Motion Picture News (Jul - Sep 1926)

202 Motion Picture News MOTIOJV TlCTVRE ii JULY 17 1926 JfEWS Founded in September 1913 Vol. XXXIV No. 3 Publication Office: 729 7th Avenue, New York, N. Y. Editorial and General Offices: 729 7th Ave., New York City Branch Offices: 845 S. Wabash Ave., Chicago, 111. Room 616 Security Bldg., Hollywood, California Speaking Editorially A STIRRING defense of the motion picture as a ^* great constructive force was delivered the other day before the National Education Association by Ernest L. Crandall, an official of the New York City public school system. Dr. Crandall hit straight from the shoulder at those persons "many of them highly placed, who miss no opportunity to inveigh against the motion picture, seeking to hold it responsible for much of the crime, profligacy, sordidness and other ills from which society suffers. "In general," Dr. Crandall continued, "it will be found that these persons are politically minded. Many of them are responsible for our laws or for the administration of our laws, and instinctively they seek a scapegoat or an alibi, whenever and wherever law and order tend to break down." DR. CRANDALL said motion pictures help children form their judgments and tastes and values of life and that these things are necessary to the development of the child. His views are particularly interesting and valuable along this line and we set them down in some detail, because what he has to say ought to be very useful to exhibitors in meeting unfair criticisms. Dr. Crandall says: "I have never been in favor of any form of censorship. 1 believe that censorship of the motion picture is only an entering wedge for the increasing application of the principle of censorship to everything in modern life, from the pages of the public press to the private habits of the humblest citizen. Let us place our reliance rather upon the sturdy enforcement of law and order, and the inculcation of habits of decency, right living and right thinking. So far as our children are concerned, let us cease crying out against this so-called Moloch of the screen, and give our attention rather in our wonderful public school sys tern to so shaping and forming their minds and characters that they will instinctively reject the evil and accept the good, whether upon the screen or in real life." HP HE Motion Picture Theatre Owners of North -* Carolina have done a very constructive thing. In their theatres each Saturday the following trailer will be used: "The employees of this theatre are going to church tomorrow. Are you?" N. L. Royster, newly appointed secretary of the organization, points out that theatre owners want to work with every church and civic organization, but in some instances the churches and other organizations do not co-operate with the theatres. The result is that some ministers "knock" the movies, simply because they do not take the trouble to learn for themselves the great good that can be accomplished by the screen. THIS attitude is, of course, rapidly disappearing. An instance is found in the address delivered before the recent Carolina exhibitor convention by Rev. Dr. Cross, a minister of Winston-Salem. Dr. Cross came out definitely against censorship. He declared that the best censors were the theatre owners, who are, in the great majority, against salacious pictures. "If ministers would visit the movies more often," Dr. Cross added, "and there see and help, a great deal of good can be accomplished." Editorial • • • 201 An Editor on Broadway 203 Second Editorial Page 202 Fictures and People 204-07 Exhibitors Service Bureau • 219-22 General News and Special Features 208-18 Studio Briefs ■ 223 Short Subjects and Serials 226-27 Pre-Release Reviews on Features 229-30 Construction and Equipment Department 239-49 Regional News from Correspondents 233-38 Features and Short Subject Release Chart 250-56 The Check-Up 231 Short Subject Reviews 228 Classified Ads 232 July 17, 1926 M( (Til i\ I'll II Kl \ EWS Vol, XXXn , No. Published weekly by Motion Picture News, Inc., William A. Johnston, President; E. Kendall Gillett, Vice-President : William A. Johnston, Editor; J. S. Dickerson, Associate Editor; Oscar Cooper, Managing Editor: Fred J. Beecroft, Advertising Manager; L. H. Mason, Chicago Representative; William McCormack, Los Angeles Representative. Subscription price. $2 per year, postpaid in United States, Mexico, Hawaii, Porto Rico, Philippine Islands and some other counrties; Canada, $'3: foreign, $6.00. Copyright 1926, by Motion Picture News, Inc., in the United States and Great Britain. Title registered in the United States Patent Office and foreign countries. Western Union cable address is "Picknews." New York. Entered as second-class m.itter April 23, 1"26. at the postoffice, New York, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879.