Motion Picture News (Jan - Mar 1914)

18 THE MOTION' PICTURE NEWS "We are censoring from the standpoint that eighty-live per cent of the audiences consist of women and children," says he. "Forty per cent of the audiences are fifteen years of age or under. I make no attempt to censor for adults, but for children. That is the reason I have ladies on the board." li the Major had a little more consideration for adults, for grown men and women, in his censoring, his reputation for wisdom and far-sightedness might not be so completely eclipsed as it is at present. EVERYBODY agrees with the .Major that the children should be protected. But does that mean that the whole world should be run solely for the convenience ot enildren? Trolley cars, taxicabs and railroad trains are a menace to children outside of their homes. Would Major Funkhouser abolish these methods of transportation, or curl) them to the point where they could not possibly threaten the life of a child? Hundreds of books now on the market, and scores that are issued every season cannot safely be put into the hands of children, though they are innocuous to grown persons. Would Major Funkhouser expurgate the publishers' catalogues until not a volume remained that a child might misunderstand? Newspapers are admittedly not edited and published for the purpose of teaching "the young idea how to shoot." Would Major Funkhouscr sterilize the press until he had produced a series of journals that might safely be left in the nursery or the schoolroom? Motion pictures, whether Major Funkhouser knows it or not, are adding hundreds of men and women every day to their armies of followers. Is it not high time that the Major, in all his obedience to the "vox populi," strained his ear a bit to catch the increasingly dominating adult note in that chorus? Is it not time that he abandoned narrowness for breadth, theories for common sense, petty distrust of human nature for a noble faith in the people to distinguish good and extinguish evil? Is it not time that Major Funkhouser ceased to censor for a part of the people at the expense of the rest, and began to censor in the interest of everybody? CAN Major Funkhouser give a single good reason why he should censor according to the prejudices and theories of seventy-four men and women, none of whom would attend a motion picture show except as a painful duty, and ignore the hundreds of thousands to whom the motion pictures are both recreation and instruction, an education and an entertainment? Major Funkhouser and his bodyguard of women have succeeded in robbing the motion picture interests of Chicago of all the fruits of the victory the latter won when they defeated the "sixteen-year-old" ordinance some years ago. For, significantly enough, many of the women who championed the bill at that time are now members of the board. The bias given to their views on motion pictures during that campaign, and the bitterness left by the defeat, should have been enough to disqualify all such persons a place on such a board. Since Major Funkhouser neglected to exercise care in this respect, it is hardly surprising that charges of prejudice, animosity and persecution are made against the censors. If the Board of Censors followed i itions to their logical conclusion, no one over sixteen, and very few under sixteen, would care to enter a motion picture theatre in Chicago. They are destructionists, not constructionists. Thej harming the motion picture exhibitors, and helping no one, with the possible exception of themselves. They are representative of nothing and of nobodj their own pedagogic and pedantic dogmas. That they repsent the views of the broad-minded men and women of Chicago is incredible. That they represent the views of any majority of the citizens of Chicago is inconceivable. ALREADY the exhibitors have begun to rebel against this unjust condition of affairs. But there is much to be done before the rebellion can become an effective revolution, that will sweep this relic of medievalism and the Hark Ages from the city. Some of the theatres are running slides during their programs which read as follows: "If the stories in our films seem to be disconnected or short, blame the censor board appointed by the present city administration. Remember this the next time you vote and demand your right to see interesting pictures Take it up with your alderman. "If our program seems poorly balanced and you are compelled to look at repeaters, it is because certain interesting films have been eliminated by the present city administration's censor board. Remember this the next time you vote. See your alderman." But concerted and organized effort is essential if any headway is to be made against this oppressive system. If censorship there must be, let it be censorship of the twentieth century, a censorship that has American ideals and beliefs as its foundation, not censorship of the fifteenth century, with obsolete superstitions and hypocritical nonsense as its basis. The motion picture interests must awaken the people of Chicago to a realization of what censorship has become in the hands of Major M. L. C. Funkhouser and his associates. When that has been done, they may rely, with more faith in the people than Major Funkhouser has shown, upon the people to provide themselves with censors who are capable of filling the high and responsible positions which that name signifies. Late Chicago News Chicago, February 19 MAYOR HARRISON has ousted the policemen who comprised the Censor Board for the past few years and in their place has appointed six reformers, five women and one man. This is only a temporary appointment under a sixty-day revision, as they will have to pass the civilservice examination to make their appointments permanent. The mayor took this action late last Monday. li is expected that within a short time four more appointments will be made, as the city's annual budget contained an ippropriation for ten motion picture film censors at salaries of $1,320 a year each. This new board will work under the direction of Major M. L. C. Funkhouser, second deputy superintendent of police. Those appointed by the mayor are Miss Eva Loeb, Mr.-. G I Karr. Miss Katharine \ Birmingham, Mrs. Christine Field, Mrs. Florence B. Kirk and Samuel A. Bloch. Mi--^ Loeb. it is understood, was recommended to the mayor by the Bureau of Personal Service, and she is said also to have had the hacking of Federal Judge Mack. Superior Court Judge Pam and Dr. Emil G. Hirsch. Mrs. Karr was recommended by the various Catholic societies Mrs. Field was hacked by the Chicago Commons Woman's Club and similar organizations Miss Birmingham is believed to be supported by the Hun House people, while Mrs. Kirk and Mr. Bloch were recommended by the Juvenile Protective League. This means thai the situation has become even more difficult of solution \t times it was possible to make the policemen see light, but the individuals who now comprise the hoard in the main belong to a class which has been bitterly opposed to motion pictures, simply because by so doing they got their names in the dailj print. Major Funkhouser and his principles Mill remain the chief as this new board will censor according to his ideas.