Ernie Lieberman
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265390
- eISBN:
- 9780191760440
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265390.003.0003
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Ernie Lieberman grew up in the midst of the folk revival that took place during the Depression, World War II, and the Cold War. This chapter describes how folk music came to be important to the ...
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Ernie Lieberman grew up in the midst of the folk revival that took place during the Depression, World War II, and the Cold War. This chapter describes how folk music came to be important to the American left, the issues on which they focused (union organizing, racial and gender equality, peace), and Lieberman's own participation in the movement. As a child in the 1930s, he admired Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie, and sang folk and protest songs at summer camp, Progressive party conventions, and on tours for the Civil Rights Congress. In the 1950s, he performed and recorded albums with the first interracial folk group, and later, as political folk music began to reach a wider audience, became a songwriter.Less
Ernie Lieberman grew up in the midst of the folk revival that took place during the Depression, World War II, and the Cold War. This chapter describes how folk music came to be important to the American left, the issues on which they focused (union organizing, racial and gender equality, peace), and Lieberman's own participation in the movement. As a child in the 1930s, he admired Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie, and sang folk and protest songs at summer camp, Progressive party conventions, and on tours for the Civil Rights Congress. In the 1950s, he performed and recorded albums with the first interracial folk group, and later, as political folk music began to reach a wider audience, became a songwriter.
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/9780195152807.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This introductory chapter opens with Howard Fast's Tony and the Wonderful Door (1952), which Fast wrote and self-published when he was blacklisted from most media because of his association with the ...
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This introductory chapter opens with Howard Fast's Tony and the Wonderful Door (1952), which Fast wrote and self-published when he was blacklisted from most media because of his association with the Communist Party. Fast's tale, about a boy who can travel through time, is likewise an entry point for exploring the questions of why and how radicals, including those suffering from blacklisting, were able to publish children's books at the height of the McCarthy era. Although it is true that children's literature tends to support the dominant power structure, in the mid-20th century, children's literature became a key outlet for the Old Left, or people radicalized in the 1930s and marginalized in the 1950s. The Old Left's prominence in the children's literature field in the years following World War II points to their broader influence on American culture during a period usually seen as closed off to dissent.Less
This introductory chapter opens with Howard Fast's Tony and the Wonderful Door (1952), which Fast wrote and self-published when he was blacklisted from most media because of his association with the Communist Party. Fast's tale, about a boy who can travel through time, is likewise an entry point for exploring the questions of why and how radicals, including those suffering from blacklisting, were able to publish children's books at the height of the McCarthy era. Although it is true that children's literature tends to support the dominant power structure, in the mid-20th century, children's literature became a key outlet for the Old Left, or people radicalized in the 1930s and marginalized in the 1950s. The Old Left's prominence in the children's literature field in the years following World War II points to their broader influence on American culture during a period usually seen as closed off to dissent.
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.
Gerald Horne
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520243729
- eISBN:
- 9780520939936
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520243729.003.0013
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
John Howard Lawson's freedom had a price. He and virtually all of Red Hollywood were now “blacklisted,” barred from the industry they had helped to construct. Lawson entered the netherworld of the ...
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John Howard Lawson's freedom had a price. He and virtually all of Red Hollywood were now “blacklisted,” barred from the industry they had helped to construct. Lawson entered the netherworld of the “blacklist,” where credit could not be taken and responsibility had to be shared. Lawson may have been barred officially from filmdom, but he remained a vocal and active presence in cinema, not least in commenting on Hollywood trends. The “blacklisting” process was designed to thwart the best efforts of those most determined to subvert this banning method and crafted to drive those affected to the depths of despondency. After being barred from screenwriting, Lawson not only turned to history and film criticism but returned to playwriting, although his experience here was frustrating. Lawson's dalliance with Negro theater was consistent with his Party's notion that African Americans constituted a formidable foe against the status quo.Less
John Howard Lawson's freedom had a price. He and virtually all of Red Hollywood were now “blacklisted,” barred from the industry they had helped to construct. Lawson entered the netherworld of the “blacklist,” where credit could not be taken and responsibility had to be shared. Lawson may have been barred officially from filmdom, but he remained a vocal and active presence in cinema, not least in commenting on Hollywood trends. The “blacklisting” process was designed to thwart the best efforts of those most determined to subvert this banning method and crafted to drive those affected to the depths of despondency. After being barred from screenwriting, Lawson not only turned to history and film criticism but returned to playwriting, although his experience here was frustrating. Lawson's dalliance with Negro theater was consistent with his Party's notion that African Americans constituted a formidable foe against the status quo.
Mollie Gregory
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780813166223
- eISBN:
- 9780813166759
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813166223.003.0011
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
To fight the system (men’s power to hire), the Stuntwomen’s Subcommittee distributed a survey to Los Angeles and New York stuntwomen to prove to SAG that there were problems. After actor Vic Morrow ...
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To fight the system (men’s power to hire), the Stuntwomen’s Subcommittee distributed a survey to Los Angeles and New York stuntwomen to prove to SAG that there were problems. After actor Vic Morrow and two children were killed during the filming of Twilight Zone, a grand jury indicted director John Landis, among others. The traditional “code of silence” that had prevented stunt players from reporting injuries or complaining about unsafe conditions, under the threat of being blacklisted, was being challenged. Results of the stuntwomen’s survey indicated a lack of stunt safety, ongoing sexual harassment, low annual incomes, and increased drug use.Less
To fight the system (men’s power to hire), the Stuntwomen’s Subcommittee distributed a survey to Los Angeles and New York stuntwomen to prove to SAG that there were problems. After actor Vic Morrow and two children were killed during the filming of Twilight Zone, a grand jury indicted director John Landis, among others. The traditional “code of silence” that had prevented stunt players from reporting injuries or complaining about unsafe conditions, under the threat of being blacklisted, was being challenged. Results of the stuntwomen’s survey indicated a lack of stunt safety, ongoing sexual harassment, low annual incomes, and increased drug use.
Jon Lewis
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780520284319
- eISBN:
- 9780520959910
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520284319.003.0004
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
The gossip industry underwent a fundamental transition after the war, from the gawking clatter of the classical era fan magazines to the gossip columns of Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons and scandal ...
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The gossip industry underwent a fundamental transition after the war, from the gawking clatter of the classical era fan magazines to the gossip columns of Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons and scandal sheets that so successfully harried the Hollywood community after the war. Movie stars were lucky and pretty, rich and famous. But they were as well political neophytes and their everyday lives were, thanks to the columnists after the war, lumbered with undue consequence. It was one thing for the columnists to bemoan the unearned privileges of celebrity, and then to cut folks so lucky and full of themselves down to size. But it was quite another to cast the private and personal lives of these celebrities as fundamentally anti-social and un-American, to subject the lives and loves of movie stars to a narrow and frankly unrelated notion of patriotism, one that asked movie stars to behave, or at least pretend to behave, like the rest of us.Less
The gossip industry underwent a fundamental transition after the war, from the gawking clatter of the classical era fan magazines to the gossip columns of Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons and scandal sheets that so successfully harried the Hollywood community after the war. Movie stars were lucky and pretty, rich and famous. But they were as well political neophytes and their everyday lives were, thanks to the columnists after the war, lumbered with undue consequence. It was one thing for the columnists to bemoan the unearned privileges of celebrity, and then to cut folks so lucky and full of themselves down to size. But it was quite another to cast the private and personal lives of these celebrities as fundamentally anti-social and un-American, to subject the lives and loves of movie stars to a narrow and frankly unrelated notion of patriotism, one that asked movie stars to behave, or at least pretend to behave, like the rest of us.
Francesco Francioni
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199588817
- eISBN:
- 9780191725272
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199588817.003.0057
- Subject:
- Law, Public International Law
The adoption by the Security Council of counter-terrorism measures targeting specific individuals and entities is a fairly recent phenomenon. The original Charter scheme contemplated the adoption of ...
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The adoption by the Security Council of counter-terrorism measures targeting specific individuals and entities is a fairly recent phenomenon. The original Charter scheme contemplated the adoption of sanctions ‘not involving the use of armed force’ only in relation to Sates. Article 41, even more restrictively, provided that only States that are ‘Members of the United Nations’ may be called upon ‘to apply such measures’. The practice of ‘targeted sanctions’ has changed this paradigm. Even if the addressees of the measures formally remain the States, de facto the Security Council bypasses the States and aims directly at individuals and entities suspected of involvement in, or association with, terrorist activities or organizations. This results in the inclusion of suspected names in the Security Council terror ‘lists’, with consequent freezing of the assets of targeted persons and possible limitations on their freedom of movement for an indefinite period of time. It is not surprising, therefore, that this practice has been met by academic concern about the human rights implications and, more important, by legal challenges in courts of the implementing measures adopted at national and European levels. The high water mark of this challenge is represented by the string of cases brought before the European Community (now European Union) courts and ultimately adjudicated by the European Court of Justice in the now famous Kadi decision of 3 September 2008. The judgment of the Court has stimulated passionate reactions and conflicting views about the relationship between the United Nations (UN) system and the Community legal order. This chapter focuses on the specific legal issue of whether individuals and entities which have been blacklisted by the Security Council for their alleged association with terrorist activities or organizations may be totally deprived of their right of access to justice to challenge counter-terrorism measures that may have been adopted on erroneous or faulty grounds. Before it addresses this question, it points out several paradoxes that surround the Kadi saga.Less
The adoption by the Security Council of counter-terrorism measures targeting specific individuals and entities is a fairly recent phenomenon. The original Charter scheme contemplated the adoption of sanctions ‘not involving the use of armed force’ only in relation to Sates. Article 41, even more restrictively, provided that only States that are ‘Members of the United Nations’ may be called upon ‘to apply such measures’. The practice of ‘targeted sanctions’ has changed this paradigm. Even if the addressees of the measures formally remain the States, de facto the Security Council bypasses the States and aims directly at individuals and entities suspected of involvement in, or association with, terrorist activities or organizations. This results in the inclusion of suspected names in the Security Council terror ‘lists’, with consequent freezing of the assets of targeted persons and possible limitations on their freedom of movement for an indefinite period of time. It is not surprising, therefore, that this practice has been met by academic concern about the human rights implications and, more important, by legal challenges in courts of the implementing measures adopted at national and European levels. The high water mark of this challenge is represented by the string of cases brought before the European Community (now European Union) courts and ultimately adjudicated by the European Court of Justice in the now famous Kadi decision of 3 September 2008. The judgment of the Court has stimulated passionate reactions and conflicting views about the relationship between the United Nations (UN) system and the Community legal order. This chapter focuses on the specific legal issue of whether individuals and entities which have been blacklisted by the Security Council for their alleged association with terrorist activities or organizations may be totally deprived of their right of access to justice to challenge counter-terrorism measures that may have been adopted on erroneous or faulty grounds. Before it addresses this question, it points out several paradoxes that surround the Kadi saga.
Paul Buhle
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520223837
- eISBN:
- 9780520936928
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520223837.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
When he was summoned before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1951, Abraham Lincoln Polonsky (1911–1999) was labeled “a very dangerous citizen” by Harold Velde, a congressman from ...
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When he was summoned before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1951, Abraham Lincoln Polonsky (1911–1999) was labeled “a very dangerous citizen” by Harold Velde, a congressman from Illinois. Lawyer, educator, novelist, labor organizer, radio and television scriptwriter, film director and screenwriter, wartime intelligence operative, and full-time radical romantic, Polonsky was blacklisted in Hollywood for refusing to be an informer. The New York Times called his blacklisting the single greatest loss to American film during the McCarthy era, and his expressed admirers include Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Sidney Lumet, Warren Beatty, and Harry Belafonte. The Bronx-born son of immigrant parents, Polonsky—in the few years after the end of World War II and just before the blacklist—had one of the most distinguished careers in Hollywood. He wrote two films that established John Garfield's postwar persona, Body and Soul (1947), still the standard for boxing films and the model for such movies as Raging Bull and Pulp Fiction; and Force of Evil (1948), the great noir drama that he also directed. Once blacklisted, Polonsky quit working under his own name, yet he proved to be one of television's most talented writers. Later in life he became the most acerbic critic of the Hollywood blacklist's legacy while writing and directing films such as Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1970).Less
When he was summoned before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1951, Abraham Lincoln Polonsky (1911–1999) was labeled “a very dangerous citizen” by Harold Velde, a congressman from Illinois. Lawyer, educator, novelist, labor organizer, radio and television scriptwriter, film director and screenwriter, wartime intelligence operative, and full-time radical romantic, Polonsky was blacklisted in Hollywood for refusing to be an informer. The New York Times called his blacklisting the single greatest loss to American film during the McCarthy era, and his expressed admirers include Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Sidney Lumet, Warren Beatty, and Harry Belafonte. The Bronx-born son of immigrant parents, Polonsky—in the few years after the end of World War II and just before the blacklist—had one of the most distinguished careers in Hollywood. He wrote two films that established John Garfield's postwar persona, Body and Soul (1947), still the standard for boxing films and the model for such movies as Raging Bull and Pulp Fiction; and Force of Evil (1948), the great noir drama that he also directed. Once blacklisted, Polonsky quit working under his own name, yet he proved to be one of television's most talented writers. Later in life he became the most acerbic critic of the Hollywood blacklist's legacy while writing and directing films such as Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1970).
Gerald Horne
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520243729
- eISBN:
- 9780520939936
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520243729.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
John Howard Lawson's initial “blacklisting” came in the 1930s with the organizing of the Screen Writers Guild, though the intervention of courageous producers like Walter Wanger and conditions at ...
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John Howard Lawson's initial “blacklisting” came in the 1930s with the organizing of the Screen Writers Guild, though the intervention of courageous producers like Walter Wanger and conditions at that point that were not favorable to ostracizing of leftwingers precluded his being totally banished. Lawson's interest in the literature of revolution had not dulled his taste for the good life. Lawson's formal affiliation with the Communist Party seems to have emboldened him as a theorist. The political pressure inexorably impinged on Lawson's creativity as a screenwriter. Blockade was seen as celluloid dynamite by its more unforgiving critics. The experience with Blockade had taught him that expecting to produce radicalism on celluloid consistently was wildly naive. After Blockade, Lawson would attempt to implement his ambitious cinematic vision, but his equally and fiercely held political commitments would complicate enormously his creative compulsions.Less
John Howard Lawson's initial “blacklisting” came in the 1930s with the organizing of the Screen Writers Guild, though the intervention of courageous producers like Walter Wanger and conditions at that point that were not favorable to ostracizing of leftwingers precluded his being totally banished. Lawson's interest in the literature of revolution had not dulled his taste for the good life. Lawson's formal affiliation with the Communist Party seems to have emboldened him as a theorist. The political pressure inexorably impinged on Lawson's creativity as a screenwriter. Blockade was seen as celluloid dynamite by its more unforgiving critics. The experience with Blockade had taught him that expecting to produce radicalism on celluloid consistently was wildly naive. After Blockade, Lawson would attempt to implement his ambitious cinematic vision, but his equally and fiercely held political commitments would complicate enormously his creative compulsions.
Gerald Horne
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520243729
- eISBN:
- 9780520939936
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520243729.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman was a “premature pro-feminist” film written under John Howard Lawson's own name before the clampdown of the “blacklist.” It is a remarkable story that focuses on a ...
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Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman was a “premature pro-feminist” film written under John Howard Lawson's own name before the clampdown of the “blacklist.” It is a remarkable story that focuses on a subject Lawson knew well—the intersection of substance abuse and show business—which was a recurrent real-life theme of Red Hollywood. The film was far from being a runaway hit, though it received respectful consideration. Counter-Attack was produced as the war was expiring and was in tune with the then prevailing ethos. The “threat” from the Hollywood Independent Citizens Council of Arts, Sciences and Professions (HICCASP) had become so powerful that U.S. Army intelligence, headquartered in downtown L.A., began to monitor the group's activities. Robeson thought that it was Lawson's activism with the Screen Writers Guild (SWG), the League of American Writers (LAW), and the Hollywood Democratic Committee (HDC)—not simply his screenplays—that had led to the anticommunist persecutions.Less
Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman was a “premature pro-feminist” film written under John Howard Lawson's own name before the clampdown of the “blacklist.” It is a remarkable story that focuses on a subject Lawson knew well—the intersection of substance abuse and show business—which was a recurrent real-life theme of Red Hollywood. The film was far from being a runaway hit, though it received respectful consideration. Counter-Attack was produced as the war was expiring and was in tune with the then prevailing ethos. The “threat” from the Hollywood Independent Citizens Council of Arts, Sciences and Professions (HICCASP) had become so powerful that U.S. Army intelligence, headquartered in downtown L.A., began to monitor the group's activities. Robeson thought that it was Lawson's activism with the Screen Writers Guild (SWG), the League of American Writers (LAW), and the Hollywood Democratic Committee (HDC)—not simply his screenplays—that had led to the anticommunist persecutions.
Gerald Horne
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520243729
- eISBN:
- 9780520939936
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520243729.003.0012
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
The roasting encounter endured by John Howard Lawson in Washington in the fall of 1947 was a turning point for this writer. He was blacklisted from Hollywood. Red Hollywood was disintegrating; as ...
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The roasting encounter endured by John Howard Lawson in Washington in the fall of 1947 was a turning point for this writer. He was blacklisted from Hollywood. Red Hollywood was disintegrating; as early as 1949 the L.A. writer Carey McWilliams had detected a “great decrease of political interest and political activity in Hollywood.” Since Lawson was on the fast track to a tiny, cramped, and dank prison cell, his fate seemed decidedly undesirable. He turned abruptly toward the writing of history. He expanded his critique to encompass the entire apparatus of the cold war. The “Maltz affair” and similar incidents probably said more about Lawson's personality than they did about Communist Party praxis—though, inevitably, it was the reputation of both that suffered grievously as a result. Though Lawson was “profoundly optimistic about the future,” he ruefully conceded that his being behind bars was a “fantastic low comedy situation”.Less
The roasting encounter endured by John Howard Lawson in Washington in the fall of 1947 was a turning point for this writer. He was blacklisted from Hollywood. Red Hollywood was disintegrating; as early as 1949 the L.A. writer Carey McWilliams had detected a “great decrease of political interest and political activity in Hollywood.” Since Lawson was on the fast track to a tiny, cramped, and dank prison cell, his fate seemed decidedly undesirable. He turned abruptly toward the writing of history. He expanded his critique to encompass the entire apparatus of the cold war. The “Maltz affair” and similar incidents probably said more about Lawson's personality than they did about Communist Party praxis—though, inevitably, it was the reputation of both that suffered grievously as a result. Though Lawson was “profoundly optimistic about the future,” he ruefully conceded that his being behind bars was a “fantastic low comedy situation”.
Gerald Horne
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520243729
- eISBN:
- 9780520939936
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520243729.003.0014
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
Hollywood's “blacklist” was simply the opening wedge in an all-sided assault against the now fading grandeur of Red Hollywood, a precinct once presided over by John Howard Lawson. Suggestive of the ...
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Hollywood's “blacklist” was simply the opening wedge in an all-sided assault against the now fading grandeur of Red Hollywood, a precinct once presided over by John Howard Lawson. Suggestive of the fall of the alliance between Red and Liberal Hollywood was that Walter Wanger “became one of a three man committee to enforce the blacklist.” Lawson was driven deeper into the “blacklist,” scurrying to secure an undetectable front so that funds would continue streaming into his shriveling bank account. Lawson was beginning to seem like a man without a country, uncomfortable in the United States and the Soviet Union alike. Lawson never published his book, which served to diminish understanding of the Red Hollywood he had done so much to construct—not to mention to weaken comprehension of his own life and career.Less
Hollywood's “blacklist” was simply the opening wedge in an all-sided assault against the now fading grandeur of Red Hollywood, a precinct once presided over by John Howard Lawson. Suggestive of the fall of the alliance between Red and Liberal Hollywood was that Walter Wanger “became one of a three man committee to enforce the blacklist.” Lawson was driven deeper into the “blacklist,” scurrying to secure an undetectable front so that funds would continue streaming into his shriveling bank account. Lawson was beginning to seem like a man without a country, uncomfortable in the United States and the Soviet Union alike. Lawson never published his book, which served to diminish understanding of the Red Hollywood he had done so much to construct—not to mention to weaken comprehension of his own life and career.
Gerald Horne
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520243729
- eISBN:
- 9780520939936
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520243729.003.0020
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
John Howard Lawson is constructed as the epitome of the humorless, rigid, dogmatic, unsmiling, doctrinaire Communist, mixing ruthlessness promiscuously with insensitivity. He may very well be the ...
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John Howard Lawson is constructed as the epitome of the humorless, rigid, dogmatic, unsmiling, doctrinaire Communist, mixing ruthlessness promiscuously with insensitivity. He may very well be the most notorious U.S. Communist; therefore, the inexorable gravity of anticommunism may help shed light on why this screenwriter's image has been so tarnished. Lawson had a complicated family life due to his difficult relationship with his son (Jeffrey), and perhaps his brother, and also Jeffrey's mother, Sue. Lawson's heavily criticized reluctance to acknowledge his party membership in congressional hearings and elsewhere has been subject to retrospective reevaluation. Lawson was convinced that the “blacklist” played a major role in Hollywood's manifold postwar problems. One cannot comprehend the ferocity unleashed against this man and his community unless one begins to understand how both came to be.Less
John Howard Lawson is constructed as the epitome of the humorless, rigid, dogmatic, unsmiling, doctrinaire Communist, mixing ruthlessness promiscuously with insensitivity. He may very well be the most notorious U.S. Communist; therefore, the inexorable gravity of anticommunism may help shed light on why this screenwriter's image has been so tarnished. Lawson had a complicated family life due to his difficult relationship with his son (Jeffrey), and perhaps his brother, and also Jeffrey's mother, Sue. Lawson's heavily criticized reluctance to acknowledge his party membership in congressional hearings and elsewhere has been subject to retrospective reevaluation. Lawson was convinced that the “blacklist” played a major role in Hollywood's manifold postwar problems. One cannot comprehend the ferocity unleashed against this man and his community unless one begins to understand how both came to be.
Sionaidh Douglas-Scott
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199606078
- eISBN:
- 9780191729720
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199606078.003.0013
- Subject:
- Law, Human Rights and Immigration
It has become almost commonplace to state that, in the context of the EU's Area of Freedom Security and Justice (AFSJ), freedom and justice are being sacrificed to the needs of security. This means, ...
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It has become almost commonplace to state that, in the context of the EU's Area of Freedom Security and Justice (AFSJ), freedom and justice are being sacrificed to the needs of security. This means, among other things, that important human rights are sacrificed. The EU has been slow to adopt measures on rights, and too quick to adopt more coercive and potentially rights-violating measures such as the European Arrest Warrant, or the extremely broad EU definition of terrorism. The performance of the European Court of Justice has been disappointing and there has been little input from the European Parliament. This chapter discusses two specific cases relating to US access to Passenger Name Records and terrorist blacklisting (Kadi), which are more to do with the autonomy of EC law than with human rights protection. It examines the current situation and argues that judicial review by the European Court of Justice has not improved the situation.Less
It has become almost commonplace to state that, in the context of the EU's Area of Freedom Security and Justice (AFSJ), freedom and justice are being sacrificed to the needs of security. This means, among other things, that important human rights are sacrificed. The EU has been slow to adopt measures on rights, and too quick to adopt more coercive and potentially rights-violating measures such as the European Arrest Warrant, or the extremely broad EU definition of terrorism. The performance of the European Court of Justice has been disappointing and there has been little input from the European Parliament. This chapter discusses two specific cases relating to US access to Passenger Name Records and terrorist blacklisting (Kadi), which are more to do with the autonomy of EC law than with human rights protection. It examines the current situation and argues that judicial review by the European Court of Justice has not improved the situation.
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/9780748624553.003.0007
- 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.
Barry Seldes
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520257641
- eISBN:
- 9780520943070
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520257641.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
From his dazzling conducting debut in 1943 until his death in 1990, Leonard Bernstein's star blazed brilliantly. This biography of Bernstein's political life examines his career against the backdrop ...
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From his dazzling conducting debut in 1943 until his death in 1990, Leonard Bernstein's star blazed brilliantly. This biography of Bernstein's political life examines his career against the backdrop of cold war America—blacklisting by the State Department in 1950, voluntary exile from the New York Philharmonic in 1951 for fear that he might be blacklisted, signing a humiliating affidavit to regain his passport—and the factors that by the mid-1950s allowed his triumphant return to the New York Philharmonic. The book links Bernstein's great concert-hall and musical-theatrical achievements and his real and perceived artistic setbacks to his involvement with progressive political causes. Making extensive use of previously untapped FBI files as well as overlooked materials in the Library of Congress's Bernstein archive, the text illuminates the ways in which Bernstein's career intersected with the twentieth century's most momentous events. The book reveals often ignored intersections of American culture and political power.Less
From his dazzling conducting debut in 1943 until his death in 1990, Leonard Bernstein's star blazed brilliantly. This biography of Bernstein's political life examines his career against the backdrop of cold war America—blacklisting by the State Department in 1950, voluntary exile from the New York Philharmonic in 1951 for fear that he might be blacklisted, signing a humiliating affidavit to regain his passport—and the factors that by the mid-1950s allowed his triumphant return to the New York Philharmonic. The book links Bernstein's great concert-hall and musical-theatrical achievements and his real and perceived artistic setbacks to his involvement with progressive political causes. Making extensive use of previously untapped FBI files as well as overlooked materials in the Library of Congress's Bernstein archive, the text illuminates the ways in which Bernstein's career intersected with the twentieth century's most momentous events. The book reveals often ignored intersections of American culture and political power.
Kenneth R. Johnston
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199657803
- eISBN:
- 9780191771576
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199657803.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism
In 1792, Thomas Beddoes, Sr. was nominated by the Oxford University chancellor to become the first holder of its Regius chair in Chemistry. But political blacklisting by anonymous detractors ...
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In 1792, Thomas Beddoes, Sr. was nominated by the Oxford University chancellor to become the first holder of its Regius chair in Chemistry. But political blacklisting by anonymous detractors responding to the King’s proclamation against seditious writings doomed his chances. He moved to Bristol, where he set up an independent Pneumatic Institute for study of therapeutic uses of nitrous oxide (‘laughing gas’) and other elemental gases, assisted by Humphry Davy. He joined the brilliant circle of intellectuals gathered around the philanthropic Wedgwood family at Cote House, working with Coleridge and others to support the cause of parliamentary reform. He wrote five pamphlets on reform issues between 1795 and 1797, including an Essay on the Public Merits of Mr. Pitt. His scientific work was increasingly associated with his political liberalism by his opponents, leading to losses in private funding. His own health suffered from the strain, leading to an early death.Less
In 1792, Thomas Beddoes, Sr. was nominated by the Oxford University chancellor to become the first holder of its Regius chair in Chemistry. But political blacklisting by anonymous detractors responding to the King’s proclamation against seditious writings doomed his chances. He moved to Bristol, where he set up an independent Pneumatic Institute for study of therapeutic uses of nitrous oxide (‘laughing gas’) and other elemental gases, assisted by Humphry Davy. He joined the brilliant circle of intellectuals gathered around the philanthropic Wedgwood family at Cote House, working with Coleridge and others to support the cause of parliamentary reform. He wrote five pamphlets on reform issues between 1795 and 1797, including an Essay on the Public Merits of Mr. Pitt. His scientific work was increasingly associated with his political liberalism by his opponents, leading to losses in private funding. His own health suffered from the strain, leading to an early death.
Barry Seldes
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520257641
- eISBN:
- 9780520943070
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520257641.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This chapter examines the dark period in Bernstein's career. It first tries to determine the real reason/s behind Bernstein's decision to take a hiatus from conducting (one of which may be his ...
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This chapter examines the dark period in Bernstein's career. It first tries to determine the real reason/s behind Bernstein's decision to take a hiatus from conducting (one of which may be his blacklisting by the CBS and the State Department). It looks at the marginalization and isolation of the American Progressives from the mainstream of American liberalism. The next section examines the repression of several works during the 1950s, before it shifts to an account of Bernstein's experience of confessing to political sin and signing an affidavit that stated that he was not a communist and had never followed the communist line. From there, it follows Bernstein's rise back to the New York Philharmonic and identifies the ways used to recreate him as a mythic culture hero.Less
This chapter examines the dark period in Bernstein's career. It first tries to determine the real reason/s behind Bernstein's decision to take a hiatus from conducting (one of which may be his blacklisting by the CBS and the State Department). It looks at the marginalization and isolation of the American Progressives from the mainstream of American liberalism. The next section examines the repression of several works during the 1950s, before it shifts to an account of Bernstein's experience of confessing to political sin and signing an affidavit that stated that he was not a communist and had never followed the communist line. From there, it follows Bernstein's rise back to the New York Philharmonic and identifies the ways used to recreate him as a mythic culture hero.
