The sixth-anniversary issue of Daily Variety, on Oct. 20, 1939, contained something that was unprecedented for the newspaper and for the author: A guest column by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt about movies.
She started by saying she was uniquely unqualified to write about the motion picture industry. “However, I have one great interest in the movies, namely, how can the movies become a force in education. The great majority of our people see motion pictures as part of their recreation. … They want to be thrilled, to live in another world for a time.”
But to her, movies had powers beyond escapism. “Stories can be told in such a way as to develop an interest in literature, and in the arts and history. It is a great field, this field of visual education and propaganda, if you use the word propaganda as the South Americans do, meaning education. … I look for a time...
She started by saying she was uniquely unqualified to write about the motion picture industry. “However, I have one great interest in the movies, namely, how can the movies become a force in education. The great majority of our people see motion pictures as part of their recreation. … They want to be thrilled, to live in another world for a time.”
But to her, movies had powers beyond escapism. “Stories can be told in such a way as to develop an interest in literature, and in the arts and history. It is a great field, this field of visual education and propaganda, if you use the word propaganda as the South Americans do, meaning education. … I look for a time...
- 12/21/2020
- by Tim Gray
- Variety Film + TV
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