Assertion that during the past half year motion pictures were steadily improving was made here by Rabbi William F. Rosenblum of Temple Israel, New York, speaking before the local Council of Jewish Women.
The reason for this is that Jewish and Protestant groups have joined with Catholics in the demand for better and cleaner films, according to Rabbi Rosenblum.
“The one thing I want to emphasize, however,” he said, “is that the Jewish producers who have been at the head of the industry since its inception have given many classics to the screen along with the poorer pictures they thought they had to provide for the movie-going public.”
The industry’s record would have been the same had Protestants or Catholics been the first to see screen possibilities, Rabbi Rosenblum asserted, adding that a man’s religion, politics or business background mattered little in the screen or theatre.
“What matters,” he continued, “is that the play or picture be considered as what the public wants. Sometimes it is possible to give the public what it needs or what it should enjoy. But mostly the public will only pay for what it likes.
“The Catholic Legion of Decen## is trying to educate the public to like what the Church thinks it should like. The moment producers sense what the public taste is they use every genius and facility at their command to satisfy that taste.”
Producers are not motivated wholly by a desire for profit, but also for business service, such as one finds in other industries, Rabbi Rosenblum declared. He deplored the attack on producers on the ground “they started as fur merchants or as penny arcade proprietors.”
“I am for decent pictures and will aid every movement to improve the public taste,” he concluded.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
