"There are really two versions of the “pre-Code cinema” myth. They tell the same story but interpret it very differently. One held sway for about as long as the Production Code itself did, from the mid-1930s until the late 1960s. Like the Code itself, this “official” history served the industry's interests. According to this version, Hollywood was established by immigrants untutored in the finer manners of corporate capitalism, who occasionally had to be reminded to their civic responsibilities. One such reminder occurred after a series of scandals among leading Hollywood personnel, and led to the establishment of the MPPDA in 1922, with Hays as its first president. During the 1920s, Hays worked with civic and religious groups to improve their opinion of the movies, a policy that culminated in the writing of the Production Code in 1930. But as every Hollywood melodrama requires, a misfortune – the Depression – intervened. Needing to maintain income in the face of declining audiences, producers returned to their old sinful ways, exploiting their audiences' baser instincts with a flood of sexually suggestive and violent films. Without adequate powers to enforce the Code, the MPPDA was unable to prevent this, and the crisis was only averted by the Catholic Church, which established the Legion of Decency in April 1934 and threatened to boycott Hollywood. Almost immediately, the producers surrendered, agreeing to a strict enforcement of the Code under the administration of prominent Catholic layman Joseph Breen."
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- dave 6-18-2005 8:31 pm