The Motion Picture and the Family (Oct 1934 - May 1937)

2 THE MOTION PICTURE AND THE FAMILY April 15, 1936 Makes Fine Record For Family Films An outstanding record in securing the showing of family films is reported by the Better Films Council of the town of Bizbee, Arizona, which has a population of 18,000. Ever since the committee was organized its goal has been more family pictures. During the month of January it reached its all-time high when all but two of the films shown for the entire month were suitable for family consumption. The splendid cooperation of the manager of the town's single local theatre is held primarily responsible. "Better Junior Matinees" was another objective of the committee and here, too, the organization has scored a distinctive success. Admittance of children up to 12 years of age for a five cent fee has resulted in getting practically the entire juvenile population of the town out for worthwhile Saturday Junior Matinees. Adults cheerfully pay the regular admission fee of 35c and the audience frequently has as large a sprinkling of them as of children. To insure proper conditions at the theatre one or more members of the Better Films Council attend each Junior Matinee. WHAT'S NEXT IN HOLLYWOOD? By Alice Ames Winter Committee's Quick Action Cancels Adult Picture A Shakespearian production is always an event. The stage personnel stands on tip-toe at the opportunity to do its best, and the public waits tensely to see that best. The second Shakespearian presentation on the speaking screen for which we wait is Romeo and Juliet. Immediately it becomes of interest to note the wide departure both in the character of the play and in its treatment from A Midsummer Night's Dream. That was a lovely phantasy, a pageant of fairy life and fairy intervention in human lives. This is a living drama of young love, realistically treated so far as its settings and backgrounds are concerned, gloriously colorful in its interpretation. For a year Metro-GoldwynMayer has been making preparations, training actors in the great rhythms and cadences of Shakespeare's lines, gathering some 2,000 "extras" who shall fill the bustling streets of the Verona of the Renaissance, that period when blood seemed to pulse more rapidly than at any other time and when daily life clothed itself in color and tu mult. All this under the guidance of Professor Strunk of Cornell, the eminent Shakespeare scholar, and James Vincent, long stage manager for Katherine Cornell. Meanwhile the research department and its coworkers have been reproducing the city as it was of old — gathering data from records and paintings, so that every costume, every piece of furniture, the friar's cell, the walls and churches and palaces shall be modelled on the Renaissance paintings. Incidentally, the studio has dug up an ancient poem and a code of good manners at table and in social contacts that is going to give a delightful twist to the presentation. Of course, all this is merely the physical background — the body, as it were. The higher test lies in the spiritual interpretation of the great story. It is being played as a drama of life, teeming streets, busy people of many kinds, the joy of youth — until the bolt falls from the blue. From the delicate spiritual wistfulness of Norma Shearer we expect much. In fact, Professor Strunk told us that he had seen (Continued on Page 5) Cancelation of a picture which was considered undesirable for a children's showing with only a three hour notice, is the fine instance of local theatre cooperation reported by Mrs. Myrtle D. Luther, chairman of motion pictures for the Federation of Women's Clubs of Kingston, New York. Noting that a film obviously appropriate for adult entertainment only was one of the features booked for a children's matinee, members of the motion picture committee swung immediately into action. Quick to respond to their point of view, the local threatre manager promptly removed the offending1 posters from his lobby and substituted a picture which he end the committee both agreed that the children would enjoy. A record audience proved his wisdom. Island Group Starts Motion Picture Forums The Staten Island, (New York) Motion Picture Council, started four years ago and already responsible for many progressive enterprises, will inaugurate monthly open forum meetings in April. The first is to be held April 28 in the auditorium of the McKee Vocational School. It will mark the first opportunity Staten Islanders have had to see the "Secrets of Success" character building films, developed by the Committee on Social Values in Motion Pictures, Dr. Howard M. LeSourd, Dpan of Graduate School of Boston University, chairman. Girl Scout Troop Starts Picture Study Interest in photoplay appreciation is filtering into Girl Scout troops in the metropolitan area of New York. One of the first groups to catch the enthusiasm is the local troop of Staten Island. Mrs. Edward Gunnell, who has stimulated her own interest in motion pictures through membership in the Staten Island Motion Picture Council and the East Coast Preview Committee, organized the new Girl Scout Photoplay Appreciation group and will instruct its members in motion picture technique film appreciation. Film Bookmarks Gain Wide New Audience Film bookmarks compiled by the Cleveland Public Library, which for so long a time have been extensively circulated to Better Films groups, now have a wide new audience. The Office of Education of the Department of the Interior is issuing duplicates of these bookmarks upon request to radio fans who listen in on its "Bookmarks" broadcast, given every Monday night at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on the red net-work of the National Broadcasting Company as a feature of "Education in the News. Library To Give Repeat Showing of Film Exhibit Motion pictures from the pioneer days of the Great Train Robbery to the latest achievements in Technicolor will furnish the theme of an exhibit on The Moving Picture as an Art Form, which is to be presented under the auspices of the New York Public Library at its Hudson Park Branch, 66 Leroy Street, New York City, during the entire month of May. It duplicates and supplements a prior exhibit in 1933 which brought nationwide and foreign publicity. In the current exhibit, through the use of stills, the entire pano rama of the development of motion pictures through three decades will be shown. In addition, many old time posters will be displayed and also modern advertisements of American films in the Orient. A repeat performance of an exhibit of this kind is almost unpre cedented in library annals and speaks very emphatically of the success of the first showing. Deserved Laurels To The Picture Industry A Tribute To the Motion Picture Short By Mrs. A. Bessie Chairman, Editorial Committee, East Coast Preview Committee The motion picture short subject has become so excellent and so important a part of the whole program of motion pictures that a brief review of some of the recent productions in this field may not be amiss. Under the term "short" are classed several essentially different types of pictures the only similarity of which is really a physical one: namely the fact that they are one, two or three reels in length, taking from twelve to fifteen minutes to project. The entertainment worth of the* short is great, offering as it does much opportunity for novelty and variety. Of the educational pos sibilities it is impossible not to be enthusiastic for its scope seems limitless and its advance exceedingly rapid. Walt Disney's cartoons undoubtedly come first to mind when we think of the animated subject. Their appeal is universal; therefore their artistic and social significance cannot be over-estimated. Among the recent outstanding ones have been Three Orphan Kittens (one of three to receive the year's award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences), Music Land, On Ice. The addition of a new hero, Donald Duck, a seri(Continued on Page 7) Seldom has the motion picture industry received a higher tribute than that which comes from the Better Films Committee of Macon, Georgia. Scrutinizing a play which had been a Broadway success with a view to giving it local production, the play-finding committee of Macon's Little Theatre scrapped the drama because of its bald language and theme. Every member of the play committee responsible for this decision made in substance the same remark: "I saw the picture version and it was delightful, but then, they clean up a story before they screen it. The picture was clever and charming with nothing objectionable, while the play is impossible." "The same comment has been made about a number of plays seen in pictures that we have read as possibilities for the Little Theatre," comments Mrs. Piercy Chestney, chairman of Macon's Better Films Committee. 2nd Junior Council On Staten Island Inspired by the success of Staten Island's first Junior Motion Picture Council at Curtis High School a second Council has just been formed in the new McKee Vocational School. Miss Norma Scheinberg of the faculty, who started the club at Curtis High and now has been transferred to McKee, is the sponsor. The new organization is already flourishing and hopes to adopt many of the popular features of the program of its sister organization at Curtis High, including the making of some amateur motion picture productions.