The Cordova daily times., 1918-06-22
PLACES
IMMORAL FILMS
ON BLACKLIST

| >'iiSEh'o, Sh ySoi . VI
moving picture censorship in Chicago
have resulted in the elimination o.
hundreds of thousands of feet from
films shown to more than 100000 per
sons daily, according to Major M. c
| Funkhouser, second deputy superin
tendent of police, who reviewed the
problems he had encountered as
moral censor" of the second largest
city in the United States, when he
defended the ordinance under which
| he operates from recent attacks.
According to Major Funkhouser the
board of twelve censors, the members
of which are selected by civil serv
ice, and which sits in Judgment on
the pictures, has little or no discre
ton in ordering "cut-outs'' or refus
ing to issue permits, as they merely
adhere to city ordinances and the
state law which prohibits hanging
scenes. The ordinances, among other
things, prohibit the showing of pic.
lures immoral, obscene, or which por-
tray riotous, disorderly or other I'M
lawful scenes which have a tendency
to disturb the public peace.
Within the last year 1854 motion
pictures were inspected by the censor
and his aides, and out of this number
only 153 were rejected in their en-
tirety, Major Funkhouser asserted
The average film is approximately
1000 feet in length and the total num-
Der of feet rejected by the censor
last year was 216,556.
The cost of maintaining the censor
ship department is more than paid
for by the permits issued to the pro-
ducers, which cost 81 each Last year
29,697 permits were issued The
twelve censors draw salaries ranging
from $120 to $135 a month.
"The trouble with the motion pic
ture producers of today is that from
rs to 40 per cent of the pictures pro-
duced deal with sex, the eternal tri-
angle, affinity and white slave prob
lens" Major FunKhouser declared.
CAS- approximately 80 per cent of the
motion picture audiences are COM
posed of women and children, espe-
nj oh tn k,sI 80
the downtown district, and as chill
dren often obtain their ideas of mo-
rality from the pictures, close guard
is necessary to see that the pictures
do not convey erroneous IDEAS"
Within year the city was made de-
PENDANT in twelve suits by motion pic
ture concerns, Major Funkhouser said.
The courts, both state and federal,
have declared the city ordinances con-
stitutional, and out of seven cases
tried the city has won six The sew
enth was lost on a technicality, the
moral censor explained. Five suits
are pending.
Two kinds of permits are granted
the producers, one being called the
white" permit, and the other the
pink" or adult permit The latter,
Major Funkhouser explained, was for
adults only. In these pictures some
sex problems and scenes are permit
ted, he said.
The number of films received weekly
for inspection runs from two hundred
to two hundred and fifty, and the
moral censors are given three days to
pass on picture and issue permit.
A regular motion picture theater is
established in one of the larger rooms
Of the city hall, where three screens
and three motion picture machines
enable more than one picture to be
run at the same time. AS rule, two
or more of the censor's staff sit and
pass judgment on one picture.
''The city of Chicago is the only
city in the country which has a civil
service censor board" Major Funk
houser said. "Ohio, Kansas and Penn.
sylvania, however, have state censor.
ship boards"