THE HOLLYWOOD BLACKLIST
BLACKLIST - A list of persons who are under
suspicion, disfavor, or censure,
or who are not to be hired, served,
or otherwise accepted.
-Random House Webster’s
Just a little over fifty years ago, during the late 1940’s and throughout
the 1950’s, there was a great fear of Communism in America and abroad. The
House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) was created in 1938 as a means
to investigate and weed out Communists and Communist supporters from American
society. Its first major attack was on the Hollywood film
industry. Blacklisting of Hollywood writers, actors, producers, directors and
others suspected of Communist affiliations began with the committee's hearings
in October of 1947, and flourished throughout the 1950s. Senator Joseph
McCarthy conducted “witch hunts” in an attempt to find and eliminate suspected
Communists. The Hollywood Ten, a group of distinguished writers and directors,
were cited for contempt of Congress and jailed for failing to cooperate with the
house committee.
As World
War Two ended, and the once widely popular and accepted Communist movement began
to fade away, Congress started becoming highly concerned with the possibility of
a Communist revolt. People in influential positions, such as Senator Joseph
McCarthy, believed that such an uprising would begin from within Hollywood, as
there were many popular and powerful directors, producers and writers there, who
had easy access in reaching people across over America (Cole Hollywood
Red). The Senate committee believed strongly that left-wing ideas were a
threat to traditional American society and its values. Meanwhile, the FBI was
intent on crushing any possible skirmishes before they could start by
infiltrating the communist party; dividing the party amongst its own members,
and having it destroy itself.
Although
there was a growing fear of Communism invading American society during the Cold
War era, the blacklisting of writers and others in Hollywood because of their
political beliefs should not have occurred during the Cold War, or any other
period of time. The individuals, who were persecuted during what is now
referred to as the “McCarthy Era,” had their once prominent careers destroyed.
They lost their friends and family, and all based on untrue rumors which were
spread about them, such as planning to start a revolution and attempt to
overthrow the Government of the United States. At no time did the Communist
Party have the manpower or financial resources to do anything more than a small
demonstration and no party member from Hollywood gave serious thought to even
that idea.
Blacklisted writers, such as Walter Bernstein, Abraham Polonsky, and Lester Cole
had a very difficult time finding work and trying to survive during the period
of the blacklist. Suspected Communist sympathizers went through a horrifying
experience during the HUAC hearings, as they were constantly and consistently
harassed by the FBI and other agencies and people who tried to force already
known Communists to “name names” of other various questionable individuals. The
ideas and works of these writers, because of their leftist views, were a cause
for alarm in Congress, and a reason for dire concern among the rest of society.
For
blacklistees, finding work was a very challenging task. Writers such as Walter
Bernstein, Abraham Polonsky, and Lester Cole used various methods to find work.
Scriptwriters had the most options to continue working during the blacklist
period. Performers could not change their faces nor could directors wear masks,
but writers could use pseudonyms. This proved to be a profitable strategy for
many. Abraham Polonsky, Walter Bernstein, and Arnold Manoff wrote most of the
“You Are There” segments, a series of historical events re-created for
television with a strong focus on cultural martyrs such as Socrates, Galilee,
Joan of Arc, and the Salem witches, under false names. The phenomenon of using
phony names and surrogates became the basis of The Front (1976),
starring Woody Allen. The film was written by blacklistee Walter Bernstein,
directed and produced by fellow blacklistee Martin Ritt, and featured
blacklisted actors Zero Mostel, Herschel Bernardi, John Randolph, Lloyd Gough,
and Joshua Shelley.
Another
method blacklistees used to sell their scripts were through the use of
“fronts.” Writers wrote the scripts, but put the name of a trusted friend on it
instead. They then gave the script to the friend who went to the producer with
it, pretending that he was the one who had written the script. Often, fronts
took a small commission for their end of the work, as it was high risk
(Bernstein The Front). The use of fronts may also be best shown
in the movie created by Bernstein. Fronts needed to be replaced frequently, as
producers in Hollywood would always conduct comprehensive background checks on
new writers to make sure they had no previous Communist affiliations, or that
they were not a phony front employed for a blacklisted writer. A few, daring
and anti-McCarthy producers sometimes used scripts even though they knew they
had been written by blacklisted writers; both to help their friends through some
hard times, and to help the fight against what they believed was wrong and evil
(Bernstein 221-223).
Although
writers had certain advantages over producers and directors in finding work,
they still faced many of the same problems that other blacklistees experienced.
They were always being spied on, harassed, called derogatory names, and viewed
upon as outcasts by the rest of society.
At the
HUAC hearings before Congress, suspected Communists and Communist supporters
were given a very hard time. When the House Un-American Activities Committee
was established by Congress in 1938 it's intended purpose was to investigate
people suspected of unpatriotic behavior. However, it soon became clear that
much more then just investigating would be conducted. The FBI and others, such
as Senator McCarthy, pestered communists and supporters of the Communist party.
People who were in Hollywood at that time remember it as a nightmare (Red
Scare). Congressional hearings were in effect, not hearings, but trials
for crimes that were not really crimes, with congressmen serving as prosecutor,
judge, and jury. Unable to deprive a person of their life and liberty, they
deprived him of his livelihood. Other people who were not convicted of anything
including being a communist were also in trouble, because headlines of
newspapers and magazines wouldn't miss the new story for the world. The story
would usually raise questions regarding the loyalty of the accused and he would
have no way to confront the "charges.” The courts played their part only when
victims would be tried for contempt of the Congress for refusing to answer
questions posed by the HUAC. Many people who were called to testify openly
answered questions about themselves, but refuse to implicate others; some tried
to deny knowing any other Communists, while others attempted to downplay having
any recent contact or knowledge of friends being involved in the Communist Party
(McGilligan 43). If the person refused to name names, he would automatically be
considered "guilty,” because 10 years out of the party and other anti-Communist
actions were not enough to prove loyalty to his country.
Witnesses
were quickly classified as either friendly or unfriendly. Friendly witnesses
were those who answered questions about themselves and others. Although they
lost their friendships with other communists, once they had testified, they were
then cleared from the blacklist and allowed to go back to work in Hollywood
using their own names (McGilligan 196-197 & 266-267). Unfriendly witnesses,
those who refused to cooperate with the Senate hearings, such as the Hollywood
Ten, were cited for contempt of Congress, fined, and sent to jail. Although
unfriendly witnesses knew that all the names had already been named and there
was nothing new they would add, they still refused to testify because they
wished to remain loyal to their friends and to the Party (McGilligan 49).
One of the
reasons Cole and Bernstein were considered to be so dangerous was that they
worked for, and contributed to, producing pamphlets and magazines such as “Facts
About the Blacklist,” and The Daily Worker. However,
neither of these papers was a real threat to anyone or anything because they
failed to become widely published or accepted. “Facts about the Blacklist"
folded after only a few short issues, as did The Daily Worker,
which went bankrupt soon afterwards (Bernstein 205-206). Polonsky on the other
hand, had always considered himself a leftist, and already had many friends who
were members of the Party, and so he joined shortly after he had finished
college. He considered Party meetings to be more of a social club and, he
recalls that many of the members simply liked the idea of Communism and Marxism,
but were not in any way a real Communist (McGilligan 483 & 493).
Just a few
short years ago, the 50th anniversary of the blacklist was
commemorated. Fifty years after the blacklist, Hollywood is honoring the living
screenwriters caught up in the Red Scare-era witch-hunts. Still, the decades
have not healed all wounds, and the two surviving members of the Hollywood Ten
remain angry over their roles in naming names to congressional investigators.
We came to know of the "Hollywood Ten," the screenwriters and others jailed for
contempt of Congress for refusing to tell the House Un-American Activities
Committee who else was a Communist. A studio blacklist denied employment to
admitted and suspected party members. Recently, Hollywood used the recent 50th
anniversary of the blacklist to apologize to those victimized by it. It also
went to hail the few survivors, as well as to add impetus to the drive to
restore the personal credits of movie workers who had been forced to conceal
their identity in order to put bread on the table.
Fifty
years later, it is certainly much harder to find someone who would not agree
that it is un-American to penalize a person for his known or suspected thoughts
and words rather than for his criminal deeds. If we have not become a more
tolerant nation in that time, then at the least the demise of the Cold War has
lowered the temperature in which such a basic issue of free speech could be
discussed (Rosenfeld A27).
WORKS CITED
Anonymous, Red Scare In Hollywood,
Email: BaterUp3@Aol.Com.
Bernstein, Walter. Inside Out. New York:
Knopf, 1996.
Cole, Lester. Hollywood Red: The
Autobiography of Lester Cole. Palo Alto, CA: Ramparts Press,
1981.
Dick, Bernard F. Radical Innocence: A
Critical Study of the Hollywood Ten.
Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1989.
Georgakas, Dan. Hollywood Blacklist,
http://www. english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/blacklist.html
McGilligan, Patrick. Tender Comrades: A
Backstory of the Hollywood Blacklist. New York: St.
Martin's Press, 1997.
Rosenfeld. “Looking back on the Blacklisted.” The
The Front. Dir. Walter Bernstein. Perf.
Woody Allen. 1982.
