Exhibitors Herald (Apr-Jun 1922)

Something to Read Each week the HERALD publishes numerous articles pertaining to censorship, blue laws and other reform menaces. Every exhibitor should keep a file of these stories for use when the occasion demands. PUBLIC RIGHTS LEAGUE Screen Message No. 52 Dr. George J. Fisher of New York, national field director of the Boy Scouts of America, says that "Youth of today is wholesome; I do not think that movies are impairing its morals." Dr. Fisher represents an organization with a membership of 420,000 young Americans. His views are based upon actual observations, not heresy. It Pays to Cooperate There is a reason, and a decidedly logical one, why Fred S. Meyer, managing director of the Palace theatre, Hamilton, O., is not tormented by bigoted individuals and groups. Appended is the lead editorial published recently in the "Hamilton Daily News," which tells the story of Mr. Meyer's actizities: "Starting Monday, there are to be daily services at one of the Hamilton theatres under the auspices of the Ministerial Alliance. These services will be short and are intended to bring before Hamilton audiences a better understanding of Holy Week. "Aside from the good these messages will effect, there is the sidelight of cooperation between the clergy and the theatre. This friendly relation between two powerful factors in public life will reflect more power for good to each. In Cincinnati it has been the custom for the Episcopal church to hold noon day services in one of the theatres each day during Lent. The services are well worth while. Adoption of the idea here is a step for the better. "A city's advance is not based so much upon individual effort as it is upon that effort coordinated with the efforts of fellow citizens. Cooperation is the keynote to strength. Cooperation of the theatre and church brings together two already powerful elements into a power for the good of Hamilton." It is obvious that Mr. Meyer's immunity from torment by reformers is not due to "luck." Co-operation turns the trick for through co-operation those people who arc inclined to assume an air of intolerance are brought into close relationship with the theatre. Bigots Abscond With Money of Taxpayers Ignorance of the tactics of the reformer, induced by misrepresentation by the intolerant and by lack of interest on the part of the majority in preparatory plans for protecting its inalienable rights, is responsible to a large degree for the success of the reform clement in foisting its will upon the public. An editorial published in "The Daily Sentinel" ancnt the legal fight waged by the reformers in Grand Junction, Colo., is a timely dissertation on the menace of the reform movement and should serve to enlighten theatre patrons of every community. A story of the Grand Junction blue law suit is published on page 37 of this issue of the Herald, The Daily Sentinel editorial, presenting one of the strongest arguments against the reform movement, follows : "The jury in the case of Ole M. Nelson, manager of the Majestic, charged with violating a territorial law passed sixty years ago and which has been a dead letter for more than half a century, was instructed by the court to bring in a verdict for the defendant. The details of the court's actions and the story of the close of the trial are given elsewhere in today's Sentinel. "The anti-movie LEADERS of the city, which include three ministers and a number of other citizens, can keep up this agitation one way or another as they see fit. Among them are a few people who are never statisfied unless they have Grand Junction divided over some question of amusement regulation. Some of these leaders propose to keep anybody from attending a moving picture on Sunday, but at the same time these particular leaders propose to engage in amusements on that day which meet their own personal fancy. Others have an idea that by legislation people can be forced to attend church services. Still others of the leaders have other reasons. "After strenuous efforts a large sum of money was raised as a campaign fund ALTHOUGH THE EXPENSE OF THE COURT TRIALS MUST BE PAID BY THE TAXPAYERS OF THE COUNTY. "These people have made Grand Junction the center of a fight for the enforcement of a law passed more than a dozen years BEFORE COLORADO WAS A STATE AND WHICH IS OBSOLETE AND IGNORED ALL OVER COLORADO. * * * "The two moving picture houses several months ago voluntarily changed their Sunday evening hours so as not to conflict with the regular evening hour of the church services. "It is not denied that the moving picture programs offered in this city on Sundays are clean and high-class and (Concluded on page 95) Order Your Slides EXHIBITORS HERALD, 417 South Dearborn Street, Chicago, 111. Send me, free of charge, the series of twelve slides which the Herald is supplying to exhibitors in furtherance of the PUBLIC RIGHTS LEAGUE campaign to maintain the freedom of the motion picture. I will run each slide at every performance for one week when conditions permit of this arrangement. Name (Write name and address legibly) City .J