Turner Classic Movie Quotes

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The market was mostly Protestant. The industry was mostly Jewish-run. Yet a Midwest Catholic minority gained control.

What Mayer did in the thirties― what he was situated to do as a Jew yearning to belong― was provide reassurance against the anxieties and disruptions of the time. He did this by fashioning a vast, compelling national fantasy out of his dreams and out of the basic tenets of his own dogmatic faith― a belief in virtue, in the bulwark of family, in the merits of loyalty, in the soundness of tradition, in America itself.

These are the facts of pre-Code Hollywood. The story behind it is monumental, because it deals with struggle for power. The stakes were high: the billion-dollar market for America's sixth-largest industry. The market was mostly Protestant. The industry was mostly Jewish-run. Yet a Midwest Catholic minority gained control. This is the story of *Forbidden Hollywood.*

In March 1930, representatives of every studio signed the agreement. This “Production Code” should have kept forbidden elements off the screen, but the Great Depression arrived, emptying theaters. To lure patrons back, producers began to violate the agreement

For years, films had suggested this plot development by having one woman whisper into the ear of another, but some audiences snickered at this, so studios had begun using the actual words. “There must be a sweeter phrase for motherhood in pictures,” wrote B. P. McCormick of Canon City, Colorado. “Don’t say a mother is ‘having a baby.’ Let’s get above the level of the cow having a calf. Motherhood is worthy of a sweeter expression.