The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-02-24

the same theatre next week
has received the medal NJ 4
league. but l sincerely hon ~.
none Of you will go to - 49,
questionable film which ia an,s..
ing further down the block a. :
has been released in ignominsslI
Silence"
After this, the meeting h,..,
up. excep: for a few officials 81.
remain in the small, front o.
for a brief business caucuS nv
OF these is the president az ~
club, who picks up letter ~, -
the registrars desk, with a HIM !.
coming discipline. "
my dear ladies'" she begin. {. :
-verely, glancing about the FEM, &.
circle. we will simply have n -
q little more pep into our camn. ~
for better pictures here. This ;s
letter from the New York Ieasrs
which says that we are not holSins
up our end Of the movement ny
scandalous feature which anne.,.s
here last week without the learn
endorsement drew a much larS.s
house than their selected film ~
We all know that the same thin, !.
likely to happen this week. Ma.
we've got to pull together and may.
the town support our picture
Promise me that you will call ~
everybody you know TODAY and
make them go to see that Learn
picture tonight, whether they van,
to or not Meeting adjourned"
The next scene in the scenar,o
for better, pictures takes place ~
year later, and it is in the Office ~
the most prosperous moving picturs
exhibitor in the same town Ths
M. P. E. is talking to the salesman
OF large New York motion pictur.
distributing agency.
Now you can't put that stus
over on me-" he says confidentially
for l know better. You used to i.
able to pass these pictures on TO
me, because l signed for 10 Att
time, and didn't know what I IN,
getting; but now l buy only pict.
ures branded by the league. and
won't take any others. THEY'RE
CLEAN decent and suitable for chill.
dren. and that's what this town
wants. It's c clean town and We
want clean pictures.
This, at least, is the way the
movie producers envision the out.
come Of their present plans to AZ.
pease the reformers. For years
they have studied the wants OF the
public with unflagging patience. As
fast as the public has changed its
mind, SO have the producers. The
public wanted special stars. and
the producers gave it special start;
then it wanted special directors
and the producers gave it special
directors, and now it wants we'll
acted, well-directed, well-knovn
stories, and the producers are try
ing to give it that. But upon one
thing the public has never changed
its mind, according to the produc-
ers, and that is the so-called sex
lure. 1t has always followed that.
Public Follows Sex Appeal.
ITO hear the reformers talk"
said a New York moving picture
magnate the other day, you would
think that all Of US producers were
vicious barbarians insistent upon
thrusting sex stuff down the pub
lies lily-white throat. As mat
ter of fact, l, for one, am happily
married and live in a suburb and
have two little daughters who hen;
peck me dreadfully. But I am also
a business man. and ! know what
will sell and what won't. I know
that the recent Du Barry picture
which made such a hit would un-
doubtedly have failed if they hadn't
changed its name and called it
Passion l know that The Charm
School, which had only short ran
as a play. made terrific hit on the
screen. Why? Because it contain
ed a lot of pretty girls in the slim
NEST of bathing suits and gym cos
tunes. We don't imagine these
things, you know. They are facts.
But the moving picture industry
no longer intends to be responsible
for the kind of pictures it produces
1t is going to clean house. as every
body has been suggesting that II
should, and see what happens
Maybe the League for Better Pict'
ures will succeed in its propaganda
and maybe it will fail. But il the
public does not like better plct'
ures," it can blame, not the moves
but the Teformers.
Some who believe the moving
picture has a real future as a form
of art. view this whole movement
with disfavor. The Better Pictures
league, they say. will do for tne
motion picture what the Society for
the. Suppression of Vice has done
for American literature by sup
pressing books-that is. make II
timid and conservative and hinder
its development as an art. :.
Should art and literature be made
subordinate to the prevailing mora,
code? Should they be destroyer
insofar as they do not fully sup.
port this code? Or should oul
morality be forced to live in mar,
mony with a free development 0!
art and literature. which are aise
instruments of civilization?
These are the questions raised
The reformers say morality Deiofs
all. The artists say art belors
all. The producers and publlsheI,'
say they will follow whatever pol
icy brings in the most money. AM
the public-says nothing, 1t mum
bly, takes whatever its masters
rive n