Richard M. Fried
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195043617
- eISBN:
- 9780199853724
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195043617.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This book provides an account of the rise and fall of the House Committee on Un-American activities. The book describes the growth of the kind of paranoid and xenophobic anti-communism which ...
More
This book provides an account of the rise and fall of the House Committee on Un-American activities. The book describes the growth of the kind of paranoid and xenophobic anti-communism which characterized the HUAC and traces its origins from the New Deal to the post-war periods. Along the way we meet important actors in the Red-baiting drama, including Presidents Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, the young Richard Nixon, Alger Hiss, the Rosenbergs, the Hollywood Ten, and, of course, Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy. The book, however, also documents the more sweeping and less public effects of McCarthyism on thousands of people, from teachers and lawyers to washroom attendants forced to take loyalty tests. As the book shows, these “insignificant” stories are perhaps the strongest testament to the social and political climate which terrorized many ordinary citizens during the McCarthy years.Less
This book provides an account of the rise and fall of the House Committee on Un-American activities. The book describes the growth of the kind of paranoid and xenophobic anti-communism which characterized the HUAC and traces its origins from the New Deal to the post-war periods. Along the way we meet important actors in the Red-baiting drama, including Presidents Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, the young Richard Nixon, Alger Hiss, the Rosenbergs, the Hollywood Ten, and, of course, Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy. The book, however, also documents the more sweeping and less public effects of McCarthyism on thousands of people, from teachers and lawyers to washroom attendants forced to take loyalty tests. As the book shows, these “insignificant” stories are perhaps the strongest testament to the social and political climate which terrorized many ordinary citizens during the McCarthy years.
Robert W. Cherny
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252040788
- eISBN:
- 9780252099243
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252040788.001.0001
- Subject:
- Art, Art History
Victor Arnautoff, an artist, was born in 1896 in the Russian empire. After serving as a cavalry officer in WWI and then in the White Siberian army during the Russian Civil War, he became part of the ...
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Victor Arnautoff, an artist, was born in 1896 in the Russian empire. After serving as a cavalry officer in WWI and then in the White Siberian army during the Russian Civil War, he became part of the Russian diaspora, working for a Chinese warlord, studying art in San Francisco, and working with Diego Rivera in Mexico. Returning to San Francisco, his art was acclaimed during the 1930s, especially his public murals, most financed by New-Deal art programs. He joined Stanford University’s art faculty. He and his wife became citizens and secretly joined the Communist party (CP). They threw themselves into work for Russian war relief during WWII and became active in Communist front groups. After WWII, the rise of abstract expressionism marginalized Arnautoff’s social realism, and he found a new cultural home in the California Labor School. Arnautoff’s activities in Communist front groups brought FBI surveillance. He was called before a HUAC sub-committee, and the Stanford administration tried unsuccessfully to terminate him in a case involving standards of academic freedom. After retiring from Stanford and the death of his wife, Arnautoff emigrated to the Soviet Union. There he created several large public murals before his death in 1979.Less
Victor Arnautoff, an artist, was born in 1896 in the Russian empire. After serving as a cavalry officer in WWI and then in the White Siberian army during the Russian Civil War, he became part of the Russian diaspora, working for a Chinese warlord, studying art in San Francisco, and working with Diego Rivera in Mexico. Returning to San Francisco, his art was acclaimed during the 1930s, especially his public murals, most financed by New-Deal art programs. He joined Stanford University’s art faculty. He and his wife became citizens and secretly joined the Communist party (CP). They threw themselves into work for Russian war relief during WWII and became active in Communist front groups. After WWII, the rise of abstract expressionism marginalized Arnautoff’s social realism, and he found a new cultural home in the California Labor School. Arnautoff’s activities in Communist front groups brought FBI surveillance. He was called before a HUAC sub-committee, and the Stanford administration tried unsuccessfully to terminate him in a case involving standards of academic freedom. After retiring from Stanford and the death of his wife, Arnautoff emigrated to the Soviet Union. There he created several large public murals before his death in 1979.
Richard M. Fried
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195043617
- eISBN:
- 9780199853724
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195043617.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
For many, the McCarthy era stands as the grimmest time in recent memory. Beset by Cold War anxieties, Americans developed an obsession with domestic communism that outran the actual threat and gnawed ...
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For many, the McCarthy era stands as the grimmest time in recent memory. Beset by Cold War anxieties, Americans developed an obsession with domestic communism that outran the actual threat and gnawed at the tissue of civil liberties. For some politicians, hunting Reds became a passport to fame or notoriety. It was the focal point of the careers of Wisconsin Senator Joseph R. McCarthy; of Richard Nixon during his tenure as Congressman, Senator, and Vice President of the United States; and several of Nixon's colleagues on the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC). Ordinary people responded to the anti-Communist fervor by reining in their political activities, curbing their talk, and keeping their thoughts to themselves. Perhaps the essential point is that there existed in Cold War America a broad anti-Communist consensus shared and seldom questioned by most liberals as well as conservatives, by intellectuals as well as plain folk.Less
For many, the McCarthy era stands as the grimmest time in recent memory. Beset by Cold War anxieties, Americans developed an obsession with domestic communism that outran the actual threat and gnawed at the tissue of civil liberties. For some politicians, hunting Reds became a passport to fame or notoriety. It was the focal point of the careers of Wisconsin Senator Joseph R. McCarthy; of Richard Nixon during his tenure as Congressman, Senator, and Vice President of the United States; and several of Nixon's colleagues on the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC). Ordinary people responded to the anti-Communist fervor by reining in their political activities, curbing their talk, and keeping their thoughts to themselves. Perhaps the essential point is that there existed in Cold War America a broad anti-Communist consensus shared and seldom questioned by most liberals as well as conservatives, by intellectuals as well as plain folk.
Richard M. Fried
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195043617
- eISBN:
- 9780199853724
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195043617.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
Even independent of McCarthy, the years 1950–1954 marked the climax of anti-communism in American life. The Korean stalemate generated both a bruising debate over containment and sourness in national ...
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Even independent of McCarthy, the years 1950–1954 marked the climax of anti-communism in American life. The Korean stalemate generated both a bruising debate over containment and sourness in national politics. Korea's sapping effect and a series of minor scandals heightened the Democratic Party's anemia. In addition, the 1950 congressional campaign, revealing McCarthyism's apparent sway over the voters and encouraging the GOP's right wing, signaled that anti-communism occupied the core of American political culture. Senate resistance to McCarthy was scattered and weak. In the House, HUAC did much as it pleased. Truman upheld civil liberties with occasional eloquence, but he remained on the defensive. Rampant anti-communism narrowed the range of selection open to associations, utterances, and ideas. People were constrained by both external pressures and the inner checks with which they reactively restricted their own affairs.Less
Even independent of McCarthy, the years 1950–1954 marked the climax of anti-communism in American life. The Korean stalemate generated both a bruising debate over containment and sourness in national politics. Korea's sapping effect and a series of minor scandals heightened the Democratic Party's anemia. In addition, the 1950 congressional campaign, revealing McCarthyism's apparent sway over the voters and encouraging the GOP's right wing, signaled that anti-communism occupied the core of American political culture. Senate resistance to McCarthy was scattered and weak. In the House, HUAC did much as it pleased. Truman upheld civil liberties with occasional eloquence, but he remained on the defensive. Rampant anti-communism narrowed the range of selection open to associations, utterances, and ideas. People were constrained by both external pressures and the inner checks with which they reactively restricted their own affairs.
Julia L. Mickenberg
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195152807
- eISBN:
- 9780199788903
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195152807.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This chapter examines the impact of McCarthyism on the production, content, and reception of children's literature, tracing a path from 1946 when the children's literature field seemed particularly ...
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This chapter examines the impact of McCarthyism on the production, content, and reception of children's literature, tracing a path from 1946 when the children's literature field seemed particularly receptive to books with social content, to the mid-1950s, when several authors (such as Meridel Le Sueur, Langston Hughes, Helen Kay, Howard Fast, Irving Adler, Leo Huberman, and Franklin Folsom) saw their books banned, were called before investigating committees such as the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC), and/or became the subjects of lengthy FBI files. Likewise, publishers became more cautious about publishing books with controversial subject matter, including those with “interracial” themes. Despite these pressures, most leftists were able to continue working in the children's literature field, and found support among editors and publishers, as well as librarians (who were outspoken advocates of intellectual freedom). Moreover, public outcry against books by radical children's book authors was relatively rare, and even FBI files suggest that authors who were targeted for investigation attracted attention not for their books but because of other organizational activity.Less
This chapter examines the impact of McCarthyism on the production, content, and reception of children's literature, tracing a path from 1946 when the children's literature field seemed particularly receptive to books with social content, to the mid-1950s, when several authors (such as Meridel Le Sueur, Langston Hughes, Helen Kay, Howard Fast, Irving Adler, Leo Huberman, and Franklin Folsom) saw their books banned, were called before investigating committees such as the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC), and/or became the subjects of lengthy FBI files. Likewise, publishers became more cautious about publishing books with controversial subject matter, including those with “interracial” themes. Despite these pressures, most leftists were able to continue working in the children's literature field, and found support among editors and publishers, as well as librarians (who were outspoken advocates of intellectual freedom). Moreover, public outcry against books by radical children's book authors was relatively rare, and even FBI files suggest that authors who were targeted for investigation attracted attention not for their books but because of other organizational activity.
Kevin Brianton
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780813168920
- eISBN:
- 9780813169002
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813168920.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
The Screen Directors Guild (SDG) meeting of October 22, 1950, was convened to discuss the recall (dismissal) of the director Joseph L. Mankiewicz as Guild president by a conservative group headed by ...
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The Screen Directors Guild (SDG) meeting of October 22, 1950, was convened to discuss the recall (dismissal) of the director Joseph L. Mankiewicz as Guild president by a conservative group headed by Cecil B. DeMille. The recall was an attempt by this group to stamp out a series of member protests about introducing a mandatory anti-Communist loyalty oath through an open and signed ballot. The loyalty oath was partly designed to introduce a union-sanctioned blacklist at the Guild. These issues divided the allegiances of the Guild and its board and were related to the political tensions extending from the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) investigation into Communism in the American film industry in 1947. The SDG meeting of 1950 is one of the most famous meetings in Hollywood history. It has been written about and referenced in many books on film history and criticism and described as one of the great symbolic events in Hollywood political history. While the coverage has been extensive, it has also been misinterpreted and misunderstood. Indeed, what passes for history is actually a wildly inaccurate account based on partisan sources. This book is a revisionist history of the meeting and the loyalty oath issue.Less
The Screen Directors Guild (SDG) meeting of October 22, 1950, was convened to discuss the recall (dismissal) of the director Joseph L. Mankiewicz as Guild president by a conservative group headed by Cecil B. DeMille. The recall was an attempt by this group to stamp out a series of member protests about introducing a mandatory anti-Communist loyalty oath through an open and signed ballot. The loyalty oath was partly designed to introduce a union-sanctioned blacklist at the Guild. These issues divided the allegiances of the Guild and its board and were related to the political tensions extending from the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) investigation into Communism in the American film industry in 1947. The SDG meeting of 1950 is one of the most famous meetings in Hollywood history. It has been written about and referenced in many books on film history and criticism and described as one of the great symbolic events in Hollywood political history. While the coverage has been extensive, it has also been misinterpreted and misunderstood. Indeed, what passes for history is actually a wildly inaccurate account based on partisan sources. This book is a revisionist history of the meeting and the loyalty oath issue.
Elizabeth Ann Danto
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199744664
- eISBN:
- 9780199932863
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199744664.003.0031
- Subject:
- Social Work, Social Policy
Elizabeth Ann Danto examines the experiences of refugee psychoanalysts in the United States under McCarthyism. Danto charts the persecutions suffered by European psychoanalysts who had been forced ...
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Elizabeth Ann Danto examines the experiences of refugee psychoanalysts in the United States under McCarthyism. Danto charts the persecutions suffered by European psychoanalysts who had been forced into exile after World War II. These refugee psychoanalysts carried a triple burden: they were foreigners, leftists (real or alleged), and Jews, and also then obvious targets for Hoover, the FBI, and the House Un-American Activities Committee. Danto uses the American contradiction––the land of the free, the land of oppression––to illustrates the irony and contextual paradoxes painfully experienced by refugee psychoanalysts, as well to explore the effects this had on the U.S. psychoanalytic community overall.Less
Elizabeth Ann Danto examines the experiences of refugee psychoanalysts in the United States under McCarthyism. Danto charts the persecutions suffered by European psychoanalysts who had been forced into exile after World War II. These refugee psychoanalysts carried a triple burden: they were foreigners, leftists (real or alleged), and Jews, and also then obvious targets for Hoover, the FBI, and the House Un-American Activities Committee. Danto uses the American contradiction––the land of the free, the land of oppression––to illustrates the irony and contextual paradoxes painfully experienced by refugee psychoanalysts, as well to explore the effects this had on the U.S. psychoanalytic community overall.
Reynold Humphries
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748624553
- eISBN:
- 9780748651153
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748624553.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
‘Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?’ That question was asked repeatedly during the anti-Communist investigations of the House Committee on un-American Activities ...
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‘Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?’ That question was asked repeatedly during the anti-Communist investigations of the House Committee on un-American Activities (HUAC) in the early 1950s. When ten members of the film industry refused to answer, they were blacklisted and fired. Scores of actors, writers and directors shared a similar fate, labelled as Communists or sympathisers. This book explains why and how various investigations of Hollywood took place. It describes the nature and members of the HUAC, the role films played during World War II and the Cold War, and the values at stake in the confrontation between the Left and the Right that left the former so resoundingly expelled from Hollywood. The author investigates the motives of various players, and the tactics deployed by the HUAC to reward collaboration and punish dissent.Less
‘Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?’ That question was asked repeatedly during the anti-Communist investigations of the House Committee on un-American Activities (HUAC) in the early 1950s. When ten members of the film industry refused to answer, they were blacklisted and fired. Scores of actors, writers and directors shared a similar fate, labelled as Communists or sympathisers. This book explains why and how various investigations of Hollywood took place. It describes the nature and members of the HUAC, the role films played during World War II and the Cold War, and the values at stake in the confrontation between the Left and the Right that left the former so resoundingly expelled from Hollywood. The author investigates the motives of various players, and the tactics deployed by the HUAC to reward collaboration and punish dissent.
Reynold Humphries
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748624553
- eISBN:
- 9780748651153
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748624553.003.0005
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter focuses on the prolonged and violent strikes that shook Warner Brothers in 1945 and 1946, and the consequent right-wing backlash within the industry (and beyond). The House Committee on ...
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This chapter focuses on the prolonged and violent strikes that shook Warner Brothers in 1945 and 1946, and the consequent right-wing backlash within the industry (and beyond). The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) had investigated Communism in Hollywood as early as 1940, and the union struggles throughout the 1930s had left indelible traces within the ranks of those opposed to unionisation within the film industry. If the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals was the explicitly right-wing manifestation of anti-Communism in Hollywood, its creation in early 1944 was not a purely local phenomenon but a sign of the times. The reaction of Hollywood liberals to its creation was in keeping with the anti-fascist alliance of the war years.Less
This chapter focuses on the prolonged and violent strikes that shook Warner Brothers in 1945 and 1946, and the consequent right-wing backlash within the industry (and beyond). The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) had investigated Communism in Hollywood as early as 1940, and the union struggles throughout the 1930s had left indelible traces within the ranks of those opposed to unionisation within the film industry. If the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals was the explicitly right-wing manifestation of anti-Communism in Hollywood, its creation in early 1944 was not a purely local phenomenon but a sign of the times. The reaction of Hollywood liberals to its creation was in keeping with the anti-fascist alliance of the war years.
Reynold Humphries
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748624553
- eISBN:
- 9780748651153
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748624553.003.0006
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
The implications of the congressional hearings that took place in Washington in October 1947 and which were to usher in a period of fear, betrayal and a concerted attack on civil liberties cannot be ...
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The implications of the congressional hearings that took place in Washington in October 1947 and which were to usher in a period of fear, betrayal and a concerted attack on civil liberties cannot be fully grasped without a brief discussion of the activities of the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) during the period 1938–1944, when presided over by Martin Dies, a conservative Democrat from Texas. Dies is notorious for his denunciation of Hollywood in 1938 as a den of ‘premature anti-fascists’, meaning that he was not opposed to fascist regimes until they waged war on the United States. Research has shown that he maintained close relations with various organisations which supported fascism and anti-Semitism, and which were in favour of his singleminded attacks on subversives (read: Communists). The Ku Klux Klan, the pro-Nazi American Bund, a convicted Nazi agent and William Dudley Pelley, founder of the fascist Silvershirts, all expressed their agreement with Dies' anti-Communist agenda.Less
The implications of the congressional hearings that took place in Washington in October 1947 and which were to usher in a period of fear, betrayal and a concerted attack on civil liberties cannot be fully grasped without a brief discussion of the activities of the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) during the period 1938–1944, when presided over by Martin Dies, a conservative Democrat from Texas. Dies is notorious for his denunciation of Hollywood in 1938 as a den of ‘premature anti-fascists’, meaning that he was not opposed to fascist regimes until they waged war on the United States. Research has shown that he maintained close relations with various organisations which supported fascism and anti-Semitism, and which were in favour of his singleminded attacks on subversives (read: Communists). The Ku Klux Klan, the pro-Nazi American Bund, a convicted Nazi agent and William Dudley Pelley, founder of the fascist Silvershirts, all expressed their agreement with Dies' anti-Communist agenda.
Reynold Humphries
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748624553
- eISBN:
- 9780748651153
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748624553.003.0007
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
There was little cause for optimism in Hollywood in 1948, yet the events that came to pass within three years must have exceeded the worst fears. In 1949, the Soviet Union exploded its first atom ...
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There was little cause for optimism in Hollywood in 1948, yet the events that came to pass within three years must have exceeded the worst fears. In 1949, the Soviet Union exploded its first atom bomb and the Communists seized power in China. In February 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy claimed the State Department was harbouring 205 Communists and four months later, the Korean War erupted when the Communist North invaded the pro-American South. Korea was the icing on the cake for Cold War warriors, yet it was simply the culminating point in their ideological war and its concomitant repression. The Internal Security Act was voted in 1950, during the Korean War. It was sponsored by three members of the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC): Richard Nixon, Harold Velde (a former FBI agent) and Francis Walter. This chapter examines the HUAC hearings conducted during 1951–1953 and how the Hollywood blacklist of alleged Communists was conjured during that time.Less
There was little cause for optimism in Hollywood in 1948, yet the events that came to pass within three years must have exceeded the worst fears. In 1949, the Soviet Union exploded its first atom bomb and the Communists seized power in China. In February 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy claimed the State Department was harbouring 205 Communists and four months later, the Korean War erupted when the Communist North invaded the pro-American South. Korea was the icing on the cake for Cold War warriors, yet it was simply the culminating point in their ideological war and its concomitant repression. The Internal Security Act was voted in 1950, during the Korean War. It was sponsored by three members of the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC): Richard Nixon, Harold Velde (a former FBI agent) and Francis Walter. This chapter examines the HUAC hearings conducted during 1951–1953 and how the Hollywood blacklist of alleged Communists was conjured during that time.
Reynold Humphries
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748624553
- eISBN:
- 9780748651153
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748624553.003.0009
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
In December 1950, just weeks before the House Committee on Un-American Activities's (HUAC) return to Hollywood, there opened a film that was one of the Left's most remarkable and prescient criticisms ...
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In December 1950, just weeks before the House Committee on Un-American Activities's (HUAC) return to Hollywood, there opened a film that was one of the Left's most remarkable and prescient criticisms of the way American society was going – and one of the last: The Sound of Fury, written by Jo Pagano and directed by Cyril Endfield, whose previous film The Underworld Story was an extended allegory on witch hunting. J. Edward Bromberg, Mady Christians, John Garfield, Canada Lee and Philip Loeb did not have the opportunity to live out the blacklist. Fortunately, the vast majority of HUAC's victims were healthy. All they had to endure was a form of ‘living death’: their transformation into non-persons.Less
In December 1950, just weeks before the House Committee on Un-American Activities's (HUAC) return to Hollywood, there opened a film that was one of the Left's most remarkable and prescient criticisms of the way American society was going – and one of the last: The Sound of Fury, written by Jo Pagano and directed by Cyril Endfield, whose previous film The Underworld Story was an extended allegory on witch hunting. J. Edward Bromberg, Mady Christians, John Garfield, Canada Lee and Philip Loeb did not have the opportunity to live out the blacklist. Fortunately, the vast majority of HUAC's victims were healthy. All they had to endure was a form of ‘living death’: their transformation into non-persons.
Gabriel Miller
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780813142098
- eISBN:
- 9780813142371
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813142098.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This book provides the first comprehensive study of William Wyler's major films. Despite his status as the most decorated American film director in history (including 3 Oscars and a record 12 Oscar ...
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This book provides the first comprehensive study of William Wyler's major films. Despite his status as the most decorated American film director in history (including 3 Oscars and a record 12 Oscar nominations), Wyler is the only major director from American film's “classic period” whose work has never been subjected to rigorous study. The book focuses both on Wyler's evolving views of America — as articulated through his films in terms of such themes as capitalism, World War II, and HUAC — and on his directorial style, which emphasizes depth-of-field photography, minimal cutting, and thematically suggestive mise-en-scène. Indeed, Wyler was lionized in the late 1940s by André Bazin, who felt that Wyler distinguished himself from other directors by manipulating the medium the least, thus allowing life's mysteries and intricacies to remain intact on screen. This study also details the production histories and script evolutions of Wyler's most important films, particularly those he made with Samuel Goldwyn. Those films, most made in collaboration with cinematographer Gregg Toland, reflect his richest and most expressive work. The book also establishes that what some of Goldwyn's biographers call the “Goldwyn touch” was, in fact, the “Wyler touch.” Goldwyn never produced films that were as critically acclaimed after Wyler left him, and the producer's only Oscar was for the Wyler-directed The Best Years of Our Lives. The book draws extensively on Wyler's papers as well as Goldwyn's, citing letters, production memos, treatments, and scripts to demonstrate Wyler's deep involvement in the development of his films.Less
This book provides the first comprehensive study of William Wyler's major films. Despite his status as the most decorated American film director in history (including 3 Oscars and a record 12 Oscar nominations), Wyler is the only major director from American film's “classic period” whose work has never been subjected to rigorous study. The book focuses both on Wyler's evolving views of America — as articulated through his films in terms of such themes as capitalism, World War II, and HUAC — and on his directorial style, which emphasizes depth-of-field photography, minimal cutting, and thematically suggestive mise-en-scène. Indeed, Wyler was lionized in the late 1940s by André Bazin, who felt that Wyler distinguished himself from other directors by manipulating the medium the least, thus allowing life's mysteries and intricacies to remain intact on screen. This study also details the production histories and script evolutions of Wyler's most important films, particularly those he made with Samuel Goldwyn. Those films, most made in collaboration with cinematographer Gregg Toland, reflect his richest and most expressive work. The book also establishes that what some of Goldwyn's biographers call the “Goldwyn touch” was, in fact, the “Wyler touch.” Goldwyn never produced films that were as critically acclaimed after Wyler left him, and the producer's only Oscar was for the Wyler-directed The Best Years of Our Lives. The book draws extensively on Wyler's papers as well as Goldwyn's, citing letters, production memos, treatments, and scripts to demonstrate Wyler's deep involvement in the development of his films.
Gabriel Miller
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780813142098
- eISBN:
- 9780813142371
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813142098.003.0014
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter chronicles the stormy history of Carrie, Wyler's film version of Theodore Dreiser's classic novel Sister Carrie. Also discussed is an early script version written by playwright Clifford ...
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This chapter chronicles the stormy history of Carrie, Wyler's film version of Theodore Dreiser's classic novel Sister Carrie. Also discussed is an early script version written by playwright Clifford Odets (for another production that had been abandoned) — it was utilized but mostly discarded by screenwriters Ruth and Augustus Goetz. Also detailed are Wyler's wooing of Laurence Olivier to play Hurstwood and his contentious relationship with David O. Selznick, husband of co-star Jennifer Jones. The film was compromised by HUAC's influence on Hollywood — its release was delayed (because it was perceived as un-American) and the film was re-edited by the studio while Wyler was in Italy filming Roman Holiday.Less
This chapter chronicles the stormy history of Carrie, Wyler's film version of Theodore Dreiser's classic novel Sister Carrie. Also discussed is an early script version written by playwright Clifford Odets (for another production that had been abandoned) — it was utilized but mostly discarded by screenwriters Ruth and Augustus Goetz. Also detailed are Wyler's wooing of Laurence Olivier to play Hurstwood and his contentious relationship with David O. Selznick, husband of co-star Jennifer Jones. The film was compromised by HUAC's influence on Hollywood — its release was delayed (because it was perceived as un-American) and the film was re-edited by the studio while Wyler was in Italy filming Roman Holiday.
Gabriel Miller
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780813142098
- eISBN:
- 9780813142371
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813142098.003.0015
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter details Wyler's involvement in political activities that were organized to protest HUAC's influence over the content of motion pictures and its blacklisting of film artists accused of ...
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This chapter details Wyler's involvement in political activities that were organized to protest HUAC's influence over the content of motion pictures and its blacklisting of film artists accused of being subversive. Along with three others, he co-founded The Committee for the First Amendment, which sent a delegation to Washington, D.C. There is also a detailed accounting of government activity against Wyler and of his attempts to clear his reputation with Paramount. The chapter also provides production histories of three films made by Wyler that deal, directly or indirectly, with that political situation: Detective Story, based on a play by Sidney Kingsley, which deals with a fascistic police officer; The Desperate Hours, based on a best-selling novel, which stars Humphrey Bogart and Frederic March; and Wyler's remake of The Children's Hour, which centers on the persecution of two teachers fueled by the accusations of a child. Also touched on is Roman Holiday, which was written by blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo (whose name was removed from the film but restored after his death).Less
This chapter details Wyler's involvement in political activities that were organized to protest HUAC's influence over the content of motion pictures and its blacklisting of film artists accused of being subversive. Along with three others, he co-founded The Committee for the First Amendment, which sent a delegation to Washington, D.C. There is also a detailed accounting of government activity against Wyler and of his attempts to clear his reputation with Paramount. The chapter also provides production histories of three films made by Wyler that deal, directly or indirectly, with that political situation: Detective Story, based on a play by Sidney Kingsley, which deals with a fascistic police officer; The Desperate Hours, based on a best-selling novel, which stars Humphrey Bogart and Frederic March; and Wyler's remake of The Children's Hour, which centers on the persecution of two teachers fueled by the accusations of a child. Also touched on is Roman Holiday, which was written by blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo (whose name was removed from the film but restored after his death).
Gabriel Miller
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780813142098
- eISBN:
- 9780813142371
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813142098.003.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
The introductory chapter lays out the book's major themes. It quarrels with André Bazin's argument that deep focus “democratizes the frame” and argues instead that Wyler self-consciously organized ...
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The introductory chapter lays out the book's major themes. It quarrels with André Bazin's argument that deep focus “democratizes the frame” and argues instead that Wyler self-consciously organized his frames to elucidate theme. While accepting Bazin's labeling Wyler as a realist, the introduction goes on to consider the social dimension of his films and the ways in which they illuminate the major social issues of his times, most notably, the Depression, World War II, and HUAC.Less
The introductory chapter lays out the book's major themes. It quarrels with André Bazin's argument that deep focus “democratizes the frame” and argues instead that Wyler self-consciously organized his frames to elucidate theme. While accepting Bazin's labeling Wyler as a realist, the introduction goes on to consider the social dimension of his films and the ways in which they illuminate the major social issues of his times, most notably, the Depression, World War II, and HUAC.
John Sbardellati
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801450082
- eISBN:
- 9780801464218
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801450082.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter looks at the House Un-American Activities Committee. HUAC had shown occasional interest in Hollywood since its inception in 1938, but the committee largely neglected the film industry ...
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This chapter looks at the House Un-American Activities Committee. HUAC had shown occasional interest in Hollywood since its inception in 1938, but the committee largely neglected the film industry until postwar labor unrest in Hollywood drew national attention and red-baiting became prevalent. The labor strife, the cooperation of anti-Communist allies in the Motion Picture Alliance and the FBI, and the conservative victories in the 1946 midterm elections all encouraged HUAC to finally prepare for public hearings on the question of Communist infiltration of the motion picture industry. Subsequently, acknowledging that the FBI had a far more thorough surveillance program, HUAC appealed to the bureau for assistance. The FBI's documentary proof of the existence of Communist members in the film industry would be used to support the ideological claims of the existence of Communist propaganda in the films.Less
This chapter looks at the House Un-American Activities Committee. HUAC had shown occasional interest in Hollywood since its inception in 1938, but the committee largely neglected the film industry until postwar labor unrest in Hollywood drew national attention and red-baiting became prevalent. The labor strife, the cooperation of anti-Communist allies in the Motion Picture Alliance and the FBI, and the conservative victories in the 1946 midterm elections all encouraged HUAC to finally prepare for public hearings on the question of Communist infiltration of the motion picture industry. Subsequently, acknowledging that the FBI had a far more thorough surveillance program, HUAC appealed to the bureau for assistance. The FBI's documentary proof of the existence of Communist members in the film industry would be used to support the ideological claims of the existence of Communist propaganda in the films.
John Sbardellati
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801450082
- eISBN:
- 9780801464218
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801450082.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter examines the 1947 HUAC hearings on Communist infiltration in Hollywood. Through these public hearings, HUAC, the Motion Picture Alliance, and the FBI achieved a transformation in the ...
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This chapter examines the 1947 HUAC hearings on Communist infiltration in Hollywood. Through these public hearings, HUAC, the Motion Picture Alliance, and the FBI achieved a transformation in the types of films Hollywood produced. For example, HUAC—particularly committee member Richard Nixon—intimidated the studios into pledging to produce anti-Communist propaganda films. Moreover, the emerging Hollywood blacklist served not just to purge radical individuals from employment but also their suspect ideas from the screen. Indeed, although HUAC's move away from investigating film content initially angered J. Edgar Hoover, his FBI and its allies in the Motion Picture Alliance soon came to appreciate the blacklist as the most effective means of altering film content.Less
This chapter examines the 1947 HUAC hearings on Communist infiltration in Hollywood. Through these public hearings, HUAC, the Motion Picture Alliance, and the FBI achieved a transformation in the types of films Hollywood produced. For example, HUAC—particularly committee member Richard Nixon—intimidated the studios into pledging to produce anti-Communist propaganda films. Moreover, the emerging Hollywood blacklist served not just to purge radical individuals from employment but also their suspect ideas from the screen. Indeed, although HUAC's move away from investigating film content initially angered J. Edgar Hoover, his FBI and its allies in the Motion Picture Alliance soon came to appreciate the blacklist as the most effective means of altering film content.
Robert Miklitsch
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252040689
- eISBN:
- 9780252099120
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252040689.003.0003
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
The working premise of this chapter is that, in the 1950s, film noir and anticommunism form a double helix and that even the most notorious of these “red menace” films—The Whip Hand (1951), I Was a ...
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The working premise of this chapter is that, in the 1950s, film noir and anticommunism form a double helix and that even the most notorious of these “red menace” films—The Whip Hand (1951), I Was a Communist for the FBI (1951), Walk East on Beacon! (1952), and Big Jim McLain (1952)--is central to our appreciation of classic noir. A close reading of these films’ generic elements, whether “thriller,” melodrama, or semi-documentary, suggests that the Cold War noir represents a critical moment in the genre’s transition from the 1940s to the 1950s and from expressionism to neo-realism. Although the ideological motifs of these ‘50s “red scare” noirs range from communism and germ warfare (The Whip Hand), union subversion and African Americans (I Was a Communist for the FBI), espionage and the space race (Walk East on Beacon!) to HUAC and All-American masculinity (Big Jim McLain), the ‘50s anticommunist noir, despite its manifest glorification of the nuclear family, law enforcement (FBI), and audiovisual surveillance (television), is frequently troubled by the implications of these selfsame institutions and technologies.Less
The working premise of this chapter is that, in the 1950s, film noir and anticommunism form a double helix and that even the most notorious of these “red menace” films—The Whip Hand (1951), I Was a Communist for the FBI (1951), Walk East on Beacon! (1952), and Big Jim McLain (1952)--is central to our appreciation of classic noir. A close reading of these films’ generic elements, whether “thriller,” melodrama, or semi-documentary, suggests that the Cold War noir represents a critical moment in the genre’s transition from the 1940s to the 1950s and from expressionism to neo-realism. Although the ideological motifs of these ‘50s “red scare” noirs range from communism and germ warfare (The Whip Hand), union subversion and African Americans (I Was a Communist for the FBI), espionage and the space race (Walk East on Beacon!) to HUAC and All-American masculinity (Big Jim McLain), the ‘50s anticommunist noir, despite its manifest glorification of the nuclear family, law enforcement (FBI), and audiovisual surveillance (television), is frequently troubled by the implications of these selfsame institutions and technologies.
Kevin Brianton
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780813168920
- eISBN:
- 9780813169002
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813168920.003.0002
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
The opening chapter deals with the political background of the loyalty oaths in Hollywood. The focus then shifts to the internal politics of the Screen Directors Guild and its initial response to the ...
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The opening chapter deals with the political background of the loyalty oaths in Hollywood. The focus then shifts to the internal politics of the Screen Directors Guild and its initial response to the HUAC investigations. The SDG board protested against the initial HUAC investigation in 1947, leading to a great deal of political tension between conservatives and liberals. This initiated Sam Wood and Cecil B. DeMille’s coup against liberal directors in 1947 to take control of the Guild, which was cemented by the conservatives gaining control of the board in the following elections.Less
The opening chapter deals with the political background of the loyalty oaths in Hollywood. The focus then shifts to the internal politics of the Screen Directors Guild and its initial response to the HUAC investigations. The SDG board protested against the initial HUAC investigation in 1947, leading to a great deal of political tension between conservatives and liberals. This initiated Sam Wood and Cecil B. DeMille’s coup against liberal directors in 1947 to take control of the Guild, which was cemented by the conservatives gaining control of the board in the following elections.
