MediAcademia

The Director, the Set, the Star, and Her Vibrator: Hollywood Lore from Yolanda and the Thief

Vincente Minnelli’s emphasis on visual effects and props sometimes led him to neglect the essential — namely the actor before the camera. The bathroom scene [in Yolanda and the Thief, 1945] was a case in point. 

Gene/Judy Give the Finger to the Censors

For those unaware that Hollywood censored itself to avoid government intervention in the 1930s-60s, here’s a quick history lesson to precede the brilliant rebellion that follows…

In the late 1920s, some U.S. citizens, churchgoers, and government officials complained copiously about the movies’ depictions of sex and violence. “Motion pictures are too risque! They’re corrupting our children! They’re of the Devil!” To this end, Hollywood studio moguls hired a bunch of white Catholic men to sit in a room and come up with various rules to apply to their films (better the studios do this than the government, they thought). Sure enough, the men