corrente

A momentous matter was decided at the meeting of the motion picture censor board and its body of viewers at City Hall Tuesday afternoon - guts is a vulgar word, and Portland movie audiences are not to be offended by its use in sub-titles in pictures. The matter came about through an appeal to the board from viewers who were divided in their opinions.

"He ain't got enough guts to shoot" was the sub-title under fire. Some of the viewers wanted it cut out, declaring it was vulgar. One viewer said it was "expressive" and gave the idea, and that she had seen the word guts used in "strong" editorials in the Portland daily papers. One viewer objected to the use of ain't as stongly as to the other word. Mrs. Eleanor B. Colwell, secretary of the board, suggested that intestinal stamina might be used in place of the offensive word guts, but that didn't seem to meet the situation. Then Mrs. F.O. Northrup, president of the board, spoke for that body, and declared that the word objected to is, indeed, offensive and is avoided in polite conversation and that she believed the board would hold with the viewers protesting against it. ~ Oregon Journal, 1927

Having studied Shakespeare for five years, I have often wondered if his work would be as highly spoken of if it had been written by modern writers. Rightly comparing it to some of the modern plays which have been censured and banned from the stage, I am afraid not.

Yes men of brilliant understanding will endorse Shakespeare. And as for his "Macbeth," it cries crime from cover to cover. The modern crime story is tame compared to it. I wonder if the producer of this play would give it to the public exactly as it was originally written? For along with the crime in "Macbeth," there is an immoral strain. But this seems to be characteristic of Shakespeare. And it is for this reason that I am writing this letter.

There are many young Americans who write clean and different plays, struggling to get a start. Yet if they go to some of the prominent men or producers who endorse Shakespeare to consider their work, these men tell them that they have no time to bother with such things. Maybe some reader can tell me why this is. - Louis C. Graham. ~ letter to Detroit News, 1929.

Proposals to change the city's censorship ordinances which have been submitted to the city council by Mayor C.E. Moyer, include:

No ridicule of the Volstead Act.
No display of unadorned feminine beauty over five inches above the knee.
No suggestive matter in sight or song.
No remarks about unfaithfulness to marriage vows.
No ridicule of any religion.
No bedroom scenes.
No talk of white slavery.
No long, passionate love scenes.
No ridicule of American traditions.