The Motion Picture Export Association has suspended shipment of films to Egypt pending investigation of reports that the Egyptian authorities demand proof that none of the players in the films are Jewish and that no Jews are on the companies’ boards, Variety, the theatrical newspaper, reported today.
The paper said the association is awaiting a report from Charles Baldwin, its representative in Italy, who has been ordered to proceed to Egypt to study the situation. It stated that in response to a query as to whether American companies “would put up with a situation under which only films using Aryan players could be shipped into Egypt,” an official of the export agency said “he wasn’t sure but that he didn’t think so.”
Variety said that Jewish film company personnel in Egypt, including one or two local managers, have been “forced to leave as part of the general Egyptian crackdown on persons of Jewish faith.”
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