Let's Talk About the Hollywood Censorship | Old Hollywood History

I'm trying something new - a story time with a dash of history. What do you think of formats like this?
I do not own any of the pictures, clips or music in the making of this video.
I publish little videos like this to keep these actors/actresses relevant, not to monetize. It's strictly for educational purposes and to peak interest in viewers to keep these classics from truly dying. Therefore, this video is protected under the Fair Use Act as I am only using these images/videos to express the educational interest of the viewers. They are protected under the use of education, research and critiques.
I highly recommend looking into the films that are mentioned in this video and would love to see these classics brought back to light.
As a Historian and Researcher, I do my hardest to back up every piece of information and do not get all my tidbits from one source - this way I can ensure the viewer is getting the most amount of knowledge on the subject.
Enjoy!
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[@jacquelinea3358]

Interesting video. I'm sure this was a major research project. I'm sorry there was ever censorship in American movies. Adults are perfectly capable of NOT watching things that might disturb or offend them, and complaining about films they don't like. The one thing I agree with is age restriction. Unfortunately, 24 hour internet and cable has made it near impossible to keep kids away from raunchy and violent movies they are determined to see. I also want to discuss the caliber of acting in pre- and post-code movies. None of them would be successful or iconic without stars like Edward G Robinson, Jean Harlow, George Raft, Theda Bara, Bela Lugosi, Bette Davis (my personal favorite), Mae West, Norma Shearer (another favorite) and James Cagney. I got chills watching your clip of Cagney's face in Public Enemy. He was magnificent. I want to give props here also to the wonderful Hattie McDaniel. Although not necessarily associated with censorship, she went through many fires just to work and excel in Hollywood. One of my favorite McDaniel roles is her hilarious and edgy turn as crusty, rented maid Malena in "Alice Adams." That is a gem of a movie, btw, with great performances all around, including Katherine Hepburn and Fred MacMurray. 😊 I love the lighter weight films of the 30s, 40s, and 50s, and not because they were "wholesome," but because they were good productions. There's nothing wrong with escapism, either, during hard times. What would the 30s been like without Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers? Thank God for film preservation organizations.

[@atlaseliteentertainmentllc4982]

Wonderful documentary Nicole. You are amazing. Keep giving us wonderful work that you do.

[@Silversmoke1000]

Just fantastic. Thank so much for this.

[@doriemckay6935]

Love this. ❤so much work gone into this fabulous doc!!

[@janmccall7608]

Worthwhile entry! Only wish that the actors would be ID'd for those of us who don't know them all.

[@wasnhas]

Another great effort, very comprehensive, thank you !

[@mitchellalexander9162]

6:30 I love the Public Domain.

[@AllenMQuinn]

Such incredible work. Can't wait for more!!

[@traceyforth8170]

What an amazing and well put together documentary.

[@doriemckay6935]

Re: the gold diggers. There's one little fluffy blonde I'm sure Marilyn Monroe took her voice from. The one with the platinum hair and big brown eyes.

[@privatedeborah1004]

I guess you mean Alice White! And you are right, the featured Clip with her reminded me a lot of Marilyn in the movie " Gentleman prefer Blondes"

[@RianShafer]

Another good one Nicole! These must take forever for you to put together! Gotta say... some of those love/sex things were downright creepy! I'm glad you included the ones where the girls got "in trouble" but now I really want to know why the girl's brother could not go after his sister's baby daddy. Anyone know? In real life he might have died, been someone famous, or someone with strong political ties/rich that could make it bad for the whole family. Maybe just a loser but the brother could have gone after a dead beat loser. Do you know why Nicole, you must have seen more of the movie than we did.

[@nicolefrederick4918]

Yes, they do take a long time! I think I'm going to stay away from these larger topics for a little while. Are you referring to the 1945 movie Mom and Dad? In that scenario, the father had died shortly after the "occurrence". I'm sure, in the plot of the film, if he hadn't of died the families would have forced a marriage. In this case, the movie tries to highlight the dangers of teenage pregnancy - but also the dangers of parents not teaching their children the facts of life. The main character didn't learn anything about teenage pregnancy from her mother. The brother was helpful, he enlisted the aid of their teacher to speak to the parents. I know I'm modern-minded, but it's really sad to think that the baby would have been given up for adoption knowing the baby's father was deceased. Reputation was everything back in the day. There were A LOT of pregnancy plots in these pre-code films and some were not far off from what you had listed as potential outcomes. It's incredible how pregnancy, as a plot, was ignored after the code. Come to think of it, I don't think I rightly recall any movies ever mentioning pregnancy after 1934 - a baby just... appears when necessary. I was going to say that Mom and Dad was up on KZbin, but it looks like it was taken down. Probably due to the graphic scenes of birth at the end. I'm sure there should be a copy floating around the internet somewhere.

[@RianShafer]

@@nicolefrederick4918 Thanks so much for letting me know which scenario it was about the teen mom. Being much older than some of your viewers might be, I remember when girls "went to see/stay with relatives" and rumors let on they were PG and got sent away. Only one girl ever came back the next school year when we started high school. I even remember her name. I never asked. No one did. We learned very little in high school but more than the earlier kids did. Luckily my mom told us anything we wanted to know because she lived through these times in the movies.

[@mitchellalexander9162]

"Start Policing Yourselves or WE Will come in to Do it *FOR YOU."* =Bob Moviebob Chipman on 'The Hays Code and The Looming Threat of the US Government getting directly involved in Film Censorship that led to the MPAA's creation and the Pre- and Post Hays Code era of Film

[@agustinprystupa280]

As the Old Hollywood fan I've been for the last three years the pre code era has become my favorite era because movies carried a "liberal and modern" thought for me Norma Shearer is the queen of precode and most of my favorite stars (James Cagney Edward G Robinson Cary Grant Mae West Barbara Stanwyck Miriam Hopkins Claudette Colbert Bette Davis Katharine Hepburn among others) had the start of their career on film during that era sadly the Hays Code blew that funny era and even there are some movies made under the code that were like a pre code movie like 1959's Some Like It Hot it looks like a pre code without being a pre code I read that Joseph "Joe" Breen who was in charge of the Hays office learned that Paramount was about to shoot The Story of Temple Drake (which was the film version of Faulkner's book Sanctuary) he send a memo saying that while he hasn't read Faulker's book the movie would prove to be the villest movie ever made he also said that he won't tolerate the sexual behavior of Queen Christina of Sweden in 1933's Queen Christina and he made a board watch the movie and they said that the movie should be release and let being seen by the public and then when Warner released 1934's Wonder Bar Breen wanted cut the scene where a man approached a dancing couple and he asked if the could dance the woman agreed to and the man wanted to dance with the other man and Al Jolson says boys will be boys and when tried to talk about it with Jack Warner he didn't take Breen's calls there are two documentaries I like about pre code hollywood one is Complicated Women which discussed women in that era and the other one is Thou Shalt Not: Sex Sin and Censorship in Pre Code era I love this video it's like a documentary and it's amazing