Patriotic cartoons abounded as Bugs Bunny became an honorary Marine and Donald Duck got drafted into the Army.Īnd the Hays Office rules went out the window when it came to the Private Snafu cartoons (and others) Warner Brothers made for the troops. Many of the cartoons were aimed at War Bond drives, but most were educational, teaching soldiers some of the skills they’d need to stay alive. War cartoons (propaganda) were the subject of every studio: Disney, Fleisher, MGM, Columbia, Warner Brothers, and some independents. When WWII broke out, filming in America did not not slow down, but kicked into high gear churning out film after film as fast as production lines spat out tanks, planes, and ammo. Audiences were just no longer interested in her without minor titillations of her skirt popping up and panties showing. For Fleisher, it was the demand of the Hays Office to put a longer dress on Betty Boop that led to her demise. When Tweetie appeared next, it was yellow because censors felt the pink color just made the bird look naked. In his first film, Tweetie Bird was drawn pink. Cutting just a few feet of film out of a cartoon destroyed hundreds of hours of work. For cartoons, only after they were completed did they appear before the censor. Censors prefer the romance of the hand-holding type.”Īdditionally, censorship on feature films began during the scripting of the film and while filming.
As written up in a 1939 copy of Look Magazine, “Robert Taylor may kiss Garbo in a feature picture, but it isn’t considered nice for Porky Pig to kiss Petunia Pig in an animated cartoon. Because animation could do anything the creator could dream up, censoring cartoons was a bit more complex than censoring feature films. In the thirties, cartoons came under the scrutiny of the Hays Office and you can only imagine the shake up as suddenly some barn yard animals had to wear clothing. Nudity and suggestive dancing was prohibited, as well as illegal drug use, offensive language, and even mixed race marriages. It was from these general principles that specific restrictions were drawn up.
Bugs bunny pop it code#
The production code consisted of three general principles: It had been exactly what he’d been looking for. Mundelein of Chicago who turned it over to Hays. It wasn’t Hays who came up with the final code, or Hays Code as it would be called, but a handful of priests and lay persons, with the blessings of Cardinal George W.
then there was the cost of duplicating and distributing separate versions of censored films to each state per the rules of that state. Studios were charged for these changes by the foot of excised film and for each title card edited. Their goal was to renovate the industry and set standards, which at that time, varied from state to state. Hays resigned his position after a year to become the first president of the Motion Pictures Producers and Distributors of America. William Harrison Hays, Sr, Harding’s campaign manager, was appointed Postmaster General after Harding’s successful run for the White House. And though the “rules” were laid out, it wasn’t till Mae West flaunted them in her first (and only Academy Award nominated film, She Done Him Wrong that the industry clamped down tightly on productions. Although Arbuckle was never convicted, conservatives throughout the land felt a need to clean up Hollywood and produce healthier and more wholesome entertainment for all ages. However, the Mikkelsons haven’t put as much time and effort into this subject as I have, so I will forgive them.Ĭensorship in Hollywood began in the wake of the Fatty Arbuckle rape and murder scandal.
And if you go to Snopes, you will see they judge this page, this subject as an internet myth. Your author is a journalist with many interests and I thought this might be of interest to some. By way of introduction, no, this has nothing to do with wellness, although the entertainment industry tried for decades to reinforce strict standards of morality that were intended to create better citizens.