejected by the League. A capable committee in all the principal cities and towns giving definite support to this plan can furnish the impetus and permanency to the production of wholesome pictures, which the industry needs. The plan is to have local branches which consist of the Chairman, Treasurer, and the following committees : A. A Children's Matinee and Family Program Commitee provides special entertainments for children, young people and adults, thus securing actual bookings for en