Moving Picture Age (Jan-Dec 1922)

Here is a story of constructive community work now being conducted in the South CONTROLLING the FILM in GEORGIA Mrs. Thomas G. Brittingham Chairman, Civic Department, Augusta Woman's Club, Augusta, Georgia REALIZING the necessity for some concerted action of the mothers of the country in improving picture plays, a hand/ ful of our women met, about one year ago, in response to the call of the Augusta Woman's Club, and formed a Better Film Committee. On this committee were representatives from each of the various women's organizations, who had awakened to the consciousness that something must be done and done quickly to encourage good and discourage evil pictures. Georgia has no censorship law. Our state administration was not in favor of making any laws that would protect our children from the demoralizing influence of evil motion pictures. Mrs. Woodallen Chapman has correctly named the moving picture an agent of visual education, and all education is not conducive to uplift; some of the pictures were educating our people towards the wrong goal. We knew it, but we were helpless. Selection, Not Censorship Since we could not censor, we decided to select. Miss Louise Connolly, an able representative of the National Board of Review, visited Augusta and gave us valuable instruction on the proper method of selection. We arranged to have monthly lists of those pictures, endorsed by the National Board, sent to our secretary, who arranged with the managers of the theatres, to have the titles of his bookings sent to her two weeks in advance. From these lists the secretary checked off pictures endorsed by the Board of Review, and a paragraph was then inserted in the society column of one of our daily newspapers, the Herald, telling the public what pictures had been selected by the Better Film Committee of Augusta. The secretary then sent in stories to local newspapers, calling attention to the work of Miss Julia Moore, society editor of the Herald, a woman who is working enthusiastically for community betterment, and was giving valued space gratis in order to co-operate with the Better Film Movement. Our people soon became interested, and the lovers of good films would patronize the selected pictures and remain away from those not mentioned on the newspaper's society page. This was truly constructive service. Of course it took time to prove the good of this movement, but the people gradually learned that we were protecting them financially as well as morally. Nearly every devotee of motion pictures can recall the time when he realized that he had paid for the sight of an old picture that he had seen the year previous for one half of today's admission charge, but which had been shown with a different title. The National Board lists protected us from these swindles, and the Better Film Committee, by not endorsing them, protected our people. Our people began to look through the daily newspapers, not for the programs announced by glaring, expensive advertisements, but for the neat little paragraphs on the society page that told them the titles of worthwhile pictures. The secretary of the Better Film Committee induced the managers to send an additional pass to the newspaper that so liberally co-operated in this good work, this pass to be for the exclusive use of the society editor. With out the aid of this progressive newspaper woman the public could not, nor would not, have known which pictures were recommended by the National Board of Review. I note Moving Picture Age is doing this same work, by publishing lists of endorsed pictures, and I hope every clubwoman will see that the people of her city get this list, for if we know what we should see, we will not need to worry concerning what we should not see. Passing the Good Word Along As pictures seldom run longer than one day in this city, our censorship would be always useless in protecting Augustans, for by the time we see the objectionable picture it is ready to leave for another city, and censorship could only protect the people of other places from those pictures. So occasionally the secretary would drop a word of warning to the president of the club in a neighboring city toward which some unworthy picture was headed, and this executive, being forewarned, was forearmed. We seldom resort to actual censorship, as selection is our preferred program. Sometimes we drop a line of praise to a neighboring president when we have a specially good picture, such as "The Barricade," "The Three Musketeers," "Way Down East," "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse," "Little Lord Fauntleroy," and others that we wanted neighboring communities to enjoy. The Atlanta Woman's Club extends to us the same courtesy. The women's clubs cannot improve moving pictures merely by holding meetings, and making speeches, and endorsing this and that. They must show some real practical work before they can achieve results. Men, and women too, have invested their money in motion-picture theatres for the purpose of earning dividends on their investments, and not for the sake of catering to sentiment and moral uplift. They will continue, except in rare instances, to show the picture that draws the heaviest cash receipts, despite the protests of clubs, lodges, churches, or any other organization— yes, despite the protests of the police department, so long as they earn enough to employ expert lawyers to protect them. They will give to the audience what the audience wants to pay for, and who can blame them? Can we blame the railroads for giving to the public expensive chair cars when the public demands them? No other business but the theatrical and photoplay business is expected to sacrifice dividends for uplift and moral reform. The best way to bring about reform and improvement in visual education is to accomplish reform and improvement in the tastes and desires of the ticket buyers. Tell them, as we Augusta women did, what is worth their money before it comes into their city, and they will not be so anxious to waste their dollars on that which leaves both a bad taste in the mouth and an empty space in the purse! Some clubs in other cities are encouraging special matinees for children, and the representatives of the theatrical syndicates are giving them much encouragement. Matinees for children are a great institution, for the children see only what is fit for their young eyes and minds. But what are we women doing (Continued on page 26) 12