No one deplores more than I do the commercialization of certain phases
of what we call the sex appeal or improper crime stories in the movies.
No one deplores more than I do some of the stupid, inartistic, vulgar,
uncultural, silly things in the movies. They are there as in books
and newspapers. If censorship were a practical remedy for anything,
we might better have it against bad taste, bad manners and some of
the stupid, boresome movies that can do no harm to anyone except
waste their time, and because of their very insipid stupidity, would
meet with approval of any board of censors. It is all to be naturally
expected in an industry or artistry so new. More patience, time and
education are needed to correct them. No one is more anxious than I am
to see them corrected. But it would be highly unjust not to, at the
same time, keep in mind all that is right with the movies.
=In their short life of scarcely a quarter of a century, they have
done more to correct these follies and mistakes than literature and
newspapers have done in a century.=
When I deal with naughty children, I always find more good than evil
in them, though their accusers seldom admit it. I get more out of them
by praising them for the good they do than by condemning them for the
evil they do. In this way do I succeed best. By working with them and
not against them. (Let us then, with this equally human thing, see all
the wonderful improvement that has been made in recent years, not only
artistically, from the standpoint of the producer, but also from that
of the growing demand of the public for clean shows, and the splendid
work of the producers in furnishing them.)