All the Cool Kids Are Doing It

When Thom sends you instructions, you follow them. Especially since he finally hit 1946.

1) Pick up the nearest book.
2) Open to page 123.
3) Locate the fifth sentence.
4) Post the next three sentences on your blog and in so doing...
5) Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

Inspired by Self-Styled Siren's recent review of a biography of Joseph Breen, I had Frank Walsh's Sin and Censorship: The Catholic Church and the Motion Picture Industry close at hand. Page 123, starting with the fifth sentence:

When a studio representative told Gorman¹ he couldn't understand the basis of his request in view of the Chicago rating², the priest airily responded that Fall River made its own decisions³. It was becoming apparent to Quigley⁴ that in Fall River, every priest was becoming his own movie critic. He advised Paramount to tell Gorman that although it was willing to listen to his concerns, it could not hand over the power to decide what movies could be shown to every bishop in the country.

Notes: (1) Father Edward Gorman, a member of the Catholic Legion of Decency and a priest in Fall River, Massachusetts; (2) the Chicago chapter of the Legion of Decency had come up with its own list of condemned films, which included some that the Production Code Administration had passed with the blessing of the national Legion of Decency; in this instance, Gorman wanted Paramount to withdraw from circulation a movie (Four Hours to Kill) that even Chicago had passed; (3) Fall River was banning films—in this case, The Scoundrel, on the basis of the Chicago list, not the national-Legion-approved list; (4) Martin Quigley, editor/publisher of the Motion Picture Herald and one of the architects of the Production Code.

Equidistant was Theodore Dreiser's Sister Carrie, one of the best badly-written books I've ever read. If an author with an ounce of poetry in him had rewritten it, it would have been half as long and twice as good. But I still enjoyed it immensely; Dreiser's cataloging style attracts the archivist and listmaker in me. Page 123, fifth sentence:

Jessica was beginning to feel that her affairs were her own. George, Jr., flourished about as if he were a man entirely and must needs have private matters. All this Hurstwood could see, and it left a trace of feeling, for he was used to being considered—in his official position, at least—and felt that his importance should not begin to wane here.

Notes: Hurstwood is starting to neglect his family's affairs, being more interested in his newfound attraction to Carrie.

Now, the five: Shane, who probably has something on 18th-century British politics nearby; Angela, who doesn't post enough; Shawn, who went so long without posting that I didn't notice that he started again; Kris, who's being tortured by terrorists; and Amy, who has really good taste in books. (Not that the others don't.)