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

Febrnarv 15. 1937 THE MOTION PICTURE AND THE FAMILY 3 Humes Pupils Get Grounding In Shakespeare IF there were a single pupil in Humes High School, Memphis, Tennessee, who did not know a great deal about Will Shakespeare, dramatist, and his tragedy of young love, Romeo and Juliet, before the film played Memphis, the fault was neither that of the faculty nor of the Better Films Council of the city. Determined that the pupils should profit to the utmost by the presentation of this fine film, teachers and Council co-operated in building up interest. Film Council Helps Fascinating stills of the picture ware collected for the Photoplay Anpreciation Club bv the Better Films Council president, Mrs. Lawrence S. Akers, and the chairman of its Preview Committee, Mrs. Margaret Brandeau. Shortly after the stills arrived came a shooting script of the film. English classes began to study the Shakespeare masterpiece ; teachers read the play to the students at their earnest request; copies of it were ordered and used for lessons in oral interpretation. When the film actually arrived, the Photoplay Club of the school, happy over the endorsement of the film by the Board of Education and Superintendent of Schools, invited interested members of the English classes to attend the picture with them and also sponsored the sale of tickets throughout the school. Miss Josephine Allensworth, faculty sponsor, acted as the motivating genius behind the scenes. Two hundred and seventy-five students of Humes Senior High attended the picture and many of them wanted to go on record as predicting that it would be recognized as "the best picture of the year." San Diego Schools Run 16 mm. Shorts The San Diego, California, school system is among the first in the country to introduce 16 mm. educational editions of forthcoming feature films as a phase of its curriculum. The first two films with which experiments were made, The Spirit of the Plains and Seeing Salem, were condensed preliminaries to The Plainsman and Maid of Salem. Exhibits on those two pictures, with the short feature films and lesson plans dealing with the historic period covered by the films as well as with the content of the films themselves, were shown in all the schools of the city prior to the advent of the theatrical films. WHO'S WHO IN BETTER FILMS ONCE in a while a woman emerges as a major luminary in the motion picture field without an intensive motion picture training. That is what happened to Mrs. Ella Schoen, supervisor of councilors for the Skouras Theatres. When the municipal ordinance went into effect early last summer which jgy provided that Mr / I Bjr children could JKh be admitted to motion picture theatres unaccompanied by adults, but that they should sit in a segregated section, and that women should be in charge during the hours they attended, the heads of the Skouras Theatres service decided to put into operation a long cherished dream. For some time they had felt that every motion picture theatre which had children among its clientele ought to have attached to its staff a woman — not just an ordinary woman, but a woman who through understanding of child psychology and sympathetic interest in children's problems would make motion picture attendance more interesting and more profitable for the juvenile audience. They speedily began to seek a woman to help them put that plan into operation. Mrs. Schoen seemed the answer to the theatre manager's prayer. It was not her knowledge of motion pictures that led to her selection. She was just one of millions who counted motion pictures as a favorite form of recreation. It was her soft voice, her gentle manner, her instinctive way of going to the heart of a child's problem which recommended her. Unhesitatingly the Skouras Brothers entrusted to her the task of selecting 25 councilors for employment in their metropolitan theatre circuit. All these councilors are prominent and highly respected in their own communities; they have worked in or helped organize Better Film Councils; they are equipped to address women's groups about specific motion pictures or the broader subject of film appreciation. They are much more than matrons. They are just what their title implies. Problems Which Require Tact The problems which come to these councilors often require in finite tact for t heir solution. Children must be discouraged from the habit of buying a ticket and staying through the show two or three times, yet parents must not be offended because their juvenile hopefuls are sent home. Councilors must be careful not to admit children during school hours. Parents must not be encouraged in the practice which prevails in some communities, particularly during the summer months, of sending their children with luncheon to spend the entire day in the theatre. And the councilor must be at any and all times ready to come to the rescue of a child with a peculiar problem. Children Regard Councilors as Friends "Children regard these councilors as their best friends," says Mrs. Schoen. They weep out many of their troubles on the councilor's shoulder. A typical instance is that of a tiny, brokenhearted tot who lost her purse containing 21 cents, which she had been saving up for a long period of time. The councilor generously offered to lend her the money, but also pointed out her responsibility to return her loan and the child is paying back a penny a week. It takes sharp eyes to detect children who are trying to gain entrance to the theatre when they really have no right to be there. One small boy of foreign parentage who presented himself at the gate was challenged by the councilor for two reasons: first because he came during school hours; second, because his skin had a peculiar array of blotches which the councilor did not like. Questioned, he said he had been sent home from school because he was sick, but that his mother thought it all right for him to come to the theatre. Further cross examination brought out the fact that the school doctor had told him he had chicken pox. It took much argument to persuade him to go home and his parting shot was, "I hope you catch, too." But it is not often that the councilors and their juvenile patrons do not part friends. In fact the small boy who spent the quarter which had been given him for a hair cut in surreptitious enjoyment of a motion picture show, was caught by the councilor snipping his own hair with snub nosed sissors while the picture was on and the auditorium dark, and was rescued from premature baldness, still considers the councilor one of his best friends. Adverse Guide Brings Flood Of Inquiries WHEN the East Coast Preview Committee issued the first adult discussion guide on a motion picture, Peter Ibbetson, in the summer of 1935, it was an experiment to determine whether such guides met a real need among women's clubs studying the art and technique of the motion picture. The flood of requests for the guide brought an immediate end to any doubts. Similar appreciation of the guide prepared by Mrs. Clara Keck Heflebower of the League of American Pen Women for Anthony Adverse will obviously mean that adult discussion guides on an occasional picture which is of paramount interest to adult audiences have come to stay. Hundreds of Copies Ordered One thousand, seven hundred and eighty-five requests for the Anthony Adverse guide in the first few weeks after its publication was announced, sent the booklet into an equal number of women's clubs from coast to coast. Requests ranged from one to one hundred copies each but because of the limited number of guides available shipments were confined to a maximum of five guides. Reports on the use of these guides show that they not only made the basis for interesting discussion programs but were responsible for greatly increased patronage when the picture played locally. The most remote request for a copy of the discussion guide came from the club in Juneau, Alaska, which is connected with the General Federation of Women's Clubs. Films Reviewed in This Issue Breezing Home, p. 8; Camille. Mighty Treve, p. 8; Off to the p. 7; Dodge City Trail, p. 8; Green Light, pp. 4 and 6; Holy Terror, p. 8; Maid of Salem, pp. 4 and 5; Man of Affairs, pp. 6 and 8; Man of the People, p. 7; Races, p. 8; One in a Million, pp. 5 and 7; Park Avenue Logger, p. 8; Penrod and Sam, p. 8; Red Lights Ahead, p. 6; They Wanted to Marry, p. 8. Exhibit Penetrates To Heart Of Orient (Continued from Page 1) of those men and women who worked so long patiently to authenticate Romeo and Juliet must have been child's play. And so the exhibit on The Good Earth, the first panel of which is pictured on page 1, promises to be one of the most thrillingly interesting which has yet come to the attention of film enthusiasts. It will transport most of us to territories about which we know nothing. It will show us some of those thousands of properties which were brought back from the interior of China to grace the film; it will introduce us to the habits and the philosophies of the oldest civilization in the world. Like previous exhibits, that on The Good Earth is designed primarily for the classroom and the library, but like its predecessors it promises to be as fascinating to adults as to students and the demand for it will without question be equally divided among the two groups.