The film daily year book of motion pictures (1938)

tainment a liability or asset as it contributes or fails to contribute interest in the prescribed learning. Only when exhibitors, teachers, and laymen alike come to recognize this distinction will the disparity of interests be recognized as an illusion and the school and theater realize the compatibility of their Interests and the mutual advantages in the cooperative use of motion pictures. With Boards of Education properly assuming costs of the use of films in teaching, there can be no basis for competition between schools and theaters. Character Education Two developments during the year 1937 seem to have great significance for future use of motion pictures in education. Growing out of a public relations conference held in New York in 1929, a series of films known as the Secrets of Success was developed by a committee called the Committee on Social Values in Motion Pictures. It was the purpose of this group to experiment with the film in "character education." With the approval and assistance of the major producers and financed by the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, twenty one-reel subjects were edited from famous photoplays. Each subject presented some problem normal to the life of adolescent youth in America. Practical experiment with these films in schools was so satisfactory that early in 1937 the General Education Board of the Rockefeller Foundation agreed to finance the further development of this program and arranged with the Progressive Education Association to appoint a Motion Picture Commission to explore the further possibilities of using films in leaching the important social function of individual adjustment. A considerable number of subjects have been added to those selected from the Secrets of Success series and testing of these subjects is proceeding in some thirty experimental schools. The personnel of this Commission foUowg: Dr. Alice V. Keliher, Chairman of the Commission; Edna Albers; Willard W. Beatty, Director of Indian Education; Earl S. Goudey. formerly Science Instructor. Bronxville High School; Leo Huberman. author of "We the People" and "Man's Wordly Goods"; Walter C. Langer, Harvard Psychological Clinic; Mark A. May, Director, Institute of Human Relations, Yale University; Lorine Pruette, author of "Parents and the Happy Child"; Louise Rosenblatt, Member of the English Department, Barnard College, and author of "Art for Art's Sake"; and Robert Wunsch, professor of English and Dramatics at Black Mountain College. The original Committee on Social Values in Motion Pictures is working with the Commission in an advisory capacity. Information concerning the Human Relations program is obtainable from Dr. Keliher, 1600 Broadway. New York City, or from the Community Service Department. The date these films will become available for general use has not yet been determined. Motion Picture Curriculum Early in 1936 Dr. May, encouraged by his experience as a member of the Committee on Social Values in Motion Pictures, presented a proposal to the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America which he called "A Motion Picture Curriculum for Schools." It contemplated the organization of a committee of distinguished educators to make a study of the photoplays and short subjects which in previous years had attracted the attention and acclaim of school people. The purpose was frankly exploratory, to determine whether this material had value for formal education, under what circumstances it might be feasible to make it available, if at all. and, assuming that might be possible, to arrange some procedure for its appraisal. In the spring of 1937 member companies ol the MPPDA agreed to make a group of selected short subjects available to an Advisory Committee of educators for appraisal purposes. Dr. May assumed responsibility for organizing the committee, which includes himself as chairman; Frederick H. Bair, Superintendent, Bronxville, N. Y.; Public Schools; Isaiah Bowman. President, Johns Hopkins University; Karl T. Ccmpton, President. Massachusetts Institute ol Technology; Edmund E. Day. President, Cornell University; Royal B. Farnum, Executive Vice-President. Rhode Island School of Design; Willard E. Givens, Executive Secretary. National Education Association; and Jay B. Nash. Director. Department of Physical Education and Health, New York University. ]%on-Current Shorts Reviewed Stating that the first requisite of developing further the use of motion pictures in education was a larger library of films, the Committee requested an opportunity to review some of the 15.000 entertainment short subjects now non-current in theaters. The Committee agreed to select panels of teachers expert in their professional fields to do the reviewing if permission were granted and to make an initial selection of the most promising short subjects on the basis of reviews available. In the spring of 1937 the cooperation of the producing companies was assured and the Committee selected approximately 2,000 short subjects for review. The panels were organized and spent the summer of 1937 appraising them. One thousand five hundred and ninety 819