Exhibitors Herald (Jul-Sep 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. 62 America fought for freedom from monarchial dictation. As a free country it has progressed. There is a group of people at work today, however, seeking to retard this progress through enactment of censorship and Sunday blue laws — weapons of the monarch. Unless the public speaks this group of tyrants will be successful. Half-Truths W. 5. Fleming, erstwhile Chicago preacher and now henchman of one of the professional reform organizations, says: The motion picture industry is in the hands mainly of Jews, ex-saloon keepers and other morally irresponsible people who use essentially the same principles and methods in the corruption of the public that the saloon keeper did in the days before prohibition. This is cited merely to emphasize the sinister tactics adopted by the reformers in the hope that they may realize their destructive aims. They resort to half-truths and hokum in their effort to influence the public to legalize oppression. After Fleming's indictment of the industry recently in a tirade at Evansville, Wis., representatives from four churches organized for "practical consideration" of the motion picture problem. This is cited as an instance of the results attained by the reformers in their campaign of deliberate misrepresentation of facts. Their gross exaggerations stand unquestioned because they are uttered by men posing as divines. This situation makes the industry's fight doubly difficult. But if exhibitors will wage a conscientious fight they eventually will discredit the bullyragging reformers whose livelihood depends upon their ability to dupe the public. Blue Law Advocates Admit Own Weakness Public spirited citizens who refuse to accept the dictates of that small group which is forever meddling with the inalienable rights of man are the industry's and the country's most staunch supporters. It is the public spirited citizen who today is the industry's strongest ally in its fight for a free screen. These citizens have confidence in the industry and because of this confidence they are willing cooperators. Recently W. S. Fleming, paid advocate of blue laws and censorship, invaded Evansville, Wis. Brief description of the methods he resorted to there is published in the box adjoining. Fleming's talk to the church people of Evansville prompted a public spirited citizen to write the following letter to the Evansville Revicu: The letter is published herewith in full because of its logical presentation of arguments with which every exhibitor should be conversant. It reads : "In today's issue of the Evansville Review, I noticed a communication from one of the ministers of this city. He infers in his review of a recent sermon, that the movie show of today is in such a situation that it is almost an impossibility to make it a fit place for decent, clean minded, right thinking people to attend, especially on Sundav. * * * "Ten minutes ago I left a crowd of people who had learned a great lesson. They were about to return from the picture 'My Boy.' They had seen the principles of Jesus Christ portrayed in terms that they could understand, in terms of their own life and time. There was no boisterousness. crudeness or indecentness about that situation. Throughout the entire picture, rather was there a spirit of hope that would triumph. A little child preached a sermon in picture tonight The text was not announced. It wasn't necessary. "This picture was shown because of an ;ffort of cooperation between the proprietor of the theatre and the junior class of the high school. "The thought comes to my mind at this time that I heard a better sermon tonight than I ha%'e ever heard before in Evansville. That theatre is and can be an asset to_ this city. The Sunday evening services of the churches here reach but a handful of the community'. The probable percentage of those who would attend the Sunday movie, who might go to these services were the movie show closed, is small. There is a social difference between the church going public and those who do not attend Our modern church has failed to break this barrier down. Although this is a democracy and the modern church is probably the most democratic institution we have today, the caste system is evident in fact. Nature has not created us equal. "Why wculd it not be a good plan to build up or establish a spirit of cooperation between the movie show and the churches of this community. Why not create a demand for a Sunday night picture with a message such as we had tonight. Cannot we learn the message by sight as well as by word of mouth? It must be a poorer sermon that cannot stand the competition of the silent drama. "Pictures like 'My Boy' place a challenge at the door of the churches and more especially at the feet of the preacher. This challenge is not the challenge of righteousness delivered by the agent of Hell. It is. however, a challenge to the modern preacher to deliver the goods, to make the church pay dividends by reaching all. masses as well as classes. If the movie show can deliver a message on Thursday, a message which is synonymous with the teachings of Jesus Christ, why not let such an asset function on the Sabbath? "Until the ministers of Evansville and the citizens' committee can answer the challenge of the movie by bringing the cause of Christianity closer to this community in a more effective way than is possible by the silent drama they will have dodged the issue at stake. By closing the Sunday night shew which is properly conducted, through the application of force, they do not only acknowledge their own weakness but hart the cause which is theirs to promote."