Moving Picture Age (Nov-Dec 1919)

w=^ EDITORIALS ar-Tp 3 Church, Theater and Screen THE moving picture has so established itself in this and almost every other land that there is no more a question of its use by every agency of instruction and amusement. There does seem, however, plenty of room left for argument between well meaning people as to when and how it shall be used. For instance, the mayor of a southern city and one of the ministers of its churches recently engaged in a public controversy over the use of the screen in community welfare work on Sundays. And at present a movement is on foot in the state of New Jersey to so modify the ancient "blue laws" still in force there as to permit the moving picture theaters to remain open every day in the week. At a meeting in Newark of a committee of Jerseymen organized to discuss and draft a bill for this purpose a warm discussion of the question led Dr. M. Wayne Womer to declare that should such a law be passed by the legislature many of the churches in the state will oppose the theaters with educational screen showings, not only on Sundays but every day in the week, with free admission. Dr. H. Charles Hespe, a dentist of Jersey City, accepted the challenge on behalf of the moving picture industry, saying that the issue regarding it will not down. "The moving picture interests need no help because all over the country there is a clamor for the moving picture," he declared. "Our good friends here oppose it because they say it will commercialize the Sabbath. The laboring man doesn't care whether or not we commercialize the Sabbath. The railroads and the trolley companies commercialize Sunday. The people want the Sunday moving picture, and they will get it. I am sorry the church is on the other side. What the church needs is to be built up. The moving pictures can and will build up the church. The issue will be passed because it is the people's issue. I have the promises of the leading advisers of both the Republican and Democratic parties that revision of the laws is needed and will be made. It may not be done this year, but it will be done." Rev. William P. Cantwell, editor of the Monitor and representing Bishop Walsh of the Trenton Roman Catholic diocese, believes that the radicals on both sides will have the most to say on the subject and that reason will find a way in the end. When all is sifted, he said, the Christian Sabbath will come from the Christian people. The trouble, he added, is that the people are getting away from the churches. The discussion was long and spirited, but developed no other salient points than those noted, which are given because they include almost every one really at issue in the minds of those who still oppose the use of moving pictures in the church. Time was when many in the church looked upon the screen as an instrument of evil and objected to its use. But times have changed and the church itself has demonstrated the screen an instrument for good. It has so far removed the producers of the film from pure commercialism that the best and biggest among them are submitting to a National Board of Review all their productions for criticism as to ethical and moral qualities. The publisher of the Christian Herald not long ago visited several hundred strict churchgoers throughout the country and found them all in favor of good moving pictures. What then? The church has sanctioned the use of the screen, not only on week days, but. on Sundays also, in the most effective way to the best possible end. Producers and distributors are making every effort to give them just what they express desire for in films. The vast majority of people in the country have expressed in action, if not in words, their determination to regard the Sabbath as a day of real relaxation and rest, and wherever the theaters are open on that day the crowded houses show their approval of the moving picture as a means to those ends. If the people are determined to have moving pictures on Sunday, it seems to the unprejudiced observer that friendly competition rather than denunciation and declared war should be the part of theater and church. If there is to be any real quarrel about the matter it will go on entirely over the heads of the people. In the long run they will find and cling to the best that is offered to them in instruction and entertainment, whether it be paid or free, on Sundays or on week days. * * * Foreign Screen Advertising THE latest field for the cinema is its employment as a "trade coaxer" in remote countries. The Department of Commerce experts on foreign trade report exceedingly gratifying results from this departure. The cinema has been at work in China for some time and, when introduced, the Chinese enthusiastically welcomed this kind of advertising. Language difficulties were materially decreased and the entertainment and information features were astonishingly well received. The department now emphasizes the value of the motion picture in arousing interest in American goods among the South American peoples. At this time that is particularly true of the west coast. One expert agent reports that, while the pictures are perhaps not so well attended in Lima, the capital of Peru, as they are in thousands of small towns in the United States, none the less they open an inviting field for future advertising there. "They probably offer the best prospect to manufacturers as a medium for reaching many classes of people," he reports. The Peruvian audiences, for the most part, like the same things that Americans like, but they show a strong preference for films of romance. A practical. illustration of what may be done was recently demonstrated by a certain New York hotel, which had a film depicting a sightseeing trip about New York City. Cleverly woven into the fabric of the story was a trip through this particular hotel, so introduced as to make it a part of the picture narrative. The cinema theaters in Chili, according to late information at the Department of Commerce, likewise offer a most attractive opportunity for American advertisers who would enlarge their trade. These theaters in Chili are well attended in the larger cities, with two performances daily — one in the afternoon at 6:15, which is a matinee, and one at 9:30 in the evening. The admission prices are high for even ordinary films, being