Civic improvement; Urban women; Women in public life
The standard for censorship set up by the Board is thus stated: “Broad
problems, such as the effect of scenes of violence on the juvenile mind,
still rest in an astonishing obscurity. It is impossible to get either
from the lips of psychologists or from the penal statistics of the
country, any conclusive verdict on this subject. In the same way, it is
hard to distinguish between the immediate effect of a vulgar picture on
the audience, which may be presumed to be degrading, and the ultimate
effect which may, through reaction, be that of exciting the audience to
a permanent disgust with vulgarity in all forms. In matters of this
kind, the Board acts on the general assumption of all its members, which
are general assumptions of people at large.”
The National Board does not and cannot relieve any community of its
local responsibility. As “the motion-picture theater is essentially a
form of public service which is licensed by the community for public
welfare, the same kind of scrutiny should be applied to it that is
applied to any public service monopoly, news-stand privilege or park
concession.”
A compilation of material from all parts of the country as to existing
laws and the methods used in regulating motion-picture theaters in
America and Europe has been made by the National Board and these form a
partial basis for general facts and principles set forth in a Model
Ordinance devised by it with detailed suggestions applicable in all the
cities of the country. This work of securing adequate legislation is
often taken up locally by women’s clubs. For example, the Wisconsin
Federation of Women’s Clubs vigorously supported a bill in the
legislature, providing for a censorship of moving-picture films
throughout the state.
Charlotte Rumbold is the intermediary between the National Board of
Censorship of Picture Films and the St. Louis Police Court. A volunteer
committee of which she was chairman made the St. Louis inspection of
picture shows and dance halls. Officers of the Good Citizenship Club of
Boise, Idaho, a women’s association, act as an advisory committee with
the Law Enforcement League and Ministerial Association in censoring
movies.
Private enterprise joins with public-spirited women in securing model
motion-picture shows. In Boston, Josephine Clement is the manager of the
Bijou Dream Motion Picture Theater and has had five years’ experience in
providing the public with a model theater. Plans for similar theaters
are afoot in two cities. Mrs. Clement declares from her experience that
they are self-supporting and a great deal more satisfactory to the owner
than those which invite constant interference.
Motion-picture films are really receiving more attention than the plays
and comic operas and vaudeville shows which are supported by people who
care less for the movies. Thus the percentage of innocuous films
probably is lower or is becoming lower than the percentage of innocuous
plays in other theaters.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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