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Censorship Locally
Noted in "See No Evil; Life inside a Hollywood Censor" pg 28. In 1907, Chicago, the second biggest film market at the time, gave the chief of police the power to issue and deny permits for movie exhibition based on the moral grounds – making it one of the first municipalities to begin exercising censorship over movie content -
First Censorship Ordinance
The city of Chicago passed the nation's first movie censorship ordinance on this date making the city's police department the movie censors. Unlicensed films could not be shown in the city, and no film would get a lisence that was "immoral or obscene, or portrays depravity, criminality or lack of virtue . . . or tends to produce a breach of the peace or riots, or purports to represent any hanging, lynching or burning of a human being." -
Is Censorship Wanted?
Motion Picture News showed different view points on state censorship in their 1914 publication. Different managers and vice presidents of various theater chains in states such as Alabama, Tennesses and Wisconson are all aclaimed for. Most representivies went on record for not being in favor of state censorship and even called it "unconstitutional" and un-American." On the other hand, one mamager in Milwalkee said that if state censorship were to be appointed there should be equal rules for all. -
Edgar Dale's Analysis
Edgar Dale’s survey of the content of Hollywood feature films found that ‘children’s films’ comprised a mere 0.4 per cent of the 500 films under review from 1920, a figure which rose only marginally to 0.8 per cent in 1925.
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Colonel Jason Joy
In 1927 Colonel Jason Joy took head of the Studio Relations Committee (MPDAA's first censorship division) in which he developed the list of "Don'ts and Becarefuls, which is later absorberd by the code of 1930. The list contains half as many "Don'ts" as it does "Be Carefuls" and this is because Joy wanted to fulful his job which was to make sure that a couple of specific things would absolutely not appear on screen. -
Motion Picture Production Code
Noted on page 1 of "A New Movie-Going Public", The Production Code was an established form of censorship that stated all films after July 1934 need a seal of approval for releases. The Code is modeled after the moral principle "sympathy shall never be thrownon the sign of crime, wrong doing, evil or sin" It forbidded numerous things banned from films such as: mercey, killings, white slavery, cruelty to animals, vulgar phrases, obscure dances, nudity and indecent exposure. -
Motion Picture Production Code Created
protests from prominent civic and religious organisations led to the formation of the Motion Picture Production Code,
a rigorous system of self regulation established
in early 1930, and made mandatory in April
1934. Less documented than these political pressures
are the immense commercial pressures
on studio. -
Film Daily "Bringing Back Kids"
In May 1931, Film Daily devoted an entire issue to the vexed
question of ‘Bringing Back the Kids’, which included inspirational contributions from a number of prominent MPPDA officials and trade writers. MPPDA secretary Carl E. Milliken wrote that: For the first time, seemingly, it has become obvious to all that the constructive solution of the problem [of appealing simultaneously to all audience groups] lies in the production and support of a group of pictures appealing to the family unit" -
Men in White
Men in White was one of the first movies to tackle abortions, something that is varely rarely talked about even today in movies. -
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Joesph Breen
From 1934 to 1954, the code was closely identified with Joseph Breen, the administrator appointed by Hays to enforce the code in Hollywood. The film industry followed the guidelines set by the code well into the late 1950s, but during this time the code began to weaken due to the combined impact of television, influence from foreign films, bold directors (such as Otto Preminger) pushing the envelope, and intervention from the courts, including the Supreme Court. -
Special Regulations on Crime in Motion Pictures
In 1938 the Motion Picture Association of America released a reviewed and very detailed list of restrictions for the making of films involving crime with regard to the violence and regulation of it. -
The First use of Profanity in film
The film Gone with the Wind debautes. It gained critically acclaimed success however it is noted as the first film to use uncensored profanity with the quote by Clark Gable, " Frankly my dear I don't give a damn." The movie industry's censor Joseph I. Breen tried to change "damn" to "darn" but had no luck. The use of profanitly did little to hurt the film's potularity. Clip- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk16glWoMCk -
Censorship of Actual Human Beings?
Censorship of people themselves has become an issue. Noted in The Screen Writer's Guild publication published from June 1947-March 1948 states, "The intent of censorship is to deny the individual author, his publisher, the right to distribute and sell the right of his intelligence art. The author so sensored has the oppurtinity to oppose and refute the specific accusations in courts of law." -
Censorship of Actual Human Beings? Continued
The blacklisting censorship caused screenwriters to lose thier jobs or work under false names. The censorship in films and writing was due to fear of communism entering Hollywood. This was a different form of censorship in film because the censorship was not on a scene or use of language but the screenwriter as a person and the work they may or may not distrbute. -
Hollywood Antitrust Case of 1948
a landmark United States Supreme Court antitrust case that decided the fate of movie studios owning their own theatres and holding exclusivity rights on which theatres would show their films. It would also change the way Hollywood movies were produced, distributed, and exhibited. -
The First Refused Seal of Approval
The first film to be refused a deal of approval was Otto Preminger's The Moon is Blue. It was refused because it used such words as "virgin," "pregnant," and "seduce." It was followed by the film Man with Golden Arm in 1956 being refused a seal because it exploited drug addiction. The Moon is Blue Trailer- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdCsHItDcWo -
Lady Chatterley's Lover Ban
The state of New York bans the film Lady Chatterley's Lover because it porvokes adultry may be justified. Nonetheless, the Supreme Court concluded this ban infringed freedom of speech and reversed the ban. -
Adults Only
The Yale Law Journal published a scholarly article that artiiculates the reasoning behind censorship in film in exposition with regard to age restrictions, free speech and morality. "Obscenities" have been defined by the Supreme Court in order to guage a films age classification for exposition. The state's motive is only the best interest in public order, and morality, but especially with the welfare of children in mind. -
"Sex for Sex's Sake"
On this day, Time Magazine reports on the sexplotation in Hollywood. Cries for demand of development for censorship for a system of classifying graphic films as "for adults only" Some films set to relase with sexual nature include: The Apartment, Home From The Hill, Stranges when we Meet, The Fugative Kind and Lolita. Hollywood is breaking away from the Family oriented type screening trying to attract older audiences. Lolita Trailer- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDOHPhGortI -
To keep Profanity or not to keep Profanity?
In the Time atricle released on this date, Edward Albee's famous play Who's Afarid of Virginia Woolf reportedly is adapted to a film by distribustion of Warner Bros. Producer-Screenwriter Ernest Lehmen and Director Mike Nichols cleaned up the orginal screenplay's profanity but 6 months later changed back to orginal profanity for relase claiming, "changing profanity to clean but suggestive phrases is really dirtier." MPAA was reluctant to release film but ultimatly gaive it an A4 rating. -
Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolf?
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf premires. The 4 main characters of the film including Elizabeth Taylor, had quite a colorful vocabulary. The film includes: 11 "God damns," 7 "bastards," 5 "sons of bitches" and also liners such as: "screw you," "up yours," and "hump the hostess." Time Magazine noted Virginia Woolf to be a film that "entered an era where there are virtually no restrictions at all on dialouge."
clip- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nInE5TITzE8
