, 1925-01-09

| Of these titles an ardent desire to
| seek tho sort Of entertainment thus
loudly h~eralded, or rather does re
say to himself. Same III stuff
Trying TO catch the curious-minded
young fellows and girls. Those
titles try to fool you. anyway. The
censors don't let anything get by
that's really salacious. 70
Last summer the producers got
| together and agreed upon tho issu-
ance of "a public announcement that
| thereafter the films would be more
high-moraled and educational. but
perhaps they haven't had time to
carry out the commendable plans
which their innate pulchritude and
deep culture dictated. Or perhaps
there have been material reforms of
this promised nature which the pub
lie has failed TO observe. 1t may
be that the villain hasn't locked the
door and clawed the poor heroine
quite SO often as he did last year.
or that sho hasn't been quite so
badly clawed-
But the titles OF the photoplays,
instead of being toned down to what
the public thought they were gong
to be. have not, TO say the least.
greatly gained In puritanic effect.
In fact, It would seem to one wan
dering about the city that there
have been flashed from the bill
boards during the past month or
two more OF the titles Of plays full
of the so-called sex appeal than dur
ing any previous period. Surely. II
the satyr's pointed ears and budding
horns are not seen in such titles as
"soiled." Name the Man. Tar
nished," Fires OF Youth" Passions
Slave" Husbands and Sweethearts.
Wives and Lovers" and THE Wo-
man Who Sinned." then one must be
of that innocent order OF minds
which observes only tho pure and
never the prurient.
The discerning person who sees
In this seductive title business moth
ing but old stuff. with which the
public is SO fed up that It is no lon
ger allured by 1t. would seem away
ahead of the scenario writer who
is heating what he calls his brain
In search OF a title which shall SO
whet the curiosity OF those suscep-
tible to sense-affecting influences as
to fill every seat in the theater, In
Guiding the one behind the post,
with a long line leading. up to the
box Office, ciamoring for admission.
The clever inventors of alluring
titles must rather pity the old play
wrights. What fine opportunity
Shakespeare missed when he failed
to consider the chance to fill up the
house by such a head ng as THE
Weak Wives of Windsor instead
of making 1t the tame merry ones!
Tho character of Lady Macbeth
should havo suggested 1.-THE Sicken-
ing Sin of Her Soul Laid Bare"
insted of which we get the plain. in
sipid Macbeth" utterly devoid of
sex appeal. With a little alteration
Desdemona could have been made
nto n of those dangerously dy-
manic queens of the drama, and in
stead of plain "Othello" the title
could have been 1.-The Siren of Ven
Ice And It would have required
no stretch Of imagination or inf
deity to historic fact TO have con
verted King Henry the Eighth"
into King Henry the Rake"
Lytton also missed a strong seat
selling point when he could think OF
nothing more seductive than THE
Lady of Lyons" which might have
read" "a Maid Begulled." The mod
ern scenario writer doubtless would
assent to the assertion that only one
Of the old playwrights energies from
dramatic history with any sort of
conception OF what a title should be
and that was Sheridan with his
School for Scandal"
Shall this fertile subject be dis
missed here? Yes, because u pub
lie so fully fed up with these titles
must begin to yawn. even by the
enumeration OF them. let alone any
redundant insistence on the all-too-
apparent reason for the ringing of so
many changes upon them-changes
which long ago began to bear the
earmarks of tiresome reiteraton.