Martin Quigley (publisher)
{{short description|American journalist}}
File:Martin Quigley & Carter DeHaven - Dec 1920 EH.jpg in 1920]]
Martin Joseph Quigley Sr. (May 6, 1890 – May 4, 1964)Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014. Social Security Administration. was an American publisher, editor, and film magazine journalist. He founded Exhibitors Herald, which became a prominent national trade paper for the film industry. Quigley was also the founder of Quigley Publishing.
Early life
Martin Joseph Quigley Sr. was born in Cleveland, Ohio,U.S. World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942
Publishing and journalism career
Martin Quigley began his career as a police reporter in Chicago in 1910.[https://mppda.flinders.edu.au/people/496 "Martin Quigley", MPPDA Digital Archives]
In 1915, he purchased the film trade journal Exhibitors Herald. Two years later, he acquired and merged it with Motography. In 1927, Quigley acquired The Moving Picture World and combined it with Exhibitors Herald, publishing it as Exhibitors Herald and Moving Picture World, which was later shortened to Exhibitors Herald World.
" In 1930, Martin Quigley, publisher of Exhibitors Herald, conspired with Hollywood studios to eliminate all competing trade papers,..."{{cite journal |last1=Hoyt |first1=Eric |title=Ink-Stained Hollywood: The Triumph of American Cinema’s Trade Press |journal=University of California Press |date=22 March 2022 |doi=10.1525/luminos.122 |url=https://www.luminosoa.org/site/books/m/10.1525/luminos.122/ |publisher= The Regents of the University of California |quote=Creative Commons Attribution + Noncommercial + ShareAlike 4.0 license.}}
In 1930, he acquired Motion Picture News and merged it with his existing publications to create the Motion Picture Herald.
Shortly after, Quigley merged his remaining three publications — Exhibitors Trade Review, Exhibitors Daily Review, and Motion Pictures Today — to form Motion Picture Daily.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rlLbRAPOgP0C&pg=PR12|page=xii|author=American Film Institute|title=The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, Part 1|publisher=University of California Press|year=1997|isbn=0520209699|accessdate=January 3, 2016}}
In 1929, the first edition of The Motion Picture Almanac was published and subsequently became an annual publication.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/motionpicturealm1929exhi#page/n0/mode/2up|title=The Motion Picture Almanac|publisher=Quigley Publishing Company|accessdate=June 10, 2018}}
Quigley Publishing
Quigley Publishing Co., started in 1915 by Martin Joseph Quigley Sr., was later run by his son, Martin Quigley Jr. until 2001. In 2005, William Quigley, a grandson of Martin Joseph Quigley Sr., was running Quigley Publishing Co.{{cite news |last1=Ravens |first1=Andrew |title=Ex-film producer’s head is in the stars — but his heart’s in Groton |url=https://www.lowellsun.com/2005/02/24/ex-film-producers-head-is-in-the-stars-but-his-hearts-in-groton/ |access-date=11 March 2025 |work=Lowell Sun |date=24 February 2005}}
Role in Motion Picture Production Code
Quigley was an active proponent and co-author of the Motion Picture Production Code, which governed the content of Hollywood movies from the 1930s to the 1960s. A devout Catholic, he began lobbying in the 1920s for a more comprehensive code that not only listed material deemed inappropriate for movies but also established a moral framework that films could help promote — specifically, a system rooted in Catholic theology.
To achieve this, Quigley recruited Father Daniel A. Lord, a Jesuit priest and instructor at Saint Louis University, to draft the code. On March 31, 1930, the board of directors of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association formally adopted it. While the original version was popularly known as the Hays Code, both it and its later revisions are now more commonly referred to as the Production Code.
Personal life and death
Quigley held staunch conservative views, particularly regarding the film industry. His son, Martin Quigley Jr., who shared his father's views, became involved in editing and publishing the various periodicals established by Quigley Sr. However, he had far less influence due to the changing cultural landscape and the gradual decline of the Production Code.
Quigley Sr. died at Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Center in Manhattan on May 4, 1964, two days before his 74th birthday.
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References
{{reflist|refs=
{{cite news|date=May 5, 1964|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/05/05/archives/martin-quigley-wrote-film-code-coauthor-of-production-guide-a.html|title=Martin Quigley, Wrote Film Code|newspaper=The New York Times|url-access=subscription }}
{{cite magazine|date=December 22, 1930|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,740860,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090814011026/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,740860,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 14, 2009|title=The Press: Cinema Corner|magazine=Time|url-access=subscription }}
External links
- [https://findingaids.library.georgetown.edu/repositories/15/resources/10040 Collection: Martin J. Quigley Papers] Georgetown University
::correspondence, manuscripts, photographs and printed ephemera regarding Quigley Publications, the Production Code, and the Legion of Decency.
Quigley Publishing Company
- [https://findingaids.library.georgetown.edu/repositories/15/resources/10504 Collection: Quigley Photographic Archive] Georgetown University
::photographs used in Quigley Publications
- [https://www.si.edu/object/archives/components/sova-sia-fa02-078-refidd1e1142 Quigley Publishing Company, 1989-1990] Smithsonian Institution Archives, Accession 02-078, Center for Advertising History, Project Files
- [https://richarddalbyslibrary.com/products/television-video-almanac-1988-quigley-publishing Television & Video Almanac 1988], Quigley Publishing 33rd Edition.
- [https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/err.1998.2.9.111.103/full/html Quigley's Entertainment Industry Reference] (1998 CD‐ROM)
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Category:American publishers (people)
Category:20th-century American journalists
Category:American male journalists
Category:American Roman Catholics