The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

September, 192 s A Motion Picture Survey 327 year? The producers need to provide better films in larger numbers, that the natural tastes of these children be not permanently lowered by what they must inevitably see if they go at all frequently to our motionpicture houses. XIV. The favorite actor of the High school students, Rudolph Valentino, probably was chosen because he played the leading role in their two favorite films, The Sheik and The Four Horsemen. Tom Mix was the first choice of the grades, probably for the same reason. He is the star of their wild west shows, for which they have a decided preference. The list of favorite actors for each group upholds this theory, the high school choosing players of comics and love films ; Wallace Reid, Douglas Fairbanks, Constance Talmadge, Harold Lloyd, Mary Pickford, Norma Talmadge, Tom Mix, and Charlie Chaplin ; the grades choosing players of comedy, love and wild west shows, with the emphasis on the wild west ; Mary Pickford, Wm. S. Hart, Douglas Fairbanks, Jackie Coogan, Pearl White, Charlie Chaplin, Rudolph Valentino, Wallace Reid, Hoot Gibson, William Duncan, Constance Talmadge, Harold Lloyd, Norma Talmadge, Ruth Roland, Eddie Polo, Buck Jones, and Wesley Barry. XV. The reasons they gave for liking these actors were first, because of their good acting ; second — the real reason — because they appear in the plays they Hked best; third, because of personal attractiveness in some form or another. The grade children preferred them because they were "full of pep," were brave, strong, good riders, performed daring stunts, etc. A few preferred their favorites because they were clean, did right, were helpful and taught useful lessons. Some Hked certain actors because they played the part of children. One girl liked Mary Pickford because "she plays the part of a girl my age." A few gave as their reason that they saw them more frequently, hence their preference. Two or three — grade boys, of course — liked their actors because they ''were not silly" and ''did not make love." "They were sensible," and "did not try to be funny." One girl said she didn't like any of them because "they married and got divorced and they were not the right kind of people." XVL When asked if they ever went because of the vaudeville or orchestra, the answers were fairly well divided between the two. Except in the case of Junior and Senior girls, the vaudeville had the preference. Since good music is a recent innovation in our theaters, and good vaudeville unknown, it is impossible to judge which they would prefer if they knew both vaudeville and orchestra at their best. XVH. The children go with their friends to the movies. They do not go with their parents to any great extent. The girls seem a little more carefully attended than the boys, but most of them do not go with their parents. The boys' fees would indicate that many of them were paying double, especially in the Fligh school. While dates are to be expected at this age, it is of vital concern to parents and to the community to know what these yoUng people are seeing together. Many indicated that they had seen Bible or History films. Not only those who had — but also the ones who had not — more than four thousand in all, desired to see such films. The supply of pictures on these two subjects, with their great educational and inspirational possibilities is far below what it should be. Not only are their favorite films indicative of a high standard of taste among our young people, but the stories they would like to see filmed indicate the same fact. They would Hke to see some of the classics they have studied in school, some of the best