Reel and Slide (Mar-Dec 1918)

REEL and SLIDE 11 Church Movies Depend on Workers Ohio Methodist Minister Describes Introduction of Machine in Church at Cuyahoga Falls Whole Congregation Lends Active Support in Making Programs a Successful Venture Rev. Ernest A. Miller By Rev. Ernest A. Miller (Pastor, M. E. Church, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio) I have made the experiment and am more than ever convinced of its feasibility and power. In almost every church or community there is someone who has the ability, conviction and consecration to make church motion picture work a success and a religious force. However, the minister should keep very close to the project. If he fully understand^ the religious educational value of films he will be willing to put motion pictures among the first things in his busy life. Only the best in machines and equipment should be considered by the governing body of any church. Here, as almost everywhere, the best is the cheapest. Where we have to, in a measure, compete with the commercial playhouses we cannot afford to be outdone in equipment. Every new church today should be built with a suitable and commodious assembly room, which may be used for motion picture purposes. This room may serve many purposes, but, in the not distant future, there is going to be an insistent demand for motion pictures in every progressive church. In old church buildings the Sunday school auditorium may be used. Some times partitions will have to be removed in order to increase seating capacity; adjustments and alterations will be fully justified by the increased serviceableness of the church plant through the medium of this new public benefactor. Booth Built on Rear Of course, I do not think that other departments of church work should be seriously interfered with in order that a motion picture machine may be installed and operated. But this will not be necessary. In our own case the machine was installed in the church auditorium ; movable screens were made for the windows; the fireproof booth for the machine was built at the rear of the room, the aluminum screen was placed at the front of the church and could be quickly rolled up and removed when not in use. In five minutes the operator and his helpers could prepare the room for an entertainment, or clear it after one. Ordinarily, I would prefer to have the motion picture work in another room than the worship room of the church; but when there is no other large assembly room I would not hesitate to use the church auditorium. There is no desecration about this if the films are all they ought to be. On the other hand, worship becomes more vital when stimulated by visual form. If any doubt existed regarding the wholesomeness throughout of any film it was run through hastily before a local board of censors appointed from the church membership, men and women having the highest, allaround welfare of the young people in their hearts. We had some difficulty in securing an adequate supply of Biblical and cultural films. This situation is being remedied. Motion picture agencies, and firms with Christian motives, are increasing. The demand will govern the supply. As ministers and churches become aroused to the educational and evangelistic worth of this instrument, requesting films of the higher order, they will be produced. I do not taboo clean and hearty humor in church films. I believe wholesome fun is divine and uplifting. Also films are religious when they nurture life, creating and fostering pure ideals of service and love. They may not be Biblical, or formally religious, but they are spiritual in the hghest sense of the term. Our motion picture entertainments were given on Saturday afternoons and evenings. The afternoon exhibition was particularly designed for children and usually cost them nothing. Either the church or some good friend would defray film rental costs for the afternoon. In our Saturday afternoon work we endeavored to counteract the baleful influence of the downtown movies. All parts of these shows were not fit for the unformed and open minds of children. Some films were good, but at almost every performance pictures were prefaced or interjected which appealed to the sensual or vicious. I find this to be the case in the majority of commercial motion picture houses. Pictures uniformly clean and uplifting should be demanded by parents, and might be supplied by the churches and other community welfare centers. Our Saturday evening entertainments were for adults and children — "a good place to go." Entertainment and instruction were combined. An admission fee was charged and Saturday evening paid for itself. Regularly, once a month, we showed motion pictures on Sunday evening. Also we had many specials. Through one summer we kept up a large attendance on Sunday evenings by the serial film, "From the Manger to the Cross." My experience indicates that the S. O. S. sign of churches> with their small audiences and empty seats, would be changed to the S. R. O. sign (standing room only) by the proper use of motion pictures. "A Good Place to Go" I have been asked how we got our audiences. At the outset we did a good deal of advertising and promoting. Every member of the church was asked to be a booster) all of the children soon became lively promoters. Tickets were printed and sold beforehand by the several organizations of the church. No one who undertakes church motion pictures should be discouraged at the outset if his full expectations are not realized at once. In many communities an appetite for the best has to be created. But with a deep conviction in the hearts of the people of the church, regarding the Christian power of the film, and with steady persistence, and no disappointments caused by failure to show or to begin on time, I believe motion pictures will win in any church in any community. Motion pictures have come to stay. They reproduce various phases of life so splendidly, broadening experience and affording diversion, that the demand for them is bound to increase rather than diminish. They are deservedly popular. In one of the Cleveland schools a recent survey revealed the fact that six hundred and twenty out of six hundred and sixty, or over ninetythree per cent, attended the movies. We are told that twentyfive million persons attend the motion picture theater every day. The question for Christians is, shall the churches take hold of this mighty agency and purify it for purposes of the Kingdom of God? One hears many objections, but it seems to me that they must all give way before the facts of life and efficiency. Motion pictures are intrinsically neither good nor bad, but what we make them. Motion pictures get results morally and religiously. Therefore men and institutions, appointed and ordained to carry on God's work in the world, cannot afford to ignore this twentieth century lifebuilder. Ordnance Department Arranges Moving Pictures of Plants Making War Materials A STRIKING demonstration of the value of the motion picture in war activities is found in the films which Philip B. Lang is now compiling and editing for the Industral Education Section of the U. S. Ordnance Department. Mr. Lang, who is widely known as an author and editor, entered upon his governmental duties last August. The films which he prepares from selected material are shown exclusively in war plants. They depict the activities of our armies overseas, the work of the "industrial army" at home and the vital necessity of continuous productive effort on the part of those who supply the military forces. Two pictures edited by Mr. Lang, "America's Defenders" and "Freedom Forever," each in one reel, are now being circulated in the plants and he is at present engaged in the preparation of others. Mr. Lang has requested Reel and Slide to bring his highly important work to the attention of producers who have scenes, either topical or dramatic, which deal with different phases of the war. These, he states, can be incorporated in his films to good advantage, as producers who already have patriotically cooperated with the Industrial Education Section of the Ordnance Department have found to their gratification. He emphasizes the fact that the films are not shown in theaters or any place where an admission fee is charged. Mr. Lang's address is District Ordnance Office, Industrial Education Section, 1107 Broadway.