Evening star., 1924-06-22
BY HALLETT ABEND,

LOS ANGELES. June 2o.-A chair
81 motion picture theaters all ovel
the country and in England is tht
project launched by Sol Lesser and
irving Lesser. after a long investi
CATION
Mr. Lesser announces that he ha.
been carrying on conferences with
people like Judge Ben Lindsey o.
Denver and with David Lloyd George
and Lord Beaverbrook in England
There have also been conference:
with the regional heads Of the Par
ent-Teacher Associations in all parts
of the United States.
The first two of these theaters will
be established in Hollywood and In
Los Angeles, and the third in New
York. The chain will be operated by
the West Coast Theaters. which al
ready owns more than one hundred
and sixty theaters on the Pacific
coast. Irving Lesser leaves for Eng
land next month to arrange the Eng
l.sh chain.
There are many photoplays which
children should not see, and which
grown people can see and enjoy with
out absorbing unsound ideas of life
said ad Mr.; Lesser, We plan to max max e
theaterS photoplayS which will be en-
poyable to children over wide range
OF ages, and to combine the entertain
ment features with shorter educa-
tional films Our, project is an ambi.
tlouS one, and when we have il we'll
established in all the large cities We
shall experiment with similar houses
In the smaller cities of the country.
Hedda Hopper is seriously i'll in
Hollywood Hospital after an opera
ton for acute appendicitis
Paris Green" the third of his Fight
and VIM series for Universal.
After going through more than the
usual number of title changes Mary
the Third" directed for Metro-Gold-
wyn-Mayer by King Vidor has finally
been named Don't Deceive Your Chill
dren."
John NJ. stahl has completed the
filming of Husbands and Lovers" for
First National. The cast includes
Lewis Stone, Lew Cody and Florence
Fidor. Alan Hale, playing the role
of the Duke OF Mareno in support OF
Laurette Taylor has had to dye his
tache jet black. For the first time
he will be seen as Latin type on the
screen.
Novarro May BE Ben Hur.
Ramon Novarro has slipped away
and returned to Europe. RYmor has
IL that he will succeed George Walsh
in the title part of Ben Hur," but no
announcement has been made. MIR
Walsh has been abroad playing in the
part for several months
Olive Hasbrouck and Arthur Silver
lake will be featured in series OF
will make. The entire series will
satirize puppy love" The first OF
them has been named "Doggone Girls,
Anyhow
Richard Walton Tully has an
nounced that he will devote his time
and energy to an appeal from the de-
csion of New York judge, which
held that he had pirated the plot of
The Bird of Paradise" from Mrs.
Grace A. Fendlers unpresented play,
Hawaii" Mr.. Tully's plans for a
screen version of his play are neces-
sarily held in abeyance until title to
the story is clear. The first appeal
will be to the New York state su-
preme court. If the decision is again
in Mrs. Fendler's favor, Mr.. Tully will
carry the case to the United States
Supreme Court. he says. his action
being predicated as much upon the
cleared of the charge of literary pi-
racy as upon a wish to retain the
100000 involved.
Pauline Frederick, now playing at
Cleaning" will begin work next week
in a film. playing the title role OF
Mrs. Paramor for Metro -GoldWyn-
Mayer.
with the Waldorf Productions for a
series of features, the first of which
will be '"The Foolish Virgin" Mabel
Ballin will play the heroine in a
spectacular film called The Great
Chicago Fire"
Has Hays Censored Picturesf
Authors, directors, actors and 9TH
ers connected with the motion plcture
colony here have been CONSIDERABLY
excited over the report, which could
not be traced to it's source, that WIN
Hays had constituted himself sort
placed a ban upon the filming of
twenty five well known novels ana
stage plays.
The list on the supposed ban is as
follows: Rust" White Cargo. ..sinne pne
cailed canni Peter,@ The Hussy," The
Coast of Folly" Miss Cherry Bios
som" crazy Man" The Bachelor
Girl" Half Gods" Thy Neignbors
Mifs; Thfs., N!fn'sfhefh Fhe aieh pIaes Mashs
eior's Darling" "A Wise Virgin
"The Sea" THE Eleventh Virgin.
Mirage" and THE Passionate Hour" "
"A
already been purchased for screen
presentation, and the aggregate OF
prices paid totals well above $25o,ooo;
These six are The Coast of Folly,
Rust" "Sandra," The Eleventh Vir-
gin" The Bachelor Girl and Mi
rage" Conjecture has been busy as
to whether or not the producers nav
ing largo sums of money involved IN
these stories would rebel or submit
to the supposed Hays ban"
can state authoritatively that
has neither the wish nor the power to
ban" any book or play or list or
books and plays. On occasion he has.
and probably will, earnestly advise
against the filming of some story
which is considered risque or of ques-
tionable taste, but he does not ban
stories nor persons from the screen.
1t is true, however. that the novels
and plays listed above, in their origi-
nal form, are considered too strong
for the screen" and those which are
to be filmed will be toned down.
What happens in the case or rlsqne
stories is this: If one producer reads
a book or play and considers 1t vul-
gar or immoral, he writes a letter TO
WIN Hays expressing his opinion. Mr
Hays then reads the plot in question,
and then sends out to all producers
who are members of his organization
4 copy of the letter he has received
and a supplementary letter in which
he SAYS that he agrees or diSagrees,
as the case may be: that the produc-
tion of a given story would not De
for the best interests OF the lndus-
try" In this way all producers are
kept advised of the opinions OF other
producers and they find these opinions
valuable.
AS a matter of fact, Mr.. Hays, per-
sonally, did not approve or the MIN,