Evening star., 1939-07-30

Nickelodeon audiences everyWhe
ness. So did the dentists. But the
dentists showed their teeth. The
dental howl carried a fierce and
challenging snarl that shook the
then might movie business
into its first hazy realization that
certain obligations and responsible
ties were hand-in-hand with film
making.
The National Dental Association
Is believed to be the first group to
pounce down on the movies with a
compelling protest-but plenty of
individuals and minority groups
have been dong 1t ever since.
In fact. it's become such COM
mon sport to pick on the movies that
the average producer today worries
not nearly SO much about the we'll
defined moral boundary lines chalked
of by the Hays Office as he does
about the prospect of offending any
one of a number of eagle-eyed
groups.
Every release brings a shower of
protests.
A few years ago the script of
picture referred to playboy spend
ing money "like a drunken sailor"
The United States Navy promptly
took cognizance of that one and
the phrase was deleted. It has
never been used since Not long
ago certain studio, seeking a SIM
liar phrase. dropped one in about
spending money like a drunken
barber" For some time after ex-
ecutives of the studio cut their
own hair, fearful of going into a
barber shop, because of the indig-
nant repercussions which that one
line elected from the tonsorial
artists of America.
The dentists are still on their toes
and if any movie scene implies that
patient might suffer physical or
mental pain in connection with a
visit to a member Of their organi-
zation there's a deluge of letters.
The medical profession is equally
sensitive. All films that in any way
put the profession in an unkindly
light are promptly boycotted and de-
nounced. But this invariably helps
the box Office, which probably hasn't
occurred to the doctors.
Even race track pictures draw
wrath from minority groups There
never was race picture that didn't
have a gambler, tout, crooked
owner, wrong" jockey or some
similar sinister menace lurking
darkly in the shadows. When the
villain does his evil deed-slipping
a hypo into a steeds shoulder, put
ting a battery in a boot or some
other we'll known thoroughbred
dodge-the letters pile up in the
producers Office.
Despite occasional references in
the public prints to disbarment pro-
ceedings against unethical lawyers,
the legal profession takes its pen
in hand in large numbers whenever
a backsliding legal light Is por-
trayed on the screen. Biting in
dictments, with many a whereas"
and therefore" and written on sta
tionery bearing six-ply firm names,
shower down upon the studio that
dares hint that all lawyers aren't IN
the business only for the sake OF
seeing justice done.
Newspapers themselves, on occa-
sion, raise a mild voice of protest
over the screen portrayal Of news
paper reporters-a Ia Hildy johnson
in Front Page"-although these
recriminations find their place in
dramatic or editorial columns,
rather than on the desk of the pro-
ducer.
While not constituting an official
national body, the happy and fra
ternal order of railroad train fans
constitutes a major menace to the
peace of mind of most producers
these days-this because of the nu-
merous pioneering epics, with their
reproductions of old-time trains,
being turned out by so many of the
studios. These fans, apparently un-
able to recover from their boyhood
ambitions to be engineers, not only
know their locomotives, but they
know when every mechanical i'm
provement was invented and when
it came into use They are particu-
larly harsh in their upbraiding tao
tics, Indignantly insisting they will
never again 60 see picture pro-
duced by that particular company,
because of the incompetence, igno-
rance, insufferable gall, ETC." Gas one
critic actually put It'd of whoever
happened to be responsible for the
f1lm-which, incidentally, was one of
the biggest box office winners of this
year.
The film that caused the greatest
group furore-and echoes from 1t are
still being heard-was Convention
City," made by Warner Bros. in 1888.
In it the travelling salesman was put
on red-hot spot, especially around
his own fireside. 1t depicted the
drummer, by and large, as the most
frolicksome out-of-town party hound