Exhibitors Herald (Dec 1921 - Mar 1922)

February 25, 1922 EXHIBITORS HERALD 67 Development of the M. P. T. O. A. The Second of a Series of Articles By MONTE W. SOHN Article 2. Individuals and State Bodies v The dawn of 1921 was about as chilly and depressing as a dawn can be. The young M. P. T. O. A.faced a dozen bat ties in almost every state. On all sides, foes to the free screen challenged the strength of this meagre army. Amateur reformers with private incomes, clamored for consideration at every legislative door. Professional reformers, too, were busy, but for considerations of a more tangible sort. Monte W. Sohn Men whose ideal entertainment was a burlesque show, agitated along with the gang because they had been promised jobs. Women too old to get married and too young to die, were ready and eager to put aside Lydia ' Pinkhamism and The Browning Club; they, too, sought a hand in the regulation of .celluloid amusement — at so much per regulate. But the forces of reform were far from unorganized. The Crafts, the Bowlbys and the Chases were so successfully busy, indeed, that in middle January' censorship had reached the legislative chambers of many states, and an epidemic of blue laws had got its grip in communities everywhere. Massachusetts, Nebraska, Indiana, Georgia. North Carolina, Minnesota, New York, Texas, Iowa, and Vermont, were deliberating on censorship bills, and other states watched, far from disinterested. Then, under all these burdens of sudden oppression, the M. P. T. O. A. quietly but quickly began to work toward two objectives— membership strength and public recognition. The fight against A. S. Black, on behalf of Mrs. Dodge was now well begun: a fight for exhibitor independence whose conclusion was to be the complete surrender of the largest of producers. While it got under way, however, there were other issues. Minnesota exhibitors, under the shrewd generalship of Al Steffes, won in February a signal victory for Sunday opening. In this, as in other important work such men as S. G. Latta of Fergus Falls, J. H. Bergstrom of Minneapolis played important parts. Almost on the heels of this success, word came from South Dakota, then included in the United Theatrical Protective League group of states, that the lower house had passed a radical censor W. A. True Y Martin Heanue ship measure. Steffes — who was league president — immediately conferred with M. C. Kellogg of Lead and C. W. Gates of Aberdeen, S. D., and these men, rallying every member in the state to unified effort, stopped the measure in the senate on March 15. Similar history was made at about the same time in Connecticut, where Martin Heanue, assisted by W. A. True of Hartford, Sam Kantor of Norwalk, and Joe Saperstein of Bridgeport, guided a swift drive that dealt a deathblow to censorship proponents. And in New Hampshire Senator C. H. Bean of Franklin, J. E. Charboneau of Manchester, A. L. Counters and F. G. Berry of the same city, and L. L. Willey of Rochester also whipped reform bills. So, too, in Vermont, the Glooms were beaten and menacing measures killed. Meanwhile, with diplomatic wars being waged at almost every state capital, recruiting work went steadily ahead. Michigan, General-managed by A. J. Moeller, forged tremendously to the fore, and other states followed close, in the race for 100 per cent membership. Kansas, deep in its own censorship problems, problems it had not yet solved, brought about the passage of an antideposit bill, signed in March by Governor Henry Allen. It was one more reward for untiring and unselfish effort. Men who worked ceaselessly that this bill might pass were Martin Van Praag. R. G. Liggett, S. A. Davidson, J. I. Saunders, and Clair Patee. And these same workers, with other state officers were largely responsible for the success later in the year, of the "Exhibitor Days," by which the M. P. T. O. of Kansas raised a huge sum to cover expense implied in fights for tax relief and against radical legislation. North Dakota followed at this time the example of her sister state. Missouri and Oregon also killed drastic measures against motion pictures. And now that the exhibitor organizations began to show their real strength, there was a landslide of victories. Bills were held up and lost in the legislatures of Rhode Island and New Jersey and Iowa, while Indiana. North Carolina. Idaho and Michigan found such laws needless and voted against them. In the Michigan campaign, 50,000 petitions were sent out by the state leaders — a work in which Claude Cady of Lansing, W. S. MacLaren of Jackson, A. J. Kleist of Pontiac, A. J. Moeller and Jim Ritter of Detroit devoted themselves constantly until thev had won. In all these drives there was not only the brilliant flash of <?enius. There was what is quite as essential — the perspiration of unremitting work. New Jersey also was the scene of a bitter struggle, its success a tribute to intelligent effort. Frank L. Smith of Newark, John T. Collins of Rutherford, Sidney Samuelson of Newton, Henry Fenton of Newark, Joseph Stern of Newark and Montgomery Moses of Trenton. These gave the campaign its power and intelligence. Petitions signed by thousands of patrons were the beginning of a barrage of personal, telephone and telegraphic protest. Day and night these protests kept alive in the minds of legislators the dissatisfaction of the public with the impending censorship measures. The bill died in committee. Texas also bat Charles H. Bean Claud E. Cady tied to their defeat two censorship bills, a three per cent gross receipts tax and a one per cent ticket tax. E. T. Peter of Dallas and Claude Musselman, with their state organization solidly behind them, enlisted the Hulsey interests and various exchange men. And in spite of what the newspapers believed an utterly hopeless fight, Texas defeated all these measures. On April 14 the organization received its first setback. .. .in New York. This legislature — despite the herculean efforts of Mr. Cohen and Senator Walker in the assistance of the state body — returned a verdict against the exhibitors. The entire staff of the M. P. T. O. of New York, including President O'Reilly and vicePresident Dillon, spent their time and energies unselfishly but in vain. Governor Miller signed the bill twenty-nine days later. There is little doubt that it was a party measure— one in which the governor himself was an active influence. * * * With this principal exception, however, everywhere exhibitor organization successfully carried on. Combination of north and south Ohio bodies, bringing together the staffs of H. H. Lustig of Cleveland and James A. Maddox of Columbus, saw also the defeat of the drastic McCoy bill. And in the same week of May. due largely to the efforts of A. R. Pramer and Stuart Gould of Omaha. J. C. Jenkins of Neligh. S. A. Hayman of Grand Island, H. A. Kennedy of Broken Bow and George Monroe of Beatrice — Nebraska's governor. McKelvie, vetoed a