This famous image appears around the internet, but usually in blurry condition. Today we have a nice, sharp version. It was made by Hollywood photographer Whitey Shafer to satirize the Hays Code censorship regime that came to the motion picture industry like an unwanted guest, and determined what could be shown on movie screens. A reactionary minority believed Americans were too fragile of character to see certain depictions in cinema. Schafer, in his image, chose ten of those no-nos and squeezed them all into one frame. He needed to overlay the machine gun, but it looks like he composed the other nine elements at the same time.
Many websites give the date on this as 1934. The Hays Code began strict enforcement that year, but Schafer didn’t create his photographic provocation until 1940. He unveiled it at the inaugural Hollywood Studios Still Show in 1941, which had been put together by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize outstanding still photography. Shafer was threatened with a $2,000 fine, which we suspect didn’t surprise him. He escaped the penalty, but the photo was banned until turning up in a newspaper decades later—posthumously, since Schafer died in 1951. But his image is remembered. It isn’t just razor sharp commentary. It’s an amazing creation. We’d be interested to know who the model is, but that information, unfortunately, seems lost.
