Hollywood blacklist
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-->The Hollywood blacklist was a group of film actors, directors, and screenwriters in the late 1940s and early 1950s, including at least ten who had been affiliated with the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) at some point in their lives, who were investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee for communist activities.
The day after ten writers and directors were cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to give testimony, a Hollywood blacklisting policy was implemented by studio executives through the MPAA in what has become known as the Waldorf Statement.
Overview
The Hollywood blacklist stemmed from events dating back to the 1930s. During this era, communism was a popular political movement in the United States, especially among young idealists.Perceptions changed at the end of World War II. The "Red Scare" saw communism become increasingly feared and hated by many in the United States, mostly because of the Soviet Union's brutal repression in Eastern and Central Europe following the War. In October of 1947, a number of suspected communists, deemed "subversives," working in the Hollywood film industry were summoned to appear before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, which was investigating Communist influence in the Hollywood labor unions. This group of American screenwriters, actors, and directors were either alleged or admitted members of the American Communist Party. Witnesses such as Budd Schulberg and Elia Kazan either felt it was patriotic to expose others or, out of fear for the consequences of non-compliance, implicated others as having had involvement with the party (referred to as "naming names"). Ten of those who were subpoenaed refused to give evidence, citing their First Amendment rights. The United States House of Representatives of the 80th Congress voted 346 to 17 on November 24, 1947 to approve citations for contempt of Congress. These men, soon dubbed the "Hollywood Ten," were convicted in 1948 and following unsuccessful appeals and denial of review by the Supreme Court, they served 6-month (in two cases) or 1-year prison terms in 1950.
Specifically, the "Hollywood Ten" were in part cited for contempt for their disdain for the proceedings and were considered by some as being disruptive of the committee's proceedings by making political statements while refusing to answer certain questions put to them by the committee concerning their alleged Communist affiliations and activities. Some of the questions they refused to answer were: "Are you a member of the Screen Writers Guild?" and, "Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?". Their unsuccessful defense was based on First Amendment claims. However, although it might have been highly unpopular, being a member of the American Communist Party was never illegal. Others were not charged after legal counsel advised them instead to claim the right to refuse to answer in accordance with the Fifth Amendment.
In response to the pressure, on November 17, 1947 the Screen Actors Guild voted to make its officers take a non-communist pledge. Following a meeting of film industry executives at New York's Waldorf-Astoria hotel on November 25, 1947 (the day after the full House approved citations of contempt), Eric Johnston, President of the Motion Picture Association of America, issued a press release on the executives' behalf that is today referred to as the Waldorf Statement. The Statement declared the "Ten" would be fired or suspended and not rehired until they were acquitted or purged of contempt and had sworn that they were not communists. Because of their notoriety, they were unable to obtain work in the American film and television industry for many years. In 1952, the Screen Writers Guild authorized the movie studios to omit from the screen the name of any individual who had failed to clear his name before Congress. Some of those blacklisted continued to write Hollywood films, using pseudonyms or the names of friends who posed as the actual writers (those who allowed their names to be used were called "fronts").
The blacklisting by studio executives went hand in hand with the activities of J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI under his control. People such as Bartley Crum, a lawyer who defended some of the "Hollywood Ten" in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947, were labeled as subversive or Communist sympathizers by others, and additionally targeted for investigation themselves. The FBI tapped Crum's phones, opened his mail, and put him under continuous surveillance. As a result, he lost most of his clients and, unable to cope with the stress from unrelenting harassment, committed suicide in 1959.
The \"Hollywood Ten\"
- Alvah Bessie, screenwriter
- Herbert Biberman, screenwriter and director
- Lester Cole, screenwriter
- Edward Dmytryk, director
- Ring Lardner, Jr., journalist and screenwriter
- John Howard Lawson, writer
- Albert Maltz, author and screenwriter
- Samuel Ornitz , screenwriter
- Adrian Scott, screenwriter and film producer
- Dalton Trumbo, screenwriter and novelist
The first break in the blacklisting didn't come until 1960, when director Otto Preminger announced he was hiring Trumbo to write Exodus. Then, influential movie star Kirk Douglas said he would give Trumbo full credit for writing Spartacus, which president-elect John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert crossed American Legion picket lines to see. Soon, producer Martin Ransohoff and director Norman Jewison gave Ring Lardner, Jr. screen credit for writing The Cincinnati Kid, and things began to change, albeit more slowly for many. In later life, many of the "Hollywood Ten" continued to assert a right to political association and to allege they were victims of "red-baiting." In 1997, the Writers' Guild of America unanimously voted to change the writing credits of 23 films made during the blacklist period.
While the Hollywood Ten were the most high-profile screenwriters and directors blacklisted, many others, including some of Hollywood's most famous and successful writers, found themselves unable to work in their fields during the time of the Red Scare, while others had their careers all but destroyed. Most estimates indicate that the blacklist involved approximately 325 employees in film and related industries. However, according to Carl Foreman's son, Jonathan Foreman, a lawyer, historian, and editorial writer and senior film critic for the New York Post, there were 500 or so victims of the Hollywood blacklist. Dalton Trumbo said of it: "the blacklist was a time of such evil, no one survived untouched."
In 1950 the Hollywood Ten were featured in a short documentary named The Hollywood Ten. It simply consisted of each member of the Hollywood Ten making a short speech directly in front of the camera, denouncing Senator McCarthy's methods and the blacklisting.