Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-04-20

| other place where men and women
are thrown together and tell some
of the rottenness that exists there? 2"
he asked. Il shall take pleasure in
picking out some of the horrible
crimes perpetrated by ministers of
the Gospel and make them public
at the next debate.
Il will show that more murders
have been committed by members
of the church than by the acting
profession, and that there are
more church people in prison than
there are stage people, and l will
back these statements with facts
and figures when l meet DR.. Straton
again on the platform"
Mr.. Brady then concluded his ad-
dress with the suggestion that, if the
church really believed so much in
EQUITY to exist among stage people,
it should help them rather than
SANDER them" Let's follow the
example of the Catholic Actors
Guild and get a Presbyterian and a
nominations and have a combined
Actors Religious Guild" he pro-
posed.
This suggestion so pleased DR..
Straton that he promptly offered to
come to Mr.. Brady's theatre and
conduct religious services for the
benefit of the profession. Such SER
vices would not, however, he warm
! ed, interrupt his campaign for stage
censorship being carried on at
Albany.
Meantime, other prominent
preachers, repealed by what they
term DR.. STATIONS "sensationalism,"
are frankly espousing the theatres
I RaIIaa 0nn fhAcn .1aa-f1rr
pointed out, for instance. hat the
stage is a splendid medium-and
n that is not ignored-for put
ting moral propaganda across" He
called attention to the fact that
there were at present two plays
running in New York-"The Ma
tional Anthem and Brieux MA
dame Pierre containing propa-
ganda which savored more of the
pulpit than of the theatre.
Another preacher invited Miss
Lillian Gish to address the congre-
cation of his church, the other night.
and introduced her with the follow
ing reassuring words:
Miss Gish Addresses Congregation
II am proud t. have Lillian Gish
here in my church tonight. 1 know
her. and / know David Wark Grit
fifth, her manager, and I am glad
that / know them. / am proud to
count William A. Brady among my
friends. / am tired of hearing the
theatre and the moving pictures con-
tinually abused. They do a great
deal of good. and they should be
encouraged rather than viliied. OF
course, some plays are bad and
should be blacklisted. but they are
in the minority. The movies put
/ tL. soJ14- A,x 1f Ay~{,a. -
stead of throwing stones at them,
let's commend the good things they
do"
Miss Gish then stepped forward
and testified Is to her religious
training. MANY people nowadays
seem to regard actors and actresses
with suspicion" she began. "I don't
know exactly what I o say to you
to convince you that we are not
strange people. just normal every
day men and women like yourselves
but perhaps it will do If 1 simply
tell you about myself and my sister,
Dorothy. Whatever success my sis
ter and / have had is due to our
mother. who has always been our
friend and adviser.
Our first public appearance on
the stage was when / was five years
old and Dorothy was three, in ar
entertainment in a church Sunday
school. by the way. / vas six and
Dorothy -four when we began our
professional careers in child parts
MINER continually watched over US
and ministered to us throughout our
careers. She looked after our re-
ligious training. and saw that we al
ways had a Bible in our dressing
room, and that we read 1t. Mother
told us hat God saw everything we
did and knew everything we
thought. We have never forgotten
her teaching.
Thus the whole subject of stage
censorship has become. strangely
enough. inextricably bound up with
the personalities of the stage. A
Hollywood moving picture director
is murdered. resulting in a certain
amount of scandal. and immediately
DR.. Straton and his followers lear
to the conclusion that everything
connected with the stage is vile. and
that its productions must therefors
be controlled. This conclusion may
seem a trife unreasonable to the
discerning. but experience has shown
that the legislators at Albany are
swayed by more potent means thar
mere logic.