Jack Valenti
Jack Valenti
Born	September 5, 1921 Houston, Texas, United States
Died	April 26, 2007 (age 85) Washington, D.C., United States
Alma mater	University of Houston Harvard University
Occupation	President of the MPAA

Jack Joseph Valenti (September 5, 1921 – April 26, 2007)^[1][2] was a long-time president of the Motion Picture Association of America. Events 1590 - Alexander Farnese 's army forces Henry IV of France to raise the siege of Paris. Year 1921 ( MCMXXI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1921 calendar of the Gregorian calendar The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Events 1467 - The miraculous image in Our Lady of Good Counsel appear in Genazzano, Italy. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Washington DC ( formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The University of Houston (often referred to as " U of H," " UH," or " Houston " is a public doctoral/research Events 1590 - Alexander Farnese 's army forces Henry IV of France to raise the siege of Paris. Year 1921 ( MCMXXI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1921 calendar of the Gregorian calendar Events 1467 - The miraculous image in Our Lady of Good Counsel appear in Genazzano, Italy. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. During his 38-year tenure in the MPAA, he created the MPAA film rating system, and he was generally regarded as one of the most influential pro-copyright lobbyists in the world. The Motion Picture Association of America's film-rating system is used in the U Copyright is a legal concept enacted by Governments, giving the creator of an original work of authorship Exclusive rights to control its distribution usually for Lobbying includes all attempts to influence Legislators and officials whether by other legislators constituents or organized groups

Early life

Valenti was born in Houston, Texas, USA, on September 5, 1921, the son of Italian immigrants. Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State. Events 1590 - Alexander Farnese 's army forces Henry IV of France to raise the siege of Paris. Year 1921 ( MCMXXI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1921 calendar of the Gregorian calendar During World War II, he was a lieutenant in the United States Army Air Corps, flew 51 combat missions as the pilot-commander of a B-25 attack bomber and received four decorations. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Lieutenant (abbreviated Lt or Lieut) is a Military, Naval, Paramilitary, Fire service, Emergency medical services The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC was the predecessor of the U

Valenti received his B. B. A. from the University of Houston and M. The University of Houston (often referred to as " U of H," " UH," or " Houston " is a public doctoral/research B. A at Harvard University. During his time at UH, Valenti worked on The Daily Cougar newspaper staff, and served as president of the university's student government. "The Cougar" redirects here For other uses see Cougar (disambiguation. Valenti would later serve on the university's board of regents, and became the School of Communication's namesake when it was renamed to the Jack J. Valenti School of Communication in April 2008. In 2002, the university also awarded him an honorary doctorate.

In 1952, he co-founded "Weekley & Valenti", an advertising/political consulting agency.

Political career

Valenti (far left) was present at Lyndon B. Johnson's swearing in aboard Air Force One

Valenti's agency was in charge of the press during the November 1963 visit of President John F. Kennedy and Vice-President Lyndon Johnson to Dallas, Texas. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy (May 29 1917&ndashNovember 22 1963 often referred to by his initials JFK, was the thirty-fifth President of Following the assassination of President Kennedy, Valenti was present in the famous photograph of Lyndon Johnson's swearing in aboard Air Force One, and rode with the new president to Washington. The assassination of John F Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, took place on Friday November 22 1963 in Dallas Texas WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout He then became the first "special assistant" to Johnson's White House. See also Executive Office of the President of the United States The White House, formerly known as the Executive Mansion, is the Official residence He lived in the White House for the first two months of Johnson's presidency. Valenti was so loyal to Johnson that it was once said of him "If LBJ dropped the H-bomb, Valenti would call it an urban renewal project. The Teller–Ulam design is a Nuclear weapon design which is used in Megaton -range Thermonuclear weapons and is more colloquially referred to as "the Urban Renewal (similar to Urban Regeneration in British English) is a controversial U "^[3]

Career in the MPAA

In 1966, Valenti, at the insistence of Universal Studios chief Lew Wasserman, and with Johnson's consent, resigned his White House commission and became the president of the Motion Picture Association of America. Universal Studios (sometimes called Universal Pictures or Universal City Studios) a subsidiary of NBC Universal, is a major Global American Lew Wasserman (born Lewis Robert Wasserman, March 22, 1913, Cleveland Ohio - June 3, 2002, Beverly Hills California was a With Valenti's arrival in Hollywood, the pair were life-long allies, and together orchestrated and controlled how Hollywood would conduct business for the next several decades.

Movie rating system

In 1968, Valenti created the MPAA film rating system. The Motion Picture Association of America's film-rating system is used in the U The system initially comprised four distinct ratings: G, M, R, and X. The M rating would soon be replaced by GP, which was later changed to PG. The X rating immediately proved troublesome, since it was not trademarked and therefore was used freely by the pornography industry, with which it became most associated. Films such as Midnight Cowboy and A Clockwork Orange were assumed to be pornographic because they carried the X rating. Midnight Cowboy is a 1969 Drama film based on the 1965 novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. A Clockwork Orange is a 1971 Satirical Science fiction Film adaptation of a 1962 novel of the same name, by Anthony In 1990 the NC-17 rating was introduced to provide an "art house" X rating for non-pornographic adult oriented drama. The Motion Picture Association of America's film-rating system is used in the U An Art film (also called an “art cinema” “art movie” or in the U The PG-13 rating was added in 1984 to provide a greater range of distinction for audiences.

The system that Valenti instituted in 1968 eventually proved to be effective in reversing negative trends in box office revenue for the major Hollywood studios. The MPAA rating system allowed studios to explore more commercially successful themes.

Valenti on new technologies

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Valenti became notorious for his colorful attacks on the Sony Betamax VCR, which the MPAA feared would devastate the movie industry. is a multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato Tokyo, Japan, and one of the world's largest Media conglomerates with ---- Betamax is a home Videocassette tape recording format developed by Sony, and released on May 10, 1975. PLEASE BEAR IN MIND THAT THIS IS A GENERAL ARTICLE ABOUT VCRs/VIDEOCASSETTE RECORDERS He famously told a congressional panel in 1982, "I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone. The United States Congress is the bicameral Legislature of the federal government of the United States of America, consisting of two houses The Boston Strangler is a name attributed to the murderer of several women in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, in the early 1960s "^[4] Despite Valenti's prediction, the home video market created by the VCR ultimately came to be the mainstay of movie studio revenues throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, until the DVD displaced the VCR in the American living room. Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or hired for home entertainment DVD (also known as " Digital Versatile Disc " or " Digital Video Disc " - see Etymology)is

Digital Millennium Copyright Act

Jack Valenti (1991)

In 1998 Valenti lobbied for the controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act, arguing that copyright infringement via the Internet would severely damage the record and movie industries. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA is a United States Copyright Law which implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property 'Copyright infringement' (or copyright violation) is the unauthorized use of material that is covered by Copyright law in a manner that violates The Internet is a global system of interconnected Computer networks ^[5]

2003 screener ban injunction

In 2003, Valenti found himself at the center of the so-called screener debate, as the MPAA barred studios and many independent producers from sending screener copies of their films to critics and voters in various awards shows. A screener is an advance Video or DVD copy of a Film sent to Critics awards voters video stores (for their manager and employees and other Under mounting industry pressure and a court injunction [Antidote Int'l Films Inc. An injunction is an Equitable remedy in the form of a Court order, whereby a party is required to do or interact with in certain ways all right or to refrain from Antidote Films, also known as Antidote International Films Inc et. al v MPAA (Nov. 2003)], Valenti backed down in 2004, narrowly avoiding a massive and embarrassing antitrust lawsuit against the MPAA.

The Coalition of Independent Filmmakers' Jeff Levy-Hinte, IFP/Los Angeles executive director Dawn Hudson and IFP/New York executive director Michelle Byrd said in a joint statement, "By obtaining a court order to force the MPAA to lift the screener ban last December, the Coalition enabled individual distributors to determine when and in what manner to distribute promotional screeners. Jeff Levy-Hinte is president of Antidote International Films (also known as Antidote Films) Inc based in New York City " It was viewed as Valenti's greatest professional loss.

Retirement

Valenti's salary in 2004 was reported to be $1. 35 million, which made him the seventh-highest paid Washington trade group chief, according to the National Journal. National Journal is a weekly magazine that reports on the current political environment and emerging political and policy trends

Valenti was nominated for President of the United States by the Alfalfa Club in 2004. The President of the United States is the Head of state and Head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in United States by The Alfalfa Club is an exclusive Washington DC social organization founded in 1913

In August 2004, Valenti, then 82 years old, retired and was replaced by former U. Retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely S. Congressman, and Secretary of Agriculture, Dan Glickman. A Member of Congress is a Politician who is a member of a Congress. The United States Secretary of Agriculture is the head of the United States Department of Agriculture. Daniel Robert "Dan" Glickman (born November 24, 1944) served as the United States Secretary of Agriculture from 1995 until 2001 prior to The current head of the ratings system, Joan Graves, was appointed by Valenti. Joan Graves is the head of the Classification and Rating Administration for the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA and was appointed to that position by Jack

Post retirement he had become involved in technology-related venture capital activities, most recently joining the Advisory Board of Legend Ventures, where he advised on media investment opportunities.

His memoirs This Time, This Place: My Life in War, the White House and Hollywood were published on May 15, 2007, only a few weeks after his death. Events 1252 - Pope Innocent IV issues the Papal bull Ad exstirpanda, which authorizes but also limits the Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.

Honors

In December 2003, Valenti received the "Legend in Leadership Award" from the Chief Executive Leadership Institute of the Yale School of Management. About the School The School conducts education and research in Leadership, Economics, Operations management,

In June 2005, the Washington DC headquarters of the Motion Picture Association of America, was renamed the Jack Valenti Building. It is located at 888 16th St. NW, Washington DC, very close to the White House. Jack Valenti maintained an office on the 8th floor, outside the MPAA's space, until his death.

In April of 2008, the University of Houston renamed their School of Communication to the Jack J. The University of Houston (often referred to as " U of H," " UH," or " Houston " is a public doctoral/research Valenti School of Communication in his honor. Valenti was one of the school's notable alumni. ^[6]

Personal life

Valenti had been a long-time bachelor until the age of 41 when he married his wife Mary Margaret Valenti since 1962, and they have three children: John, Alexandra and Warner Bros. studio executive Courtenay Valenti, who attended The Madeira School. The Madeira School is a private, non-denominational preparatory Boarding school for girls located in McLean Virginia, United States Jack Valenti appeared in a 2006 documentary about the school. He died just before the couple celebrated their forty-fifth anniversary.

On April 26, 2007, Valenti died of complications from a stroke. Events 1467 - The miraculous image in Our Lady of Good Counsel appear in Genazzano, Italy. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ^[7]

Books by Jack Valenti

• Ten Heroes and Two Heroines (1957)
• The Bitter Taste of Glory (1971)
• A Very Human President (1976; ISBN 0-671-80834-6)
• Protect and Defend (1992; ISBN 0-385-41735-7)
• Speak Up With Confidence (2002; ISBN 0-7868-8750-8)
• This Time This Place (2007; ISBN 0307346641 )

References

External links

• Valenti and the Australian film industry
• An MP3 recording of a debate with Lawrence Lessig
• MPAA
• Jack Valenti's Long Goodbye, Washington Post
• Testimony of Jack Valenti before Congress in 1982
• List of Jack Valenti interviews An extensive list of interviews
• Jack and wife Mary Margaret Valenti picture
• MPAA Chair on the Passing of Jack Valenti
• The Last Mogul -- Valenti's Ties to Hollywood Kingpin Lew Wasserman