The Washington herald., 1920-11-28
No Genius With Censorship,
Says DeMille, Film Director,
Impossible to Judge Cinema Product by
Scenario, Declares Famous Producer.

Censorship nuIlines the work OF
the creative artist because it limits
that work to the mentality OF the
censor. Therein lies the greatest
Of the many evils Of censorship.-
So says Cecil B. DeMilie. screen
producer and director. in q recent
interview following the wide pub
licity given TO the suggestion that
pictures be nationally censored
while still In scenario form
1T 10 this limiting Of the crea-
tive work Of the artist that In the
/ most deadly danger Of censorship.
says Mr. DeMille. Tt IL the very
fact that the creative artist is cap
able of rising above the level OF the
rest of the world that makes his
work truly creative art Without
this pioneering spirit. the world of
art would be at a standstilL
Yet such a deadlock would I'm
evitably result IL censorship were
permitted to become general and ALL
embracing. The censors. without
conscious fault. would Inevitably
censor that which they could not
understand All too frequently this
censored matter is the very heart
of the creative artists work-the
particular thing that makes his
work distinctive and valuable to
the world
Censorship. whatever its form OF
however applied by oficisl bodies
must be undemocratic and un-Amer-
ican. 1t resolves itself into a rule
of minority over majority. 1t means
that a single individual or a small
group OF individuals shall be per-
mitted to dictate what the masse,
shall see.
''If this censorship were extended
to the press and the pulpit as well
as the screen, there might be q
small measure of justice in the pro-
posed measures. II editors were
4 asked to submit their material to q
censor before IL Is set in print ol
of ministers were forced to submit
their sermons to a board Of censor,
before transmitting these sermon,
to their congregations the motor
picture industry could not complain
Of unjust Discrimination But cen.
sorshlp of these avenues of thought
is nG1nr seriously suggested.
rs been suggested that cen.
sorshfp be applied to motion pic.
tures while they are still In the
| scenario stage The answer to thi,
argument is that Il is almost impos.
| sible to foresee from the scenario
Just what the finished production
will be. In the course of producing
nearly two score photoplays Of my
own. / have never been able definite
ly to say how much or how little OF
the scenario would remain in the
finished play. In the nature Of pho
toplay production, It is necessary &c
build as one goes Not infrequently
IL is necessary to deviste from the
scenario.
There are many striking exam
pies OF absurdities which censorship
produces but none more ridiculous
than the case of the screen adoption
OF Carmen which i made several
years ago with Geraldine Farrar ir
! the title ole. At that time there
were approximately thirty-fve cen.
sorship organizations in the United
States. These included various State
and municipal boards.
Every one of these thirty-odd or.
ganization censored Carmen And
no two boards censored the samt
thing! In other words. what wa,
morally acceptable to New York wa,
highly immoral in Pennsylvania
What Pennsylvania might see with
impunity was considered dangerou.
to the citizens Of an adjoining State
So IL went through the entire list ot
some thirty censorship boards.
"Agitators who plead for censor.