The Maryland State Board of Censors was a three-member state agency that existed from 1916 to 1981 in the U.S. state of

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; ...

. No film could be officially released in the state without the approval of the board, which granted licenses to films it found "moral and proper".Maryland State Board of Censors
" ''Maryland State Archives.'' The first agency decision to be appealed was the board's decision to ban the pacifist film '' War Brides'' (1916). The film had been approved in March 1917 for showing in state theaters, but shortly after the United States entered

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, the film was banned in 1917 as it might affect military recruitment and for its pacifism. In 1918 a Baltimore City circuit court upheld the censorship board's decision. The court ruling was based on an

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

opinion that films calculated to obstruct or discourage recruitment were detrimental to the public morals. Its powers were weakened after the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

case ''

Freedman v. Maryland ''Freedman v. Maryland'', 380 U.S. 51 (1965), was a United States Supreme Court case that ended government-operated rating boards with a decision that a rating board could only approve a film and had no power to ban a film. The ruling also con ...

'', 380 U.S. 51 (1965), which held that it could not outright ban a film's release through the refusal of a license, and had to secure a court order if it wanted to prevent a work from being shown. In 1970, the authority of the State Board of Censors was assigned to the newly created Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. In 1981, the board was abolished as a cost-cutting measure: the application fees for film licenses generated around $12,000 () in annual revenue, which did not come close to offsetting the board's budget of nearly $100,000 (). A resolution to save the board from disbandment failed in the

Maryland Senate The Maryland Senate, sometimes referred to as the Maryland State Senate, is the upper house of the General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland. Composed of 47 senators elected from an equal number of constituent single- ...

, and Governor Harry Hughes had pledged to veto it if it had passed. It was the last surviving film censorship board in any U.S. state. The censor board was the subject of a documentary film called ''Sickies Making Films'', released in 2018.

References

{{authority control Censors Film censorship in the United States Government agencies established in 1916 1916 establishments in Maryland 1981 disestablishments in Maryland Maryland Department of Labor

See also

References