The 1950’s was a decade whose beginning and end were marked by obvious changes in American culture and society.  With the birth of television shows such as American Band stand a new teenage market was born.  A market of consumerist who denied the traditionalist styles their forefathers embraced.  The place of women in this society also exhibited a large range from the traditionalist house wife and mother to a sexual icon during the late 50’s into the 60’s. With all this incongruity between ideals of the older and younger generations it is not a surprise that Hollywood movies dealing with risqué topics began to find their market.  Schwartz’ book is a comprehensive look at the defining event of the 1950’s and summarizes how every aspect of society from politics to entertainment changes as the years pass. In the chapter concerning 1959 the time period when Some Like it Hot was released, Hollywood was finding its footing in the market by touching on topics that television supported by advertisers was too fearful to attack. 

                        Some Like it Hot is a movie which is truly of its time, particularly with regards to Marilyn Monroe’s role a sexual icon and a fool for love.  These two roles Marilyn Monroe inhabits could be viewed as symbolic of the dualistic roles of woman during this transient time from the late 1950’s into the 1960’s.  There was the submissive role which Marilyn encompasses as a fool who will do anything for a man she’s fallen, and Marilyn’s role as a sexual icon.  Marilyn’s sexual presence gives her power and makes her the star of the movie.  Even though she is in less scenes then Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon she is by far the most memorable figure in the movie.

                        This source is a historical assessment of 1950’s America as a whole and it is during this context that one is able to see clear societal influences in Billy Wilders comedy Some Like it Hot.

This source is particularly notable because of its analysis of cinematic history.   The pages specifically cited are contained in the chapter entitled Demise of the Production Code, which briefly analyzes the effect of the production code on Hollywood and the movies.  This chapter follows a chronological progression of the Production Codes impact and influence in Hollywood from 1922 onward, and takes a concentrated look at the Production codes evolution under different leaders.  For a good deal of time prior to 1955 Joseph Breen enforced the tenets of the production code with an iron fist. However, upon Breen’s retirement his associate assumed control over the production codes enforcement. This shift of power from Breen, a strict enforcer of the code, to Shurlock, a more flexible realist, also signified a shift in mainstream movie content.  In 1956 the production code underwent a revamp that softened its restrictions and allowed it to become more lenient toward drug use, sexual themes, and violence.  Shurlock saw the need for Hollywood to follow the counterculture and at the same time managed to appease the conservatist overlords of the government who kept a watchful eye on the workings of the movie industry. 

            It was only in this atmosphere of transition and increased openness that Billy Wilder’s movie Some Like It Hot (1959) could be brought to the big screen.  This movie is a smorgas board of sexual innuendo, blatant transsexual referencing and gang violence all of which are softened using parody.  Had it not been for the more open minded and less restrictive practices of the “new” production code conceived under Shurlock, a movie such as Some Like It Hot would have never been released.  Haines’ book lists Some Like It Hot as one of “the notable titles made during the blacklist error” and the fact that this movie was not only released but was a box office hit was due to the changing time and atmosphere.   

            This book contains an extensive notes section, appendix and bibliographical section citing several sources for each major topic and chapter covered in the book.  I would consider this book from reviewing its sources to have a fairly credible grasp of the history which it focuses on.