Motion Picture News (Sept-Oct 1921)

Motion KctEf e News t „,„.„. I earnest appeal has been made for some unity of organization whereby this industry may mainain its dignity, meet its duties as an American institu:ion, and fight the forces bent upon its destruction. The need is supreme and immediate: no one will irgue that. The solution is simple: it means only the juncture hrough a joint committee of representatives, of our .\isting national organization. ( UhjusI taxes cannot be removed, adverse legislation cannot be killed, the itigma mid cost of censorship cannot be wiped away except through the inited strength of the industry'-its financial strength, its numerical ilrenglh. its unequalled power of publicity. Vo one exhibitor, no one producer, no one distributor — and no one irganization of either of these three trade branches can, unaided, begin •o meet the big issues facing the whole industry. Does anyone deny this fact? On the other hand the public has no confidence in and the lawmaker no respect for an industry divided •against itself as to its common interests. Consider some of the pressing issues that face us. Censorship will never be removed from the statute books — on the contrary it will continue to grow — until the public is enlightened as to just what censorship is. Does any one organization believe it is fitted to wage this great educational campaign? Who is doing it? When is it to be done? Censorship bills w^ill be brought again, this year, and with a renewed impetus, in Congress and in every single State legislature save only those which already [have passed censorship bills. Will any organization of anv one group in the trade take upon itself full responsibility for defeating each jof these bills? Does anyone believe we can continue to go on yanking the horse out of the stable when the barn is in flames? ^fassachusetts tvill soon have a referendum upon its censorship laiv. If ihdt referendum is lost we can hope for very little in other pro-censorship Stales or indeed from any phase of the censorship problem from noiv on. j New York State, and JSew York City elections will revolve around the I question of motion picture censorship. Are we to take a united or just a I diijointed, haphazard, perhaps an ill-advised part in the struggle? Have we any one organization that feels fully competent to handle successfully these very vital situations? And what part, we are compelled to ask in passing, will those companies who have resigned from the Face the Facts National Association, take in this matter, which goes to the very roots of their businesses? The industry bears today the pyramided tax burden of over eighty million dollars a year, a financial problem that goes home to every exhibitor, and it seems to us, with more force than the much discussed questions of rentals, advance deposits and the like. Can anyone expect that Washington will listen with respect to, or be sufficiently impressed by the claims of an industry that can't even claim a united voice in its own behalf? Hotv long, gentlemen, can so childish a situation continue? How long can we continue to bark at each other's heels, to engage in petty dissensions, to play politics, to be blind to not only the common but also the great good of the industry that fathers us all? How long can we continue to fiddle while the big city burns. A S we write this editorial Mr. William A. Brady telephones us the cheering news that the Senate Committee by a vote of five to four (Senator La Follette switching in our favor) has voted to do away with the five per cent film rental tax. Also we are told that the tax bill as it now stands will have a solid Republican backing and become a law within one month's time. The elimination of this tax will save the industry some six million dollars a year. A large sum and one vastly needed; but even more, its good effect will be seen in a restoration of confidence all along the line. Mr. Brady also tells us that this victory was won through the united efforts of the National Association and the Motion Picture Theatre Owners; that througliout the effort made for the repeal of this tax a united front ivas held and tliat there was not, save in one instance, a single crossed wire. This is, to US, as cheering as the repeal of the tax itself. There are other victories greater, far greater than this, to be won. And, as in this instance, they can only be won by the very same concerted action, the same marshalling of forces to a common end. With this splendid start can we not begin to tackle the big jobs ahead of us, and which deeply concern the bread and butter destinies of every single individual in the business? And can we not begin — nowF \ Vol XXIV 1==-— OCTOBER 22, 1921 No. XVIII