Hollywood Censorship Explored at the Kate Museum November 29

Press release

OLD SAYBROOK, CT - The Katharine Hepburn Museum welcomes Wesleyan University associate professor of film studies Michael Slowik to present a talk on “Katharine Hepburn, Hollywood Censorship, and the House Un-American Activities Committee” on Wednesday, November 29, 2023 at 7:00 pm.

Michael Slowik is the author of “After the Silents: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Early Sound Era, 1926-1934,” the forthcoming “Defining Cinema: Rouben Mamoulian” and “Hollywood Film Style, 1929-1957,” as well as many articles on Hollywood film history. He teaches a course at Wesleyan University on the history of American film censorship.

Professor Slowik will explore how censorship shaped filmmaking during the Golden Age of Hollywood, from the adoption of the Hayes Code in the 1930s through the investigations of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) of the 1940s and 1950s. He will discuss Katharine Hepburn’s involvement at a Progressive Party rally in 1947 at which she delivered a speech railing against censorship and the activities of the HUAC. Though Hepburn was never called to testify in front of Congress, she was labeled a communist-sympathizer and suffered repercussions from MGM Studios and at the box office.

Among the items on exhibit at the Katharine Hepburn Museum is an original pamphlet from the 1947 rally with Kate’s photo on the outside and the text of the speech inside. Visitors will also see a dress from the film “State of the Union,” in which Kate, Spencer Tracy and Adolph Menjou starred. Menjou was a member of a conservative group that held beliefs that were quite the opposite of Kate’s. It was known as the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals and also counted John Wayne and Ronald Regan among its membership.

The censorship discussion is offered as an in-person or streaming ticket. For information and tickets, visit www.thekate.org or call 860-510-0453.