Viña Delmar’s 1928 novel Bad Girl was an unexpected sensation that touched on topics such as premarital sex, pregnancy, and childbirth as seen by married people of working class. It was initially banned in Boston. The book’s popularity was the basis of the 1931 Frank Borzage’s directorial venture of the same name. Unlike the book, the film had to go through the eyes of the censors and when it finally did, it earned Borzage an Oscar for Best Director and Edwin J. Burke for the screenplay. It was remade in 1940 as Manhattan Heartbeat.
