Moving Picture World (Sep - Oct 1918)

i390 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD Sevtember 7, 1918 Barry Dismisses Censorship Appeal, Saying Board Is Qualified to Judge THE appeal made by G. A. Margetts of the Canadian Universal Film Company, of St. John, against the decision of the Board of Censors, who condemned the picture, "Sirens of the Sea," has been dismissed by Justice Barry. Such in brief is the story of the appeal, which story told in detail makes rather interesting reading. To begin with there is in the Theatres and Cinematograph act of the province a provision that "there shall be an appeal from the Board of Censors to the person, body, or court designated, and subject to the conditions prescribed by regulation of the lieutenant-governor-incouncil." (Sec. 4, Sub-Sec. 2.) The picture was condemned by the censor then on duty at the Canadian Universal exchange, and on being viewed by the whole board again was condemned and its exhibition in the province prohibited. The grounds upon which the picture was banned as appears in the official notification of the chairman of the Board of Censors sent to Mr. Margetts, the agent of the company, are that "the board felt it was generally immoral in tone and characterized in many of its parts by situations of great indelicacy, and that there are so many of these indelicate situations in the picture that the board cannot allow it to be exhibited in this province." In his judgment. Judge Barry says: "I had the advantage of seeing the picture in question shown upon a screen in the rooms of the proprietors in St. John. Because I know little of moving pictures and visit the show houses but seldom.it was not without many misgivings that I assumed the duty of hearing and determining this appeal. "The picture certainly seems to me to have much to recommend it to lovers of the beautiful in nature and in art, and to possess many t:aptivating scenes. Some of the scenes are mystical and allegorical in their character, others are intended to portray the human passions ■ — love, sex-attraction, hate, revenge, remorse. Many of the young girls who as nymphs and sirens participate in the sea scenes are, on account of the nature of the part they play, but scantily clad, and the same is true of some of the male actors. The fact that the pictureplay is staged in a beautiful setting is, of course, no license for its exhibition if the tendency of the whole production is pernicious. To do an ill thing well but doubles the fault. If a painter suffers his pencil to grow licentious, if he gives us immodesties, the merits of a Raphael will excuse not him. Judges Not Specially Trained. "To the lawyer the principal difficulty of the appeal is found in its novelty. The question to be determined is not a question of law, neither is it one of fact, for there are no facts in dispute. It is simply for the appeal tribunal to determine^ whether in prohibiting the exhibition of the picture the Board of Censors has exercised a proper discretion. There are seven Supreme Court and five County Court judges in the province. The appellants are given their choice of any one of twelve tribunals — tribunals which, I may say, can, in the nature of things, have no uniform standard or guide bj^ which the merits or demerits of any particular picture or photoplay are to be judged or measured. The judges of the courts are not specially trained for the consideration of questions of this kind, and I am speaking for myself alone, for, in the performance of a duty such as this, I possess no peculiar qualifications over and above those possessed by the ordinary citizen." After speaking at some length in regard to appeals the judgment goes on: "It is the duty of the censors to prohibit the exhibition of pictures indecent in their tendency and inimical to the moral health of the community, and to prevent, if possible, everything that is immodest, unseemly, indelicate, or obscene. The legislature has given to the lieutenant-governor-in-council authority to name a board by whose discretion and judgment all these matters are to be regulated. With respect to the 'Sirens of the Sea,' I have no doubt the censors performed their duty honestly and fairly and according to their own conception of right and wrong. I can see no reason why a judge whose judgment in regard to such matters may not be superior — whose judgment may indeed be far inferior — to that of the members who compose the Board of Censors should interfere with their discretion or reverse their decision upon a question in regard to which they are supposed to possess special qualification. "So long as the legislature clothes the board with a discretion in regard to the decision of such matters and in the performance of their duties the censors act fairly and honestly and not from any improper or ulterior motive, I think it would be contrary to principle for an appeal judge to interfere with their discretion. While seemingly, by the order in council, all the judges of the courts named are severally given the authority to vary this particular decision of the board, for the reasons given, I, for one, do not feel disposed to exercise that authority, and therefore shall not interfere with the decision of the Board of Censors. The appeal is dismissed." FAIRWEATHER. and then took special courses in English literature at Columbia University. Deciding that writing was to be her life work she first tried her hand at short stories, and published in St. Nicholas, Everybody's and Collier's. Motion picture scenarios next interested her, and of the first three written and sent out in one "batch" two remained and were accepted. Miss Sterne is the author of the "Sonny Jim" children's features in which Bobby Connelly starred. These were later issued in book form. For Mary Pickford she wrote "The Pride of the Clan"; for Mabel Normand, "The Floor Below"; for Bessie Barriscale, "The Sorrows of Love," and numerous photoplays for Edith Storey. She won the Evening Sun-Vitagraph contest, in one year winning three prize contests. Goldberg Got Glad Hand; Crowd Thought Him Gerard JOE GOLDBERG, sales representative of the Big Feature Rights Corporation of Louisville, which is handling "My Four Years in Germany" in Kentucky and Tennessee, had an amusing experience while promoting the Gerard picture in one of the small mountain towns of the former state. It seems that one of Goldberg's duties in putting over the production consists in delivering a brief lecture regarding the striking features of the film and how it came into being. On a certain stage that is smaller than some others he walked out to do his evening chores and was greeted with tremendous and vociferous applause. "Why the large glad hand?" pondered Joe, scratching his head. He didn't find out until his talk had ended. Somebody in the audience whispered that the speaker was Ambassador Gerard himself. The rumor fled like lightning and electrified the crowd into a noisy burst of enthusiasm. Elaine Sterne Is Author of Many Scripts and Books ELAINE STERNE, the author of "Little Miss Moneybags," Metro's next co-starring vehicle for Francis X. Bushman and Beverly Bayne, is a captain in the Girls' National Honor Guard. Her special assignment is the providing of entertainment for sick and wounded sailors at the Naval Hospital, Brooklyn. Miss Sterne has co-operated with Metro in furnishing entertainment both for the "Jackies" at the hospital and for the soldiers at Fort Hancock. Miss Sterne has just written a book of navy tales called "Over the Seas for Uncle Sam," which the Britton Publishing Company has issued. Already it has enjoyed a large sale. The Britton firm also published Miss Sterne's novel, "The Road to Ambition," which was reckoned third in the list of "six best sellers" last year. Her new book has the official indorsement of Secretary of the Navy Daniels. Miss Sterne is a New York girl. She attended St. Agatha's Episcopal School, RED CROSS FILM STARTS. Beginning with August 19, the highly inspiring American Red Cross war film "The Historic Fourth of July in Paris" began its period of wide distribution with runs in the largest vaudeville theatres of the country under United Booking Offices co-operating with General Film Company. The Keith houses, the Proctor houses and all of the other circuits and the independent houses that are served with attractions bj' the U. B. O. now have their dates settled. In some houses the week of August 19 was fixed for showing the picture; in others the week of August 26 was alloted. Jos. J. Johnson, of the Pictures Bureau of the American Red Cross, has made it known that the Bureau is acting under the advice of the National Association of the Moving Picture Industry as to distributing its material, and that its film operations are not designed for revenue in any sense of the word, any money that is received being intended to cover back expense of the taking and production of its picture. ROSENBAUM WRITES A MARCH. j Ed Rosenbaum, Jr., who is doing the publicity work for the William Fox pro ; duction of "Salome," has just written a | march, entitled "The Police Reserves | March." The piece is dedicated to the • theatrical unit of the New York Police Reserves, of which Mr. Rosenbaum is a member.