Modern

—
: "Adventures
Industry's Teaching Films
Doing Public Relations Job
One of the MPAA's little-known projects is providing
shorts and excerpts from fine pictures to schools and
civic groups to help educate Americans, young and old
By ALAN HERBERT
WASHINGTON—Although it has received
little attention from the industry press in
recent years, one of the outstanding jobs in
public relations for the entire motion picture
industry is being done by Teaching Film Custodians.
No doubt, a good many readers are
wondering at this point who Teaching Film
Custodians are.
TFC is a non-profit operation affiliated
with the Motion Picture Ass'n of America
since it was foi-med 12 years ago. Its function
is to provide theatrical film in 16mm
versions for schools, civic groups and others
who are becoming increasingly aware of the
genuine educational value of much of what
issues from Hollywood in the form of entertainment
films.
The bulk of the library of some 400 titles
is composed of one or two-reel shorts put out
for programming in the nation's theatres. In
addition to these. TFC has prepared three
or four-reel excerpted versions of about four
dozen outstanding features, designed to point
up the historical, social or scientific interest
of the films.
Head of the operation since its organization
has been Roger Albright, formerly with
the board of education of the Methodist
church. Recently this correspondent quizzed
Albright in an effort to determine "What has
been the chief contribution of TFC in making
easier the job of the commercial exhibitor in
his community?"
"PHE night before. Albright pointed out, he
had addressed a Parent-Teacher Ass'n
meeting near Washington. "When we started
functioning a dozen years ago I used to have
to spend most of my time defending Hollywood
whenever I went before such a meeting,"
he recalled.
"I think the most dramatic indication of
what we have accomplished by our sincere
effort to help in the cause of education has
been the change of attitude of the entire
educational world. Last night was typical.
Instead of having to defend Hollywood
against a long list of charges that it was giving
young people false values, I listened to
several complaints against comic books and
television programs and was then permitted
to go into a constructive discussion of visual
education."
Educators today are genuinely interested
in each new Hollywood offering, Albright observed,
because they are now aware that a
tremendous portion of the commercial output
of Hollywood is of great classroom value. The
result is that they are beginning to feel a
community of interest and to look upon the
motion picture industry as an ally rather than
a corrupting enemy.
He recalled that when last year the National
Education Ass'n had prepared an overall
report on the effect of mass entertainment
media on youth, a prepublication draft of the
section dealing with films had been sent him
for study and comment. A dozen years ago,
he was sure, the report would have been
issued without having been studied by anyone
reading from a
film industry viewpoint,
and would
doubtless have lambasted
Hollywood. But
this time Albright
went over the copy and
made several suggestions
which both improved
the factual
value of the report
and resulted in kinder
Roger
Albright
His suggestions were accepted.
treatment of the film
industry.
TFC is self-supporting, and usually turns
in a small surplus. The surpluses are turned
over to various colleges and universities to
finance research projects in the visual education
field. Not a cent of its income is
from admissions, however.
The TFC reels are distributed through some
700 non-profit film libraries—usually public
school or university libraries. These libraries
pay $30 per reel for a three-year rental, or
$40 for ten years, and in turn collect small
fees from the schools or other groups that
screen the films. All renters are required to
pledge that no admission fee will be charged
and the proof that this pledge is observed is
seen in the fact that protests from exhibitors
are almost never received.
An important result of the TFC operation
has been the boxoffice aid to quality pictures
resulting from educational interest. Not only
has the degree of harassment by "crank"
complaints at the local level fallen off sharply
as a result of the new friendship between
educators and the industry, but there is a
growing emphasis in schools upon what Albright
refers to as "photoplay appreciation."
More and more, teachers are recommending
to their pupils that certain films should be
seen for the light they tlirow on a period in
history, an aspect of social relations, some
scientific subject, or music or literature.
Work is currently in progress on a condensed
version of "How Green Was My Valley"
for use by CIO unions. Other short versions
may be undertaken for union use, opening
up an entire new avenue for tile strengthening
of friendship to the industry.
The records are not sufficiently exact to
show how^ frequently these films are seen, but
TFC is able to point to thousands of screenings
annually for some of the titles. Among
the most popular are these: "Give Me Liberty"
(historical!; "A Criminal Is Born" (juvenile
delinquency): "What Is China?" (geogra-
tlTHILE it has been TFC practice not to release
in its 16mm versions any films still
enjoying commercial bookings in quantity,
steps are being taken now to increase the
teacher interest of films currently in the theatres.
In some cases, special supplementary phy •
teaching material and literature are sent out
to the schools for use with films which lead-
Principals
Recommend
Motion Picture Courses
PHILADELPHIA—The National Ass'n
of Secondary School F*rincipals has recommended
a motion picture appreciation
course in all the secondary schools of the
U.S. The recommendation came after a
committee reported to the organization
that "the motion picture is undoubtedly
one of the principal sources from which
the children of high school age draw their
heroes, beliefs, values, ambitions and social
standards.
"In an probability," the committee report
continued, "no other agency, except
the home, the school and the church, has
a greater responsibility to youth and to
society."
The film industry works under a code,
which, the educators said, is highly desirable.
They recommended that the industry
enforce full compliance with the
code in spirit as well as in letter.
Radio was warned that much of its er>
tertainment tends to be at a somewhat
puerile level, but it was commended for
having a large benevolent attitude toward
youth. Giveaway programs were criticized
as promoting dependence upon
luck rather than striving to improve individual
talents.
The committee included both private
and public school representatives.
ing educators have found to be valuable for
teaching purposes.
A teachers' journal in the field of history
and social studies has recently proposed that
it review and promote from the standpoint of
classroom value a feature each month, beginning
with "Prince of Foxes." Such reviewing
offers limitless possibilities for increasing
juvenile attendance and, indirectly, adult
attendance.
Selection of tiie film would be by the journal,
which is in line with TFC policy. Each
title of the entire list has been chosen by
recognized educational authorities, rather
than by Albright or some member of his staff.
In addition to school authorities, the TFC
offerings are available also to industrial firms,
labor unions and others interested in noncommercial
use of 16mm films in visual education.
The vast bulk of the bookings are iB
childhood education, but Standard Oil of
California now has 14 prints, for Instance,
of "Land of Liberty," a review of United
States history made up originally for the New
York and San Francisco World's Pairs. Its
employes see this film. DuPont also shows
this film to its employes.
of Huckleberry Finn" and
"Tale of Two Cities" (literature), and "The
Story of Dr. Carver" (sociological).
26 BOXOFFICE :: February 4, 1950