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THE FIRST YEAR IN HOLLYWOOD, I922-I923 351
the week, the credit being due to the publicity committee, of which Pete Smith was chairman.
It was with real regret that I bade good-by to Hollywood that evening. On the train I met two fellow passengers— Rudolph Valentino and King Baggot. It was the first time I had shaken hands with either of them. It seemed another touch of welcome.
IMPROVING THE DEMAND
Even as early as July of 1922, when I first visited Hollywood, my plea for a public demand for better movies was already backed by millions of Americans who had authorized me to present their requests. I had discussed the whole problem before the convention of the General Federation of Women's Clubs and the National Education Association, and with the representatives of more than eighty civic, welfare, and religious organizations in a conference held in New York. Figuratively, I carried their proxies in my pocket. The organized development of public relations sentiment, via an active committee, consumed a good deal of my time for the next few years.
I considered the movies to be an activity which should be judged in the light of its total impact on great numbers of people. It should be responsive to public demand, and although the Association was organized and financed by motion picture companies to promote their common interests and interpret those to the public, I personally felt an equal obligation to interpret the wishes of the public to the industry. I saw my task, again, as one of mediation, and I took my stand on the threshold of a two-way 'open door/' At once we set out to make our customers our friends and advisers. Booster and knocker must alike be heard. As to the most violent critics, I recalled my father's advice to "get so close to the mule he can't kick you"; and the well-wishers must be shown ways to make their good will bring practical results. I question whether any other industry has ever made such a record of organizing active good will in its support on so large a scale. So great became this volunteer force of co-operators, affiliated with the industry through our Public Relations Department, that as many as 600,000 men and women at one time were doing something on an organized basis for better pictures. And we made it an affirmative force: "What kind of pictures do you want?" was calculated to do producers more good than "What kind do you not want?" Here was a chance— indeed, a necessity— for a public relations job on a really grand scale.
Who had the right to insist that motion pictures be held to a stricter standard of taste and morality and merit than other media of entertainment and information and communication? The only answer was "the enlightened public." We could not presume to do it by ourselves; but