Motion Picture News (Sept-Oct 1921)

September s , 1921 1195 Censors Approve of ''Foolish Wives'' and Enjoy Studioland Guests of Universal Discuss Various Plans for Co-operation THE party of official censors from various sections of tlie I'nited States and Canada which made the trip to l.os Angeles, as the guests of Carl Laemmle, president of Universal Film Manufacturing Co., came to an end on Sunday, August 2()th, when the censors departed after giving their official approval of " Foolish Wives," the big Universal special, which was hurriedly cut and titled and shown to them in twentyfour reels. The censors were sincere in their praise and but a few minor changes were suggested. This final showing was under the personal direction of Eric von Stroheim, and specially composed music had been adapted by the leader of the orchestra which provides emotional atmosphere for Universal dramas, under Mr. von Stroheim's supervision. No one but the censors, their immediate party, those w^ho worked on the picture, and District Manager Irving Thalberg were admitted to the showing. " The consensus of our opinion," said Harry Knapp, who acted as chairman of the censors in their convention, and who is also chairman of the Pennsylvania State Board of Censors, " is that the picture will prove a highly interesting entertainment when it is finally whipped into the more contracted shape required for public exhibition." While various projects were discussed for co-operation between producer and censor, nothing definite can be said to have been accomplished. A meeting held at the invitation of the Brotherhood of Emanuel Presbyterian Church on Monday evening elicited some interesting remarks from the censors, laymen, clergy and the professionals of the screen. Bert Lytell maintained that but three per cent of the pictures today were objectionable and as a result the honest producer with good intentions was therefore under a great handicap. Benjamin B. Hampton gave a very thorough analysis of the motion picture field as respecting censorship and brought emphatically to the attention of the gathering that the cry for censorship of films did not come from the theatregoer but from people who really knew nothing definite about what was being shown on the screen. He gave the keynote of the meeting when he said " Here tonight in this church we are trying to find a method, system or plan by which the church, the oldest and most useful instrument of civilization can work effectively with motion pictures, the newest and most penetrating instrument of civilization. I believe we are privileged to at I New Theatres Raise Ad j I mission Tax Figures? | liiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiim iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii niiiiii'^ Myrtle Theatre, Detroit, Mich., August 20, 1921. Mr. William A. Johnston, Motion Picture News, New York City. Dear Sir: Replying to your editorial in the issue of August 13th on " Where's the Slump? " Acording to your figures (and those figures are undoubtedly correct) this hullabaloo about a slump is all nonsense. But if you will take into consideration some of the things behind these figures, the slump assumes a more definite form. During the last twelve months many new theatres of large seating capacity have been completed. For instance, the Capitol in New York. If the receipts of the Capitol are $20,000 a week, the admission tax from this one theatre alone would be over $100,000 a year. If you will consider the tremendous amount in admission taxes being paid by the new palatial theatres which have been opened during the past year, the slump becomes readily apparent, for the admission tax was paid by a vastly greater number of theatres, which have a large seating capacity, charging high admission prices. The cost of operating these new theatres requires vast sums of money, so it may be true that the sum total of admissions were greater up to May, 1921, than ever before, and at the same time most of these theatres may have operated at a loss. Some producers and distributors after reading your editorial may come to the conclusion that there is no need of adjusting film rentals — that exhibitors can pay what they paid during the peak of 1920 for film rentals. Please give my conclusions on this matter the publicity they deserve. Sincerely yours, (Signed) J. E. Stocker. tend a meeting that will set in motion a movement that will promptly spread from one end of America to the other. William D. Taylor, Will Rogers and George Beban were other speakers. The second meeting of the cen.sors with the film people was at a luncheon given Tuesday by the members of the Producers' Association at which there was an informal discussion of what should not go into films. General Manager Irving Thalberg, of Universal City, acted as chairman of the meeting and the censors and producers asked and answered pertinent questions. On Wednesday afternoon another informal meeting was held at which Harry L. Knapp acted as chairman and the producers and other representatives present asked the censors to make statements of what was not wanted in films. The remarks of the various censors brought out that scenes showing exaggerated sex appeal, those based on commercial vice, illicit love affairs, which show vice attractive and virtue odious, bedroom and bath scenes, unnecessary prolongation of passionate love and others which teach methods of crime are not desired and are to be tabooed by censors. The censors also pointed out that stories which ridicule public officers, army, navy or governmental authority are not wanted. J. Parker Reid offered a suggestion that an advisory committee be formed to clarify the situation by passing on continuity before the pictures are produced. Such a board he pointed out would make it possible to get the approval of scenes and plot before production, thus proving a method of saving for the conscientious producer. The entertainment features of the trip included a barbecue at the famous Malibu Ranch at Santa Monica Beach, where a real old-fashioned California feast was provided by the manager of the Beverly Hills Hotel, Stanly .\nderson ; a trip to Harry Carey's ranch in the San Francisquito Canyon, where elaborate moving pictures of the entire pa'-ty were made; a dance at the famous Sunset Inn where Priscilla Dean was the hostess, and Eddie Polo, the famous strong man of the films, won the dancing cup awarded by the censors ; and a trip to Catalina Islands, where thev were the gue.sts of William Wrigley, The list of delegates of censors is as follows: Harry L. Knapp, J. A. Barrier, Penn. ; Dr. George Heller, Md. ; Mrs. J. M. Miller, Mrs. K. L. Short, Kans. ; A. S. Hamilton, Miss Velma Hamill, Ontario ; Walter Hepburn, James A. Smith, B. C. ; Mrs. I. G. Burbeck, Alberta; Mrs. P. H. Eggert, Texas. Following local boards: Henry Goldman, Kansas City; John M. Casey, Boston; W. T. Willis, Chicago. National Board of Review; W. D. McGuire. The following were also in the party, but not censors: Mrs. Harry L. Knapp, Mrs. George Heller, Miss Miller, daughter of Kansas delegate; V. R. Gardick, Philadelphia mgr.; Mrs. Henry Goldman, Mr. and Mrs. H. M. Berman and son. Georgia Escapes Added fax as Proposed Bill Fails In a most dramatic rally, and by an extremely narrow margin, the five per cent amusement tax passed by the Georgia State Senate by a vote of 30 to 13, on August 8th, failed to pass in the general session August XI th, the house and Senate adopting the report of the conference committee, striking out the five per cent amusement tax, and passing the tax of $2,500 on Atlanta's annual week of Grand Opera. A somewhat similar bill introduced in the Texas Legislature last week by Representative Melson calls for an additional tax on the box-office of amusements. A quarterly occupation tax of one per cent would be levied on each admission ticket to motion picture theatres, opera, concerts, circuses, ball games and practically all other forms of amusement.