Editing National Legion of Decency (section)

===National Board of Review===
On December 24, 1908, New York City Mayor [[George B. McClellan Jr.]] revoked all moving-picture exhibition licenses in the city pending inspection of the premises due to fire safety concerns regarding the highly flammable [[celluloid]] film. He stated that due to complaints from the city's clergy and the [[New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children|Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children]], upon re-issuance, the licensees were prohibited from operating on Sunday. He further indicated his intention to revoke the license of any motion picture show "...on evidence that pictures have been exhibited by the licensees which tend to degrade or injure the morals of the community."<ref>''[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1908/12/25/105016765.pdf Picture Shows All Out of Business]''. The New York Times, December 25, 1908.{{PD-notice}}</ref>

In 1909, [[Charles Sprague Smith]] and about a dozen prominent individuals from the fields of social work, religion, and education, formed a committee, under the auspices of the People's Institute at [[Cooper Union]], to make recommendations to the Mayor's office concerning controversial films. Initially called the [[National Board of Review|New York Board of Motion Picture Censorship]] it soon became known as the National Board of Motion Picture Censorship. To avoid government censorship of films, the National Board became the unofficial clearinghouse for new movies.<ref name="Sklar">{{cite book |last=Sklar |first=Robert |title=Movie-Made America: A Cultural History of American Movies |publisher=Vintage Books |edition=2nd |year=1994 |location=New York City |pages=31–32 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N4WLDQAAQBAJ |isbn=0-679-75549-7}}</ref> The Board's stated purpose was to endorse films of merit and champion the new "art of the people". In March 1916 the Board changed its name to the [[National Board of Review|National Board of Review of Motion Pictures]] to avoid the controversial word "[[censorship]]".<ref name="Chris">{{cite journal |last=Chris |first=Cynthia |title=Censoring Purity |journal=[[Camera Obscura (journal)|Camera Obscura]] |volume=27 |issue=1 (79)|pages=97–98, 105 |publisher=[[Duke University Press]] |date=2012 |url=https://www.academia.edu/6752337 |url-access=registration |issn=0270-5346 |doi=10.1215/02705346-1533457 |access-date=13 June 2020}}</ref>