Film and Radio Guide (Oct 1945-Jun 1946)

10 FILM AND RADIO GUIDE Volume XII, No. 7 out of the schools. Neither the church nor the schools must be defiled by such unsocial parasites. Before anyone pleads their cause, we suggest that he consider what Banquo said to his friend Macbeth, when the Thane of Glamis, after one of his dalliances with the “instruments of darkness” was considering dirking the King of Scotland. The Bard of Avon, who never heard of “research,” and to whom “keys” were merely a simple adjunct to locks, somehow or other managed to give vent to some startlingly good logic in spite of what Mr. Knight might consider unpardonable educational handicaps. The Bard, through Banquo, told Macbeth, and incidentally all those of future generations who would flirt with selfish interests : “Oftimes, to win us to oui harm, The instruments of darkness tells us truths, Win us with honest trifles, to betray Into the deepest consequence.” It requires no research to distinguish right from wrong unless one has a conscience made hard by inattention. Herewith are a few “true stories” that would worry my own conscience, did I take a differant stand on this subject. If they do not worry Mr. Knight, or other readers of my article on “Free” Films, there isn’t much I can do about it. But there is one matter of which I wish to make very certain— I have no desire that my otun worrying on this spbject shall cease, and, judging from many letters I have received, there are nimierous others who feel likeivise. Incident One : One day a large railroad company, which we shall call “A,” presented a beautiful calendar to a Cincinnati, Ohio, school teacher. The teacher hung it up and all admired it. A few days later the agent of a second railroad (“B”), came to the school room and showed the teacher a much more beautiful calendar than ihe one she had previously hung. It was so nice that she accepted it and hung it up. A week or so later the agent of a third railroad (“C”) tapped at her door and showed her his company’s magnificent work of advertising art. She was very much pleased with it, for it was really a super-duper, but she refrained from accepting it, saying she had two fine railroad calendars already and had no room for a third. Thereupon this railroad agent delivered himself of what we regard as the “Sermon on the Mount” relative to advertising in schools. “Madam,” he said, “our railroad is a tax-payer in this community, the same as are these other roads whose calendars you have hung. In view of this we request that you either put ours up or take theirs clown! You have no choice in the matter!” He was so right that when the situtation came to the attention of the Cincinnati Board of Education, the Board agreed with the railroad agent, and today NO calendars are displayed on the walls of Cincinnati schools except those printed and supplied by the Board, and all commercial advertising in schools is taboo ! Incident Two: Coincidentally, the day I received my copy of the Guide carrying the article on “Free” Films, I was called on the phone by the Ohio branchmanager of one of the nation’s largest manfacturers. He asked me about our State Exchange, and, having received the desired information, told me that he had been sent a circular letter distributed by the head California representative of his company. This letter, he explained, told how the California office had put the company’s promotional motion pictures into numerous California schools and how beneficial this promotion program had been to the company. The California letter urged other state branches to follow this lead. The Ohio manager asked my reactions, which I gave to him as fairly as I tried to give them to my Guide readers. At the conclusion of my remarks, the Ohio manager agreed with my position in toto, stating that no tax-supported institution had the right to participate in private propaganda of any kind, and the Ohio office would not follow the California idea. Pigeons went home to their California roost ! Incident Three: The Ohio Exchange bought (mind you bought) several prints of a safety picture from a large manufacturer of automobiles. It was a rare case, since the picture was in no way related directly or indirectly to the firm’s business, and our exchange would have bought it from any producer. We had had our prints several years when one day we discovered that the motion picture affairs of this concern had been turned over to a bright young thing in New York. He was going to handle matters expeditiously. He called on us for attendance reports. We replied that the prints were ours ; that we had bought them ; that we made no such reports. To this he answered that we must return the prints unless we made such reports. We told him we would gladly return them if he would send us a check covering what we had paid for them. We had called for a showdown, and all he could do was to comply by sending us a check. We returned the prints. Now, my dear readers, what would you do if a textbook company from whom you had bought books took such