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CUT OUT BY THE "MOVIE" CENSOR 17
He picked other extracts for me:
If such a spectacle must be forbidden, then
there is no room on the stage for "The Merchant
of Venice" or any other play that may
be unwelcome to a relatively small element of
the public in a given community. (From the
Westerly, R. I., Sun.)
"I am pointing these out," explained
the producer, "to show the unreasonableness
of censors. They urge their activities
on the ground of maintaining public
morals. It seems to me it is not a question
here of morals at all.
"But take it for granted that it is.
That issue was raised in Chicago, and
Judge Cooper of that city wisely disposed
of the matter in these words
[again quoting from Griffith's book | :
Every night in every fair-sized community
in this broad land, where the stage instructs or
entertains, each and every play has its good
characters and its bad characters portrayed,
both of which arc essential to a play in the
rounding out of the moral of the play, and
without which moral a play is of no educational
value. If all the plays in which a villain
had played were stopped, the theater as
an educator and entertainer of the people
would become a memory.
"Motion picture censorship is a repressive
moral force. It tends to senti­
THE DOOR WAS LOCKED!
This was the ODe elemeDt the censors objected to.
mentality, mushiness, and the exposition
of the unrealities of life. It tends to
suppress knowledge, to conceal the fact
that there is wickedness in the world.
"Pennsylvania and Ohio, which have
state boards of censorship, seem to be the
worst offenders.
"In Pennsylvania, for example, women
in society are not permitted to drinkeven
a sloe gin fizz; underworld scenes,
opium dens, questionable resorts must
he shown in such a way that 'no one may
he stimulated by the example to similar
adventure or conduct'. The use and
effect of habit-forming drugs 'is not considered
by the Board a legitimate subject
for motion pictures'. Respect for officers
of the law must be shown—policemen
must never be grafters—even though,
for example, Chicago is at present having
one of the most gigantic police scan­
dals in its history.
"Babies are unmentionable creatures
in Pennsylvania. The representation of
prospective motherhood is regarded as
highly improper. Take, for example,