Hollywood's Censor: Joseph I. Breen and the Production Code Administration

Thomas Doherty

Published by Columbia University Press 2009

Hollywood's Censor

Joseph I. Breen and the Production Code Administration

Thomas Doherty

https://doi.org/10.7312/dohe14358

Overview
Contents

About this book

Cultural historian Thomas Doherty recounts the untold tale of the man who dictated "final cut" over more movies than anyone in the history of American cinema. Empowered by industry insiders and millions of like-minded Catholics, Joseph I. Breen oversaw the editing of A-list feature films, low-budget B movies, short subjects, previews of coming attractions, and even cartoons. Populated by a colorful cast of characters, including Catholic priests, Jewish moguls, visionary auteurs, hardnosed journalists, and bluenose agitators, Doherty's insightful, behind-the-scenes portrait brings a tumultuous eraand an individual both feared and admired-to vivid life.

From 1934 to 1954 Joseph I. Breen, a media-savvy Victorian Irishman, reigned over the Production Code Administration, the Hollywood office tasked with censoring the American screen. Though little known outside the ranks of the studio system, this former journalist and public relations agent was one of the most powerful men in the motion picture industry. As enforcer of the puritanical Production Code, Breen dictated "final cut" over more movies than anyone in the history of American cinema. His editorial decisions profoundly influenced the images and values projected by Hollywood during the Great Depression, World War II, and the Cold War.

Cultural historian Thomas Doherty tells the absorbing story of Breen's ascent to power and the widespread effects of his reign. Breen vetted story lines, blue-penciled dialogue, and excised footage (a process that came to be known as "Breening") to fit the demands of his strict moral framework. Empowered by industry insiders and millions of like-minded Catholics who supported his missionary zeal, Breen strove to protect innocent souls from the temptations beckoning from the motion picture screen.

There were few elements of cinematic production beyond Breen's reachhe oversaw the editing of A-list feature films, low-budget B movies, short subjects, previews of coming attractions, and even cartoons. Populated by a colorful cast of characters, including Catholic priests, Jewish moguls, visionary auteurs, hardnosed journalists, and bluenose agitators, Doherty's insightful, behind-the-scenes portrait brings a tumultuous eraand an individual both feared and admiredto vivid life.

Author / Editor information

Thomas Doherty is professor of American studies at Brandeis University. He serves on the editorial board of Cineaste and is the author of Cold War, Cool Medium: Television, McCarthyism, and American Culture; Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema, 1930-1934; Projections of War: Hollywood, American Culture, and World War II; and Teenagers and Teenpics: The Juvenilization of American Movies in the 1950s.

Reviews

An exemplary biography... Highly recommended.

Rob Hardy:
A pleasure to read.

Scott Eyman:
Written with controlled exuberance, and much wit.

Dennis Drabelle:
Hollywood's Censor is a stinging portrait of a cultural strongman who made it his business to baby his fellow citizens.

Gerald Peary:
[A] brilliant and absorbing new book.

Kenneth Turan:
[An] authoritative, entertaining, unexpectedly unnerving biography.

Carol O'Sullivan:
A fascinating read for anyone interested in American film history.

Ada Calhoun:
[An] entertaining and rigorous biography of Breen.

Compelling, colorful, insightful, and nearly encyclopedic in detail, this book seems destined to become the definitive scholarly biography of Breen. Highly recommended.

Doherty writes with such wit and verve, bringing the past to life... a very entertaining read.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Opening Credits Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
Prologue: Hollywood, 1954 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. The Victorian Irishman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	7
2. Bluenoses Against the Screen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	31
3. Hollywood Shot to Pieces Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	49
4. The Breen Office Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	77
5. Decoding Classical Hollywood Cinema Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
6. Confessional Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	121
7. Intermission at RKO Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	132
8. At War with the Breen Office Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	152
9. In His Sacerdotalism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	172
10. “Our Semitic Brethren” Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	199
11. Social Problems, Existential Dilemmas, and Outsized Anatomies Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	225
12. Invasion of the Art Films Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	264
13. Amending the Ten Commandments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	292
14. Not the Breen Office Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	313
15. Final Cut: Joseph I. Breen and the Auteur Theory Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	337
Appendix: Th e Production Code Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	351
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	365
Film Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	409
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	415

Language: English
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 440
Illustrations
- Other: 60 illus.

eBook

Published: March 31, 2009
ISBN: 9780231512848