Educational film magazine; (January-December 1920)

The National Authority ving Educational, Scientific, AgricuUiiral. Literars-, Historical. Juvenile. Governmental. Religious, Travel Scenic, Social Welfare, Industrial, and News Motion Pictures Published Monthly at jj West 42nd Street (Aeolian Hall), New York City DOLPH E.\STMAN, Editor IV. JULY, 1920 No. 1 IS THE ^lOME INDUSTRY KILLING THE GOLDEN GOOSE? rr "TE once knew a business man whose slogan 1^/ ever}' minute of the day was '"Get the \ Y Facts—Then Analyze Them." Does this not seem a pretty good slogan for lotion picture industry' to adopt, since it does :ppear to be in possession of the facts? tiat woidd be thought of a law}'er, a doctor, an Jtect. an engineer or other member of a learned »ssion, or even of a merchant, who failed to as- le his facts and figures, analyze and syndiesize k digest and diagnose them, and thereby reach Dfid solution of the problem he is attacking? The In picture engineer and projectionist is a pains- tj and accurate person compared with the aver- l^roducer and exhibitor. [ere is a certain amount of mental and moral riliness on the part of theatrical and motion pic- eproducers and exhibitors, a certain quality of lUiansliip which appraises box office values re- lifess of the moral principle involved, that is li'reflected in the trade press, in exaggerated and Boyant advertisements and press stories, and in siional one-sheets and posters alluringly dis- \d. Sensation, coarseness, vulgarity and sug- I'eness dangerously bordering on lewdness ap- Bon the screen, in front of the theaters, in the fiapers. trade papers and magazines, and thence I into our homes, schools, churches, libraries, and ) U places where there are impressionable minds. t: it any wonder indeed that the movies have i name among community leaders who are com- II to see these harmful effects all around them? f' our rather superficially-minded masses in this I oung America been helped or hurt by the screen Hum which has been their daily fare for a dec- i When a child psychologist like Dr. Averill is tpted to make a survey of the film comedies M in a city of 200,000 and draw up a scathing iment against the producers of such filth, it is f;o begin gathering our facts, studying them and voring to find a way out. Film producers and exhibitors have a stock reply ready for those critics of the pictures who find them positively hurtful to both children and adults. They say that such pictures pay, that the people w-ant to see them, that the movie business is growing, that new theaters are springing up, that there is no evi- dence of any demand for better films from the ma- jority—and it is the majority that puts down its money at the box office and fills movie houses to overflowing. This answer of the motion picture men to their critics, to the uplifters, reformers, and child welfare workers, comes like an echo of the old reply of the saloon men, the promoters of prize fights and gam- bling dens, to the social and moral leaders who had laid the curse of Cain upon them and had resolved to throw all social vermin onto the dung-heap. The latter said: "To drink, to fight and to gamble is hu- man nature, and you cannot stop it; while it is here we intend to make monev out of it. Stop us if you dare." A few years later this traffic in souls ivas stopped, and who would have the temerity today to try and revive it? Drinking, prize-fighting, gambling, pros- titution, and other vices will go on until education shows men and women the better way; but meanwhile they are outlaws, and it is the majority—the ma-, jority, remember—who in each instance has sup- ported the movement which outlawed them. Because the movies are seemingly so strongly in- trenched in public favor at the present time, it by no means follows that some bold leader or group of leaders may not successfully attempt to control or regulate the motion picture industry by law, whether through the several states or by federal authority from the national capital. Indeed, signs are not wanting that home, social, religious, civic and indus- trial forces may in time overcome the political power