The drive for clean films gained added momentum yesterday with the announcement by the Protestant Churches of New York state that they would launch their own “Legion of Decency” on October 21. It will be modeled on the same general style as the Catholic Legion of Decency.
The Protestant movement will be directed by a committee of social relations headed by the Rev. William V. Peck of Albany. A pledge has also been adopted by the New York State Council of Churches to be distributed to Protestant congregations calling upon members to refrain from seeing objectionable movies.
Following in the footsteps of the Knights of Columbus who are starting a drive in cooperation with the church movement, the Order of the United Hebrew Brothers announced through its secretary, Morris Aaronson, that a proposal in favor of joining the campaign will be brought up at the next meeting of the executive committee of the Jewish fraternal organization in the Fall. Mr. Aaronson expressed confidence that the committee will vote to join forces with the other Jewish groups in the city who are active in advocating films without obscenity.
Bishop Francis J. McConnel yesterday expressed the view that censorship of any type was to be avoided, including censorship by a board of ministers or representatives of the public. He said that the whole movement was more in the nature of a “strike” by the public rather than a concerted drive for control of the motion pictures industry by groups outside the industry.
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.
