Connecticut western news., 1916-05-11
MOVIE SORING.

The Shakespeare censorship of Walter Prichard Eaton IS out-Eatoned by the official movie censors of Pennsylvania and Ohio, in which states only six of Shakespeare's plays may be filmed without emasculatiOn. The censor. ship is legislative enactment and its activities are calculated to conserve the tender morals of the slender youth-a praiseworthy purpose, which cannot be gainsaid. But the legislative cen sorship operates hind end foremost to the objections of MT. Eaton-or vice versa. The censor censors because Shakespeare is not fit to be produced by the movies, whereas Eaton would censor because the movies are not fit to produce Shakespeare
 The hypothetical scenario of "The Merchant of Venice submitted by MT. Eaton at the recent brotherhood supper in Canaan, to show the barbarous cruelty which Shakespeare would have to undergo at the hands of the movie butchers before 1t could be adapted to film production, was a mild treatment compared to the work of these legisla. tive censors in prescribing dissection for the Stratford bard. MT. Eaton, aiming to show the futility of depict ing Shakespeare without Shakespeare's words, referred to the beautiful moon. light love scene between Lorenzo and Jessica, wherein Lorenzo saws:
 Tn such night Stood Dido with willow in her hand Upon the wild sea-banks, and waved her love To come again to Carthage" This scene would have to be cut, MT. Eaton thinks, but the lovers might be allowed to "kiss for SIX feet," which is all the film censor would allow.
 The state censorships have been in- vestigated by the Dramatic Mirror, which dramatically reflects the process of censorship logic along the line of moral uplift.
 This is why Juliet must be scissored out of "Romeo and Juliet:"
 Here is girl just in her teens con. ducting herself and opening her win. dow in the night time or possibly ill the early hours of the morning, to YOuDR udu UO WllOu hllo hSN0I UO0h properly introduced. This play abounds in the very kisses and em. braces and love scenes which the Board has repeatedly condemned. There are too many street brawls of extreme violence. Reduce these to a flash of about ten feet. The Board has tre- quently announced its disapprOval of the administration of secret sleeping potions and all such scenes in the play must come out. The ball which Romeo and his companions appear i'll may re- main, as it is educational in character. y
 "Othello'' won't do, because a "cOl. oEed man marries white woman" and, that is an otfense ;n Pennsylvania and Ohio. However, Iago may be cut out, and Act V may be omitted-if the play is screened.
 The assassination of Julius Caeasr must be eliminated. Or, if produced. Marc Antony must read letter in- forming the multitude that Caesar died a. natural death from rheumatism or old age." We take it that if he had died under an operation for the removal of his vermiform appendix, the fact, even in a letter, would not be per. mitted on a screen in Pennsylvania or Ohio.
 "Antony and Cleopatra may be screened, provided Cleopatra is elimi. mated Her passion for married man and her cruelty to her servants make her an impossibillty, " in the two states named. The snake is also cut out.
 -'King Lear'' is not approved, be. cause it is a menace to family life. It contains too many shameful and scaudalous discords" and other awful incidents.
 And Hamlet. ' Not approved. Too hideous to receive the approval of the boards. "The drinking of hot blood' is "highly unbecoming. y Macbeth goes, because it visualizes several murders ill the first degree. The conduct of Lady Macbeth would