Dec. 3-The Complex Problem

The motion-picture problem is slowly being solved by those who are closest to it, so far as it relates to the American people. It is too complicated for the layman to grasp sufficiently to permit him to offer many helpful suggestions regarding details and methods of improvement. He has served a useful purpose in speaking with increasing clarity of the kinds of pictures rightthinking theatergoers want or do not want. His words have had most weight when, in company with multitudes of his fellows, he has indicated his disapproval by refusing to look at a particular theater's offering of vulgar drama. This has happened with dramas dealing with super-sex themes, "vampire" themes, over-sensual society, and "bedroom" stuff, and also with the yellow and plotless crime picture. As a result of this simple registration of disapproval at the boxoffice most of these themes have gone the way of all evil things to a hell of their own, and some of the well-known actresses and actors have followed them.

The complexity of the problem is indicated when we remember that the picture is made on a national or international scale for adult, commercial amusement. People voluntarily pay their way into theaters from coast to coast to see the same picture simultaneously exhibited. They are designed for all classes of the public and necessarily seek those greatest common denominators of drama and humor to hold the largest numbers. The motion-picture is quite different from the spoken drama which plays in one eity at a time until it has tested its popularity sufficiently to be duplicated in road shows. The film is finished before any audience sees it and starts simultaneously in from 75 to 150 places in approximately

similar prints of the master copy. Moreover, in its method of construction it is far more complex than the stage play. Several entirely distinct hands have a share in the making of the picture, including writer, scenarist, director, actor, titler, critic, reviewer or censor, advertising agent, and exhibitor.

Each may have some modification in the strip of celluloid which superficially or fundamentally modifies the thought and plot of the original writer.

The values of pictures are far from uniform. It is customary to make an outlay of $40,000 to $50,000 for an ordinary photoplay of five reels. This cost may mount up to $250,000 for other stories of similar length or possibly seven reels. The drama, when put into circulation, may bring in little or no more than the more cheaply constructed film.

These figures are the

original costs "on the lot" or in the studio, for the negative from which many positives are made. They include salaries, scenery, rental of "locations," costumes, overhead, etc. By far the larger expense comes when the picture is put into circulation. Then are to be figured "exchange" and central office charges, advertising, publicity in trade and other papers, sales expenses, etc. Probably the most expensive department of the motion-picture business is that concerned with distribution of films to the cities and towns throughout the country. This fact explains several things little understood by the public.

Since every picture circulates in a territory of approximately 200 miles in radius, there is required, for the United States, for the pictures of a given motion-picture concern about thirty-five separate offices, each fully equipped with staff, fireproof

vaults, film copies, and shipping facilities. Pictures are shot back and forth from distributor to exhibitor by fast express. The public, through the exhibitor, must pay these original and superimposed costs as well as bring a profit all along the line. The risks on individual pictures are enormous. About one in three proves to be sufficiently attractive to the playgoing public to bring in much over costs.

The producer, therefore, is intensely interested from a monetary standpoint in learning exactly what the playgoing public wants in the way of amusement. This desire to make the picture which will unquestionably earn much money explains the phenomenon of a succession of screen dramas dealing with the same general theme. One has been made which has been wonderfully successful financially and a dozen follow.

In the great expense of distribution is to be found the reason for the small number of agencies making and distributing pictures for the churches and other groups of nontheatrical users. They do not find enough renters or receive enough rental money in a given exchange territory to make it profitable for them to make new and fine films. Even in the most populous centers most of these non-theatrical renters are hard put to it to make a living. Many of them act as middlemen for pictures they do not Own or which are old and discarded by the commercial agencies. The churches want pictures of the highest possible grade, but they are not willing to pay the price to make them, to purchase them, to rent them, or to handle them on a cooperative basis. Moreover, because of other reasons, chief of which are lack of vision and conservatism, the Church has allowed this powerful educational and inspirational medium to pass into the hands of professional showmen of a new type.

Steadily the photoplay has advanced in the hands of business men. Technically it is more connected in its dramatic construction, better photographed, more artistic in color and atmospheric effects, better staged, more cleverly and subtly acted, less obvious and less brazen in appeal. Its makers have found that the mentality of the ordinary person seeking entertainment in the United States is between twelve and thirteen years and, without blazoning abroad the fact, they have deliberately set themselves to exploit

it. They have searched the world for backgrounds and have given us sea, mountain, shore, plain, forests, northern snows, and out of-the-way bits of artistic profusion and beautiful detail. Less can be said regarding the improvement in the story. This, after all, is the essential of the drama, whether spoken or silent. It is only fair to the picture-makers to say that they have tried many expensive experiments to enlist the public in support of the dramas requiring more mentality to appreciate. The losses on most of such stories have been sickening and have discouraged all but the more idealistic and wealthy individuals and corporations.

Among the studies which must be made concerning the motion-picture before any final judgment is given is one of the real wishes and wants of the American people, when they go out to be amused. Far too often those who debate this subject "poohpooh" any statements made along this line by sincere and shrewd students within the motion-picture business, who are staking fortunes on their investigations of the interests of the men and, especially, the women who attend the theaters. They are tired of the mushy twaddle they have to make and sell to the public, and would welcome, with grins and whoops, a new and finer type of picture.

Dec. 10-Young People and Motion Pictures

The screen draws all classes and ages. Among them, the group most attracted by the action, color, romance, and thrill of the picture is composed of the young people of both sexes between the ages of twelve and twenty. It is their adoption of the picture as a means of using leisure time and finding enjoyment that has caused thoughtful adults to demand that some modification of themes and treatment be made of the film dramas. This demand has usually taken the form of some kind of censorship. Every right-thinking person will support the movement for the protection of the youth if he is sure that harm is being done, and skilled leaders come forward with a method which will accomplish the results aimed at. The report of the Federal Council is the latest authoritative declaration which declares that politically appointed

State censors have not and can not protect the youth of the various States.

It would appear that far more serious thought should be given to the influences affecting this age-group than has yet been given. A surprizing difference of opinion among experts has been found. So far as discovered, the romantic, emotional, society and love drama is of little interest to the average boy but abnormally appealing to the typical girl. The indifference to this form of story, dealing with sex, on the part of the boy and his enthusiasm for Western, frontier, detective, and sea stories deserves serious thought by workers with youth.

The motion-picture lure, as it affects boys and girls, is wrapped up in the whole question of the use of leisure time on the part of the young people. In most cases, the parents of the country have allowed their children to go to the picture theater because it was cheap. They have inquired little into the influence of the drama, designed for adults, on their young people. The boys and girls also have a glut of magazines, novels, autos, dress, dancing, jazz music, meals in public places, money to spend, and parties, with a minimum of oversight, work, responsibility, home pleasures, and association with parents in friendly ways. Few pictures would do them anything but good, if they were picked by father or mother and seen with them. Of the many things thrown in the way of boys and girls there are few which cause less harm than the motion-picture. All such absorbing pleasures contain more than a little moral dynamite!

Now, just what are the movies, which are holding our young people enthralled? They are conventional stories, presented on the theater screen, of the glamour of quick success, physical charm, heroism, adventure, beautiful women, easy money, much love; business, love, marriage and home stories. They introduce dress, rich background, public places, superabundant pleasure, sex appeal, and emotional touches. They usually contain the hero and heroine, the villain, the innocent party, the general public, and possibly the actor furnishing the humor. Almost without exception the moral is conventional and-sugary! They contain a maximum of action and a minimum of advice. The aim of most is to intersperse as

many thrilling situations as possible to make up for the lack of dialog.

All of these elements and many others not mentioned may be perfectly satisfactory, as a steady diet, for mature men and women, for whom they have been constructed; but they are not all right for the growing young person. Knowledge of "life" should come normally, slowly, wholesomely to young boys and girls. They are no more fitted to absorb the whole motion bill of fare than they are ready to be thrown against emotional avalanches. Wisdom cries aloud in

the streets to-day, "If you intend to permit your young people to go regularly to the theater, be near enough to them to discuss the life questions presented and keep the lads and lasses seeing life whole and seeing it fine." The thoughtful parent will find in the motion-picture the natural introduction to many questions which must be discussed, if boys and girls are to go out into life properly equipped.

Social workers are recognizing generally over the country, that there are many wholesome influences operating as a result of the picture and the theater. They draw more youth of working age off the streets, throughout the year, in the evenings, than any three other forms of amusement. They are held inside, in company with other people, without feeling any restraints. The pictures give to almost every lively boy and girl the emotional thrill for which he and she are craving, after the monotonous work of the ordinary day; and they give it in a form which is not anti-social and which is followed by normal emotions before leaving the theater. This impersonal thrill is infinitely better than those coming to boys and girls alone together on the dark corners and in the parks. For the first time in the history of workers, they can find steady, wholesome amusement near at hand, for a cost which is not prohibitive. It may contain only an infinitesimal portion of education; but it contains sufficient to make working people turn more and more to the library, the newspaper, and the magazine. Such are the findings of social workers regarding the influence of pictures on the working-class young people.

For those of families where there is greater leisure, it may be well for parents to ask and answer the following questions: "Will you think hard and give your young

people fine, simple and inspiring pleasures?" "Will you give them the facts of life they crave to know, in the fashion that only a parent knows?" "Will you pick and choose the pictures to be seen?" "Will you help to create a sentiment in favor of regular, selected motion-picture entertainments for all the young people of your town?" If you will pool your interest with other thoughtful parents of town, the motion picture problem, as it affects boys and girls will have been solved; just as the library problem was solved by the introduction of the children's department.

Dec. 17-Regulation of Motion
Pictures

The motion-picture captured the imagination and the attention of the common people of America some twenty years ago. They began to change their habits of using leisure time. The leaders of society discovered that a new form of family amusement had been evolved which contained elements more exciting than a horse-race, more gripping than the "ten, twenty, and thirty" melodrama, and as inexpensive as a trolley fare. It was as lurid, yellow, and bloodcurdling as human ingenuity could make it. When the theaters began to dot the country like grocery stores, and to draw every member of the families of the working people, including the baby, then it was decided that the movies needed regulation of a radical kind. And it did! It was such a gold mine for its exploiters that all kinds of business men, junk-dealers, showmen, peanut venders, and gamblers set themselves to make and exhibit pictures. The wonder was that the decent people did not turn against it as they turn from the circus sideshows after being cheated a few times. They did demand that the gruesome, lurid, sickening, disgusting, sensual elements be taken out, but that the thrilling be retained.

One group of motion-picture critics demanded that the censoring be put, forthwith, into the hands of state boards, politically appointed, and instructed by law as to what should be eliminated or modified within the borders of the commonwealth. The other group was satisfied that the problem was so subtle and dipped so far into the realm of ethics that they could accomplish more by independent but intimate friendly

cooperation with the makers of pictures on the one hand and the consuming public on the other. They determined to gather the definite judgments of the adult public and apply them to pictures at the time when they were made by the manufacturers. This required agreements with the makers, a large corps of volunteer workers to examine pictures, and, most important of all, the probable misunderstanding of motives by those who wanted the impossible accomplished.

In some five States, namely, Ohio, Kansas, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New York, the Boards were authorized by law and went to work. They have had plenty of time to demonstrate their ability to accomplish results; and in all cases have shown that the children could under no interpretation of the law be protected. They have construed the terms of the law, as public opinion has forced them to do, in terms of the demands of the more populous centers, the great cities, where interest in amusements has always been cosmopolitan and extremely tolerant. They, moreover, have adopted a policy of cutting or making a large number of eliminations to demonstrate their necessity as public agents. Many times, they have partially or completely destroyed the continuity of the drama, with no thought of dramatic requirements. They have found that the demands of the smaller city and the town were radically different from those of the metropolis. This has involved them in a criticism of themselves they were utterly unable to meet. Equally, they have discov ered that there is a great variety of tastes on the subject of amusements, both inside their Boards and among the more responsible citizens of the State. Their attitude of regarding all pictures guilty until examined and found to be innocent, with the accompanying charges for censoring, has caused constant irritation among the owners of the pictures. This has caused, in turn, all kinds of efforts to punish them politically; and on their part a liberality in passing pictures which has sometimes been called favoritism. The other States,, which have investigated the workings of such longestablished Boards, have been slow to undertake a work which appears to be a sword which easily may cut the hands which wield it.

The other group, represented by the National Board of Review, has proceeded since 1909 on the theory stated above, namely, of

cooperative review and editing of all dramatic films. The bare expenses of maintaining a skilled staff, an office, and agencies for reaching the public have been met by a tax levied on each reel of film submitted for review by the owners. Decisions have been rendered by the volunteers who gather daily in the offices of the producing companies, and by agreement their action is final. This understanding has been adopted by the companies as a straight business policy. They prefer to have the work done cooperatively, at one time, in one place, by volunteers, for the country as a whole and with due recognition of story continuity as well as property values than by the method described above.

The owners and distributors of pictures are far from satisfied with any form of external dictation as to their product. They know, however, the nitroglycerin tucked away in some of their dramas; and now know the way wrath descends not upon the guilty head of the offender but upon the entire group. They must either give absolute guaranties that they can keep their entire house in order; accept meekly the rulings of State Boards; continue the relationships now existing with the National Board of Review; or make some radical change in their way of doing business such as the production and exhibition of pictures on a national scale for young people. This would be followed quickly and logically by the enactment and enforcement of laws prohibiting the attendance of boys and girls in the regular adult theater.

These horns of a dilemma on which they must sit have prompted the producers, first, to issue in 1921 a set of some thirteen statements referring to certain kinds of pictures they would insist should no longer be made, then to call upon Mr. Will Hays, late secretary of the Post-office Department, to act as director of an association of producers. They informed the public they would give to Mr. Hays almost absolute authority to make and keep the motion-picture screen clean. This group with Mr. Hays at its head can do many things in the studios of the cooperating companies to improve the quality of the product. It can perform many valuable kinds of service for the Church, for the school, for industry, and for the farmer in the shape of the larger production and more wide-spread distribution of the non

dramatic film, containing education in correct and entertaining forms. It can not, however, restrain competing companies, nor can it convince the public that the interested parties can put as effective restraints on this kind of emotional product as other disinterested parties. Every churchman should give support to Mr. Hays in his undertaking.

The difficulties of a satisfactory regulation of photoplays may well be considered. The judgments of people on questions of taste and ethics are almost as numerous as the people. The small community has a community judgment on conduct and morals which is both different from that of the large city and that of the town of the same size in another part of the country. The person who has lived much has invariably a more tolerant opinion than the innocent and the ignorant. The points of view of the adult and the youth can never be the same, since one has lived through experiences and the other is simply dreaming about them. Motion-pictures are made for adult amusement. They circulate freely from the largest cities to the smallest villages in the course of twelve or fifteen months. They are seen by cultured and ignorant, by children and the mature.

The humble exhibitor in any town has learned this lesson far better than the most rabid reformer. He knows that he must modify his selections for his town and he does it constantly. The most persistent, effective, shrewd, and quiet censor or critic the motion-picture has is the man who wants to keep his neighborhood people coming to his house. He does his work in the following ways: He carefully considers the kinds of pictures made by several companies and makes a selection in the light of his clientele. He reads the trade papers and the opinions of other exhibitors. He sometimes goes to headquarters and examines the film for himself. He runs it through, when it arrives by express, at his theatre and takes out some incident he is afraid will prove offensive to his patrons. Then, finally, when the picture has been run, he forcefully informs his distributor whether or not he wants any more of a similar character.

The question of the establishment of a Federal Board of Censors of Motion-pictures has been canvassed by various national groups, including churchmen, women's clubs,