Accompanies the exhibition "Naked Hollywood: Weegee in Los Angeles" held at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, MOCA Grand Avenue, Nov. 13, 2011-Feb. 27, 2012.

From parents and teachers to politicians and policymakers, there is a din of voices participating in the debate over how young people are affected by violence, strong language, and explicit sexual activity in films. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) responded to this concern in 1968 when it introduced a classification and rating system based on the now well-known labels: “G”, “PG”, “PG-13”, “R”, and ”X”. For some, these simple tags are an efficient way to protect children from viewing undesirable content. But do the MPAA ratings actually protect children? In The Naked Truth, Kevin. S Sandler argues that the rating system does not protect children but instead protects the Hollywood film industry. One prime indicator of this is the collective abandonment of the NC-17 rating in 1990 by the major distributors of the MPAA and the main exhibitors of the National Association of Theatre Owners. By categorizing all films released by Hollywood and destined for mainstream theaters into R ratings (or lower), the industry ensures that its products are perceived as “responsible entertainment” to all audiences and “incontestable” to politicians and moral reformers. By embracing a no-NC-17 rule, the industry collapses mature subject matter with pornography, creating a national cinema where certain representations of sex and nudity are taboo.

A dazzling array of Hollywood starlets and pin-up girls come to life in hundreds of eye-popping, 3-D photographs taken by legendary film star Harold Lloyd "Lush and glorious?" ?Vanity Fair Includes a pair of Harold Lloyd-style 3-D glasses! Harold Lloyd, along with Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, was one of the greatest stars of the silent film era, appearing in such classics as Safety Last! and The Freshman. He was also an avid photographer with a passion for stereoscopic photography, or 3-D. In 1947 he began taking pictures of family and friends, including Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, and Ronald Reagan. During his lifetime he took more than 300,000 photographs, thousands of which featured starlets and models who posed nude in front of some of the most spectacular and creative backdrops and scenery. Collected here for the first time by Lloyd's granddaughter, Suzanne Lloyd, and now in paperback, Harold Lloyd's Hollywood Nudes in 3-D! presents the most lavish, luscious, and, yes, ludicrous photographs of Hollywood nudes from the 1940's, 50's and 60's in all kinds of settings, including Lloyd's luxurious Greenacres estate, the Grand Canyon, and studios filled with outrageous props such as faux flowers, animal pelts, and Christmas kitsch. There are 200 photographs in all, 50 of them rendered in 3-D and viewable with the special Harold Lloyd?style 3-D spectacles for an enhanced and extraordinary visual experience!

At times, most of us would have felt that there is something not quite right with our soul. Our life may be meandering along without too many bumps on the road. We may be content with how our life is panning out. Our relationships may be stable, and our physical health is relatively good. And yet the rich and satisfying life that could potentially be ours seems to illude us. We may sense that there could be so much more to life than what we are currently experiencing. But we don’t quite know what to do or how to get there. As a result of past experiences of rejection and abandonment, we may crave acceptance and significance from our relationships and our work and yet we find the craving to never be satisfied. We may attempt to fill that void in our souls through other means such as status and outward achievements. But those too never seem to be able to deliver what they promise. When we remain disconnected from our true selves, we will never be able to identify the root cause of our shame. We may never even be aware that shame has pervaded our souls. As our eyes begin to see ourselves for who we really are, it requires humility and courage to step out into the light and cultivate intimacy with our Creator who can begin to cleanse us of the deep pain that shame has caused us. Healing from shame is never complete without immersing ourselves in genuinely caring and compassionate communities who are willing to love and accept us just as we are. Finding true acceptance and significance in such communities go a long way towards uprooting the pervasiveness nature of shame and reinstating the God-given value, dignity and worth we possess.

Physique photos from 1940's/50's Hollywood. Fred Kovert recorded Hollywood's golden boys. In these fully informed art physique poses Fred always insisted on complete nudity and full frontals from his models - for which he was heavily persecuted.