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In an effort to show how females are treated while incarcerated, Hollywood studios have produce a number of what is called 'Serious Women in Prison' (WIP) movies. The first WIP picture set inside an all-women's penitentiary was May 1950's "Caged." This groundbreaking drama with three Oscar nominations reflected the movie industry's seriousness in portraying the bleakness of jail life for those offenders of the law, and how ineffective those institutions were in rehabilitating the incarcerated. The Warner Brothers film established the blueprint for future female prison movies, especially on the sadistic prison guards who purposely make life miserable for the prisoners. "Pile out, you tramps!'" says head guard Evelyn Harper (Hope Emerson) as she physically pushes a dozen convicted females out of the van to begin their prison sentences. "It's the end of the line." Screenwriter Virginia Kellogg, a former reporter for the Los Angeles Times, was given the assignment by Warner Brothers producer Jerry Wald to research the conditions in women prisons. His hope was to make a movie matching the studio's 1934 "I Am a Fugitive of a Chain Gang" made a generation before, which led to massive prison reform. Kellogg was able to be embedded in four separate penitentiaries. As a front she used an indictment of embezzlement for her to move freely among the prison population while seeing how the prison system works, and the relationship between the security personnel and the inmates. Kellogg, who was nominated for an Oscar for Best Story in 1949's "White Heat," teamed up with scriptwriter Bernard Schoenfeld to earn her second Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay for "Caged." "There's a lot of social comment here, very deliberately so, from someone who had the talent to phrase it," wrote film reviewer Hal Astell on Kellogg's story. "The key line comes early in the film from one of the prisoners who arrives with Marie. 'Heads or tails you lose,' she says, and in doing so sums up the entirety of what these girls go through." Eleanor Parker, playing the wife whose husband spontaneously commits an armed robbery, netting $40, but killing him, was nominated an Oscar for Best Actress, the first of three for her. Marie Allen (Parker) receives one to fifteen years as an accessory to the robbery. The late teenager Marie is a well behaved, soft-spoken woman when she first enters the penitentary, but leaves jail after serving her sentence as a cynical, hardened ex-convict who joins a shoplifting gang which one of her prison-mates arranges for her to survive. Scriptwriter Kellogg's message is prisons' inhumane conditions with their corrupt guards creates criminals who will be back in jail again as repeat offenders. The cause of Marie's despair is hulking head guard Evelyn Harper, who doles out harsh treatment each day if she doesn't receive bribes from the inmates. Hope Emerson, nominated Best Supporting Actress by the Academy Awards as the unflinching evil guard, stood at 6'2" and weighed 230 pounds. The former vaudeville performer Emerson played mostly villainous roles largely because of her girth. She's famous for hoisting Spencer Tracy in the air during the court trial scene in 1949's 'Adam's Rib.' Emerson's harsh on-screen behavior became the prototype for those in security roles in numerous women prison films. Harper's orders such as "Come on you tramps - line up for Christmas. This ain't no upstairs delicatessen" echo throughout WIP films. Off camera Emerson was an absolute angel, according to Parker, who described the actress as just "the opposite of the woman she played in 'Caged.' She was a sweet, gentle lady who played the piano for us between scenes and was very worried about her sick mother." Agnes Moorehead is prison warden Ruth Benton, who's aware of Harper's brutality, but members of the police commission overseeing the jail refuse to fire her. Benton represents every warden who attempts to establish effective rehabilitation programs for the prisoners, but are stymied by outside forces who believe jail is built solely for punishment. Both Joan Crawford and Bette Davis refused Marie's part, with the later exclaiming she wasn't interested in making "a dyke movie." Many film critics see the similarities between 1948's "The Snake Pit" with Olivia de Havilland as a mentally ill patient at a horribly-run mental institution and "Caged." Film reviewer John Farr remarked of this expose on the penal system, "Still shocking today - perhaps because it makes one wonder how much has really changed for first-time offenders of either gender - 'Caged' provides shudder-inducing food for thought."

* Director/scriptwriter John Huston introduced a new kind of crime movie in May 1950's "The Asphalt Jungle," one which its criminals were presented with far more sympathy than in the past. Academy Awards voters appreciated Huston's unique approach to his examination of these robbers' backgrounds and in a way justified why they committed such illegal acts by nominating the film noir in four categories. The movie is also known for elevating actor Sterling Hayden's status, and giving young Marilyn Monroe a small yet impressionable early role.

* Huston rationalized his unique perspective of lawbreakers, saying, "My defense was that unless we understand the criminal there's no way of coping with him." Considered one of Hollywood's best heist films, "The Asphalt Jungle" follows thieves involved in a major jewelry robbery. Huston portrays these criminals as talented professionals, similar to those in the legal fields. Adapted from W. R. Burnett's 1949 novel of the same name, Huston and Ben Maddow's script opens with just-released convict Erwin "Doc" Riedenschneider (Sam Jaffee), who immediately launches into a sure-fire one-million dollar heist of valuable jewelry. He employs lawyer-fixer Alonzo D. Emmerich (Louis Calhern) to pay three professionals to carry out the robbery. First is safecracker Louie Ciavelli (Anthony Caruso), a family man supporting his young wife and infant. Next is Gus Minissi (James Whitmore), an owner of a diner who's finically looking for additional money to prop up his business. The third is enforcer Dix Handley (Hayden), who has dreams of repurchasing his parents' foreclosed horse farm. Dix's girlfriend 'Doll' Conovan (Jean Hagan) shares in his passion of living on his farm.

* Marilyn Monroe ranked her brief scene with Emmerich and the police towards the end of "The Asphalt Jungle" as one of her best. She plays Angela Phinlay, the lawyer's mistress, and received the role on suspect circumstances. One rumor had it her agent and lover, Johnny Hyde, vice president of a Hollywood major talent agency, leaned on MGM talent director Lucille Carroll to stongarm Huston to give Monroe the part. Carroll and her husband owned a horse ranch which the director owed them $18,000 to board his horses. She threatened to sell his horses to settle the debt if Monroe didn't get the part. Huston claims he didn't decide on Monroe until she auditioned along with eight others for the role. He later said she was "one of the few actresses who could make an entrance by leaving the room." The head of 20th Century Fox, Darryl F. Zanuck said he felt the same, signing her to a contract where she appeared in the 1950 Oscar-winning Best Picture "All About Eve." * Huston had first met actor Sterling Hayden in Washington, D. C. in 1947 when both, as members of the Committee for the First Amendment, protested the Congressional hearings about Communist influence in Hollywood. Hayden was adopted by an Upper Montclair, New Jersey couple, and dropped out of high school to become a fisherman. As a charter boat captain he posed for a photo on the cover of a magazine, which prompted Paramount Pictures to sign him to a contract in 1941. Earning the Silver Star in World War Two for his bravery in the Balkans and in the Mediterranean while in the military, Hayden returned to film acting after the war, only to be investigated for his Communist ties when he fought with partisans against the Nazis during WW2. He said the FBI threatened to take custody of his kids and jail him if he didn't reveal the names of those he knew in Hollywood who had Marxist leanings. He eventually did, a move he deeply regretted. "I don't think you have the foggiest notion of the contempt I have had for myself since the day I did that thing," Hayden wrote in his autobiography. Huston approached Hayden as the lead in "The Asphalt Jungle," saying, "I've admired you for a long time, Sterling. They don't know what to make of a guy like you in this business. I want you to do this part. The studio does not. They want a top name star. They say you mean nothing when it comes to box office draw. Fortunately, they're not making this picture. I am." After one particular emotional scene wrapped, Huston told the former fisherman, "The next time somebody says you can't act, tell them to call Huston." * The director, with Harold Rosson behind the camera, gave "The Asphalt Jungle" a gritty look, similar to Italian neorealism. Huston admitted he was influenced by Roberto Rossellini's 1945 "Rome: Open City" and Vittorio De Sica's 1948's "The Bicycle Thief," running counter to MGM's usual slick productions. Studio boss Louis B. Mayer bellowed after seeing the film, describing it as "trash. That Asphalt Pavement thing is full of nasty, ugly people doing nasty things. I wouldn't cross the street to see a picture like that." The groundbreaking film did make a small profit, with the Academy Awards nominating Huston for Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Sam Jaffee for Best Supporting Actor, and Rosson for Best Black-and-White Cinematography. Directors Martin Scorsese and Michael Mann list it as one of their favorite movies. The crime thriller is one of '1001 Movie You Must See Before You Die." Stanley Kubrick's 1956 "The Killing," as well as 1960's "Ocean's Eleven" and its sequels are among the many heist films drawing inspiration from Huston's work. Three films based directly from "The Asphalt Jungle" have been subsequently produced: 1958's "The Badlanders" with Alan Ladd, 1963's "Cairo" with George Sanders, and 1972's "Cool Breeze."

By 1950 television sales were growing at an astronomical rate, from 172,000 sets sold in 1948 to 5 million a year at the beginning of the new decade. To capitalize on this new phenomenon, Hollywood produced its first satire on television programming in May 1950's "Champagne for Caesar." This farce on television was prescience on several levels, beginning with actor Ronald Colman, wrapping up a three-decade film career with his final lead role before transitioning to TV. Television personality Art Linkletter appears in his first of only two films (other than playing himself) before he became a household name with his long-running TV broadcast 'People Are Funny.' This late screwball comedy saw Vincent Price in a rare humorous performance as the owner of a soap company who stands to lose his business because a smart contestant is running the table on his sponsored TV quiz show. The most popular programs in the early days of television were boxing and wrestling matches, Milton Berle's 'Texaco Star Theater,' and quiz shows. Long-running contests such as 'What's My Line?' 'Beat the Clock' and 'Truth or Consequences' began airing on TV in 1950. "Champagne for Caesar" centers around voracious reader Beauregard Bottomley,(Colman), whose knowledge of everything is truly astonishing. He disdains the game shows on TV, which he believes caters to the lowest levels of society. One scene of historical interest was when Bottomley and his sister Gwenn (Barbara Britton) go out for the evening. They gather with others on a city sidewalk in front of an appliance store watching TV through the window. The broadcast is 'Masquerade for Money,' hosted by Happy Hogan (Linkletter), whose sponsor is Milady Soap, owned by Burnbridge Waters (Vincent Price). At the time of the movie's production only 20 percent of the households had TVs. Those without televisions would either be invited to homes owning one, or gather outside appliance stores where a television broadcast could be seen with the sound heard over a speaker. Unemployed Bottomley seeks revenge against the Milady Soap Company after its owner, Burnbridge Waters, rejects him during a job interview. Bottomley goes on Happy Hogan's show with the intentions of bankrupting Waters' business since there's no limit as to how much he can win. After seeing Bottomley win repeatedly, amounting to $40 million in double-or-nothing bets, Waters schemes to get the smarty pants to lose just once. "Vincent Price is laugh out loud funny in this film, a real revelation," said film reviewer Russell Brodie, "we wait for the hero (Broomley) to answer the final question to get his revenge on the evil (and loopy) executive, and it really works." "Champagne for Caesar" was Coleman's next film after 1948's "A Double Life," which saw him win his only Best Actor Oscar. After playing Beauregard Bottomley, Colman had a cameo in 1956's "Around the World in 80 Days," an Academy Awards Best picture, followed by his last movie 1957's "The Story of Mankind" with Vincent Price. Art Linkletter, 37, was born in Saskatchewan, Canadian and raised in San Diego, California. He was the adopted son of husband-wife evangelical preachers. First as a teacher then a radio announcer in the mid-1930s, Linkletter began his 1942 radio show 'People Are Funny,' which served as a prototype for his wildly popular television program, premiering in 1954. He and his wife Lois Foerster hold the record for the longest Hollywood marriage, 74 years, marrying in 1935, and lasting until his death in May 2010 at age 97. Comedian Phyllis Diller said at the time of his death, "In a couple of months Art Linkletter would have been 98 years old, a full life of fun and goodness, an orphan who made it to the top. What a guy." Barbara Britton as Bottomley's sister Gwenn was later a spokesperson for Revlon products, a position that saw her appearing on the quiz show 'The 64,000 Question.' Ironically the contest was the center of one of the biggest scandals in television history when it as revealed some of the contestants were fed the answers. And Mel Blanc, who voiced a number of Looney Tune cartoon characters, was credited as the voice of Bottomleys' pet parrot Caesar, whose background explains the title of the movie. "Champagne For Caesar" was ahead of its time, which audiences didn't fully appreciate when first released. But as film historian Laura Loyes observed, "the satire that seemed baffling half a century ago now seems right on the mark in a more cynical age."