Joseph I. Breen
Encyclopedia
Joseph Ignatius Breen was an American
film censor
. He worked for more than two decades with the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America to enforce the so-called Hays Code in film production.
as his West Coast representative and assistant.
For eight months in 1941 he 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."
stated "More than any single individual, he shaped the moral stature of the American motion picture." In the 2004 film The Aviator, Breen was portrayed by Edward Herrmann
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film censor
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
. He worked for more than two decades with the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America to enforce the so-called Hays Code in film production.
Career
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. 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 HaysWill H. Hays
William Harrison Hays, Sr. , was the namesake of the Hays Code for censorship of American films, chairman of the Republican National Committee and U.S. Postmaster General from 1921 to 1922....
as his West Coast representative and assistant.
For eight months in 1941 he was head of RKO Pictures
RKO Pictures
RKO Pictures is an American film production and distribution company. As RKO Radio Pictures Inc., it was one of the Big Five studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheum theater chains and Joseph P...
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."
Legacy
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 VarietyVariety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
stated "More than any single individual, he shaped the moral stature of the American motion picture." In the 2004 film The Aviator, Breen was portrayed by Edward Herrmann
Edward Herrmann
Edward Kirk Herrmann is a U.S. television and film actor. He is best known for his Emmy-nominated portrayals of Franklin D...
.
See also
- Baby Face (film) (1933), for Breen's revision of a scene in a sexually charged pre-code film.
Sources
- 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