The Gad About Town

Apple was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne on this date 40 years ago. Jobs and Wozniak are justly celebrated in business history for their roles in founding and building the legendary company; Wayne’s role was short-lived.

Ron Wayne knew Jobs at Atari and was brought on board Apple to be the grown-up in the room—he was more than a decade older than the two young engineers—and he wrote the Apple 1 technical manual, drew up the partnership agreement, and even drew the company’s first logo, which featured Isaac Newton sitting under a tree with an apple dangling above his head, plump with the weight of a great moment about to happen. (Pictured at top.)
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The Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA)—now called the Motion Picture Association of America—agreed to abide by “A Code to Govern the Making of Motion and Talking Pictures” on this date in 1930. Until it was replaced in 1968, this code, better known as the “Hays Code,” after Will Hays, the President of the MPPDA, guided what could not be depicted on popularly distributed films.

Among the 11 “Don’ts” and 25 “Be Carefuls,” the Code forbade profanity, depictions of sex, “ridicule of the clergy,” any depiction of romance between people of two different races, drug use, detailed depictions of crimes like safe-cracking—because some might view these scenes as how-to instructions, and “excessive or lustful kissing, particularly when one character or the other is a (villain).”

Also, “Scenes of actual childbirth, in fact or in silhouette, are never to be presented.”

Without prior approval, films were not released. The current ratings system replaced the Code.
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