The Educational screen (c1922-c1956])

Page 88 The Educational Screen Committee on Pubuc Information It required no trained eye to see that, in this critical period, the Government needed publicity men even more than studio experts in its propaganda film endeavors; and it was entirely fitting that work of that sort came speedily under the command of a public relations department. One of the early acts of Woodrow Wilson after the declaration of war was the organization of the American propaganda bureau, called the Committee on Public Information. Its appointed head—designated "chair- man" in the spring of 1917, with the Secretaries of Navy and War as members —was George Creel, a young man re- markable at once for fearlessness, jour- nalistic skill and political prudence. These qualifications had manifested themselves in his work as editor of newspapers in Kansas City and Denver, as police chief of the latter city in a turbulent time, and as contributor of alert, penetrating articles on national issues to the fore- most magazines. He also enjoyed a re- flected fame in being the husband of Blanche Bates, the Belasco stage star. And, many years later, in 1934, with frequent public appearances between, George Creel was to be the Democratic candidate for the governorship of Cal- ifornia. In July, 1917, the President specifically asked the National Association of the Motion Picture Industry to cooperate with the new Committee and, the mem- bers, responding promptly with a pledge to contribute films for U. S. soldiers while they were on French soil, appointed to act for them a War Board headed by William A. Brady. This Board continued its useful work throughout the war period and, at the close, was thanked, compli- mented and dismissed by the President. During the spring of 1918, Universal Film Company released a picture called "The Yanks are Coming" and, inasmuch as the Wright-Dayton Airplane Company had been financially interested in its pro- duction and it was considered commer- cial propaganda taking advantage of the wartime screens, the Film Board of the Committee on Public Information stopped it. The Universal Company, through its vice-president, Robert H. Cochrane, at once charged the Hearst interests with the move, and gave out a list purporting to show that all members of the Board were former Hearst men. The squabble continued into midsummer, typical of the obstacles put in the way of Creel's performance of duty at a crucial time in the national welfare. In November, 1918, chiefly to forestall embarassments of this sort. Creel ap- pointed an experienced newspaperman, Charles S. Hart, war supervisor for the Committee's Division of Films. He was given jurisdiction over all commercial production, leading, of course, to further charges of despotism, suppression of free speech and all the remaining abuse usual in such circumstances. There were a great many other political efforts to "knife" Creel until he announced his resignation, his work done, to take effect in the spring of 1919. Hart worked steadily along with him to the end, his /Veart Month April brings Part Eight. It will describe the dramatic incep- tion of Francis Holley's Bureau of Commercial Economics and the development of some other early efforts to supply peace- time audiences with industrial, educational and social service motion pictures. No one Inter- ested In the broad subject of visual education can afford to miss this unique, first history of the non-theatrical field, which will continue serially In these columns for many months to come. Subscribe now. last big job in January, 1919, when he arranged to film the overseas trip of President Wilson and his party to the Peace Conference at Versailles. In the midsummer of 1919, however. Creel and the other officials of the Committee on Public Information were constrained pub- licly to relate what they had done to serve their country and to deny film frauds. One of the first obviously wise moves in making large activities work smoothly is to merge duplicating efforts. This was done in commanding the .Allied armies, and it was done by Creel with the foreign propaganda films which were promptly merged and issued for Ameri- can audiences as the "Allied War Re- view." The material received from abroad was edited by the dependable Charles Urban, assisted by the ex- perienced Ray L. Hall. Hall, whose name has not occurred in these pages heretofore, had the journal- istic recommendation of having been born a Hoosier, seasoned by various jobs with the International Press Association. After having been successively editor of the short-lived "Hearst-Selig News Pic- torial" and the "Hearst-Vitagraph News Pictorial." he had been called npon to organize the motion picture activities of the American Red Cross, at which juncture, it seems, he was requisitioned for the "Allied War Review," and to serve, indeed, as production manager of the entire Creel Division of Films. There were, of course, many other film activities of the Government over which the Creel committee had no juris- diction—the secret motion picture work of the Army and the Navy, for example. For another instance, in December, 1918, the Fuel Administration engaged Pathe to make a film to be used in stimulating the coal output. It was in story form, starred no less a screen favorite than Pearl White, and was directed by George B. Seitz. The scenario was by Bertram Millhauser. There were also State ef- forts uncontrolled bv Creel, such as the subject undertaken in 1917 by the De- fense Commission of Pennsylvania to urge farmers to increase food produc- tion. To build the figurative ring fence around these was more than any national Committee on Public Information could hope to do. Creel had many acquaintances in the motion picture field—some very eager ones as soon as he was marked by the finger of political preferment—but, when it came to preparing films for home consumption, he sought out some jour- nalistic friends of his less turbulent days. One was Rufus Steele, magazine writer, Sunday Editor of the San Francisco Chronicle in the time of the great earth- quake and fire, and in recent years and until his death in December, 1935, writer of the "March of the Nations" column on the front page of the Christian Science Monitor. Another was Carlyle Ellis, formerly with Theodore Dreiser in the editorial department of the Butterick Publica- tions, and later eastern scenario editor of Triangle Films Corporation, in New York. I well remember the day, early in 1916, when George Creel, a slender, quiet, serious chap, called on my friend Carlyle Ellis, in the open office of Tri- angle, to obtain dependable, confidential information on how the film industry was being run—although that was ostensibly for a magazine article. Two years were to elapse before the time was ripe for Ellis to join Creel at the Committee on Public Information. Government appoint- ments do not come about as rapidly as many persons think they do. Nevertheless, in the interval between Creel's visit and his actual engagement, Ellis was to have some useful ex- perience. Steele was taken on first, with the title Editor of the Films Division, his work primarily to be the selection, cutting and assembly of American war scenes for propaganda use. When place was made for Ellis, it was as an assistant who knew actually how to handle film, to see it through the laboratory, to edit it—if need be, to photograph it. Before Ellis had been appointed eastern scenario editor of Triangle, he had been West Coast publicity representative of the same organization, predecessor in Los Angeles of Charles Johnson Post, spending days and months in close con- tact with Hollywood and Culver City studios of Ince, Griffith and Sennett, the outstanding theatrical film producers of the time. The Eastern studios presently proved impracticable to maintain, and Ellis found himself at liberty. Universal Film Manufacturing Company — they were very slow in changing their anti- quated name—had just opened an indus- trial production department under Harry Levey, of whom more later; and Ellis joined the staff as scenario writer. This onerous duty expanded and he was made a director, because Levey, with more executive aspirations than learnings toward art, did not wish to direct pic- tures himself; and in this capacity Ellis produced the second film starring May Irwin. The first was that notorious Edison subject, "The Kiss," which she made with John C. Rice in 1896, and which is commonly held to have been the earliest provocation to screen cen- sorship. (To be continued)