Reel Life (Sep 1913 - Mar 1914)

12 Reel Life Censorship of Movies Explained by Chairman Mrs. E. K. Foster, chairman of the Los Angeles board oif censors'hip, before a mieeting of the Parent-Teacher Association in the Pasadena High Sohool last week, declared an overstrict censorship which is apt to be, she said, in the long run, an expression of one's personal views, bad in its effect on the people. Making a strong and earnest plea that moving pictures be given the right censorship, Mrs. Foster said : "Moving pictures have a deci'ded tendency to reduce crime and drunkenness, to attract men from the saloons and women from cheap amusements, if the films are not m'ade too didactic, too educational. "Too long we have censored moving picture films upon the condemnation or praise of our own personal taste. Such censorship is not on the right basis. It is like saying that if I prefer real art, I roust prevent my neighbor from hanging a chromo in her home. "Too oiften we censor moving pictures in that mood. They don't please us, thicrefore, they should not be. If we over censor films, until all their appeal to the average masses is lost, we will drive the people away from this amusement, to something more difficult to control. Saloons have lost much of their business 'through the interest the 'movies' have for the public. That interest must not be lost. Lack of clean entertainment is a great cause of vice and improper conduct, especially in college towns." Mrs. Foster said people themselves must make the best censors, for the moving picture industry, like all others based upon the law of supply and demand, will cater to what the people want. Mrs. Foster is further quoted as saying: ""^f the educated putJlic continues to look askance at the drama of the films, the producers cannot be blamed for continuing to offer melodramatic tragedy and slapstick comedy, for work of a higher nature may prove a financial failure before present audiences. The solution of the problem is for the educated public to accept the movies just as it already accepts the drama of the stage, and then, iby patronizing the best productions, to urge the producers to give the best films that the public will pay to witness. The producers must be taught that decency pays." Giving full credit to films of thoroughly educational purpose, Mrs. Foster said 'that the greatest educational results came from the films shown purely for recreation. "The films are a wonderful humanizer 'highbrow' and 'lowbrow;' rich and poor, young and. old, all find pleasure in them. They have become the most popular form of recreation, even supplanting dancing in popular favor." Economical To The Last "When visiting a certain town in Massachusetts," says a Bostonian, "I was told of an extraordinary incident wherein the main figure, an economical housewife, exhibited, under trying circumstances, a trait so characteristic of New England women. "It seems that an elderly lady of the place had by mistake taken a quantity of poison — mercurial poison the antidote for which, as everybody knows, comprises the whites of eggs. "When this antidote was being administered, the order for which the unfortunate lady had overheard, she managed to murmur, although almost unconscious: "Mary, Mary! Save the yolks for the pudding!" — Harper's Magazine. A Common Quest "I say, my friend," called the motorist to the farmer, as he drew up alongside of the field. "I'm looking for a decent road to take me into Squigglesville." "I'm derned glad to hear it," replied the farmer. "Ef ye happen to find it, stranger, send me a tellygram, will ye." — Judge. Mignon Anderson in "Turkey Trot Town" Thanhouser