Motion Picture Herald (Jul-Aug 1943)

August 2 1, 1943 MOTION PICTURE HERALD 35 Two Rejections In Nine Months By N. Y. Censors The Motion Picture Division of the State Education Department reviewed 1,152 motion pictures from July 1, 1942, through March 31, 1943, and rejected but two, an all-time low. The figures, made public Wednesday in Albany, are for the state's fiscal period. In other years this ran from July 1st to June 30th, but the state legislature, at its 1943 session, passed Governor Thomas E. Dewey's financial reform program, including the change in fiscal year and hence the nine months period. The division totaled $226,995.50 for the nine months, against $331,486.50 for the preceding fiscal year. Its expenses were $51,582.46, against $68,193.15, with net revenue to the State of $175,413.04 compared to $263,293.35. In reviewing the 1,152 motion pictures, of which 429 were classified as feature pictures, having five or more reels, there were eliminations ordered in 41 films on statutory grounds. In all, 348 eliminations were made in films which were licensed, 229 for indecency, one for inhumanity, one for tending to incite to crime, 102 for immorality or tending to corrupt morals and 15 on the grounds that they were sacrilegious. There was an increase in eliminations this year, since there were but 316 made in the previous year ; 144 for indecency, 24 for inhumanity, 44 for tending to incite to crime, 93 for immorality or tending to corrupt morals and 11 for sacrilegious reasons. Nine dramas were affected, as were two comedies, three scenic pictures, 26 novelty and musicals and one miscellaneous picture among those from which eliminations were made. H. M. Brooks, Projectionist Union Officer, Dead Harry M. Brooks, prominent in state and national Motion Picture Operators Union circles and in politics, died at his Troy, N. Y., home August 16th. At the time of his death, Mr. Brooks was in his 26th consecutive term as president of the Troy local of the Motion Picture Operators Union. A former president of the Troy Central Federation of Labor, Mr. Brooks was also a national officer and state treasurer of the Motion Picture Machine Operators Union. Active in politics, he was one of the founders of the American Labor Party in New York State and ran for Congress unsuccessfully in 1938 in the 29th New York Congressional District. Previously, in 1925, he was elected to the state legislature as the only Republican before or since to be elected from the First Assembly District of Rensselaer County. He was a member of the Rensselaer County Rationing Board, of the County USO executive committee. Surviving are his wife, the former Iva T. Shaver Yenne ; a daughter, Mrs. John B. Weinhauer of Tampa, Fla., and a sister, Mrs. Cora M. Smyth, Troy. Albert Rule Col. Albert L. Rule, 56, former Hollywood independent producer, was found dead in his room at the Crillon Hotel, Chicago, on August 10th. His death is believed to have been caused by heart trouble. He recently had been doing special publicity work for United Artists and had come to Chicago to visit friends. Sunday Pictures Rejected In spite of strong pressure and many petitions, including one presented by the USO, the legislature of Springfield, Tenn., refused to act on a bill to allow Sunday performances in picture houses, voting to table the measure for an indefinite period. WHERE SLEEP THE BRAVE OVERNIGHT HOUSING for service men in California was discussed at the luncheon, above, in Los Angeles last week, at which the Servicemen's Overnight Housing Fund was launched. A minimum of $350,000 will be raised, mainly by theatre collections; and the state is expected to contribute more. At the luncheon were representatives of the Army and the Navy, and of producers and exhibitors, the latter pledging California theatres en masse. Above, left to right, are Major General Cortlandt Parker, Southern California commander, Western Defense Command; Willard Keith, state civilian defense director; Y. Frank Freeman, president of the Motion Picture Producers Association; Fred Stein, representing Charles Skouras, fund chairman and president of Fox West Coast Theatres circuit; Rear Admiral Ralston Holmes; and Dr. Charles Strub, who is surveying servicemen's housing conditions at the direction of Governor Earl Warren. At right is a scene from a Riverside, California, theatre. The men sleeping in a theatre voluntarily opened to them were on leave, and unable to obtain a night's lodging elsewhere. The Servicemen's Overnight Housing Fund is being supported in Northern California by a committee under the chairmanship of George Mann, of San Francisco.