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Does Immorality Exist in the Studios?
By BESSIE BARRISCALE
Editorial Note: Some time ago we received a despatch from the Coast, of which the following is a part :
"Tumult on the Pacific— T'^ere is no doubt that the Moving Picture theaters have a great educational value: for instance, they teach thousands of the unwashed how decent people live and behave. They exhibit the sure punishment for crime and they show that the way of the transgressor is hard, to some extent; that is, to some extent they show it is hard. But there is another side to the Moving Picture industry — its tendency to produce immorality. Thousands of women, married and single, have gazed into mirrors and upon the surface of still ponds, and seen that they are fair and desirable; these by the battalion have become infected with the idea that they can make a lot of money in the Moving Picture business. Los Angeles has just been torn i?p by a discussion on this subject, started by one of the ministers who runs his face in his advertising every Sunday; this man possesses certain evidence that many women are ruined by the Moving Picture business. The civic authorities of Sierra Madre, a mountain suburb of Los Angeles, have denied franchises to the Moving Picture companies : they cannot establish themselves amid the romantic scenery of Sierra Madre. An 1 this action of the town council was not the fanatical theory of a lot of bucolic churchwardens, for here is the statement: 'After considerable argument it was "decided for the upbuilding of the moral standard of the community that no such enterprises should be encouraged. Many of the movie concerns visit this place and the adjoining canyons owing to the picturesque scenery and unusual opportunities for good productions." The actions of these people as observed by the town council taught them they are about as bad as a circus." <
We believe that it would be an injustice to the players and to the Motion Picture industry to publish more of the attacks in these columns; but since the subject matter had been given wide publicity elsewhere, we asked one of the most prominent players of the Coast, Miss Bessie Barriscale, to make answer, and it is with pleasure that we publish the followinc able and convincing reply.
Answering the statements — they can hardly be dignified as charges — contained in the attack on the Los Angeles Motion Picture studios is like answering an attack on art. One may find individual efforts to be condemned, but the art itself is above attack.
In the same manner the photoplay has risen above attack. Criticize, yes ; point out defects and suggest improvement, by all means ; regulate, legislate, if necessary, to do away with harmful conditions ; but the work of the studios has brought success, recognition to the workers, despite the attacks which rise spasmodically, only to be forgotten overnight.
As to the sweeping generalization that the Moving Picture has a tendency to produce immorality, one well may be astonished at the temerity of its maker. What immorality has the Motion Picture tended to produce ? Indeed, as the writer ingenuously says, Los Angeles might be thought to have been a ''chemically pure" city before the photoplay actors came here, from his fear that the community wrill be corrupted by their presence. Was immorality, then, unknown before
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the Motion Picture "camps," as he calls them, were established?
Those of the speaking stage have suffered from the same loose statements regarding their morals. Certainly there were instances where the individuals erred, but the stage no longer is held to blame. It is not hard to find evidence of an attitude in former years which placed all those of the stage as unworthy of social standing ; but the stage has triumphed over that view. In the same way the Motion Picture workers are winning their right to equal recognition.
Stop to consider the fact that by nature of their work the fierce light of publicity shines constantly upon the photoplay folk. Their every act is the subject of observation. When a woman errs, or a man is involved in scandal, his or her connection with the film industry brings far more notoriety to their shortcomings than if he or she were a bookkeeper or a telephone clerk. Trust the newspapers to know the value of news. A story on a Motion Picture actor is worth a column, where the same story concerning the average person is given a paragraph.