Reel Life (1915-1916)

Kansas Lines Up To Oppose Censorship Motion picture interests band together to fight unjust law THE fight against censorship in Kansas is on in full force and is destined to become one of the big political questions to be decided by the voters at the next State election. The motion picture men of Kansas, represented by the Amusement Association of Kansas, the Motion Picture Exhibitors’ League and the Motion Picture Board of Trade of America, are working harmoniously together for the repeal of the State Censorship Law. Candidates for the legislature will be lined up either in behalf of censorship or against it. Every candidate will be pledged to one side or the other. No mugwump tactics by the politicians will be countenanced by the motion picture interests. Any candidate who fails to declare himself will be listed with the enemies of motion pictures and will be so rated. There are four hundred and eighty-two picture theatres in Kansas. Every proprietor will display on the screen in his theatre a photograph of the candidate favoring the repeal of censorship. Under the picture will be shown the following : “This man is a candidate for the legislature. He is favorable to the repeal of the State Censorship Law. Vote for him.” By this means it is expected to work up a general demand on the part of the patrons of the theatres to vote for the candidate who will kill the pernicious law regulating the people’s amusements now on the statute books of the Sunflower State. The people will also be enlightened to the fact that they are sufferers by the censorship as it exists at present. A systematic newspaper campaign will be conducted toward the elimination of the censors, centering about the movement to wipe out the present harmful and unnecessary law. The decision to wage battle to the death against censorship was reached at a joint convention of the Motion Picture Exhibitors’ League and the Amusement Association of Kansas, held recently at Wichita. J. W. Binder, executive secretary of the Motion Picture Board of Trade of America, attended the convention and pledged the earnest co-operation of his organization which will institute similar campaigns in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Three hundred and sixty-seven motion picture exhibitors, exchange and supply men, with a generous representation of theatrical and vaudeville theatre owners attended the convention. The financial support of the movement was guaranteed and many voluntary contributions of from $10 to $100 were subscribed for the opening volley in the repeal battle. “Diamond From Sky” Now In Book Form Mutual' s popular serial novelized by Roy L. McCardell , prize winner OY L. McCARDELL, winner of the $10,000 scenario prize for the great Mutual serial, The Diamond From the Sky, which has broken house records in all parts of the country, has novelized this powerful story of love and adventure. The book is a fiction volume that everybody who saw the remarkable picture, will want to read. Those who failed to see the serial photoplay will find The Diamond From the Sky one of the most gripping and tense mystery stories they have ever read. There is not a dull line or situation in the whole four hundred pages. Exhibitors who are now running or who have shown The Diamond From the Sky in their theatres should have this book on sale at their box offices, that their patrons may have the opportunity of reading the serial they followed with so much interest on the screen. It is handsomely bound, printed on book paper of the best quality and contains sixteen superb illustrations. The dramatic suspense of the screen version has been maintained throughout in the novelization, and the interest of the reader is never permitted to lag. Written by a master craftsman it takes rank with the leading novels of the day, and is destined to become one of the best sellers. Mr. McCardell, who is a writer of power and imagination, has surpassed all his previous literary efforts in The Diamond From the Sky. It is a book that should be in every fiction library in the country. Helen Holmes, heroine of the Signal-Mutual’s massive production, Whispering Smith, and featured star in The Girl and the Game, is mourning today the death of her father, who, for a number of years, was traffic manager on the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad. Word of Mr. Holmes’ death was received at the SignalMutual studios by Miss Holmes as she was preparing to begin work in the new feature. Until that moment Miss Holmes had not received any intimation even that her father was ill and his death came as a severe shock. J. P. McGowan, who is appearing in the title role of the new production as well as directing it, ordered that work for the day be suspended. He suggested that Miss Holmes return to Chicago at once, but she refused, declaring that to do so at that time would not only entail a great loss of time, but money as well. Roy L. McCardell, author of “The Diamond From the Sky.” REEL LIFE — Page Sixteen