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The Production Code policed Hollywood for three decades
From 1934 studios needed a seal of approval before a film could be released The Motion Picture Production Code, written in 1930 and enforced from 1934, listed what films could show, from crime and violence to sex and marriage. The Production Code Administration read scripts and screened finished films and could refuse a seal, which few cinemas would do without. Ratings replaced it in 1968. It sits in Mondo's movies & tv collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.
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A Hays Office seal decided what cinemas could bookFilms without approval struggled to find screens in the 1930sThe Production Code listed what could not be shownIts rules covered crime, sex, religion and even the appearance of evilShowing drug dealing sympathetically was off limitsThe Code required crime to be punished and never shown as attractiveEarly sound films hired musicians to play on setLive orchestras performed behind the camera so actors had a beat to move toSoap operas were named after their sponsorsAmerican serials were funded by soap and detergent companiesStudio contracts tied stars for seven yearsOptions let a studio drop or renew an actor each year without their consent
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Tags: censorship, hollywood, 1930s
The Production Code policed Hollywood for three decades: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- From 1934 studios needed a seal of approval before a film could be released. The figure is taken from Encyclopaedia Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a movies & tv fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Movies & TV shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
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- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.