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The Circus Clippings 112/376

Film Daily, New York, January 16, 1927

THE CHILDREN OF LYNN

      WHETHER municipal morality will be debased by showing

the films of Charles Chaplin is a question upon which

the censor of Lynn, where Mr. Chaplin‘s films are banned,

and the artists of the world do not seem to have

reached an agreement. The pendulum of purity, swinging

to its highest point, has lifted politicians and

clubladies into an atmosphere so forbidding that the artist

cannot breathe in it.

      In the name of purity, clubladies can gloat over and discuss

in detail the charges made by Mrs. Charles Chaplin‘s

lawyers. In the name of censored purity, liberty itself can

be attacked at its fountainhead and Mr. Chaplin

be condemned before he is heard. After all, does it matter

what happens to Mr. Chaplin as long as the youth

of Lynn are protected from the devastating immorality of „The

Kid“ or „A Dog‘s Life“ or „The Gold Rush“?

      IF WE can once clean the silver screen of Mr. Chaplin‘s films,

think, for example, what we might do to emasculate

our museums – and all in the cause of purity! The Chaplin

case will establish the broadest possible basis

on which to promote the purification of art. For if one great

living artist, capable of fighting back, can be

condemned on unproved and irrelevant charges, there

no conceivable limit to the extent to which

we might rid the world of the great works of the dead.

      Sooner or later the children of Lynn will

go forth to make their way in the great world. They will

come to New York or visit Paris or Rome and

they may even enter the art galleries or the museums.

I tremble for the children of Lynn, so auspiciously

saved from the deadly corruption of Mr. Chaplin‘s „The Pilgrim,“

when some callous-souled impurist leads them

to the sight of a painting by Rembrandt. That painting

of Christ – was it not done by Rembrandt

when the good man was living in a state of sin with

Hendrickje Stoffels? Destroy it and save the

children of Lynn! (...)

      Save us from Chaplin, save us from Rembrandt, save

us from naughty Fragonard and frail Courbet, from

too adventurous Gauguin. Burn up the paintings. Burn up the

films. Let censorship, born to envy, redeem us!

                                                          – Forbes Watson

(...) New Yorker, New York, Feb. 5, 1927

„Has barred showings of Chaplin pictures“

Editorial content. „Lynn Bans Chaplin Films

      Lynn, Mass.  – Mayor Ralph S. Bauer has barred

showings of Chaplin pictures pending settlement

of a suit pending against the star.“

Redaktioneller Inhalt

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