The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

The Child's Theatrical Movie Because the theatrical film for children is a distinctly different problem from that for tlie auu] this department will hereafter include a section devoted to varying material of interest to ai guidance for the parents who wish to protect their children from the many obvious dangers of promiscuous viewing of films. It is hoped, by the editor, that parents and teachers will read this section earnestly and, wheth laymen or experts in their respective occupations, will promptly send to the editor any questio suggestion or mere observation they may care to make public for the forwarding of the general go* these matters even more thoroughly t< gether with the fun of the Charity Ben fit the Jones family try to serve. If tl fourth grader misses the sissified swagg- of the gardener as Mark Antony, tl eighth grader will not. Too, he w recognize Polly's cleverness in managir Mrs. Jones and later everybody in tt story. He will, further, appreciate tl excellent work of the brother. Of tl month's reviews this is the only featu film to be recommended for childrc POLLY OF THE FOLLIES This film is desirable as a child's film, the children of varying ages finding satis- faction in as many varying phases of the film. The intermediate grade children will like particularly Polly's friendly help in putting on a- very funny show, bur- lesquing the innocent - maiden - vamp - wicked villain movie. They will like, too, the hints of humor to be gotten from the burlesqued Caesar and Cleopatra. The higher grade youngsters will appreciate Timely Comment and Question THE CHILD AT THE MOVIES- HOW OFTEN? IT is with grave concern that we notice the large number of children to be found in the moving picture audience in the early or late evening. Very obviously, if they are to attend, children ought to go to the earliest pos^ sible unreeling of the program in order to be at home and in bed at a health sus- taining hour. And even the hour of nine, which would be the earliest possible time for the return, is a disgracefully late hour for the growing child. But more serious than the late hours is the frequency with which children attend the movies. In our many, many conversations with chil- dren we have found that anywhere from three to five of the seven evenings are spent at the movies. This means several things. First, a loss of sleep; second, an overuse of the eyes and an overstimu- lation of the imagination via the ■ visual image; last, it means that the child is seeing promiscuously any film that hap- pens to be the feature of the program. And the average film is not meant f child consumption. That is as it shoui be. Built for adults, primarily, films ca cern themselves with the events ai problems of adult life. "Those probler surround the child in his home," is oft the contention of parents. That is absui Children very largely live in worlds their own making. At any rate, the coi> plications of adult life, represented films, never in actual life reach their fii consciousness. This assertion holds nc where in some future time it might n< When we have stories that deal with t normal affairs of life pretty general then it might be a safe gamble to alld the child in any movie audience, but far we are concerned mostly with t abnormal and intriguing problems in c screen production. The child has lit right, then, in the adult audience. ] should be taken care of in some otl way. The Children's Matinee is one so tion with which this department wil concerned in the April issue. 32 .