Californian Law Prohibits Screen Gambling

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 233, 30 June 1939, Page 14

Californian Law Prohibits Screen Gambling

pALIFORNIAN laws are strict when it comes to gambling, and whenever gambling devices are seen in pictures, ■watchers are on hand to see that play is purely make-believe. Everyone admits there is more than a small element of gambling in the production of motion pictures. That is all by the way of being one of the hazards of big industry, and is perfectly legitimate. But when it comes to actual gambling, with cards, roulette wheels, dice, or other devices for wooing of the fickle goddess of fortune, the law opposes it, and when such devices are called for in a motiou picture script there is a Strict look-out kept to see that the law is not violated. A breathless gambling sequence was filmed recently for a Columbia production. Twenty men and women stood tensely about a table as the little ball rolled slowly and fatefuly in the rouette wheel.. Close by, a rabid dice player was coaxing the dice to be kind, and produce a “natural," while several hundred dollars depended on the. roll. At an adjacent table, blackjack dealers, wearing green visors and enigmatic expressions, flipped the cards while small fortunes depended upon each turn ,of their educated wrists. Feminine chance-takers flirted with the gods in chuck-a-luck, that fascinating game of over-sized dice in a revolving bird-cage, and tossed good money after bad, or so it seemed.

The human hunger for thrills was being magnificently satisfied. But if the director had allowed one of the players actually to gamble so much as one nickel, a prominent Hollywood property rental organization would have been put out of business. There were official watchers there to see that the gambling was purely play-acting. The mere possession of gambling paraphernalia is a penal offence in California. The law recognizes, however, the occasional need for such devices in the making of pictures, and allows property rental companies to supply roulette wheels and other accoutrements of chance to the producing companies. Every company using the device is, however, placed under bond, and on every set where gambling scenes are being made, watchers are placed to see that actors and extras do not weaken and invest a few beans in come real play with the tempting equipment at hand.