Forbidden Hollywood: The Pre-Code Era (1930-1934): When Sin Ruled the Movies

by Mark A. Vieira

When a brand-new print is cut and then spliced, there occurs a slight jump when the splice goes through the projector gate. This was obvious to most audience members, especially if it occurred when things were “getting good.” Audiences could tell that they were being deprived of images and ideas for which they had paid at the box office.

I suppose I’m on the wrong side of the fence,” wrote a Kansas mother in 1932, “but I contend that we are not helping our children fight evil by tying a black cloth over their eyes and telling them that evil is not there. Censor the cigaret-smoking woman on the screen, and they will see one in our own little city. The real problem is that mothers say, ‘Here’s a dime. You may go to the movies. (And stay out of my way.)’ How much better to say, ‘Let’s go to the movies.’”

For the first time since The Callahans and the Murphys in 1927, M-G-M pulled a film from circulation. Unable to play out its contracts, Freaks lost $158,607.

“In these days of unemployment,” wrote B. D. Claire of St. Petersburg, “people do not appreciate a picture show until they cannot afford to go, until they turn pockets inside out and find, that by doing without some food, they can go to a picture. During the weary time that my husband has been out of work we have squeezed the occasional quarters from our slender store, and we live that show—in anticipation, in actuality, and in retrospect.”

“That bath of ‘asses’ milk’ was a powdered milk product called ‘Klim,’” recalled Colbert. “That’s ‘milk’ spelled backward. The Klim was so warm the bangs on my wig came uncurled. When the electricians turned off all the hot lights for an hour, it congealed, and the Klim turned to cream cheese.” Cinematographer Karl Struss recalled: “Oh, boy! It smelled to heaven! And Claudette was really nude, so she couldn’t get out too often.” When she did, DeMille tried to get a free look; a technician inadvertently blocked it, and DeMille cursed him.

Years later, Mae West recalled the Hollywood of 1933. “It was a world that came awake with an economic hangover, and instead of being thankful it was being saved, it tried to assault its rescue teams.”