Solemn Johnson Plus

New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1928. SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR on front endpage -"To Hon. Will H. Hays- Who's(sic) powerful influence is for American Pictures that are clean and above reproach, this humble little book-"Solemn Johnson Plus" which I hope at least is clean, I most cordially inscribe- Earl Wayland Bowman, Hollywood, Calif. Feb. 1-1928". A wonderful and UNIQUELY INSCRIBED Hollywood Association Copy from the era of blacklists and morality codes ! Will. H. Hays was most famously known as the first President of Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA), which under his guidance published a blacklist of actors and workers studios should not hire, inserted moral clauses into actors' contracts, and published an informal list of suggested guidelines for film producers. When the Catholic Church formed its Legion of Decency and threatened nationwide boycotts of movies, Hays installed a more formal production code, called the Hays Code( later simply "The Code"), which became the virtual law of Hollywood until the 1960s. Earl Wayland Bowman had a novel ( "The Ramblin Kid" ) and 3 stories made into films in the 1920s, as well as having a small role in the 1927 film "When Seconds Count". The book is Very Good, lacking the dustjacket, cloth frayed at head of spine. A western, Solemn Johnson and his partner Dirty Shirt Smith are prospectors and partners of forty years. Laid in is a period Grosset & Dunlap bookmark. . SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR. Reprint. Cloth. Very Good/No Jacket. Association Copy.