The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-01-19
NEED CENSORSHIP
FOR VAUDEVILLE
DR.. Maclachlan Sees Danger in
Modern Shows and Moving
Picture Houses.
STRONG PLEA FOR UPLIFT
Time to Set Faces Against Any
thing That Will Lower Pub
lie and Private Morals.
STRONG PLEA FOR UPLIFT

! Setting art above vulgarity. and the
drama above the license of variety, the
Rev. II. d. c. Maclachlan d. D., pastor
of Seventh Street Christian Church, last
night told his congregation In n SER
mon on The Ethics OF Polite Vaude-
! ville." that Richmond had arrived at
the parting of the ways as between
! civic morality civic righteousness
ana advocated that there be organized
a properly constituted board OF censor
| ship to pass not only upon moving
picture shows, but on vaudeville as
| we'll
| ~ believe" no said. that the opera
| tors of moving pIcturo shows ana the
proprietors of vaudeville houses would
| chccrfully cooperate with such n board
of censorship. II not, there would be
/ n way to enforce the views of the
board. Richmond stands now at the
parting of the ,2ays 1t is no longer
! an ovorgrown town, but a city of size
ana standing. Now is the time to SEQ
that only the highest moral standards
shall regulate civic life and action. If
we fail now, nothing will save Rich
mond from the fate of Chicago and
| New York, as that fate has been shown
| by investiga ton.
Against Sunday Amusements.
! We have got to begin now. We
must set our faces against lewd shows.
against Sunday theatricals Sunday
baseball. against the public dance hall,
against everything that will lower the
standard of public and private morals.
So far we have a splendid police de-
partment, and we have a pure city
government. Then, in Gods name, let
us keep them"
At the outset of his sermon Dr. Mac
lachlnn said that he had no desire to
be sensational but he thought it to be
n ministerial duty TO preach on tho live
topics OF the day. He reviewed the an
client teachings and later theology to
show that he had authority in preach
ing on such subjects
do not" he said, turn them over
to the Decent magazines and the edi-
torial columns of the newspapers"
Then he read to the congregation n
letter commendatory of his sermon on
Sunday night, when he preached on
Moving Pictures and Public Morals"
Ie had. he said, three other letters of
like nature.
Some Objectionable Features.
There are good many things" said
DR. Maclachlan. lin modern vaudeville
shows which are entirely unobjcction-
able from q moral standpoint. But
there is one thing which l would crlti-
CHE, even granting that there be no
other objection, and that Is their cheap
ness. Their cheapness causes too much
waste of time and money. The vaude-
1t tends to lower the standard OF taste.
and that lowers the moral tone"
Turning to the vulgarity. which. he
said, was so often exhibited in So
called polite family vaudeville, DIR.
Maclachlan said:
There is nothing so dangerous as
TO link vice with fun. If we must paint
vice, let us paint II sombrely and in
all it's dark and tragic color so that
ii shall not be pleasing and allurng
TO the eyes and senses, but "a warning
of the terrible consequences that come.
Ii SO that lola did n great good
for he painted vice as II is evil, naked
and covered with it's own ulcers and
not cast in allurlng form.
And there are songs which injure
the sacred instinct of love. songs sung
suggestively by painted lips and bella
donna eyes, destroying all the sacred
charm OF music and all the sweet in
stinct OF love
High Class Drnma StarYcs.
when such n song The Boys
Rest Friend Is His Mother is sung by
q chorus led by n hortsltirted, crack
voiced coincidence ii is a proclamation.
There is vast chasm between art and
vulgarity, though only too often the
RIGHTEOUSNESS of the theatre comes to
us under the guisc Of art And II is u
sad commentary that our variety shows
are filled night after night while
grand opera and real drama so neg
lectcd"
DR.. Maclachlan repeated what he had
said the Sunday before. that he Still
believed in innocence, and quoted an
authority that not all men and all
women should know all things. that
susceptible adolescence should be safe
guarded and that attention should be
turned from sex knowledge instead OF
being directed toward 1t. He said
that all such instruction had recently
been taken out OF the Chicago public
schools.