Joseph Ignatius Breen (October 14, 1888, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – December 5, 1965, Los Angeles, California) was an American film censor. He worked for more than two decades with the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America to enforce the Hays Code in film production.[1]
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Career [edit]
In 1934, the original organization established to enforce the code, the Studio Relations Committee, was replaced by a new organization, the Production Code Administration (PCA), and Breen was appointed head, a position he held until 1954.[2] The PCA had been founded in response to intense opposition by Catholic groups to what was seen as Hollywood's lax enforcement of the production code—opposition secretly orchestrated, in part, by Breen who was officially employed by Hays as his West Coast representative and assistant. For eight months in 1941 Breen was head of RKO Pictures before returning to the PCA. In 1954, on the occasion of his retirement, he was presented with an honorary Academy Award, for "his conscientious, open-minded and dignified management of the Motion Picture Production Code."[citation needed]
Antisemitism [edit]
Breen was a rabid anti-Semite,[3] who was quoted as stating that Jews "are, probably, the scum of the earth." [4]
Legacy [edit]
Breen was extremely unpopular with filmmakers due to what they viewed as his unnecessary censorship of their artistic vision. Upon Breen's death, the trade magazine Variety stated "More than any single individual, he shaped the moral stature of the American motion picture."[5] In the 2004 film The Aviator, Breen was portrayed by Edward Herrmann.
See also [edit]
- Baby Face (film) (1933), for Breen's revision of a scene in a sexually charged pre-code film.
References [edit]
- ^ Staff report (December 8, 1965). JOSEPH I. BREEN, FILM CODE CHIEF; Watchdog of Movie Morals For Years Is Dead at 75. New York Times
- ^ Pryors, Thomas S. (October 15, 1954). BREEN IS RETIRED AS MOVIE CENSOR; At Own Request, Director of Code Leaves Office -- Chief Aide Successor. New York Times
- ^ Black, p. 39.
- ^ Doherty, Thomas Patrick. Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema 1930-1934. New York: Columbia University Press 1999. ISBN 0-231-11094-4 pg. 98
- ^ Doherty, Thomas Patrick. Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema 1930-1934. New York: Columbia University Press 1999. ISBN 0-231-11094-4 pg. 9
External links [edit]
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