Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 238, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 October 1916 — TRAINING TOOATS BOYS ANO GIRLS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

TRAINING TOOATS BOYS ANO GIRLS

Dangerous Effect of “Movie” Posters on Children. SUGGESTIONS OFTEN VICIOUS Need for a Concerted Movement to Control the Character of Thea* Pictures Is Recognized by Enlightened Mothers.

By SIDONIE M. GRUENBERG.

IT WAS a blood-curdling yell that came from the nursery and paralyzed everybody for a moment. And with the sobbing that followed immediately, the mother started for the children’s room, the restfel?owing«pr»rehensively. Howard had hold of one end of the clothesline, the other end being tangled up about the neck and arms of weeping and protesting' Louise. Between sobs the girl complained that brother had nearly choked her, and when there was a chance to get an additionul word in the Iwy explained that they had only been playing and that he had not meant to hurt sister. The children were soon disentangled and duly admonished not to play such dangerous games again. Howard was penitent and downcast and Louise cast about for sympathy. But mother had to ask the question that she had kept back with difficulty throughout the whole affair. Whatever made the child think of doing such an awful thing? “Why, mother,” said Howard, sensing a possible vindication in the historic sequence, “we were playing what we, saw at the motion pictures.” This was more disquieting than ever, since It aroused suspicion of secret attendance upon the forbidden amusement parlors. Mother and Jather had agreed that the children were not to see any motion pictures, except such as had be£n strictly censored, first by

the regular agencies and then by some member of the family. And so far as mother knew, the children had actually attended only three or four motion picture shows, of a perfectly harmless kind, and always in the company of some older member of the household. She therefore asked at once: “When did you see anything like that at the motion pictures?" “This afternoon, on the corner of the avenue,” came the reply. That looked bad, for mother knew that the children were supposed to be In the park with the tnaid during the afternoon. Who took them to the show? Where did they get the money? Who gave them permission to go? For a minute the exposure of a scandalous plot was Imminent But there was nothing to it The children had never gone to the motion picture show without the approval of the parents and the ones they had witnessed stood out distinctly and innocuously in their memories. What Howard had /seen was merely the array of posters in front of the picture parlor, and there

was nothing in law or morals to prevent a boy drinking deep from this fountain of Inspiration. Now that she came to think of it, Mrs. iHeath had noticed those posters, and had often remarked how fortunate they had been in keeping the children away* from the undoubtedly demoralizing influences of the performances that those posters were attempting to suggest. But It had never occurred to her that tht posters suggested quite enough to the Imagination of the children, so that the actual performance was entirely censorship that is being maintained through the co-operation of private agencies with the manufacturers of the “movie” films the reels presented in most motion picture parlors, whereas the posters are in most cases more lurid and more suggestive than the pictures inside. Within a few weeks Howard and Louise, and thousands of other children whose careful parents kept them away from the demoralizing effects of crude melodrama, were*nble to gloat on highly colored pictures representing: 4 a man choking a woman, the latter holding a dagger, , T A woman choking a min, the latter holding a revolver. A lynching party leading a man with a rope about his neck- _ A veiled figure pushing s man from the edge of a precipice. Masked men sawing the timbers on a railroad bridge. A woman pouring th* contents of a

suspicious looking bottle into • gfaM of liquor. y , , f And many others equally suggestive of 'violence and fraud and deceit. “Where th ere hr a “chn nge of MH every day” you get a large assortment of suggestions In a given time, but In all cases you get enough to stir the imagination of active youngster.!. * Mrs. Heath, like so many other careful mothers, had tried hard to protect her children against the many degrading influences that every large city holds. She had tried the method of exclusion in relation to the home. By keeping improper books and pictures out of the house and by keeping the children away from improper picture shows she had hoped to solve the problem—for her own children. _—— Now she realized that the forces acting upon the development of children Cannot be controlled by house rules or kept out by doors and shutters. Oftensive comic supplements, so called, may be kept out of the house, but that does not Insure the children against -becoming acquainted -with them thenext day in the park or school. Objectionable theatrical performances or motion - plet-ures are- ferHwately coo-:: fined to restricted habitats, but the poster flaunts its crude oF insidious suggestions where none can escape them. There Is enough in the house for intelligent and conscientious mothers to do to keep a person busy. But those who hfljge q little time to are

looking for some worthy object upon which to expend their energies may do well to consider the need for a concerted movement to control the character of the posters used to interest the public in the motion picture shows. There has been great improvement in recent years in the character of the theater poster, but the “movie” poster which confines its ministrations to limited localities, remains a flagrant menace to childhood. There is an opportunity for enlightened motherhood to help through community service.

Between Sobs She Complained That Brother Nearly Choked Her.

Howard Had Seen Merely the Array of Posters.