​Overview

​Scope and Content​

The collection covers the Dallas Motion Picture Classification Board.  This collection documents government business, including issues and activities about the DMPCB; board minutes, correspondence, reports, litigation files, research files, ordinance amendments, and motion picture classification ratings.

Motion picture review and classification in Dallas began on March 27, 1911, when the Dallas City Council created the Censor Board.  Composed of the Police and Fire Commissioner (chair) and two mayor-appointed citizens, the board reviewed films to determine whether the pictures would corrupt the morals of the youth, were vulgar, were calculated to cause a disturbance of the peace, or would provoke racial prejudice.  Should the censors condemn a film, the exhibitor was expected to discontinue showing it.   Successive ordinances continued to amend and refine how the city  provided movie ratings.  In 1932, the Dallas City Council created the Dallas Motion Picture Reviewing Board. 

Nationally, the U.S. Supreme Court case Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson (1952) stated that motion pictures were, for the first time, protected expression by the First Amendment.  Thirteen years later, the U.S. Supreme Court case Freedman v. Maryland, 380 U.S. 51 (1965) shifted the burden of proof that a film was “dangerously obscene” from the distributor/exhibitor to the government.  

To be within federal law, in 1965, the City of Dallas renamed and recodified the board with Motion Picture Ordinance 11284, creating the Dallas Motion Picture Classification Board (DMPCB).  The DMPCB’s duties were enumerated in Dallas City Code Chapter 46, Article II, §46-13 through §46-20.  Between 1966 and 1993, Ordinances 12169, 12373, 13271, 13525, 13548, 14552, 14730, 14862, 14930, 14952, 15145, 15365, 15511, 16133, 16295, 17028, 17517, 19312, and 19825 all resulted from the ever-changing status of the DMPCB.  

The DMPCB was a “quasi-judicial body with legal jurisdiction over the commercial motion picture industry in the City of Dallas.”  The Dallas City Council established the DMPCB to protect people under the age of 16 from viewing material that could corrupt their morals, cause emotional disturbances, or lead to imitative violence.  The function of DMPCB was to fulfill the provisions of the city’s ordinance including viewing and determining film classifications — legal definitions identified within the ordinance — before exhibiting them in theaters located in Dallas and corresponding with motion picture distributors, theaters within Dallas, and city authorities.  Motion Picture ordinance violations carried civil penalties up to $200 a day against establishments.  The Department of Consumer Affairs investigations was charged with giving notices of violations as well as managing any appeals to the notices. 

The board was composed of twenty-six unpaid members (including four Spanish speakers) who were appointed by Dallas City Council.  Per Ordinance 14862, the board was originally under the City’s Secretary Office then later transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services (formerly named the Department of Consumer Affairs).

The DMPCB determined whether a film fit motion picture ordinance definitions and classified the film accordingly— “suitable for young persons,” “not suitable for young persons,” or “suitable for young persons with exceptions”.  The following symbol(s) defined the exceptions:

D—Drugs
L—Language
N—Nudity
P—Perversion
S—Sex
V—Violence

Before 1977, the theater/exhibitor was required to request a city classification, prior to a film exhibition in the City of Dallas.  In 1977, responsibility was moved from the exhibitor to the distributor to request a DMPCB classification.  Any request for “not suitable” did not require a film viewing.  Requests for “suitable” with or without exception and/or a film with an MPAA rating of G or PG, had scheduled screenings at the cost of the theater, then distributor, after 1977 (and PG-13 after 1984).  If a distributor disagreed with the DMPCB classification, it had the option of giving a “Notice of Non-acceptance,” requesting the DMPCB to reconsider the classification.  If a distributor did not accept the DMPCB’s final classification, the distributor could choose to start legal proceedings to settle the disagreement.

The city ordinances, and many DMPCB film classifications, went to litigation, including to the U.S. Supreme Court.  Litigation occurred due to either the city code itself being challenged as unconstitutional or the DMPCB film classifications not being accepted by film distributors.  The first lawsuit was filed within a month of the board's creation in 1965 (Ordinance 10963), and Judge Sarah T Hughes threw out the ordinance.  Council lowered the age from 18 to 16, adjusted the severity of the penalties, and redefined the language then passed Ordinance  11284 in November 1965.  Interstate Theatres and United Artists filed another suit in 1966 over the film Viva Maria.  The city classified the film as "not suitable for young persons," and two lawsuits upheld the city's rating.  Interstate Theatres decided to appeal to the Supreme Court.  In April 1966, simultaneously with Ginsberg v New York, the Supreme Court ruled that First Amendment could be applied differently for adults and minors.  While movies could not be prohibited, age limitations could be set for 17 and under.  Ordinance 12169 originated from this lawsuit.  

By the late 1980s, Americans grew more reliant on the nationally-known Classification and Ratings Administration system, which was created in 1968 (and is still administered) by the Motion Picture Association of America. 

The DMPCB was the nation's last municipal board of its kind, running solo to uphold contemporary community standards since 1976 when the Memphis ordinance in Tennessee was ruled unconstitutional, and the state board of Maryland ceased operations in 1981.  Given the continued lawsuits, the loss of money for the city's move houses from people driving to other areas to see movies, and an overall impatience with the city censors, on September 27, 1993, Dallas City Council passed Ordinance 21836 that repealed all classification procedures and dissolved the DMPCB. 

Organization

​The collection is arranged chronologically.

Access

Permission to publish, reproduce, distribute, or use by any and all other current or future developed methods or procedures must be obtained in writing from the Dallas Municipal Archives.  All rights are reserved and retained regardless of current or future development or laws that may apply to fair use standards.  The researcher assumes full responsibility for observing all copyright, property, and libel laws as they apply.

Citation

Dallas Motion Picture Classification Board, 1966-1993 (Box <x>, Folder <y>), Dallas Municipal Archives

Related Materials

Collection 1996-040—City Ordinances - Bound Volumes, 1871-1978

Index Terms

Dallas -- Texas -- History
Dallas (Tex.) – Dallas Motion Picture Classification Board
Motion Picture Classification -- Texas – Dallas

Container List​