International Review of Educational Cinematography (Jan-Dec 1930)

— 3ii — work for more than four hours a day. The conditions for New York are the same. The above are the legislative measures on this subject which have been collected by the International Labour Office and by the Rome Institute. It may be added that these laws have so far been shown to be inadequate ; so inadequate, indeed, that, as To-Day's Cinema (New York, 15/24) states, the English House of Commons recently deplored the habitual and excessive use that is made of children in the variety spectacles given at cinemas. The problem was fully dealt with by the League of Natiions (Child Welfare Commitee) during its fourth session of March 19, 1928. The report which the League had under consideration on that occasion was made by Mr. Martin on data supplied by Dr. Lickly and by Miss Minor, secretary of the New York Committee for the Protection of Children. The principal points that have been considered up to the present in connection with the employment of children as actors (it does not matter whether in theatres or for the screen, since there is very little difference between the two as far as the damage done is concerned) come under two heads : physical and moral. With regard to the physical side, it has been noted that the children often have to pass hours in the rain or snow or the heat of the sun, and under conditions that would prove fatiguing even to grown-up persons ; for the intense light that has to be used in order to get the necessary illumination for the scenes must be very bad for the eyes. Usually, as the Martin Report observes, the actor is bound to stand at a distance of less than a metre and a half from the lamp, and these lamps give off a powerful heat and emit ultra-violet rays, which often cause burns similar to those caused by sunburn. All this has an influence on the epidermis and the nervous system, and especially on the organs of sight. There is also a further danger from this excessive light. Cinema actors used to suffer from the so-called « Kloeyg's disease », that is, inflammation of the membrane of the eyes caused by the bright light of arc lamps ; now they run the risk of suffering from a similar inflammation of the throat, caused by the gigantic incandescent lamps usad in theatres. , It is not easy to remedy this state of things. The solution is very largely in the hands of the producers (Martin). They might, for instance, avoid the injuries caused by the light by using glass globes to intercept the ultre-violet rays when using arc-lamps, and substituting crystal tubes for quartz tubes when using mercury vapour lamps. They might also interrupt the projection from time to time, in order to allow the little actors to rest, thus mitigating the effects of the constant strain from the light. But the requirements of the work are often such that, with all the goodwill in the world, it is not possible to avoid a certain risk. Until the matter is regulated by a special legislative system., the only thing that can be done is to endeavour to mitigate the evil as far as possible by existing methods and by supervision by the various organizations for the protection of children. Moral damage. The International Labour Review, vol. XV, No. 2, states clearly, on this subject : « The greatest evil is due to the fact that the children live in a world of artifice, of accessories and decorations which are intended, by the very vulgarity that distinguishes them, to create an illusion ; thus, the Colosseum of Rome, or an ancient cathedral, as projected on the screen, are obtained by a series of accessories which can be contained in a room of normal size. The children frequently grow blase and seem to be affected by a. kind of premature moral old age. These hours passed in the midst of actors and actresses, who spend all their time simulating emotions that they do not feel, have the most disastrous effect on the mentality of children ». There are also other points : the life passed in an artificial existence which falsifies, maybe for good, the child's views of the social environment ; the atmosphere of luxury which, transitory as it may be, is apt to create, or at any rate to assist in creating, an illusion that is the more dangerous since the children are not accustomed, like grown persons, to differentiate and criticise and master their impressions, and are therefore disagreeably impressed by the violent change