Jacob W. Olmstead and Dr. Brian Q. Cannon, History
Late in 1911 the motion picture trade journal Moving Picture World announced that the film A Victim of the Mormons was slated for release in the United States during the first week in February 1912. Of Danish origin, this film rehearsed the fictitious travails of a Mormon missionary who duped an unsuspecting young woman into conversion to become one of his plural wives. This plot was typical of many anti-Mormon plays, lectures, and news articles generated in Europe at the time; however, the producer of A Victim of the Mormons were the first to explore the subject in their films.
News of this film in addition to the advertisements of other productions similar in nature to A Victim of the Mormons scheduled for release during 1912, alarmed the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and business and civic leaders in Utah alike. The Church leadership, primarily concerned with its reputation having suffered numerous anti-Mormon media attacks during the first decade of twentieth century, worked through its leadership and friends in the film industry to obtain suppression of these films. In addition the Utah business community, made up of Mormons and non-Mormons, were equally zealous to squelch the negative images which might derail Utah’s economic prosperity which in part relied on out-of-state business.
The initial step of each group was to request a self suppression from the companies who were releasing these films. Experiencing no results they pressed the National Board of Censorship located in New York City. Under the mis-impression that this board could bar the films from presentation in the United States, they worked to gain their sympathies. However, having no official or federal power after the board withdrew its approval the producers of these films ignored the ruling and released the film anyway.
The greatest success combating these films was in England. Prior to A Victim of the Mormons debut in America it appeared in Great Britain. After months of desperation, having none of the benefits the Church had in America and without government and business to champion its causes, Rudger Clawson instructed the Elders to distribute tracts outside the theaters where the film was being shown. This endeavor turned into an effective missionary tool and curbed attendance at the films and ultimately shrunk its profits.
While the work of the Church, Utah’s business community, and government ultimately failed this is an interesting episode in Church and Utah history. Specifically, it is interesting because it called forth the impressive and rare cooperation of Mormons and non-Mormons in the early twentieth century. In addition this incident raised many questions in the minds of Church officials for the first time concerning the powerful influence of film. The experiences of Church leadership with these early films directly influenced the production of One Hundred Years of Mormonism, a production recounting the history of the Church and the first full-length feature film in history.
The historical research and authorship of this study was a combined effort of Dr. Brian Q. Cannon and myself using many previously untapped sources to unravel the complicated details of this story. In addition to sources available in the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University, two out-of- state collections were also used: the files of the National Board of Censorship in the New York Public Library and the William Selig Collection at Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in California. This paper was presented at the Mormon History Association’s annual conference in May 2001 and has been submitted to the Journal of Mormon History for publication.