You Can't Watch That!: The History of Hollywood Film Ratings and Censorship

Beginning in the 1930s, the entertainment industry began to self-regulate itself to tone down some of the excesses of early films.  It was either censor their own films or have the government do it for them. The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry moral guidelines applied to most US movies released by major studios from 1930 to 1968. It is also known as the Hays Code, after Will H. Hays, its first president. The Code affected everyone from Jane Russell to Betty Boop, from movie scenes to song lyrics. Join Jim Nicholson from the Osher LifeLong Learning Center at Furman University to examine the rise and fall of Hollywood censorship, and the development of the present system that replaced it. Registration required. Call 864-246-1695 or email berea@greenvillelibrary.org to register.​