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

by Thomas Doherty

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 reach—he 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 era—and an individual both feared and admired—to vivid life.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction, History, Biography, Media Tie In

440 pages, Hardcover

First published October 10, 2007

Reviews

[Gabriel]

I didn't forget to rate this book-- it gets no stars from me. A maddening attempt to whitewash an execrable man. Both a picture of enormous human folly and an enormous human folly. Despite Doherty's self-serving arguments throughout, Breen and the Code are the reasons why we have awful movies even today. Hollywood was never given the chance to grow up, and "the only new art form of the twentieth century" was stunted almost at birth. Yes, the strictures of Code censorship on scripts from 1934-1949 did help to give rise to the auteurs and a new way of seeing the artist in the art, but wouldn't you rather have great art than great artists hiding behind flawed art? The scripts were not bowdlerized, as Doherty is quick to point out, but sanitized in a much more insidious and injurious way. The plots were turned inside out-- that "Hollywood ending" that makes you groan every time you see it? Breen, to the teeth. Those wretched morality plays, neutered and incompetently sutured, live on today. Worse, though, is the illusion that Hollywood is giving the people what they want. Regardless of how Doherty spins it, this is the result of Breen and the Code.

[Margot Sheehan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Doherty has a feeble grasp of history and serious issues with Catholicism, which he trashes ad libitum when he tries to make his point that Joseph Breen's succession to the Hays Office somehow brought American movies down to a pabulum standard. Actually the best movies ever made in America were (with a few exceptions) made during the time of the Breen Office.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative history of the Production Code Administration who monitored content in Hollywood films from 1934 to the early 1960s. The book also focuses on Joseph Breen, the man responsible for the operation running so effectively. I figured him to be an uptight bluenose, by he was actually a very intelligent, rational person who commanded the respect of the major studios.

I see that some of the other reviews rate it really low, but it is well researched and sourced. In the 1930s, the "moral values" of society were much more strict than they are now and American film was on the verge of being regulated by the government. Joseph Breen and the PCA were the compromise the studios made to prevent regulations at the Federal level. The author points out how once the US entered the War, the Code started becoming outdated and Breen was off base in his failure to waiver, eventually appearing ridiculous with some of his actions in the post-War era.

[Richard Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Following a few books on pre-Code cinema, the salacious period between 1929 and 1930, I was keen to explore a bit more on the ‘Hays Code’ itself and its enforcement. Thomas Doherty certainly does that in this exploration of Joseph Breen, the “Victorian Irishman” who enforced the Production Code for over two decades. In between all the puritanical leanings and the morality movements, I was surprised to learn how many studio folk (and punters) welcomed the Code as well. It certainly ushered in a period of self-regulated prosperity before it became a relic of the past, and was eventually replaced with MPAA ratings in 1968. Ofttimes dense and packed with detailed asides, Doherty’s tome may not be for the casual historian – but Doherty also skips back and forth through time, and skims over the last few decades. As a biography, Doherty paints a portrait of a tough but usually rational negotiator. He ostensibly refutes arguments of anti-Semitism against Breen but doesn’t exactly make a case against for him either, merely writing off slurs in his letters as the lingua franca of the day. (A lousy excuse that glosses over much). So, the book works best when it’s a potted history of censorship (and self-regulation) of the film industry, with Doherty taking specific examples of the ‘dos and don’ts’ of the Code, from the sublime (Bacall and Bogart’s dialogue in The Big Sleep) to the ridiculous (a ban on cow udders and milking). Would be great bedtime reading, as long as you keep your single bed at least 12 inches apart from your spouse at all times.

3.5 stars.

[A.J. Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. I wasn't aware of the extent of the work Joseph Breen had done. It's quite incredible that Hollywood, and America, has undergone such a total moral collapse during the past 60 years. I suggest you read Thomas Doherty's book "Pre-Code Hollywood" before you read this one.

[Karl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thomas Doherty uses the professional life of Joseph I. Breen as the lens to examine the development and application of the private regulatory system of the Motion Picture Production Code. Joseph Breen, head of the Production Code Administration (the PCA; a.k.a. The Breen Office) was chiefly responsible for the way Hollywood studios censored themselves from 1934 to 1966. The fact that the power of the Code faded after Breen retired in 1955 is a testament to his centrality to the entire project.

The Production Code was commonly, if misleadingly, called the Hays Code, after the head of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA), but it was Joseph Breen who made the Code a reality, and was its true guiding spirit. Doherty does a great job of centering the Code in the Catholic (especially Irish Catholic) experience in America during in the early 20th Century. While the Code was intended to "clean up" movies for a general audience, and to prevent federal regulation, evidence for its Catholic roots is clear, especially once Breen took over the PCA. Breen's Catholic faith and Irish-American background was also not coincidentally important to the movie industry, dominated by five big studios and their "moguls." Many studio heads were Jewish, often of recent immigrant backgrounds, in a country where overt anti-Semitism was commonplace. Catholics too, faced vicious discrimination from the religious majority, and Doherty frames the MPPDA, the PCA, and related groups as a kind of defensive alliance to appease numerous constituencies, from bishops to big business, from congressmen to theater-goers. As Doherty notes, the Code was in a sense, "a Jewish-owned business selling Roman Catholic theology to Protestant America" (page 172). He might have added, that it did all of that while insisting that it was not actually doing that.

To support his account of the PCA, Doherty's book becomes a brief history of Hollywood films and explores the evolution of the medium through the Depression, World War II, the Cold War, shifting social values, and expanding Constitutional rights. The threads combined perfectly, and Doherty has a great grasp on the history of Hollywood and America during these decades. He also knows how to see the funny side of the entire saga, with wry comments on the sillier aspects of the Dream Factory and efforts to make it tow a moral line. The discussion of how Jane Russell in The Outlaw somehow became an existential crisis for the nation's moral guardians is particularly funny.

[aloveiz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Doherty wrote this book in 1999 using a different title and bigger words. Still passionless. Still oblivious.

[Tiffany Brannan · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Hollywood's Censor" is a fine book about a wonderful man and a glorious period of Hollywood history. I bought this book used from Amazon to find out more about Joseph I. Breen, the self-regulator of Hollywood from 1934 to 1954. I started the Pure Entertainment Preservation Society, https:pureentertainmentpreservationsociety.wordpress.com, in November of 2016, and since then, I have greatly admired Mr. Breen. This book portrays him fairly and kindly, unlike most writings available about him. I think Mr. Doherty was extremely open-minded and positive about Joseph Breen, the Motion Picture Production Code of 1930, and the Production Code Administration. I appreciate this book even more after reading other people's writings on Mr. Breen and the Code. Some have called Mr. Breen "notorious" and others have called the Code "horrendous." I am shocked and horrified to realize that Bonnie and Clyde, the lunatic killers of the early thirties, are viewed as more attractive, glamorous, and noble figures than this devout Catholic Irishman. I have started many biographies of historical figures, but this is the only one which has held my attention from start to finish. My only objection is to the cover, which shows a black and white photograph of a laughing Mr. Breen and two harem girls. The only color in the photograph is a bright blue background. Although Joseph Breen was only approving their costumes, the picture is insinuating that he, like many men of Hollywood, was a lecherous fellow, which he certainly was not. Also, blue represented prurience in the 1930s, and the blue background is a rather cheap reference to this. The cover was designed by Lisa Hamm, however, not Thomas Doherty, so I do not blame him.
If you want to read an interesting and true book about Hollywood history and the Code, this the best book on the subject.