Film Distribution

In The Oregon Daily Journa

With the moving picture industry expanding at a rapid pace, film censorship was quickly growing as a potential threat for those involved in the industry. According to an article from The Sunday Oregonian in 1915, there was an opposition to film censorship by men of The Portland Press Club. The president of the club made the argument "if exhibitors in Portland show flagrant pictures, the public itself will be the censor". He continued to explain that if a picture is disliked by the public, it will fail and no longer be shown.

According to The Sunday Oregonian, a Portland office for Associated First National Pictures opened, in the city, on November 1, 1920. This was big news for Portland theaters as Associated First National Pictures was a large nationwide film distributor, with famous stars attached to their films, such as Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford, meaning that Portland theaters will be able to get better pictures easier and faster.

While I was scouring the Historic Oregon Newspaper archive for an advertisement concerning the Alhambra Theater in Portland, a common subject continued to crop up: The Iron Claw.