Indignation of American Irishmen at the showing of such films as “The Callabans and the Murphys,” which has resulted in disturbances in many motion picture theatres throughout the country reached a climax in the filing of a petition with the Federal Trade Commission seeking “a decree to dissolve the present methods by which films are produced and distributed.”
The petition will be considered by the commission, it is expected, during the motion picture trade conference to be held in New York beginning next Monday.
The attack of the American Irish Vigilance Committee and its associates is aimed directly at Will H. Hays, President of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, Inc., and the other officers and directors of the organization. The member companies, among which are included virtually all the leading producing and distributing corporations, are also named. It is alleged in the petition that those attacked constitute a “monopoly” and represent “a combination in unlawful restraint of trade.”
In their campaign against the films considered anti-Irish the members of the American Irish Vigilance Committee encountered the trade practices which their petition seeks to abolish.
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.
