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THE HAYS OFFICE 133
By 1930 talking pictures had come in and had created new problems of censorship, for dialogue magnified bad taste and made offensive scenes still more offensive. Threatened by a serious boycott of theaters as well as of pictures, the producers finally agreed to the present Production Code, which specifically defines the things that may not be done or said in a picture and gives the Hays Office the final judgment on whether a picture may be released with its seal of approval.
The Hays Office accomplishes numerous tasks of which the public is unaware, but its most publicized function is the censorship of all motion pictures before they are released for public exhibition. No producer can buy a novel, no writer can write a screen play, no director can shoot a picture, no actor can kiss an actress (before a camera) without having the Hays Office cast a censorial eye over his shoulder.
The Production Code, which states in black and white just what is not considered the "highest possible moral and artistic standards''— or, in other words, what is naughty— is administered by a special group of censors in the Hays Office. These men pass on the censorable situations in plays and novels even before the studios purchase them. They read shooting scripts and advise the studios of any scenes that may be censorable, then view the finished picture and okay it for distribution.
The Production Code is in itself an interesting document. It strives to please almost all powerful reform groups in an effort to comply with everybody's ideas of the "highest moral and artistic standards." The Catholic and Protestant Churches, as well as lay societies dedicated to the prevention of sin and vice, played a most important part in writing the Code. Even the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Women's Christian Temperance Union influenced certain provisions of the Code.
Sometimes the Code goes to fantastic lengths to be sure that the most sensitive eyes and ears are not offended.