History Made Every Day™

The Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America formally adopt the Production Code on this day in 1930. For the next three decades, the Code imposed strict guidelines on the cinematic treatment of sex, crime, religion, violence, and other controversial subjects.

The Code was the industry's attempt to avoid government censorship, as public demand for morally acceptable movies increased with the advent of sound and the growing popularity of cinema. To avoid government censorship, the heads of the major Hollywood studios created a self-regulating association, the MPPDA, and hired Will H. Hays, the former U.S. postmaster general under President Harding and past chairman of the Republic National Committee, to head the new group. Hays wielded such power that the MPPDA came to be called the "Hays Office," and the Production Code adopted in 1930 was commonly referred to as the "Hays Code."

The Code required that no film should "lower the standards of those who see it. Hence, the sympathy of the audience should never be thrown to the side of crime, wrongdoing, evil, or sin." The Code specifically prohibited the portrayal of illegal drug trafficking, "sex perversion," and profanity. It also prohibited the portrayal of clergy members as comic characters or villains, and the portrayal of interracial relationships.

The Code deeply influenced the kinds of films that were made until the late 1960s,

when the standards were revised in response to social change. New standards adopted in 1966 permitted more liberal portrayals of sexual content but imposed heavier restrictions on violence. In 1968, the Code was replaced by the movie ratings system, which greatly expanded the range of permissible subjects for film. The first ratings system included categories G (for general audience), MGP (all ages admitted but parental guidance suggested), and R (no one under 16 admitted). In 1970, MGP was replaced by PG (parental guidance suggested) and R movies (no one under 17 admitted without a parent or guardian). In 1984, the PG-13 rating was added, and the X rating was phased out in 1990 in favor of NC-17.