ST Squeezita Thickly—Hays Code

[Robin Landseadel]

Mark Kohut: “Besides Fatty Arbuncle where was a darker (pedophilia) side of movie
World "being regularly exposed" at the time?
 
Fatty's story---which I may not know fully---seemed to me Pynchon's shadow
synecdoche connection to the present.”
 
 
The “darker side” of Hollywood in the 1920s/1930s was not pedophilia:
 
“In the 1930s, support for setting the age of consent at 16 years or older began
to weaken. Characterized by growing economic, social, and cultural independence,
girls in their teens assumed a place in western societies quite distinct from that of
younger children. New concepts of adolescence and specifically of girlhood
normalized sexual activity during the teenage years, at least within peer groups,
as "sex play" necessary to achieve adult heterosexuality. Emboldened and
influenced by such ideas, girls more often talked of being "in love" with the men
charged with having sex with them, and expressed sexual desire. Prosecutors
and juries increasingly refused to treat such cases as rape.”
 
Children and Youth in History | Age of Consent Laws https://cyh.rrchnm.org/teaching-modules/230.html
 
 
The “darker side” in the 1920s and 1930s in Hollywood consisted of various
religious figureheads finding offense in the content of these films and a powerful
desire to censor them. Fatty Arbuckle was one story that shocked the public,
there was also the still unsolved murder of William Desmond Taylor and the
rumored murder of Thomas H. Ince.

The story of Will H. Hays is worth looking into. He was a crooked Republican
who got rewarded by landing the cushy position of director of the Motion Picture
Producers and Distributors of America. Going rate, in 1922 currency, $35,360, a year
which is $680,000 in 2025 money. In between he was one of the politicians who managed
to wiggle out of the Teapot Dome Scandal and Chairman of the Republican National
Committee and managed the successful presidential campaign of Warren G. Harding in
1920. A true piece of work. The MPPDA was created, ostensibly, because of the
Fatty Arbuckle scandal.
 
Will H. Hays - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_H._Hays