Jim Kershner’s This Day in History

From our archives, 100 years ago

Orrin G. Cocks, the nation’s “official censor of public entertainment,” was planning a trip to Spokane to meet with local “picture theater men.”

Cocks, the secretary of the National Board of Censorship, was traveling around the country, meeting with theater owners and municipal censors. He said his mission was to “secure their cooperation in elevating the moral standard of the film production shown in pictures.”

From the film beat: On an unrelated note, Spokane theater managers and newspapermen attended a preview screening of a German war documentary titled “The Great European War.”

A cameraman, with permission of German authorities, was allowed to accompany “an invading Teuton army into Belgium.”

“The photography is unusually good, the pictures being clear and distinct,” said a reporter. “Artillery, cavalry and infantry are shown in action, and in one scene half a dozen German soldiers appear to be killed by allies’ bullets.”

Also from the film beat: The Liberty Theater manager announced he had acquired a new shutter for his projector which “eliminates all trace of the flicker.” 

In other words, the “flicks” were going to flicker less.