Thirty-Third Annual Dinner of Philadelphia's POOR RICHARD CLUB, Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, January 17, 1938

Philadelphia: Poor Richard Club, 1938. Original plastic (Plastacele) comb binder with stiff gold wraps. "Lights, Camera, Action" and "Advance with Advertising" stamped front wrapper, along with the image of a Hollywood cameraman. Near Fine, light soil to gold wrappers, corner curl bottom corner of rear plastic wrapper, Personal copy of Will H. Hays, with his name stamped front wrapper. Hays was the honoree of that year's banquet, awarded the 1938 Gold Medal Award of Achievement for " .. a spirit inseparably connected with the development of the industry to the high position it enjoys today", and "as the representative of this great industry"(motion picture industry). 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. The Poor Richard Club was privately-founded in Philadelphia in 1906 and comprised mainly of persons in the advertising industry. Seated at the "Gold Table" with Hays were several heads of the major Hollywood studios. A delightful and unique piece of Hollywood history ! . First Edition. Plastic Comb Binder. Near Fine/Near Fine. Association Copy.