THE MICHIGAN DAILY THE MICHIGAN DAILY I . NMI , 0 , li -, , -- -- Now Movie Analysis Shows Films J!:n Are DistortingSocial Realities By Edward C. Jurist Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of three articles by Mr. Jurist, a member of the Michigan Repertory Players, on "The Movies And The People." In the two following articles to appear later this week, Mr. Jurist will discuss what educators can do to remedy the un- wholesome situation caused by present day films, and what the University of Michigan can ,I Edited and managed bystudents of the University of Wehigan under the authority of the Board in Control of tnWdent Publications. Publishes .every morning except Monday during the University year and Summer Session. Member of the Associated Press The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news dispatches credited to it .or not otherwise credited in this newspaper. All tights of republication of all other matters herein also tesrved. rhtered-at the Post Office at Ann Arbor, Michigan, as econd class mail matter. Subscriptions during regular school year by carrier, $4.00; by mail, $4.50. &xR mber, Associated Collegiate Press, 193738 R"PRESENTED POR NATIONAL ADVERTISING SY National AdvertisingService, Inc. College Pubishers Rejresentatie 420 MADISON AVE, NEW YORK, N. Y,. CRICASO - 0*BOSTON . LOS AGES * SAN FRANCISCO Board of Editors- Managing. Editor . . . . Irving Silverman City Editor . ... . . . Robert I. Fitzhenry Asistant Editors . . . . . . Mel Fineberg, Joseph Gies, Elliot Maraniss, Ben M. Marino, Carl Petersen, Suzanne Potter, Harry L. Sonneborn. Business Department Business Manager . . . . Ernest A. Jones Credit Manager . . . . Norman Steinberg Circulation Manager . . . J. Cameron Hall Assistants . . Philip Buchen, Walter Stebens NIGHT EDITOR: BEN M. MARINO * .The editorials published in The Michigan Daily are written by members of the Daily staff and represent the views of the writers oly. It is. important for society to avoid the neglect of adults, but positively dangerous for it to thwart the ambition of youth to ieform' the world. Only the schools which act on this belief are educational institu- tions in the best meaning of the term. --Alexander G. Ruthven. Mr. Lippmann On Liberty... N A RECENT column for The New York Herald Tribune, Walter Lipp- mann-once white-headed boy of the liberal movement but now despair of the progressives discussed "How Liberty is Lost." Possibly he did not realize that he tarred that eminently re- ;pectable paper with ideas suspiciously like ra- dical doctrines. Or possibly he considered this fact irrelevant, remembering what one keen thinker has pointed out: that the social axroms of en In any given historical epoch are remark- ably alike, however much their corollaries and conclusions may differ. And in truth, his com- ments, wcnt neir incisive analysis anct measure, lucidity, are etssentially what a diplomatic rad- ical might write for the Rotaqr magazine, or an honest conservative for the Labor Monthly. Lippmann's main contention is that the lack o economic security breeds a contempt for po- litical liberty; that those peoples who have lost their political rights are precisely those who had never obtained economic independlence, who "had no property, no savings, and either no job at all or a job which they could not feel sure of holding. They were in the exact sense of the term proletarians even if they happened to be earning fairly high salaries at the moment for they had no reserves to fall back upon. They could not afford to lose their jobs. They could not afford therefore, to speak their minds or to take any risks, to be in any real sense of the word individual citizens." In our country too, the same tendencies have become evident. The exercise of the duties of free judgment, political integrity, even of common honesty, has become a luxury that is to be indulged in only temperately-ex- cept by those whose persons and families are in secure economic circumstances. Their personal liberties must await the attainment of economic security to be freely exercised. "The industrial worker, who has a choice between working in one factory and not working at all, the wYlite collar intellectuals who compete for the relative- ly few private positions and for positions in the bureaucracy-these are people who live too pre- cariously to exercise their liberties or defend them . . . they have only the choice of truckling to the powerful or perishing heroically but miser- ably. Men like these having none of the substance of liberty themselves have scant respect for any law or any orm of civil rights." If they cannot exercise their own civil rights, those possessed by' others become irrelevant, and secondary to their achieving economic security. Those who have no significant economic stake in the social order have no binding interest in its liberties. If the workings of the economic system creates a mass of dispossessed, Lippmann says, it only pre- pares the destruction of the social order in which it operates. The checking of this decaying process, Lipp- ann asserts, depends on "maintaining and re- storing for the great majority of individuals the economic means to remain independent individ- uals." The further details of Lippmann's method for winning back liberty may not be as realistic contribute to an amelioration of this condition. Today, over all the land, a hundred million people pay weekly tribute to the great Moloch of the Machine Age, the moving pictures. The de- sire for the relaxation and refuge which the movies offer has made all people, many who cannot really afford it, regular patrons of the theatres. Because of this widespread attendance, the movies have become the greatest culturaliand social force in American life. Sociologists de- clare that over one-third of the cinema audience is composed of children. But this is actually understatement, for of the remaining two-thirds, a goodly proportion, if not most adults, must have basically the same unsophisticated reac- tions to movie propaganda as do children. There has been a good deal of scientific re- search in this field, but until recently the results were largely confined to publication in scien- tific journals. In 1928, however, the Payne Fund in New York appropriated $200,000 to finance a four-year study of the effect of mo- content. His conclusions he generalizes as fol- lows: "In a large measure, the characters, the prob- lems and the settings of most movies are re- mote from the lives of the children who view them. This remoteness is seen in the emphasis on romantic love, a problem which nearly all in- dividuals must meet and face in some way. but not in the manner, nor to the degree indicated in the motion pictures. It is also seen in the emphasis on wealth and luxury, which serves neither to point a desirable ideal nor to offer methods by means of which the mass of people can attain that ideal." in the list below, Professor Dale's list of movie subjects which have been overemphasized, bal- anced against a list of subjects which have been largely ignored by the movie-maker, is described with all the eloquence of the simple fact, the most important aspect of the cinema's deficien- cy: Balance Sheet For Motion Picture Content The Following Aspects Or Problems Have Received Attention, Sometime Excessive, In The Motion Pictures. Life of the upper economic strata. Metropolitan localities. Problems of the unmarried and young. Motif of escape and entertainment. Interest appeal to young adults. Professional and commercial world. Personal problems in a limited field. Comedy foreigner such as the dumb Swede. Diverse and passive recreations. Individual and personal goals. Variety of crime and crime techniques. Emphasis on the romance and unusual in friendship. The "lived happily ever after" idea following an unusual and romantic courtship. Physical beauty. Emphasis on physical action. Sports and trivial matters shown frequent- ly in newsreels. The Following Aspects Or Problems Have Received Scant Attention In The Motion Pictures. Life of the middle and lower economic strata. Small town and rural areas. Problems of the married, middle aged, and old, Other problems of everyday life. Motif of education and social enlightment. Interest appeal to children and other adults. Industrial and agricultural world. Representative foreigner, such as the worker, business man, farmer. Occupational and governmental problems. Active and inexpensive recreations. Social goals. Causes and cures of crime. Emphasis on 'the undramatic and enduring in friendship. Happy marriages shown as a result of com- panionship and careful planning. Beauty of character. Increased skill in analysis of motives and portrayal of character. World news of an intellectual and perhaps undramatic type, results of scientific findings, pictures of real conditions in the different parts of the world." It Seems To Me' By HEYWOOD BROUN Faneuil Hall, in Boston. has been called "The Cradle of Liberty," but just now the cradle rocks, and it will fail unless the breed of Bunker Hill stand fast in the defense of free- dom. At the moment of writing the question is up to Mayor Tobin. He mustd e ide whether political censorship is to be set up in a great American city. Nor can it be denied that the implications of the film "Blockade" might well be annoying to both Hitler and Mussolni. The picture presum- ably is laid in Spain, although the scene of action is nowhere identified. It deals with a civil war and espouses no side., except to point out eloquently, the cruelty of wanton bombardments, of civilian populations which taki their toll chiefly among children and women. There is no point in pussyfooting the fact that this preachment is a criticism of the Fascist dictators. Both Hitler and Mussolini on many occasions have found thek work of their bombers eminently satisfac- tory. Indeed, they exult in blood which runs down the crooked streets and is scattered in the market place. In Spain death takes no holiday, not even in the children's hour. To some this slaughter of the innocent seems so monstrous that the President of the United States and the Pope and many others have made articulate protest, Even Francisco Franco, Gen- eralissmo and branch manager for the Nazis, has been moved on repeated oc- casions to say, "So sorry." Backed By Tradition But the Boston City Council has unanimously passed a motion asking Mayor Tobin to ban the film "Block- ade." He stands more lonely than the little group of Concord freemen who took their post at the rude bridge which arched the flood. And yet he s not quite alone, for he is backed by a great tradition. If he yields to the pressure a large New England city will put itself on record as believing that no finger should be lifted to abate that rain of death which falls upon the just and the unjust. Boston will consent to have its eyes put out lest anyone within its walls look well upon the picture of the slain babies of Spain. It is as if King Herod him- self were elevated to high heaven. The Council was unanimous. The order was "passed without discussion or dissent." Perhaps these legislators did not care to remind themselves of the fun- damental human right which they were turning back to limbo. The mem- bers of the Council have not seen the film, nor has the Mayor. But they have had a request from Mrs. David J. Johnston, of 118 Gommonwealth Ave. Apparently that was sufficient. Mrs. Johnson has not been elected to any public office by the voters of Bos- ton, but she is "a member of the exe- cutive board of the League of Catho- lic Women." Her request was granted, and unless the Mayor dissents a lone lady will from henceforth be in com- plete charge of the cultural activities of Boston as represented in books and plays and motion pictures. I wonder what Hawthorne and Holmes, Emerson and Thoreau, Long- fellow and Whittier would have thought about this arrangement. However, Mis. Johnson does not seem to hold our native writers in much respect, for she is quoted as saying that Spain has been spoiled by "Amer- ican literary riffraff." Seemingly, in the estimation of Mrs. Johnson, the German and Italian planes had nothing to do with the destruction. And it is interesting to note that there are hundreds of American authors beyond the pale of Boston who have publicly gone on record as being against Franco's terror. Are The Names Riffraff? Among the "riffraff" of Boston's literary czar would be Pearl Buck, Kathleen Norris, Stephen Vincent Benet, Charles Norris, Dorothy Par- ker, Van Wyck Brooks, H. V. Kalten- born, Donald Ogden Stewart, Brooks Atkinson, Ernest Hemingway, Sher- wood Anderson, William Allen White, Edna Ferber, Dorothy Thompson, William Lyon Phelps, Louis Brom- field, Fannie Hurst. RacheluCrothers, William Rose Benet, Vincent Sheean and Shamus O'Sheel. If Mayor Tobin wilts and indorses the ban he should at the same time sign another paper. If he agrees to se up a censorship in Boston to save the feelings of Hitler and Mussolini he should also request federal funds to demolish Bunker Hill monument and sink each stone into the harbor to lie beside the tea which has long since turned to water. And it might TH EA TRE DAILY OFFICIAL By PROF. KARL LITZENBERG BULLETIN Department, of Emngltsh Idot's Deght '.THURSDAY, JULY 21. 1938 Mr. Alexander Wyckoff has con- structed upon the Mendelssohn stage Students. College of Literature, Sci- one of the most brilliantly conceived ence and the Arts: Except under ex- sets which the patrons of the Mich- I igan Repertory Players have gazedt upon. This set is far and away the most notable feature of the present1 production of Robert Emmet Sher- wood's Pulitzer Prize Play of 1936, Idiot's Delight. The scene which Mr. Wyckoff has delineated with such consummate stage artistry and in- genious stage practicality,--note the use made of the glass wall in the last act,-is the cocktail lounge of thec Hotel Monte Gabriele on the Italian t frontier. The time is the present, and the whole business will scare you to death. In this lounge, aided and abetted by the material, which includes the intrigues of a prototype of Sir Basil Zaharoff, the watchful eye of a fas- cist captain, the European tour of an! Americar hoofer and company; andj impeded slightly by an assortment ofI accents never before gathered to-, gether in one place, the Repertory Players successfully enact Mr. Sher- wood's by no means trivial comedy. This is a realistic play made up of, affecting ironies and insoluble con- flicts. The ironies are stronger thani the minds and temperaments which produce them; and the conflicts- except for one that doesn't matter much to the peace of Europe, since it concerns the Hotel Governor Bry- an in Omaha-are impossible to re- solve, for they are made of such per- durable stuff as nationalism and in- ternationalism; avarice and charity; hate and love. Mr. Sherwood did not propose to resolve them; he pro- posed to write an actable play (as he invariably does), and in writing one, he controlled and restricted his di- dacticism by dramatizing it in terms of exciting action instead of mouth- ing it drearily from a soap-box. To say all this in a less technical fash- ion: Idiot's Delight appeals to the intelligence of its audience; yet its author has not forgotten that people go to the theatre to be entertained. As has frequently been the case in Michigan Repertory productions, the supporting players ran away with most of the garlands; Ray Pedersen, a tenderly sympathetic interpreta- tion of the waiter; J S. Bernhard, with an ingratiating impersonation of the hotel's social director; Stephen Filipiak, with a finely restrained per- formance of the part of the captain; Edward Jurist, with a splendid por- trayal of the foredoomed idealist. In the principal roles were Charles Harrell, who played the hoofer with great credit to himself (if not to the hoofing profession), and Mrs. Har- rell, who was an entirely convincing Irene. Mr. Harrell appeared to be a little too boisterous in the first act --though perhaps this is quibbling; Mr. Harrell may well maintain that Harry Van could not possibly be played in too boisterous a fashion. High-light of the evening: Harry Van and his Six Peroxide Babies en- tertaining (gratis) the inmates of the establishment with a honky-tonk song-and-dance. Mr. Harrell's hoof- ing while Rome burned was what is called on the West Coast Colossal! He received highly professional as- sistance from the S.P.S. -FORUM traordinary circumstances, courses dropped after Saturday, July 23, will be recorded with a grade of E. Students, School of Education (un- dergraduate) : Courses dropped after Saturday, July 23, will be recorded with the grade of "E" except un- der extraordinary circumstances. No course is considered officially dropped unless it has been reported in the office of the Registrar, Room 4, University Hall. School of Education: Students (un- dergraduate) who received marks of Incomplete or X at the close of their last term of attendance, must com- plete work in such courses by July 27. Petitions for extension of time, with the approval of t'a instructor con- cerned, should be dirc: ed to the Ad- ministrative Committee oe the School of Education and presente at 1437 U.E.S. before July 27. In case:. where no supplementary grade or petition for extension of time has been file-1, these marks shall be considered as having lapsed into E grades. Students, College of Literature, Sci- ence and the Arts: Students whose records carry reports of I or X eith- er from last semester or . (if they have not been in residence since) from any former session, will receive grades of E unless the work is com- pleted by July 27. Petitions for extensions of time, with the written approval of the in- structors concerned, should be ad- dressed to the Administrative Board of the College, and presented in Room 4, U'.iversity Hall, before July 27. tion pictures on youth. The study was carried out by a group of eminent American psycholo- gists, and educators, and resulted in 1933 in a 12-voltune publication, Motion Pictures and Youth. The answers to pertinent questions are discussed in detail in the 12-volume study. Even though the study is not complete, it is undoubted- ly the most important and productive attack yet made on the problem. In general these are the conclusions which the investigators derived from their data: A. "Children and youth the country over are regular patrons of motion picture houses." B. "Children retain approximately 70 per cent of what they see in the movies. There is a ten- dency to accept as true, general information exhibited incorrectly on the screen." C. "Motion pictures have a definite lasting effect on the social attitudes of children." D. "Motion pictures were a factor of impor- tance in the delinquent and criminal careers of approximately 20 per cent of the youth inter- viewed in prisons and reformatories. Motion pictures play an especially important part in the lives of children reared in socially disorganized areas." E. "Movies tend to fix and establish be- havior, patterns and types of attitudes of chil- dren." F. "Profound physiological and mental effects of an emotional order are produced by motion pictures, resulting in unnatural sophistication and premature bodily stimulation." G. "The mores of the community and those depicted in most films do not coincide.," H. "Because motion pictures present extremes of conduct as though they were the norm, and because, in contrast to other educational institu- tions, they have no definite goal of conduct or set of values, motion pictures confound discrimina- tion and dissolve moral judgment." The results of these statistical studies show how effective and how widespread is the influ- ence of the movies. But perhaps the most sig- nificant data of all is that collected by Prof. Edgar Dale. with reference to just what it is that children .see when they attend the movies. and what concepts are formed in their minds as a result. Over a period of three selected years. Professor Dale examined a great number of pictures selected at random, and tabulated their Recently, there has been appearing a brief monthly bulletin, Propaganda Analysis, the pur- pose of which is "to Help the Intelligent Citizen Detect and Analyze .Propaganda." The March issue of this organ is devoted to "The Movies and Propaganda." Its analyses are directed at the adult citizen, and lest it be thought that Professor Dale's conclusions are applicable only to "minor children," let me quote their reaf- firmation of his work as it applies to the "adult child." Their analysis of conscious or uncon- scious propaganda techniques found in the nar- rative film, is divided into five parts, each of which is an example of a commonly used stereo- type: 1. "The successful culmination of a romance will solve most of the dilemmas of the hero and the heroine. What young lovers are going to live on in a world of insecurity and unemploy- ment reaches the screen only rarely .. . 2. "Catch the criminal and you solve the crime problem. Only rarely does a movie. give us some insight into unemployment, slums, insecurity, as causes for crime . . 3. "War and the preparation for war are thrill- ing, heroic and glamorous . . . 4. "The good life is the acquisitive life with its emphasis on luxury, fine homes and auto- mobiles, evening dress, swank and security . . . When we note the heavy emphasis in selection of leading male characters from the commercial and professional groups, with almost no repre- sentatives from the ranks of labor, we get some explanation of the lop-sided notion of the world of workaday living held by many young people. 5. "Certain races, nationalities, or minority groups are comical, dull-witted, or possess traits that mark them as greatly different from and inferior to native white Americans . . . Studies of the sterotypes held by college students show that many influences have been at work in pro- ducing grossly inaccurate portraits of races and nationalities." To tell but a select group of generally dis-. criminate or specially trained adults, this dis- tortion of values and social realities by the cinema, and its artistic dishonesty are not at all apparent. Witness- the widespread atten- dance at ordinary moving picture theatres, as against the limited audience which patronizes the art cinema houses. These latter are the small number of houses which present the best (that one per cent of which I spoke) in native and foreign films. Rebel army of General Franco-the puppet of Italian and German fascism-is a step nearer to our own border by the fascist iron heel. Every bomb dropped on the women and children of Barcelona is advance notice of one to fall some day on a child in New York. Spain represents the major struggle today against this fascist aggression; it is the first real test of fascist power, the first case of real re- sistance to the dictators' armed force. Victory for Loyalist Spain means a vital blow struck against all that we as Americans hate. Hitler The President's Dilemma To The Editor: The recent widespread publicity given to an article by Alva Johnson in the Saturday Evening Post con- cerning James noosevelt's insurance activities demonstrate the fanatical eagerness of certain newspapers to use every shred of information, whether documented or not, to under- mine the present administratior.. To an intelligent person, such unwar- ranted garbage-throwing should im- mediately brand Mr. Johnson, as a political crank of the first order, I wish there were at least some consistency and reasonableness in these attacks. When John Roosevelt doesn't get a job the G.O.P.'s yell that he is a lazy parasite who won't work. When James Roosevelt has a job, and has had it since 1930, they yell that he is capitalizing on his father's political fortunes. The best thing for the President's sons to do, it would seem, is to commit suicide on inaugural day. The wife of the President, accord- ing to critics, should be a dumb Dora sitting home mending socks or en- tertaining political hangers-on in Washington instead of getting behind and promoting worthwhile projects. As for the President, he should slave from early dawn till sunset in a hot stuffy Washington office-never dar- ing to take a vacation or preserve his Gradaate Students Specializing in Education: The Advisory Inventory Test will be given this afternoon (Thursday), at . 2 o'clock, and on Saturday morning, July 23, at 9 o'clock in the High School auditor- ium. It is required of those who have completed less than 8 hours of graduate work in education; and may be taken on either of the dates men- tioned. Dr. Lowell S. Selling, Director of the Psychopathic Clinic of the Detroit Recorder's Court, will give an il- lustrated lecture on work of the Clinic in Room 1213 East Engineering Bldg. at 10 a.m. Thursday, July 21. The discussion will have particular ref- erence to studies of traffic law vi- olators. The public is invited. Rabbi Sidney Tedesche of the Temple, Brooklyn, will speak upon "The Bible and The Talmud" at 7:30 p.m. today in the Rackham Au- ditorium. "Man and Nature in Ja'pan" is the subject of Dr. Shio Sakanishi's lec- ture today at 4:30 p.m. in the Lecture Hall of the Rackham Building. Approved Houses for Women: All women students who were recog- nizedas seniors when enrolling for the Summer Session are granted 1:30 permission on Saturday nights. Those who will not be seniors until the end of the Summer Session are not en- titled to this privilege. Colleges of Literature, Science and the Arts, and Architecture; Schools of Education, Forestry/and Music: Sum- mer Session students wishing a tran- script of this summer's work only should file a request in Room 4, U.H. several days before leaving Ann Ar- bor. Failure to file this request will result in a needless delay of several days. Dr. Ross L. Allen will lecture on "Camping and the Public Schools" at 4:05 this afternoon in the University High School Auditorium. Candidates for the Master's De- gree in History: The language exam- ination will be given at 4 p.m., Aug 5, in Room B, Haven Hall. The ex- amination will be written and will be one hour in length. Students are asked to bring their own dictionaries. Copies of old examinations are on file in the Basement Study' Hall of the General Library. A luncheon of the Graduate Con- ference on Renaissance Studies will be held at the Michigan Union Thurs- day, July 21, 12:15 p.m. Professor Al- bert Hyma will speak on "Calvin and the Rise of Capitalism." Make reser- vations at the English Office, 3221 Angell Hall. Kappa Phi Picnic Supper for Alum- ni and Actives: Members from other chapters who are on campus are cor- dially invited. Leave Stalker Hall 5 p.m. Thursday, July 21. Phone 6881 for reservation before Thursday noon. Physiology 120. The lectures in Physiology 120 will begin Friday, July 22. N Sees Fascist Victory As Danger To U.S. To The Editor: This afternoon Father Michael O'Flanagan, who is on a speaking tour through the country, will address a Michigan audience in the Natural Science Auditorium on the war now raging in Spain, and in particular on the heroic struggle of the Loyalists. It is pertinent to say something here on this little foreign incident which is so many is but one of the topics of interest in the day's news-and nothing more. I "^IF I- - "- ;A -- 4- - - I-- 1- - I not Ue a bad idea to make the surren- health, lest he be called neglectful der complete by taking the codfish and indolent. down from the State House and re- Talking back to scurrilous press placing it with the swatiska. attacks is curtailment of freedom of - - - the press. Supporting the newspapers potent by a victory for the Spanish supporting him is un-American. Giv- people.Iing labor a break is Communism, giv- So do we just stand idly by, find- ing the farmer a break is populism, ing the struggle interesting to read choosing a Catholic to office is po- about? 'There is something quite 1pery; choosing a Jew is un-American,