The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1920-02-10
THEHASKINLETTER
SCREEN CRIMES
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

WASHINGTON. Feb. E..-Gentleman
Raffles and Highway Pete are doomed.
They We're driven from the stage when
the movies largely took the place of the
Onc-night stand companies and their
repertoires of melodrama The high
cost Of paper has resulted in the rapid
decline of their careers in paper back
literature. And now comes Oklahoma
with a crusade to attack the criminal
hero and villain as they appear on the
screen in "thrillers,
Oklahomas complaint is that some
times bank robbers, outlaws and other
criminals. after serving sentence, re-
CeiNe eXtravagant offers from moving
picture producers, and are soon engaged
in the profitable and Congenial OCcupa-
ton of committing crime before the
camera.
When such characters become he
rOes of romance and it is widely adver-
tised that they display their methods in
the latest play, Oklahoma gets hot
around the collar oklahoma happens
to be the aggressive state, because its
quota Of criminals called to be movie
stars has been unusually large. There
suit to the state has been a good deal
of publicity as the criminal stars pro-
fessiOnal field of action, and this is
unpleasant to the worthy citizens who
regard oklahoma as one OF the most
progressive and civilized states in the
Union.
It is impossible to define in law all
the types of character which a nation
shall not set on a pedestal but Okla
homa lawyers emphasize the point that
the criminals demonstrate their crimes
before the camera and thereby provide
bad examples. Professional details of
crime are often registered by closeup
scenes. as they are features Of the pro-
HnnttpnS pN-ROnNiptl This
exposition of criminal tricks, the Ok
lahoman State Bar association declares,
has a serious effect on the youthful pa
irons Of moving pictures, and even on
older persons.
To put stop to it the association has
had Senator Gore and Representative
Harreld of Oklahoma, introduce bills
into congress. The bills, which are sim
liar in both houses, prohibit the trans
portation from one state to another of
moving picture films showing or slim
ulating criminals in the act of commit
ting crime.
This would apparently mean Danish
ment from the pictures Of Jesse James
and his host of fellow hrtgandS, bur
glars and highwaymen, for who can i'm
aEine a picture dominated by thug
even a thug with wavy hair and a
dimple. in which no crime played
prominent part? The gentleman bur
gler who picks locks and jtmmes his
way into the heart Of the heroine at
the same time has had many butfets
from defenders of art and morals, but
this bill would deal him body blow
He could iuggle with cash boxes and
stab his enemies only with the camera
removed to a distance so great that no.
body IN the audience would be able to
tell exactly what happened. In that
case, Of course, he might as well do
his dirty work off screen, and the next
scene would have to show policeman
telling the maid about the terrible trag-
edy with appropriate captions, but no
pictures of the crime scenes.
A deleted version Of this sort would
undoubtedly lack both punch and con-
victlon. The director with fondness
for crime would have to start over and
make his hero or villain, whichever
happens to be the bold desperate, a
young man with only slight tendencies
10 crime which would lead him to steal
love letter out of an unlocked dresser
drawer. This feat he might accomplish
without revealing any of the secrets
of the trade Even this might be barred
because. if it were the story of real
crime being filmed, it would break the
law ,,
The proposed law is primarily intend.
ed to attack the ey-COnviCt or criminal
who poses as a hero, 1t forbids the
transportation Of films showing such
persons as they commit crime, or es-
cane from tho scene, and also It for
bids the filming of the trial. AS the
bin is worded, the prohibition is taken
to include pictures which follow the
story of a real crime, whether the part
of the criminal is taken by the original
offender or by stock actor. This ex-
cludes use OF all famous crimes, and
their trials such as have been pop
ularly filmed in the past few years, often
with the original principals in the screen
role
The bill. We understand, would not
prevent the filming Of Shakespeare.
Shakespeare 10 continually being almost