BRACERS Record Detail for 48084
To access the original letter, email the Russell Archives.
Hall signs her name in BR's absence.
Re Hooper and his volume ("My Own philosophy"?), Europa Verlag (probably the preface to Power), and the paper shortage and censorship. Nick Griffin (2 March 2022) suggests the following explanation of the remark on censhorship (and films): "I don't know what Russell was specifically referring to, but I suspect it had to do with the fact that the nitrate stock on which old films were recorded was highly inflammable -- many cinemas burnt down as a result. This would give the authorities an excuse to control how films were stored and handled and thereby some control of their distribution."
JOSÉPHINE M. HALL TO ALLEN AND UNWIN / STANLEY UNWIN, 9 APR. 1947
BRACERS 48084. TLS(X). George Allen and Unwin Ltd.
Proofread by K. Blackwell
<letterhead>
27 Dorset House
Gloucester Place
N.W.1.
9th April, 1947.
Sir Stanley Unwin,
Messrs. George Allen & Unwin,
40, Museum Street,
W.C.1.
Dear Unwin,
Thank you for your letters.
1. I will do as you suggest about Hooper and his volume. I shall not be sorry if his project falls through and I can then publish the essay separately1 from the rest of his material.
2. I note your quotation from the “Europa Verlag”, and I will deal with the matter as soon as I can, but it will be probably two or three weeks before I can get round to it.
3. Thank you for telling me all the facts about the paper situation both as they affect me and from a public point of view. I think the public issue is one of the utmost gravity, especially in view of what you rightly point out concerning the possibilities of censorship. I always remember that censorship of the cinema,2 which is very severe, was brought in by a back door in connection with protection from fire.3 I am aware that there is nothing that I can usefully do about the matter in a public way.
Yours sincerely,
<signed> Joséphine M. Hall.
(for Earl Russell.)
- 1
publish the essay separately Sydney E. Hooper’s volume was a project of the British Institute of Philosophical Studies, titled Philosophies of To-day. Russell wrote “My Own Philosophy” for the project, which failed to be completed. The essay was published separately (B&R A152) for McMaster’s Russell Centenary Celebrations in 1972 and is 3 in Collected Papers 11.
- 2
censorship of the cinema Russell was one of eight signatories to a letter on censorship of a film on venereal disease (B&R F37.01).
- 3
connection with protection from fire The connection may be that the nitrate stock on which old films were recorded was highly inflammable — many cinemas burnt down as a result. This would give the authorities an excuse to control how films were stored and handled and thereby some control of their distribution. (N.G.)
