HOLLYWOOD AND THE COLD WAR

(1) “The Blacklist”—Hollywood avoids subject—The Way We Were (1973), The Front(1976), Guilty By Suspicion(1991), The Majestic (2001) a)origins: Hollywood’s vulnerability: American Communist Party’s toehold in Hollywood,1930s-40s—300 members, approx. 1% of all studio workers: 145 screenwriters, 50-60 actors, 15-20 producers-directors. Writers most vocal and energetic in supporting labor rights, civil rights, war-time support for Russia, our ally. (b) films written by Communist writers—most patriotic WW2 films:30 Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)(Trumbo); Action in the North Atlantic(Lawson) 1943; Objective, Burma, 1945 (Bessie and Cole).

(2) HUAC attacks: Oct. 1947, holds Washington hearings on “Communist subversion” in Hywood; friendly witnesses: Gary Cooper, Jack Warner, Ronald Reagan(Pres. Screen Actors Guild and secret FBI informant. Unfriendly: The Hollywood Ten—8 writers:John Howard Lawson, Lester Cole, Alvah Bessie, Ring Lardner,Jr., Albert Maltz, Samuel Ornitz, Adrian Scott, Dalton Trumbo; 2 directors:Herbert Biberman, Edward Dmytryk; plead First Amendment protection; judged to be in contempt of Congress. Sentences vary from 6 months(2) to 1 yr.(8). Further results: Waldorf Statement(Nov.1947): Studio Bosses agree to purge Communists and sympathizers. (a). HUAC—Round #2 1951: seek forgiveness by “naming names.”

(3) Blacklist in Action: “Aware” published by Vincent Hartnett (Francis Hennessy in The Front; Motion Picture Academy By-law: no Communist or anyone who refuses to cooperate with investigations eligible for Oscar; other loyalty oaths; screen credits: Friendly Persuasion (1956),“fronts”—“Robert Rich,” Oscar for The Brave One (1956) best original screenplay—actual writer-Dalton Trumbo. The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957). Oscar goes to Pierre Boule(book)—real authors Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson. (a) Death and the Blacklist—John Garfield, Philip Loeb (“Hecky Brown” in The Front )

(4) End of Blacklist: 1960—Dalton Trumbo hired to write Spartacus(1960) , then Exodus(1960) but many careers never recover. (5) TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK: The Case of Elia Kazan or “Selling Your Soul For A Swimming Pool.”