Motion Picture Commission : hearings before the Committee on Education, House of Representatives, Sixty-third Congress, second session, on bills to establish a Federal Motion Picture Commission (1978)

X22 MOTION PICTUEE COMMISSION. of Columbia, adopted at a meeting held on May 7, which I will read into the record, as follows: Motion Picture Exhibitors' Lfague OF THE District of Columbia, Washington, D. C. At a meeting of the Motion Picture Exhibitors' Leajrue of the District of Columbia, held on Thursday, May 7, the following preamble and resolution was unanimously adopted: Whereas the Motion Picture Exhibitors' League of the District of Columbia, a body corporate, athliated with the Motion Picture Exhibitors' League of America, states it as one of the objects of its being "To use its influence to induce manufacturers not to produce any motion piccures that might be objectionable"; and Whereas on May 1, 1013, this organization publicly went on record as being opposed to the' exhibition of any motion jiictures which have not been previ- ously approved by the National Board of Censorship; and Whereas the Comniitfee on I'Mucation in th(> House of Kej)resentatives has be- fore it for considei-ition a bill (H. U. HSil.")) •' To create a new division of the Bureau of i:ducation to be known as the Federal Motion Picture Commission and defining its powers and duties." among which is the licensing and cen- soriui: of :ill nio( ion-picture films inlend'^il for eutrnnce in interstate com- merce, and also the prohibition of any film not previously so licensed and censored being exhibited in the District of Columbia. Now, therefore, be it Re.folrcd, That it is the sense of the Motion Picture Exhibitors' League of the District of Columbia that the creation of such a commission is not only unnecessary, but would be injurious and prejudicial to the interests of the motion-]»icturc industry of the TTnited States. Resolved further, That a copy of this resolution be transmitted to the Com- mittee on iMlucation of the I'liited States House of Kepresentatives. [seal.] William P. Herbst, President. Attest: Fulton P>rylawski, Secretary. Mr. Brylawski. As 1 said, it was for the purpose of presenting this resolution before the committee that I came here, but having been present during this discussion there are several matters which have occurred to me and which have not been very well brought out or touched upon by the previous speakers. I want to answer Judge Towner as to the percentage of children who attend moving-picture shows. This knowledge is peculiar to the exhibitor. The Chaiioian. What age do you mean when you speak of children? Mr. Brylawski. When we speak of children we speak of children between the ages of 12 to 18 years of age. Very few theaters i)ermit childicn under 12 years unaccompanied by adidts to go to their theaters, and children are generally, as we conceixe it. between the ages of 12 and 18. We believe thtit a younger chihl would not un- derstand what was harmful, and that a'chihl between the ages of 12 to 18 is one upon whom the moving picture makes the greatest im- pression—the growing boy or the growing girl. In answering that (piestion. however, you must take into considera- tion the different theaters; that is, the'down-town theaters and the residential theaters. Among the down-town tliealers in this District— and I can only sj^eak for the city of Washington—I would state the percentage ofchildien who attend in the daytime is less than 2 per cent, and that the percentage of children who attend at night unac- companied is nothing. In fact, all the moving-picture houses in Washington prohibit children from attending at night unless accom-