Modern Screen (Jan - Nov 1940)

WHAT MAKES THE MOVIES BEHAVE? (Continued from page 29) garbage. But what's left will be pure, and no reformers will kick. Now, do you want me?" They wanted him. Breen demanded that he see every script before it went to the camera and every picture after it was taken out of the camera. And he didn't waste time laying down the law He rejected a Jean Harlow script three times in a week. He made Paramount do a Bing Crosby scenario over twenty times, because it was too risque. He cut an M-G-M scene that showed Jeanette MacDonald being carried to a sofa, and wrote to M-G-M, "I will pass this only if Miss MacDonald keeps her feet on the floor as she is placed on the sofa." Today, every movie in Hollywood must be okayed by Joe Breen if it is to get the Purity Seal. Breen doesn't like his okay to be called the Purity Seal. Too prissy. Prefers the term "Certificate of Approval." Should a Hollywood producer disobey Breen and try to sneak a movie through without the Purity Seal, he would be boycotted by 98% of the nation's theatres and fined $25,000! But none of the producers disobey. During the past year, 4,000 stories were submitted to Breen fay various studios. Of these, 600 were finally produced, although only two of them were entirely banned. Good example of a censored script would be the recent one based on the sex life of Dixie Davis, which was hot enough to fry eggs on, and which Breen rejected for use by any studio. Example of censored scenes would be the cutting of Claudette Colbert's hotcha can-can dance from "Zaza" and the modification of the bit in "Elizabeth and Essex" where Errol Flynn slapped Bette Davis on her beam end. Example of a censored still picture would be the recent shot of Maureen O'Hara and Lucille Ball doing a dance with their thighs peeking out over black silk stockings. It was finally okayed when RKO had the girls' thighs painted black at Breen's request. TO appreciate Hollywood censorship, to learn how movies are made to behave, you have to first take a peek into Breen's own version of Mein Kampf — a tiny, gray-covered, eight-page booklet labeled "The Production Code." This Bible of behavior a la cinema dictates what every good little movie producer must put in and leave out of his expensive epic. Under the heading of "Crimes Against the Law," there are these Breenisms: "The technique of murder must be presented in a way that will not inspire imitation. Brutal killings are not to be presented in detail. Revenge in modern times shall not be justified." Under the heading of "Sex," are numerous stern warnings. According to one paragraph, "Scenes of passion should not be introduced when not essential to the plot. Excessive and lustful kissing, lustful embraces, suggestive postures and gestures are not to be shown." According to another paragraph, "Seduction or rape should never be more than suggested. . . . They are never the proper subject for comedy." According to scattered paragraphs, "White slavery shall not be treated. Sex relationships between the white and black races are forbidden. Scenes of actual childbirth are never to be presented. Children's sex organs are never to be exposed!" Under the heading of "Profanity" is one emphatic paragraph reading, "Pointed profanity — this includes the words God, Lord, Jesus, Christ (unless used reverently), Hell, S.O.B., damn or every other profane or vulgar expression however used — is forbidden." Under the heading of "National Feelings," Joe Breen dictates in a manner that recalls his diplomatic training, to wit, "The use of the flag shall be consistently respectful. The history, institutions, prominent people and citizenry of other nations shall be represented fairly." In order not to offend any person, nation or institution, and in order to follow the canons of "The Production Code," Breen is constantly in hot water about movie villains. For example, Mexico will protest a Mexican villain, Italy will ban a picture with an Italian villain, the medical profession will protest if the villain is a doctor and a thousand persons will sue if a movie villain happens to have the same name as themselves. Once, grasping at a last straw, Walter Wanger, in making "Stand-In" with Leslie Howard and Joan Blondell, made his villain a movie producer. Joe Breen ANNE DEWEY, LOVELY SWEET BRIAR COLLEGE JUNIOR, SAYS: vox ttwf~\vwd)UVA xyjoXluwjJL lock USE THIS FACE POWDER YOU CHOOSE BY THE COLOR OF YOUR EYES! Naturalness! Freshness! The appealing charm of gay, young "collegiennes" ! That's the way the men of today want you to look — and you can, if you'll use the thrilling Marvelous Face Powder, keyed by Richard Hudnut to the color of your eyes. 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