Harrison's Reports (1950)

September 9, 1950 HARRISON'S REPORTS 143 LET US MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT Under the above heading, a powerful statement on what all freedom-loving people are faced with as a result of Russian agression appeared in the August 30 issue of the Hollywood Reporter over the signature of ten of Hollywood's most prominent picture people, namely, Cecil B. de Mille, Y. Frank Freeman, Samuel Goldwyn, Louis B. Mayer, Joseph M. Schenck, Albert, Harry M. and Jack L. Warner, John Wayne and Darryl F. Zanuck. The statement, which appeared in a two-page spread paid for by the signers, is so well written, so enlightening and so thorough that Harrison's Reports is reproducing it in full in the belief that it deserves the widest possible circulation. As a matter of fact, this paper believes that the exhibitors would do well to bring this statement to the attention of their local newspaper editors as an example of the fact that an important segment of Hollywood's top brass is awake to the responsibilities imposed on them by good citizenship. The statement is as follows: "The people of the United States, looking on at this war that has begun in Korea, appear to view it with about equal parts of fury, incredulity, confusion and frustration. It's a war we don't want and have tried in every way to avoid. Two world wars would seem to be enough. Now we have a third. "But we do have it, and unless we win it we shall lose it — and if we lose it the earth, including the United States, will be governed from Moscow. The worst thing we can do at this moment is to take it for granted that we shall win. We can win only if we use our heads and hold nothing back, for the Russians have the jump on us. They are so confident that they hope not to have to fight us at all, but to run us ragged with minor engagements found by stooges all around their periphery till we are worn out and can put up only guerrilla resistance when taken over. "Part of our confusion and frustration are caused by the fact that we have never been in a war like this one. This is not the first time our forces have been mauled at the beginning, but it is the first time when our enemies looked forward with confidence to the long pull. If we let it go that way, this war may last the rest of our lives, even the lives of those who are young. Russia counts on growing constantly stronger during the next thirty years. If we are harried by minor campaigns all over the world our economy and our morale are going to be subjected to such strains as they have never known. We shall have to put on stringent controls and we are going to have to do without a lot of things we've been used to if we're to produce the quantities of munitions and train the numbers of men needed for the almost predictable series of emergencies. "The action in Korea shows us what would happen to us in the Pacific if Russia were to send her own forces against us. We could not hold Korea, we could not hold Japan, we could not hold the Philippines, we probably could not hold Alaska and perhaps not Hawaii. A recent discussion in the House of Commons exposed very frankly what would happen to Europe if Russia decided to march west. Eighty Russian divisions and four or five thousand tanks are mobilizcd and ready. Nothing could stop them before they reached the English Channel. There is only one reason why Russia has not already annexed our Pacific holdings and western Europe. She ie afraid that if she makes open war on us we will drop atomic bombs. And we probably would. The world has no other reply to the enormous military machine Russia is holding over our heads. "There are many honest men who are wondering whether anything we could win by a war would be worth the immense and prolonged sacrifices a war will certainly demand of us. But one steady look at the Politburo makes it obvious to any American that he could not endure existence in that vast concentration camp which is Russia and her satellites. We know democracy is not perfect; it's only a political system which tries to give all its citizens a fair chance under rules of fair play. It's not perfect, but it's the best men have had so far and the Communist slave-state is probably the worst. There are conditions under which liic is not worth living, and those are the exact conditions now offered by Russia to the rest of the earth. Living in a democracy we are prejudiced against violence and try to avoid trouble when we can, but the men of violence are marching their slaves against us again. We cannot accept what they offer. Weary of war though we are, it's better to fight. "Ultimately we shall win. The atom bomb is still ours and is holding the Russians at their borders. Invention and thought, which are dead in Russia, are very much alive among us, and they will begin to find ways to defeat the massed power of slaves and steel. Every soldier in our army is a potential leader, every working brain is a potential leader of thought. We shall fight our way out of this trap, no matter how long it takes. "But from now on, let us make no mistake about it: the war is on, the chips are down. Those among us who defend Russia or Communism are enemies of freedom and traitors to the United Nations and the United States. American soldiers are dying in a battle against slavery, against Russia's attempt to enslave mankind. Every man's house will be in a target area before this thing ends, whether we like it or not. The United Nations is on our side because Russia is at war with every nation that insists on being free. Fortunately our Government has seen the Russian danger, and knows full well how boldly and rapidly we must act if we, as a nation, are to come out of this conflict alive. It will make very heavy demands on us, and very soon. It will have tfl. make them, and we shall have to give everything we have to defend our liberty. Well, let us give it, and let us give ourselves, till Russia too has been taught that our free world is more than a match for the world of Genghis Khan." THREE NEW COMPO COMMITTEES APPOINTED To cope effectively with requests and problems arising from the national emergency, Ned E. Depinet, COMPO president, announced this week the establishment of three new COMPO committees: a Screening Committee, Theatre Priorities Committee, and a Production and Distribution Priorities Committee. The Screening Committee, composed exclusively of exhibitors, will pass upon all film submitted by government or private agencies for exhibition in connection with the war effort. Russell V. Downing was named to serve as chairman of this committee, with Rotus Harvey, William Namenson, Wilbur Snaper and Robert Wilby. On the Theatre Priorities Committee are Si Fabian, chairman, Emanuel Frisch, Ben Shearer, Abram F. Myers and David Weinstock. The Production and Distribution Priorities Committee consists of Marvin L. Faris, chairman, Francis S. Harmon and Lester W. Roth. ORDER YOUR MISSING COPIES OF HARRISON'S REPORTS Now and then your copy of Harrison's Reports is lost in the mails, but you do not know that it is missing until you look up for some information you need. In such a case you arc greatly inconvenienced. Why not look over your files now to find out whether a copy of an issue or two issues is missing. A sufficient number of copies of each issue arc kept in stock for such an emergency. All such copies arc furnished to subscribers free of charge.