The Nickelodeon (Feb-Sep 1909)

July, 1909. THE NICKELODEON. 21 Some Facts About Sunday Observance By K, S. Hover THAT Justice Blackmar of the Supreme Court in Brooklyn, New York, should have differed with Mayor McClellan on the subject of moving picture shows on Sunday is not surprising, for there is no question upon which a greater diversity of opinion prevails than the matter of the observance of the Sabbath. It has been so for hundreds of years. Law, church and popular sentiment are alike in favor of the idea that one day in the week should be set aside for cessation from toil and labor. But there is no unity of opinion as to just how this day of relaxation should be spent. Changing custom, equally ephemeral prejudice, contradictory legislation and a disposition on the part of those in authority to insist upon their own particular interpretation of the laws all contribute to confusion. The Archbishop of Canterbury, England, who made many friends in this country during his memorable visit to the United States some three years ago, on being questioned about golf playing on Sunday and on the observance of the Sabbath generally, expressed himself as follows : "Detailed rules to be adopted by Christian men with regard to the observance of Sunday are a matter for their own consciences. Each one is responsible to God for so using the Lord's Day as to fit him best for the working days that follow." It is a peculiar coincidence that at the time when the chief magistrate of the city of New York was endeavoring to suppress the exhibition of moving picture shows on Sunday King Edward was, inaugurating a similar measure in Great Britain. In New York the mayor endeavored to deal with the problem by means of the law, which only permits public entertainments that have obtained from him a "common show license." This power of license has been placed in the hands of the head of the municipal government with the object of securing the observance of a number of precautions indispensable to the safety and to the morality of the audience. Justice Blackmar of the Supreme Court of Brooklyn held that once these licenses have been obtained the mayor has no power to revoke them, except as a penalty in a specific case of violation of the law. While admitting the absolute right of the mayor to grant or withhold licenses, he denies his power to cancel a license after it has been issued and paid for, except where the management has rendered itself guilty of a statutory infraction. He refuses to recognize the authority of the mayor to put all the Sunday picture shows out of business, the good with the bad, by a sweeping withdrawal of licenses, and declares that the power of the chief magistrate in the matter cannot be exercised arbitrarily. King Edward has greater jurisdiction in this respect. The measure which he inaugurated is even of a still more sweeping character than that which Mayor McClellan endeavored to carry into effect, and there is no doubt about its arbitrariness. But this arbitrary power is vested in the crown by statute, and the sovereign is free to enforce it, either personally or through the officers of his own household. The English law is so framed as to vest the entire censorship of the stage in the sovereign, and this censorship extends not merely to the plays themselves, but likewise to the costumes of the actors and actresses, as Miss Fay Templeton found when she appeared at the Gaiety Theatre in London some twenty years ago and was prohibited by the lord chamberlain's department from taking any further part in the performance until she had satisfied the notions of propriety of his representative by adding a scarf to her costume. While theoretically the authority of the crown in Great Britain is restricted to the plays, or rather to their performance, and that of the mayor of New York is restricted to licensing the buildings in which the shows take place, the power in each instance goes far beyond the letter of the law. For in New York there can be no performance until the house or the hall has been Hcensed, and in England such premises are equally dependent upon the pleasure of the crown, since they are of no use until the permission has been obtained for the performance. Availing himself of his prerogatives in this connection, King Edward caused it to be known that no public entertainment could be given in a theater or music hall on Sundays, on Christmas Day, or on Good Friday, "unless under very exceptional circumstances," and then only if the program of that particular performance has been previously submitted to the lord chamberlain's department. But the action of parliament about fifteen years ago authorizing the secretary of state for the home department to remit the penalties imposed by magistrates for violations of the law in opening places of popular entertainment on Sunday, such as, for instance, the Brighton Aquarium, etc., emboldened the organization of public concerts of sacred music on Sundays. Then followed cinematograph displays of Biblical subjects. The latter, as well as the sacred music, have long given way to much more frivolous and more worldly features ; and whereas twenty and thirty years ago every theater and music hall throughout Great Britain was shut on Sundays, latterly they have nearly all been open and doing a rushing business. The action of the king is said to have been prompted by Queen Alexandra, who is a very religious woman, and by the leading ecclesiastics, not only of the Church of England, but also of other denominations. And since it is not an administrative act of the government, but the exercise of a purely sovereign prerogative which is concerned, the impresarios, managers, and showmen generally who are affected have no legal relief. Of course, this power is extremely arbitrary and savors of mediaeval despotism, rather than of constitutional government. If, however, it were placed in the hands of a man of narrow mind and puritanical prejudices, it might become an instrument of almost intolerable tyranny. But there is no danger of this kind on the part of Great Britain's genial ruler, who holds that there is no harm in quiet, innocent diversion on the Lord's day, though he defers to the views of the masses of his subjects by keeping away from the race track