The film daily year book of motion pictures (1932)

ties are cold, there is nothing to prevent him from lining up the students for Saturday morning specials, at reduced admission, through the cooperation of the teachers. If the Roxy can run a special performance of "Alice In Wonderland" for children, the small-time exhibitor can follow suit. • So much, and more, might easily come to pass If educational producers grasp their opportunities. No doubt they know that schools will demand production standards equal to those offered to the general public. What they may not realize so readily is that in the long run their films have to earn the applause of the youngsters, as well. Boys and girls accustomed to seeing allstar casts in million-dollar productions are going to cold shoulder films in schools if continuity is at all sloppy, if the camera work is at all crude, or if the acting is at all ham. This dual problem of meeting the requirements of the educators and the students at the same time is a delicate one, but it can be met, as it has been met, successfully. When we were endeavoring to introduce schools to the Scholastic magazine, it was necessary first to have the cooperation of the school authorities by holding every issue to a high standard; but all the cooperation in the world wouldn't have done a lick of good if the magazine hadn't included lightness, humor, drama, beauty, simplicity, force, and action to appeal to the students. When educational film makers are assured that their product is right, it only remains to start the proper ballyhoo. Nor will the polite advertising of the usual educational product do the work. Every title must be exploited with a techinque as violent as that used in selling Carbo or Colman, although the misrepresentation and overselling traditional in cinema advertising should be strictly avoided. The habit of labeling every program production as "The Most Stupendous Gripping Soul-Searing Picture in History" ought to be killing more trade than the radio and the depression. But bold advertising methods are essential because the students and the teachers must be sold before the board of education will buy. After it is proved to the ultimate consumers that educational films are what they have been waiting for all their lives, then, and not before, are they going to accept the idea. To attempt to open the market without this advance campaign would be to have both teacher and student feel that something was being forced upon them. But to install the movies in the schools as a welcome and popular fixture is to insure to visual education the prosperous future it deserves. THE MOTION PICTURE RELIEF FUND OF AMERICA =^^— A resume of the activities issi^^^ss of the Women's Auxiliary "Charity begins at home." With firm belief in this old adage, the Women's Auxiliary of the Motion Picture Relief Fund has been stirred to new activity under the leadership of Mrs. Abraham Lehr. For years the Motion Picture Relief Fund has been untiring in its efforts to care for the less fortunate members of the picture profession, depending upon contribution from members of the industry for funds. But this year, the need for assistance has been greater. To raise a definite sum to count or it was suggested that every member of the industry who could do so give one-half of one per cent of his weekly salary to the fund. The response to this has been overwhelmingly successful. All branches of the profession have responded willingly. But, with the realization that in many cases the giving of money was not sufficient to meet the needs of these cases, the Women's Auxiliary was formed. Prominent stars, writers, wives of directors and executives have given willingly of their time to aid their less fortunate associates. Every case that comes to the fund is investigated personally by these women — not just as a charity case but with the real desire to meet the individual needs of that particular case and to assist those who have asked for help to get on their feet again and resume their place in the profession. It is not thought of, nor spoken of as charity. It is just a sharing, and a sharing that is bring ing the motion picture industry into an even closer bond of sympathy and understanding. For if to love is to share, it seems equally true that to share is to love. MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE Mrs. George Archainbaud, Mrs. Lionel Barrymore, Mary Beaton, Mrs. Stanley Bergerman, Mrs. Harry Beaumont Mrs. Tod Browning. Mrs. Harry Cohn. Mrs. Thomas R. Case, Mrs. Carl C. Vovin, Constance Cummings. Bebe Daniels, Mrs. Phylis Daniels, Marion Davies, Louise Dresser, Louise Fazenda. Mrs. George Fitzmaurice. Mrs. Sidney Franklin, Mrs. Park French. Mrs. James Gleason, Mrs. L. W. Hall, Hedda Hopper, Mrs. Lucien Hubbard. Mrs. Bernie Hyman, Mrs. Sam Jaffee. Jane Keckley, Mrs. Edwin KurflF, Mrs. Vincent Lawrence. Mrs. Sol Lesser, Mrs. M. C. Levee, Mrs. Louis Lighton, Mrs. Owen Moore, Mrs. Antonio Moreno. Jane Murfin, Mrs. Conrad Nagcl, Mrs. Fred Niblo, Mrs. Thomas Poole, Mrs. Harry Rapf. Mrs. Charles Reisner, Jenny Lloyd, Alice Glazer, Mrs. Thomas Meighan, Mrs. Henry King, Mrs. Hal Roach, Mrs. Charles Rogers, Mrs. R. M. Rucker. Mrs. John Stone, Mrs. Gardner Sullivan, Mrs. Joseph Schnitzer, Mrs. Ernest Torrence, Mrs. Richard Wallace, Lois Wilson, Mrs. Sam Wood, Mrs. Jack Warner. 562