Pre Code Shockers

US Film censorship began in earnest in 1907, when the Chicago Police force opened up a censor board to examine films and ban those that were controversial. This spurned the creation of a number of censor boards across the country, some on the state level, like New York’s infamous Board of Regents, and some, like Chicago, on the city level. In 1915, the US Supreme Court oversaw a case, known as the Mutual case, and they stated that, “The exhibition of motion pictures is a business, pure and simple.” As a result, they were not given the same free speech rights that other art forms enjoyed, especially the ability to express ideas and images that may be considered obscene.

This brought the Hollywood industry into a frenzy. Now that the US Government declared film censorship a legal possibility, the industry feared that the feds would establish a national censorship board and would too-strictly restrict film content. They banded together and decided to form their own self-censorship organization. This would prove to the Government that federal intervention was unneeded, and it would also create a way to bypass local boards by incorporating all or most regional restrictions into their own board.

In 1922, the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) was formed to institute Hollywood censorship. Their charismatic leader, Will Hays, became the poster boy for the new organization, and many people called the organization simply the “Hays Office.” The group had three basic principles: pictures should not lower the morals of those watching; only correct standards of life should be presented; and law, natural or human, should not be ridiculed.

The MPPDA wasn’t very successful in its immediate incarnation, and Hays got to work producing a specific list of forbidden content, finished in 1927 and called the “Don'ts and Be Carefuls.” Again, enforcement of these standards was difficult. He and his organization compiled still another code, and that is what controlled the film industry for decades to come. In 1930, the MPPDA released the Production Code, a well-defined list of numerous subjects to be avoided. Among them, nakedness, sacrilege, drug use, criminal methods, sex perversion, curse words, adultery, miscegenation, “Scenes of Passion,” and excessive and lustful kissing were banned.

So the Code was in place by 1930. But still, no one was able to enforce it. For the next four years, as the Great Depression was hitting the film industry, producers were desperate to give their films an edge. From 1930-1934 Hollywood movie content reached a high of vulgarity and illicitness, as controversial films like THE PUBLIC ENEMY (1931), DRACULA (1931), FREAKS (1932), SCARFACE (1932), BABY FACE (1933), SHE DONE HIM WRONG (1933) and others featured extreme scenes and content. This grace period, before enforcement of the Code was a reality, is known as the Pre Code era.

Unfortunately, in 1934 the Production Code Administration (PCA) was created to enforce the Code. With that, the studios were forced to cooperate. For the next thirty or so years, Hollywood films were restrained by the Code and forced to avoid taboo subjects. What we have to show for this dynamic four-year Pre Code period are the films, a last-hurrah type moment where the Hollywood players encouraged sex, drugs, violence, and everything forbidden. NIGHT NURSE is a prime example of this era, as you shall see tonight.