Photoplay (Jul - Dec 1927)

udge Ben Lindsey Defends Flapper Movies By Ruth Biery He says the screen is eliminating sex inhibitions i BELIEVE that the over-emphasizing of the sexepisodes in the motion pictures of today is paving the way for teaching the much neglected Art of Love!" Judge Ben Lindsey looked me firmly in the eye across the breakfast table and reiterated his statement. Then the eminent Denver jurist, now in Hollywood, continued : "From what I know of the intimate lives of girls and women in what are called sex cases among the unmarried and domestic relation cases among the married, I have become enthusiastic over the constructive possibilities of teaching the Art of Love. "The motion pictures in showing love scenes and depicting sex-episodes are hastening the day when sex will be neither a secret nor a sin! "Sex has been made a secret and therefore a sin by deception. Because young girls have been taught by the conventions of their mothers and grandmothers that sex is secret, it has become to them sinful. From this lack of knowledge youth has mistaken passion for love; infatuation for companionship — which is the basis of marriage." "Do you think the so-called flapper picture is causing restlessness among our young people, as many claim, Judge?" " A BSOLUTELY!"His ■**■ answer was emphatic. "Many of the pictures are as thoughtless and heedless as youth itself. They are undoubtedly creating much dissatisfaction with life. They are often untrue to life. So are many conditions in the school and the church untrue to the basic principles of life. "But that does not mean that they are necessarily or permanently harmful. Clara Bow may be good or bad. She may be Says Judge Lindsey: "The motion pictures, in showing love scenes and depicting sex episodes, are hastening the day when sex will be neither a secret nor a sin. "From the so-called Flapper Picture I look for much good generally to the country. "If it is to bring the ideas of Love and Sex from under cover, if it is opening the subject to all women, it may look wrong now, but it is to prove an eventual advantage." increasing the idea of flirting and easy infatuation — "All of which may be a false impression for the moment. But if it is to bring the idea of Love and Sex from under cover, if it is opening the subject to all women, it may look wrong now, but it is to prove an eventual advantage. " From the so-called Flapper Picture, I look for much good generally to the country. Of course, the movies can do more and will do more in this line than they are today. Pictures should show that pure sex attraction is not love; should prove that an infatuation of the moment is not permanent. Many of them do. 'Stage Madness' is an example." HAVE you had any striking examples among the women who have come before you of the influence of the movies?" He thought for a few moments before remarking: "I had one case that showed how the world blames the movies for the indiscretions of women. In this instance they nearly proved an innocent young flapper guilty Judge Ben Lindsey calls upon Colleen Moore and tells her the flapper type of motion picture drama is doing a lot towards teaching America that sex isn't a sin just because she attended the movies!" The judge waxed indignant. 'Four hundred dollars' worth of goods were stolen from a Denver department store. Two women were arrested for the theft. One, a typical flapper of nineteen; the other a woman of thirty and the mother of four children. Both were identified by clerks as the ones who took the goods. 'Among the things taken were more than sixty dollars' worth of cosmetics. Not a trace of them had been found among either woman's possessions. ''Both were brought before me. The mother of the four children had an able lawyer. [cont'd on page 141] 29