Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-02

AA man IN America today?
" " And are the morals
of the Nation closely
allied with the photoplay?
In answer to the first question,
Will H. Hays, GEAR of the NOV
ies,' may claim special attention.
AT the present time he stands
between a cross fire of photoplay
producers and several church
leaders. Canon William Sheafe
Chase marched at the head of
the latter group. Among the pro-
ducers, Ivan Abramson of the
Graphic Film Co. is now appeal
ing to the courts to reprimand
Mr.. Hays for a grotesquely ex-
aggerated moral sense. And one
Rev. DR.. Guy Emery Shipley as
certainS that Mr.. Hays is "a
, smoke screen to hide the filth of
the movies"
Canon Chase indicts Mr.. Hays
because he passed the picture,
"Old IronSideS," claiming the film
was IAN appeal to the gutter in
StinctS of humanity" Producer
AbramSon is making an effort to
have the courts broaden the mind
of the movie Gear" because Mr..
Hays banned his two film prod
uctS, "Enlighten Thy Daughter"
and Forbidden Fruit"
It seems, from this viewpoint,
that the object of the present
controversy is to get rid of Mr..
Hays. He is the target for bitter
attacks from writer's and direc-
tors who resent the ban on
themes that are freely handled in
literature and on the stage. He
is assailed for letting the rough
stuff" in and keeping the rough
stuff" out. In some of the cities
complaint is made that there are
not more pictures like 1.-The Cock
Eyed World" and in the small
towns the theater owners COM
plain that there are any pictures
like it.
One class of intellectuals at
tacks the motion picture industry
because, in its extreme activity
to avoid giving offense. it has
practically deprived itself of the
right of free speech. 1t avoids all
burning questions of controversy,
and win Hays lists among his
achievements the fact that the
films have been entirely free from
wet and dry propaganda. The
producers are naturally connected
with the industry for one purpose
only-they desire profits. For this
reason many of them consider
that Mr.. Hays has banned entire
ly too many profitable movie
themes. Producers make the
claim that the wicked" pictures
carry the "virtuouS" ones. For
instance, "Old IronSides," made at
the request of the Navy Depart
ment, lost a million and a half
dollars for the producers. Rough
Riders" went on the red side of
the ledger to a tune of eight hun
bred and fifty thousand dollars.
''Nainook of the North" never re-
ceived the reception it deserved.
Chang" and Grass" did not
make money for producers and
stockholders. The f1apper pic
lures pay for those of the educa-
tional variety.
When the Indiana statesman
took charge of the movie indus
try eight years ago, he went into
Office with high hopes. One of
his first projects was the exploit
tation of an educational series of
pictures Motion picture patrons
refused to pay their cash to see
the pictures. In the same way
Mr. Hays has discovered that one
section of the country may COM
plain Of a certain picture as
raw" while another section says
the work is Victorian, expurgated
and inSipid.
What on earth is Mr. Hays to
do? He reports that his Office
maintains contact with church
circles, that special workers have
been assigned to the Hollywood
studios to work with directors and
producers and that editorial
Boards" have been appointed to
properly interpret good taste and
the proprieties by helping to
shape pictures properly-to en-
courage the production of really
fine photoplays.
CARL LAEMMLE, Universal
head and one of the pioneers
of the motion picture industry,
comes. out with a fiat proposition
to remake the silent pictures of
other years into the new talkative