Will H. Hays
William Harrison Hays Sr. (/heɪz/; November 5, 1879 – March 7, 1954) was an American politician, and member of the Republican Party. As chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1918 to 1921, Hays managed the successful 1920 presidential campaign of Warren G. Harding. Harding then appointed Hays to his cabinet as his first Postmaster General. He resigned from the cabinet in 1922 to become the first chairman of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America. As chairman, Hays oversaw the promulgation of the Motion Picture Production Code (informally known as the Hays Code), which spelled out a set of moral guidelines for the self-censorship of content in American cinema.[1]
For other people named Will Hays, see William Hays.
Will H. Hays
Position established
March 7, 1954 (aged 74)
Sullivan, Indiana, U.S.
1
Early life[edit]
William Harrison Hays Sr. was born November 5, 1879, in Sullivan, Indiana.[2] He attended Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana.[3]
In popular culture[edit]
In their 1940 short No Census, No Feelings, The Three Stooges refer to Will Hays and his position as censor czar in a joke, when Moe tells Curly, "We have a job now, we're working for the Census"; Curly replies "You mean Will Hays?" in a word association of "census" and "censors".
In 1942 Looney Tunes Abbott and Costello parody cartoon “A Tale of Two Kitties,” two cats Babbit and Catstello try to eat a naked “tweety” bird. During the ladder scene, Babbit yells "Give me the bird!" To which Catstello replies, "If the Hayes Office would only let me, I'd give him the boid alright!"