Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-10-27
DR.. ELLIS p. oBERHoLTZER
On Movinq Pictures

"WHEN became a member of the Penn. 'sl,.
w sylvania State Board of Censors about
six years ago the work Of supervising ana
controlling the moving picture was new,
said DR.. Ellis p. Oberholtzer, director OF
the State Board of Motion Picture Censors
the world. There is control Of the cinema
house in England. under the direction OF Il.
+. O'Connor: in all the provinces OF Canada,
in Australasia, Scandinavia, Japan, Ger
many and elsewhere.
I'm general the inspection is physical be-
fore the picture is released for circulation,
and it is aimed at one or all Of three or four
offenses-indecency Obscurity, sacrilege and
what is contrary to public policy with refer
ence to Indictment to riot and the spread OF
crime. When a picture has been looked at
with these ends in view 1t is certifcated and
sent on it's way. 1t is marked with seal
Of approval so that it may be identified, like
an automobile II its owner or lessee shall be
guilty of misconduct. 1t has been inspected
like meat and milk and butter to discover IL
it is fit for public use.
"Our law in Pennsylvania, prohibiting the
exhibition Of film which in the judgment of
the Board of Censors can be held to be de
basing to public MORALS was enacted in
1915. At first We had two or three machines
in a little projection room on Vine street
in the heart Of the So called film district,
a neighborhood in which most of the picture
distributing Offices are located in this city.
This seemed to me to be an arrangement
not designed for the best service, and we Sc
cured from the Pennsylvania Railroad Com
pany an old church at Eighteenth and Fill
bert streets, which l had used to make the
costumes and build the properties for the
Historical Pageant of 1912.
New Quarters Found
when in two or three years the railroad
company required this building for it's own
purpose / found and the Department of
Grounds and Buildings at Harrisburg hired
another old church on Cherry street near
Eleventh street and 1t is to this place that
every foot OF film must be brought for review
before it may be shown anywhere within the
borders of the commonwealth. Here in the
auditorium upstairs we have installed six
picture machines, which throw six pictures,
simultaneously II need be, on six screens set
upon the opposite wall. When became
member of the board in 1915 we looked at
film at the rate of nearly 20 900 900 feet in
q year. Now, because of reduction in the
output and by reason of change in our
system Of inspection, our service in year
covers about IL, 900 900 feet. This is the
whole product Of the United States plus a
certain amount of imported film, for there is
little that IL intended for circulation any
where in this country which does not come
to a large state like Pennsylvania. Our
1900 picture houses transact about 3 or 10
per cent of all the Aim business in the
Onlttu otottbs
"ln the Interpretation Of the meaning of
the words 'debasng to the public morals
we have formulated number of rules and
standards, with the support of a series of
opinions Of the county and Supreme courts.
by experience we have come to judge pic
lures rather instinctively. We know by
automatic understanding what violates a
standard, and in the performance of our
duties have wholly barred large number of
so called enlightenment pictures having
to do with white slavery, malpractice, birth
control and disease, as well as pictures of
other Objectionable kinds. There are 200 or
800 separate subjects which may not be ex-
hibited in Pennsylvania. More than this
we reconstruct; that is, we REQUIRE the
making over of $50 or 200 pictures in a
year. Through changes of captions the ten
dency of immoral film stories IL made good
or at least not offensive to public taste A
theme dealing with the betrayal of a girl for
example, or the use of drugs or the expIoita
ton of crime. which the immature or the
i'll conditioned mind may be led to initiate
Is altered when 1t can be and II Is given =
different turn. We have co operated In this
way tediously and patiently with the Aim
companies In many other cases our changes
or 'eliminations,' as we call them, are
slight and cover only the removal OF indi-
vidual titles and scenes. 1t will be held, I
think, that we have accommodated ourselves
to the picture industry by long experience
and that the industry with some grace has
ordered it's business to conform with our
requirements. -r.4t-
Run Into Many Lawsuits
80 much has not been done without, at
times hard tthon9kt6. hard Woxds and nrx,