“The photographer was Paramount Studios’ stills photography head, A. L. “Whitey” Schafer. For the inaugural Hollywood Studios’ Still Show, Schafer decided to create a novelty shot to satirically slap at the Hays Code.
Fellow photographers and publicity heads loved the photograph, which became a popular bootleg item among the studios. Outraged organizers pulled the image from the competition, and Schafer was threatened with a $2,000 fine for violating the Hays Code.”
ETA: Here’s a link to LIFE’s article on the subject, published on Oct 28, 1946. If you scroll to the table of contents it’s under “movie censorship”, page 79 of the issue.
ThaanksIHateIt on March 3rd, 2021 at 21:06 UTC »
Here’s some more info:
“The photographer was Paramount Studios’ stills photography head, A. L. “Whitey” Schafer. For the inaugural Hollywood Studios’ Still Show, Schafer decided to create a novelty shot to satirically slap at the Hays Code.
Fellow photographers and publicity heads loved the photograph, which became a popular bootleg item among the studios. Outraged organizers pulled the image from the competition, and Schafer was threatened with a $2,000 fine for violating the Hays Code.”
Source
ETA: Here’s a link to LIFE’s article on the subject, published on Oct 28, 1946. If you scroll to the table of contents it’s under “movie censorship”, page 79 of the issue.
thethickness on March 3rd, 2021 at 21:42 UTC »
I guess 1934 and I have two different understandings of what an exposed bosom looks like
rtyoda on March 3rd, 2021 at 22:45 UTC »
Might want to clarify that this was in protest to the rules that existed for motion pictures at the time, aka “The Hays Code.”
It wasn’t illegal to take this photo, but a movie that depicted any of these things would be banned from being screened.