Harrison's Reports (1932)

60 HARRISON’S REPORTS April 9, 1932 THE SHERWOOD ERROR ABOUT THE BROOKHART BILL I read in the Baltimore Sun of March 20 an article by Robert W. Sherwood in which he condemned the Brookhart Bill on the ground that it sought to set up a commission to select the stories for the pictures, and stars and directors to interpret them. Since the Brookhart Bill does not contain such a provision, I wrote to the editor of the Sun requesting him to correct the Sherwood error. He printed my letter in the April 3 issue. Since his articles are syndicated, I have written to Mr. Sherwood himself calling his attention to the error he had committed, asking him to make the correction so that it may appear in all the papers that print his syndicated articles. I am sure that Mr. Sherwood will make the necessary correction. In the meantime, I wish you to let me know if you have seen it in any paper in your zone, and I would ask you to watch for the correction so that, if no correction is made, I may write to the editor of each paper calling his attention to the injustice done to your cause. It seems as if some one is passing the misinformation around, for I have before me a lettter written to Mr. G. Park Weaver, of the Capital, Dover, Delaware, by Mrs. Edmund M. Barsham, motion picture Chairman of the Delaware State Federation of Women’s Clubs, in which she makes the same assertion, in addition to making other damaging statements, the result of the misinformation she has received. WHAT TO DO WITH “FREAKS” Since “Freaks” has not been shown in this territory, I have not yet been able to see it ; but I have received information to the effect that it is, as I have stated in these columns before, a vile and disgusting picture. You may judge for yourself from the synopsis printed in the MGM presssheet. Here it is: “Although Hans, a midget in Mme. Tetralini’s circus in France, is engaged to Frieda, the midget bareback rider, he is really infatuated with the beautiful but unscrupulous Cleopatra, a trapeze performer who is carrying on a love affair with Hercules, ‘strong man’ of the troupe. “Cleopatra secretly laughs at the attentions of the little midget, but when she learns that he has (had) inherited a fortune from a rich uncle, she enters into a plot with Hercules by which she is to marry Hans after which she will poison him and run away with Hercules. “* * * the midget marries Cleopatra. “A wedding feast is held in a tent after the ceremony at which Qeopatra openly humiliates Hans by carrying on in a drunken orgy with Hercules. He now begins to realize the true nature of the woman he has (had) married. All the freaks are at the feast and in a hilarious mood vote to adopt Cleo as one of them, since she is now the wife of a midget. (Heopatra flies into a rage at this gesture and drives the freaks from the tent with the vilest epithets and insults which they can never forgive. “The plot to poison Hans is discovered and the freaks rally to the aid of their fellow members avenging him and themselves on Cleopatra and Hercules. “The latter try to escape but are caught and made the victims of a horrible ritual. “ ‘We accept her as one of us !’ the freaks chant, ‘accepting’ Cleopatra by transforming her into a freak, and the horribly mutilated woman is finally seen on exhibition in one of the ‘pits’ of the sideshow she once scorned. Hercules, too, is the victim of a grim revenge. * * *” You must admit that, terrible as this synopsis reads, it must be greatly milder than the picture ; but it is enough, as it stands, to convey to you the idea what a terrible picture it is. Notice that the underlying idea is murder with robbery ; and while proceeding to carry on their murderous plan Hercules and Cleopatra do things that are disgusting to adults and demoralizing to children, for the synopsis states : “Qeopatra openly humiliates Hans by carrying on in a drunken orgy with Hercules.” The language used by Cleopatra does not seem to be edifying, either : the synopsis states ; “♦ * * and drives the freaks from the tent with the vilest of epithets and insults which thev can never forgive.” The mutilations? — they certainly must be revolting. And yet the executives of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer insi.st that you either play this freak of their fancy or pay for it even though you may not show it. It might interest you to know that, though they are insisting that you play it, they are not showing it in their own theatres. Nor are they forcing Publix and the other producer circuits to play it. It is manifest that they want you to show it to ruin your business and drive your customers to their theatres. Of course, you cannot show such a picture. On the other hand, you cannot pay for it and lay it on the shelf; it will ruin you. Under these circumstances, what can you do? To sue MGM in the courts for the cancellation of it will cost you much more than the rental you are required to pay. I have conceived a thought by which you will profit even though you may pay for it and not show it. Here it is : Book the picture on a Monday, or Tuesday, or on any other slow week day. Announce that on that day your theatre will remain closed because you are unwilling to become an instrument of demoralization among the people of your community by showing such a picture. Show the picture on that night to invited guests consisting of the most prominent persons of your town — ministers, priests, rabbis, the Chief of Police, Mayor, alderman, bankers, to the officers of your Chamber of (Commerce, and to the heads of all civic and fraternal organizations. After they see the picture, make a speech to them, or have a good speaker make it for you, pointing out the kind of pictures they are producing at Hollywood and are forcing you to show, requesting them to communicate with your Senator at once demanding that he fight for the enactment of the Brookhart Bill into a law. It is hardly necessary for me to point out to you that, whatever you may lose on that night by closing down you will more than gain by the good will you will create for yourself. By all means do it ! MGM will not like it at all, of course, but it is the only way for you to stop their production department from making such vile freaks. THE HONEST EFFORTS OF A COMPANY Of the companies that found themselves in an embarrassing position lately because of the financial situation of the country, RKO seems to be the only one that is making a serious effort at rehabilitation. In the last tw’o months, RKO has been seeking the most capable men to put at the head of the important departments, investing them with authority to clean up graft and incompetence whenever they detected it. Martin Beck at the Vaudeville department has done wonders, as I understand. Likewise Ned Depinet, head of the distribution branch. Harold Franklin is making a good job presently in an advisory capacity. One of the latest acquisitions by RKO is Robert Sisk. Mr. Sisk may be counted among the best young product the theatrical and the picture industry have developed. As he is a man of high character and ideals, the organization is expecting much from him. And it will not be disappointed ; already he has chased away grafting, saving the company tens of thousands of dollars a year. Mr. Hiram Brown was handicapped when he first came in the industry by his total Hck of knowledge of the industry and of its peopTeTThe result has been that he trusted people who proved unworthy of his trust. But he has now learned where he can get honest-to-goodness information, and is profiting from it b} proceeding to bring into the fold of his organization the best minds and the highest characters. Harrison’s Reports hopes that other companies will do the same thing. T.O.C.C. DENOUNCES FOX FOR POSTER POLICY At a meeting held by Theatre Owners Chamber of Commerce at the Astor Hotel, Friday, last week, the Fox Film Corporation was denounced because of its new poster policy. Although no invectives were used, the meeting was pretty heated and when president Charles L. O’Reilly asked for authority to engage counsel to take court action in case the Fox Corporation obtained an injunction to prevent the poster exchanges from handling Fox posters it was granted cheerful!} and unanimously. The spirit of the meeting was that any distributor who at this time causes an exhibitor to increase his expenses is an enemy, and that the exhibitors would be justified in going on a play-date strike against him. At the conclusion of the meeting, Mr. O'Reilly urged that each member write a letter to Fox protesting against its policy, but to send the letters to him so that he might present them to Kent in bulk. Mr. O’Reilly stated that he would send a representative to the meeting of the poster men, which is to be held in Chicago next week. He is ready to join a national movement against the Fox practice.