Mick LaSalle, the former movie critic at the San Francisco Chronicle, has written two books about The Code. In a presentation illustrating the tone of movies made while the Code was enforced, LaSalle showed a movie clip from a musical and said, “Notice that the singers and dancers in this film don’t seem to know what sex is.” The Code was in effect for nearly 40 years.

An undated b/w still showing Lucille Ball (left) and her then-husband Desi Arnaz in a bedroom in separate beds. This was in accordance with the Hays Code. Image source: Raw Story

On this day in 1930, the U.S. Motion Picture Production Code went into effect. The Hays Code imposed strict limits to the on-screen portrayals of sex, crime, religion, and violence.

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