The National Association of the Motion Picture Industry (NAMPI) was an American film industry self-regulatory body created by the
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywoo ...
studios
A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery ( ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...
in 1916 to answer demands for
film censorship
Film censorship is carried out by various countries to differing degrees, sometimes as a result of powerful or relentless lobbying by organizations or individuals. Films that are banned in a particular country change over time.
Rating systems
A ...
by states and municipalities.
History
The system consisted of a series of "Thirteen Points", a list of subjects and storylines they promised to avoid.
However, there was no method of enforcement if a studio film violated the Thirteen Points content restrictions. The NAMPI tried to prevent New York from becoming the first state with its own film censorship board in 1921, but failed. NAMPI was ineffective and was replaced when the studios hired
Will H. Hays
William Harrison Hays Sr. (; November 5, 1879 – March 7, 1954) was an American Republican politician.
As chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1918–1921, Hays managed the successful 1920 presidential campaign of Warren G. H ...
to oversee the film content restrictions in 1922.
[Doherty. p. 6]
Epidemic response
In 1918, the Association asked New York City Health Commissioner
Royal S. Copeland
Royal Samuel Copeland (November 7, 1868June 17, 1938), a United States Senator from New York from 1923 until 1938, was an academic, homeopathic physician, and politician. He held elected offices in both Michigan (as a Republican) and New Y ...
to forward to them his observations regarding any relation between the motion picture theaters and the influenza epidemic in New York. Dr. Copeland had decided to permit the motion picture theaters to remain open. Nonetheless, in as much as two-thirds of movie houses had been closed by local boards of health, the Association decided to halt the release of new features.
"Film Releases shut Off in Grip Crisis", ''New York American'', October 10, 1918, p. 11
/ref>
See also
*Film censorship in the United States
Film censorship in the United States was a frequent feature of the industry almost from the beginning of the U.S. motion picture industry until the end of strong self-regulation in 1966. Court rulings in the 1950s and 1960s severely constrained g ...
Notes
References
*Black, Gregory D. ''Hollywood Censored: Morality Codes, Catholics, and the Movies''. Cambridge University Press 1996
*Butters, Gerard R. ''Banned in Kansas: Motion Picture Censorship, 1915-1966''. University of Missouri Press 2007
*Doherty, Thomas Patrick. ''Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema 1930-1934''. New York: Columbia University Press 1999.
*Wittern-Keller, Laura. ''Freedom of the Screen: Legal Challenges to State Film Censorship, 1915-1981''. University Press of Kentucky 2008
{{Refend
History of film
Film censorship in the United States