Harmon to Hollywood

Although most U. S. churchmen have long agreed that in decency's name the U. S. cinema should be regulated, some liberals have squirmed because the strict regulation which now exists was devised by Roman Catholics, is now in the Catholic hands of Motion Picture Production Code Administrator Joseph I. ("Joe") Breen. Last week was announced a step, obviously the work of astute Will H. Hays, Presbyterian Elder, which may make U. S. Protestants feel better about the part their churches play in purifying the nation's pictures. The most potent executive of the Y. M. C. A., General Secretary Francis Stuart Harmon, 41, turned in his resignation, made ready to sit on the board of the Will Hays organization, the Motion Picture Producers & Distributors of America.

Last week in accepting what he took pains to call the "unsolicited offer" of Mr. Hays, Mr. Harmon praised the Pope's last encyclical on the cinema (TIME, July 13), urged Y. M. C. A. men to work for better films.

For a successor to Francis Harmon, the Y. M. C. A. turned to China, picked a husky, genial Floridian named Eugene Barnett, founder of the Hangchow "Y" and for the past eight years in charge of all U. S. "Y" work in that unhappy nation.

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