“MOVIE TSAR.”

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 405, 12 April 1937, Page 2

“MOVIE TSAR.”

RENEWAL OF CONTRACT. Control of Hollywood. New York, March 17. Fifteen years ago a small, fraillooking Indiana lawyer, Mr Will Hays, left the Cabinet of President Harding, in which he was PostmasterGeneral, to administer the affairs of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, which highsounding title was shortened by the headline writers to “Movie Tsar.” To-day his contract is renewed, but for only five years, at his own request, as he contemplates retiring at the end of that period. Th© salary, one of the largest in the nation, has been increased. When he assumed office Mr Hays had control of seven “silent” companies; now he disciplines 1)3 “talkie” concerns. His rule was questioned only once, seven years ago, when his resignation was demanded by a section of the group that formed the Legion of Decency, to cleanse the motion picture industry. Ti e legion’s castigation of Mae West an 1 her productions is quoted as the chief cause of the actress having subsequently reached th© pinnacle of fame —highest paid among all her profession. Mr Hays met the criticism levelled at. him at the time by appointing a censor at Hollywood and Instituting two codes, one applying to films, the □ther to advertising. The outburst was regarded with grim Humour by his friends, as he is a Presbyterian layman, familiarly knoWtti to them as “Elder Hays.” Mr Hays is blamed foe faults of individual producers, as witness the

public abuse that led to the withdrawal of Sinclair Lewis’s antiFascist “It Can’t Happen Here,” which had never been submitted to Mr Hays. On the other hand, he sternly banned all motion pictures dealing with the Duke of Windsor and Mrs Simpson, an example in direct : contrast to the activities, now being i renewed, of the tabloids and a large I section of the American Press. He ! observed in this connection: “Motion I pictures are now beyond that peep- j show stag© when they could be i stampeded by every passing fad; they are too dignified to take opportunistic advantage of every cause celebre that comes along.” Mr Hays loves to tell a story ot how he was influenced to accept his present post by the discovery of his children’s interest in Bill Hart, famous hero of Wild West pictures, and the reflection that serving an art which could make its creatures so widely known and lovel might be regarded as a public service.