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AND THE COMING OF THE
ANTI-MEDICAL MARIHUANA LAWS
MOVIE MEMORABILIA
FROM THE REEFER MADNESS ERA
JOHN WAYNE
– From Cold War Warrior to war on Medical Cannabis patients - ALL IN ONE MOVIE.
WAS IT BIG JIM McLAIN
OR WAS IT MARIHUANA?
Big Jim McLain is a 1952 political thriller film starring John Wayne and James Arness as HUAC investigators hunting down communists in the post-war Hawaii organized labor scene. HOWEVER, in some European markets the film was retitled as Marijuana and dispensed with the communist angle, making the villains drug dealers instead. This was achieved entirely through script changes and dubbing.
-- [Info as per -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Jim_McLain ]
MATCH BOOKS – ASSASSIN ON YOUTH
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WHAT WERE THEY THINKING
While we can’t verify if these are authentic or not (see section on fake movie posters), as any depression era glass collector can tell you, such giveaways (advertisements) were an integrated part of Motion Picture Movie Industry at the time. BUT be that as it may, one must still ask the magic question; --- WHAT WERE THESE FOOLS THINKING ABOUT AT THE TIME.
MATCHES?? --- FOR WHAT USE???
WOMEN’S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION
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Now here’s a real pair of matches for everyone; --- And makes a whole lot more sense than the ones the “State Theatre” in Martinsburg W.Va. was giving out.
LUJURIA DE MARIHUANA
(The desire or Lust for Marihuana)
LUJURIA DE MARIHUANA
NO, this is NOT considered a Reefer Madness era movie for the simple reason that it was made LONG AFTER the era. Simply put, it is shear exploitations, --- end of story. But one thing you got to hand it to the “Cinema Mexicano”, they sure don’t mess around with the subject matter.
NEWSPAPER AD FREEBEE’S
No, believe it or not, these are not paid ads, but newspaper articles!
Well wait a minute, in actuality local newspaper editors (ever eager to sell more ad space to the local movie houses) probably went out of their way to write favorable reviews about; Whatever movie happened to be showing at the time. In fact very few negative reviews were ever noted at the time.
These articles/editorial etc., while not being very truthful, were very common at the time. Just about all-small town newspapers run them.
THE SAGA OF HEMP BROWN
HEMP BROWN
NO, this movie has NOTHING to do with Industrial Hemp, etc. Hemp at one time was just a common first name (sort of like John or Bill, etc.), a subject which begs the question; Why was it such a common name at one time? But leaving that issue aside for now, everyone seems to agree that the movie poster has something about it. Sort of a collectors item, etc.
ARTWORK AND TAKING LIBERTIES WITH SUCH
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Which one of these two newspaper movie ads is real and which one is a fake reproduction? Actually both are real; --- at least in the sense that both were found running in old newspapers from the era. Which brings out an important point; -- Just exactly what is real and what is fake. The answer is; -- well, it depends.
All of the following advertising artwork (found at the National Archives, College Park, MD), were all taken from a giant poster size sheet of paper. Such sheets were provided (free of charge) along with lobby cards, etc, by the distributors to the local movie houses for their use in local newspaper ads.
The problem is (as can be seen), there was usually more then one to choose from, and even them the local movie houses were allowed to take a pencil and make some changes of their own.
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Note that there are blank spaces to allow the movie house owner to add their own name, show hours, etc.
EXPLOITATION GONE WILD
“THE PACE THAT KILLS”
In the words of Anslinger’s own bureau of Narcotics:
Atlanta, Georgia
September 24, 1941
Re: “BURNING QUESTION” – Marihuana
Motion Picture.
Memorandum To Narcotic Officers, District 6
Reference is made again to efforts on the part of our Bureau to suppress and break up the showing of a marihuana movie entitled “Burning Question”. This film has been shown under titles, “Tell Your children” and “Reefer Madness”.
The only place in this district where information has been obtained as to its showing was in Birmingham, Ala.
The Bureau has had correspondence with Mrs. Judith K. Roberts, Department of Law of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Division of Motion Pictures Censorship, in which she writes the Bureau about the showing in the State of Virginia under her board’s approval of a movie “THE PACE THAT KILLS”, after a number of eliminations had been ordered in the print.
The Commissioner of Narcotics has written this office under date of September 17, 1941, to the effect that advice has been received that this picture, “The Pace That Kills” was actually shown under the title, “Marihuana Madness”. The Commissioner advises, however, that the scenes in this motion picture have no relation to marihuana and obviously the title “Marihuana Madness” was substituted in order to sensationalize the picture and attract the curious.
The above for the information of each Narcotic Officer in this District.
The Chief Coordinator for the Treasury Enforcement Agencies, Mr. Elmer L. Irey, is making extended effort towards suppressing the showing anywhere in the United States of this undesirable movie, “Marihuana Madness”, which my information is may be shown under some different but similar name. Each Officer is earnestly cautioned to keep sharp lookout about the showing of this or similar pictures and when learned about you each are urgently directed to make every possible proper effort towards its suppression immediately in your territory.
Yours very truly,
J.B. Greeson,
District Supervisor.
CENSORSHIP A GO, GO
Instead of redoing what has already been done elsewhere, the reader in invited to modulate over the following web-page:
http://reefermadnessmuseum.org/chap04/Virginia/VA_RMadP1.htm
Censorship is also addressed on various other web-pages. Here it is enough to state that Anslinger (once the anti-Medical Marihuana laws were in place), vigorously attempted to censor ALL knowledge of exactly how the laws had gotten into law in the first place.
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REEFER MADNESS ERA FILMS |
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WANT TO KNOW MORE:
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