Pink permits
Encyclopedia
In 1914, Chicago amended its film censorship ordinance, setting up a category of films approved for showing only to persons over twenty-one (the first example of a rating system in motion-picture exhibition). The police were authorized to give such films "Pink Permits". According to testimony before the Chicago
Motion Picture Commission, the plan took shape following an incident over a film based on Nathaniel Hawthorne
's novel The Scarlet Letter
. A delegation of women, having seen the film, requested the police to allow it to be shown. The official in charge replied the he did not know how he could explain to his fifteen-year-old daughter what the scarlet "A" meant, therefore he could not pass the film. Nevertheless, he was troubled, since clearly murder and robbery, the usual censorship taboos, were not at issue. He entered into a "gentleman's agreement" with the film's producer, allowing the film to be shown publicly, provided no one under twenty-one was allowed in. After several similar dilemmas over the films based on literary classics, the "pink permit" policy became law.
Sklar, Robert, Movie-Made America: A Cultural History of American Movies, Random House 1974, 1994 ISBN 0-679-755497-7
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
Motion Picture Commission, the plan took shape following an incident over a film based on Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer.Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in the city of Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Hathorne and the former Elizabeth Clarke Manning. His ancestors include John Hathorne, a judge during the Salem Witch Trials...
's novel The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter is an 1850 romantic work of fiction in a historical setting, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It is considered to be his magnum opus. Set in 17th-century Puritan Boston during the years 1642 to 1649, it tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter through an...
. A delegation of women, having seen the film, requested the police to allow it to be shown. The official in charge replied the he did not know how he could explain to his fifteen-year-old daughter what the scarlet "A" meant, therefore he could not pass the film. Nevertheless, he was troubled, since clearly murder and robbery, the usual censorship taboos, were not at issue. He entered into a "gentleman's agreement" with the film's producer, allowing the film to be shown publicly, provided no one under twenty-one was allowed in. After several similar dilemmas over the films based on literary classics, the "pink permit" policy became law.
Sources and text
Hays, Will H., "The Motion Picture Industry," American Review of Reviews, Vol. 67 (January 1923), p. 75.Sklar, Robert, Movie-Made America: A Cultural History of American Movies, Random House 1974, 1994 ISBN 0-679-755497-7