Volume I: Narrative History

Chapter 6 (1913): A Visitor From Canada

The experience of a visitor to New Rochelle was related in The Evening Standard on January 25th:

"The motion pictures made in New Rochelle are the cleanest we have to pass upon and the natural views shown in them are beautiful," said George E. Armstrong, chairman of the Board of Censors of the Canadian province of Ontario yesterday afternoon. Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong, whose home is in Toronto, have been visiting the latter's relatives in New York City and came to New Rochelle to see the Thanhouser plant where many of the pictures he has had to censor were made. He did not see the plant and expressed his sorrow that it was burned down. They were entertained by Bert Adler at the temporary office in the Cooley and West Building.

In conversation with a representative of The Evening Standard, after seeing the preliminary run of a new picture, Mr. Armstrong continued: "That picture is a sample of the work Thanhouser sends to Ontario. Our board passes on from 30 to 50 reels a day. Ninety percent of them are American made pictures. The balance are foreign. There is only one motion picture factory that I know of in Canada, and that came from America recently. One in about ten of the pictures shown to us has had to be altered or cancelled. Our board is the pioneer board of censorship in Canada. The other provinces are gradually appointing boards. Every motion picture shown in the province of Ontario has to be passed by us. We work eight and nine hours a day.

We see many Thanhouser pictures, and I remember very well that in all the time they have been shown in our province, we had to turn down but one. That was an old reel made several years ago. Thanhouser pictures are the cleanest and best that are shown in Ontario. That is why Mrs. Armstrong and I came to New Rochelle today."