Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-13
MEN AND AFFAIRS
BY ROBERT T. SMALL.

There is an epic battle being
fought cut in Hollywood as to
whether or not moving pictures
shall continue as a. rule to have so
called cinderella" endings or
whether they shall proceed to a per
haps more logical, even If tragic.
conclusion.
VIII II. Hays. grand potentate of
pictures. has been sojourning in the
colony" and may have to cast
deciding vote in the "war."
The controversy really goes deeper
than appears on the surface. The
cinderella ending" is strictly an
American institution. 1t has grown
up with the picture, and they have
prospered under the system even if II
is not art" as we know 1t.
The tragic enders" are led by the
foreign directors who recently have
been imported to Hollywood. They
sheer at the happy "fade-outs~ with
hero and heroine clasped in loving
embrace. They want the hero killed
and the heroine to realize she will
stuff. They want Smokers. They
| say our Pollyanna attitude toward the
pictures is piff1e. The foreign di-
rectors want TO put life in the raw
| on the screen. They want realism
until 1t hurts. They want the movie
audiences TO SILVER and shudder and
gasp at the edaring of their concep-
, tons and screen presentations.
The Americans say that such pro-
auctions might go we'll in certain
| metropolitan districts. but movies
| today are made for all parts of the
| country, for every variety of audience
| and this fact must always he taken
| into consideration. 1t is charged the
/ foreign producers are trying to put
| into the pictures the very things the
! producers have agreed to keep out
and which Mr.. Hays generally sees
| that they do keep out.
| Mr.. Hays is an elder in the Presby
| terrain Church. and there In a pretty
! general feeling that the pictures are
safe in his hands. IL the foreign pro
! ducers gain the upper hand. however
startling time is in store for actors
! and patrons alike. cinderella end
ings" may not he true art" but the
| American public has shown its liking
| for them and YOU can never get pop
ular stars like Mary Pickford or
| Douglas Fairbanks to stand for any
| thing else. Truth. virtue and honesty
always must prevail There is some
| thing clean and wholesome, after all
about the Cinderella stuff and, for
all the art" and the morbid "sIices
| of life." the movies, If they are to
| remain the great institution they have
| become, must stick to Cinderella. It
| is the only way for them to live
| happily forever after.
| Despite the valiant efforts to dis
guise and surround with mystery the
| famous White House spokesman. the
| country at large seems to have a
| fairly good idea as TO his identity
| The Rio Grande knows him as vel
| as the placid Potomac. The sun,
glinted rollers of the Pacific will tel
| you his name as we'll as the roarins
breakers of the Atlantic Even the
vast Rocky Mountains do not hide
| him.
| But it does seem as IL some Of the
| newspaper boys are coming a little
close to- violation of the nolitt
amenities of the White House svsteu
| by bluntly stating that the Presi
| dent at his semi-weekly' conference
with the correspondents failed to an
swer dozen questions propaunded a,
TO his intentions in 1928. 1t is not