r to control content in much of what Hollywood produced serving as a moral guardian for the American public. From 1934 until the early 1950s staunch lay Catholic, Joseph I. Breen , rigorously enforced Lords code at the Production Code Administration (PCA), often over the protests of studio executives, producers, directors, and screenwriters. The PCA, the industrys own censorship board worked hand in hand with the Legion of Decency to keep the movies from exploring social, political and economic issues that it believed were either immoral or a danger to the Catholic Church.The PCA, represented only the first step in the process of purification that all Hollywood films underwent during the Legions reign. After receiving a Production Code seal of approval, films were shipped to New York for duplication and distribution; but before that process could begin each film was submitted to the Catholic Legion of Decency for a final review. If they didnt like what they saw, word would be sent to the producing studio that negotiations were in order. A letter or a telephone conversation would detail the Legions objections. The offending films would be either altered to suit Catholic tastes or waiting for condemnation. A Legion condemnation shook Hollywood to its core because Catholics, some twenty million strong, were theoretically forbidden, under the penalty of mortal sin, to attend the condemned film. Any theater that exhibited a condemned film was targeted for boycott by Catholic organizations. Rather than risk a loss of income or challenge the Legions authority to censor their product, producers bowed to the pressure and cut the offending material from all prints exhibited worldwide. In reality, then, the Legions view of sex, politics and moral issues reached an international market. The history of the relationship between the Legion and Hollywood, of a religious organizations censorship of a mass medium entailed a cultural war between the Legi...
