The New Movie Magazine (Jul-Dec 1932)

The Seven Smiling Smiths: Former Governor Alfred // America Needs to THE HAPPY WARRIORS OWN MESSAGE TO THE MOVIES As told to ELAINE STERNE CARRINGTON A SPINDLY boy of ten, with bright eyes that took in everything and ears that heard everything, wound his legs around a table leg and dove into a plate of chocolate ice cream heaped up before him. On a platform not far away, a band of lady musicians, dressed in youthful white, but far from youthful, struggled with the heat, the music and the smoke. On the stage, a team of clog dancers jigged through their routine, woodenly. They created a mild stir among the elders grouped around the tables, placidly engaged in drinking their lager beer, talking together, for the most part in German, and half listening to the entertainment. But the boy listened, laughed, and returned with gusto to his feast. For this was the Atlantic Gardens in New York City and the year was 1884, and the boy of ten, so partial to ice cream, so happy among his friends and neighbors -of Christie, Broome, Delancey and Rivington Street, was to be four times governor of the Empire State. Just then he was little Al Smith. He has remained Al Smith down through the years. He still is. I was a little afraid to meet him. I had loved and honored Al Smith longer than I could remember. He had been a sort of idol to me. In some ways the greatest of our time. And now to meet him! I waited in the outer office of his suite on the thirty-second floor of the Empire State Building, and finally I was summoned. A wicket gate opened, a door, another door, Pr let Bt»iin . "\1/E need something to lift W as oat of ourselves. And only the theater and the movies can do it. 1*11 tell you who is doing more good for the country right now than most politicians pat together, and that's Charlie Chaplin. He makes people forget their troubles, forget their empty stomachs, and their emptier pocketbooks. He makes 'em laugh. "The movys are the one bright spot in a long day for lots of folks. It's what keeps them going, the thought that after sapper they can close the door and forget the grind for a few hours. And what do they want when they get there? Murder and bloodshed? Not much. They want to forget. They want to laugh. ''The people of this country are fundamentally clean minded. They don't need a political censor." and there, across the room at his desk, he stood. He was talking to someone when I entered, his back towards me, then he turned. He was shorter than I had expected, and sunburned. There was in his face strength and kindness but there was also a shrewd, steady gaze from the eyes that took in everything, that penetrated sham, that shook off flattery. "CIT down, won't you?" he asked. ^ I sat down, beside his desk. He had graciously made the appointment with me for The New Movie Magazine in spite of this desperately busy time for him, two days before the Democratic Convention. Every minute was precious. Hundreds were clamoring for him. "I'm not going to talk about politics," I began. "I'm going to talk about pleasanter things. I want to know what you think the mission of the movies is today." He smiled. He looks younger when he smiles, and kinder. "What the mission of the movies is today," he repeated. He mused a minute, taking his cigar from between his lips, then he turned, and brought down his fist sharply on the desk. "I think the mission of the movies today is to make America laugh. We need something to lift us out of ourselves. And only the theater and the movies can do it. I'll tell you who is doing . more good for the country right now than most of the politicians put together, and that's Charlie Chaplin. He makes people forget their troubles, forget their empty stomachs, and their emptier pocketbooks. He makes 'em laugh." His face became serious. Perhaps, in that split second, he was seeing again from across the years a shabby, little flat, dark, cheerless, 20 The Neiv Movie Magazine, October-, 1932