Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1916-11-12

pane danger. which is quite as bad.
ne instinct for self preservation is
80 great people rush pell nell over
"@' announcer before they realize the
IRE can be confined to the booth; fo,'
'hat reason the attention of the audi !
ence should be called from time 20 |
time to the fact that the booth is fire !,
proof and the fire could be confined |
TO 1t. In this way they could prepare
themselves to prepare for any such
accident.
| am not going into all the techni |
cal requirements Of model motion
picture ordinance. These may be OBJ
tanned from the national board Of
censors, New York.
AS to National Board.
| Now word as to this national
board of censorship. The necessity fov
censorship must be beyond question
when the leading film people of the
! United States voluntarily submitted
themselves to it and created the
board themselves. It is composed of
representatives of various moral and
civic organizations. such as the Inter
national Y. VI. G.. A., the Children's
Aid society. the New York City Fed
Grafton of Womens clubs and others.
they do not actually go to see the
pictures, this is done by secretaries
whose salaries are paid by the Film
people. They are supposed to Judge
these pictures by certain rules, but
fear many a secretary falls asleep IS
he sits by the hour Watching these
pictures, (9lS reels were censored
one month) and all rules and stand
ards are forgotten. They sleep and
we sleep, while the thing that is the
greatest educational medium of the
age is being debauched, and one mil
lion children. daily. are looking at
scenes that have only become familiar
to older persons these latter years
thru the movies. I heard woman
say not long ago that she had seen so
many scenes depicting houses Of inn
morality the surroundings had be-
come SO familiar to her she no longer
experienced the horror she had al
ways felt at even viewing these
places from the outside. II such was
true of this woman If many years,
what must it be for a young impress
sionable girl.
If pictures are supposed to be cen
sored by certain standards, what has
become of these standards when we
see constantly on the screen women
and girls lolling in negligees before
men and smoking cigarettes Boys
go to the picture sho,, and learn
that those who are apparently men
Of the world can not think or act
seems necessary always to start this
1,o; 1nforo bo firaC
of their intellect will burn.
Verify what has become OF the
standards. The secretaries who a"a
paid by the film people to censor
pictures which have cost thousands
of dollars to produce know that they
must sleep THU some OF 1T or lose
their job.
They sleep? We sleep, but the lit
tie children who go to see them at
the rate of million a day, and ar
rive at an incredible maturity before
they are out of their teens, never
sleep, they like Pathes weekly, "See
all-know ALL"
Ninety-five per cent. Of the pictures
in this country pass the national
board of censorship or Of review as
it is now called. This board has no
official capacity and they have not
the power to throw out any film. The
film people own and control them ami
they can do as they please. The ma
tional board of review is but puny
bid for popular approval and a we'll
advertised effort on the part OF the
film people Ito be good"
The great majority of the pictures
today are written for the young and
the old, the educated and the unedu-
Gated. How can one picture fit all?
however moral it may be. We are
more to blame in letting our children
20 to a miscellaneous program than
they are in getting them out, because
we are individually responsible for
our children and the finn people can
not get out any one picture, at one
time, that will suit all ages, even If
it is highly moral.
Movies in School Coming.
The time will come when moving
pictures will be used in the public
schools and in community houses
Then all the mysteries of science,
nature and travel will be flashed on
the screen, perfect panorama OF de-