Philip Yordan (April 1, 1914 – March 24, 2003) was an American screenwriter, film producer, novelist and playwright. He was a three-time Academy Award nominee, winning Best Story for Broken Lance (1954).
108-533: During the 1950s and 1960s, Yordan acted as a front for blacklisted writers although his use of surrogate screenwriters predates the McCarthy era . His actual contributions to the scripts he is credited with writing is controversial and he was known to some as a credit-grabber. Philip Yordan was born to Polish Jewish immigrants on April 1, 1914 in Chicago . From a young age he had taken an interest in writing. As
216-711: A 65th-anniversary article in 2012, Wilkerson's son apologized for THR' s role in the blacklist and added that his father was motivated by revenge for his own thwarted ambition to own a film studio. In late September 1947, drawing upon the lists provided in The Hollywood Reporter , the House Un-American Activities Committee subpoenaed forty-two persons working in the film industry to testify at hearings. The HUAC had declared its intention to investigate whether Communist agents were sneaking propaganda into American films. Of
324-415: A Western context, and refurbished by producer-writer Michael Blankfort. In 1948 Yordan formed a company with actor Bob Cummings and Eugene Frenke called United California Productions who made Let's Live a Little . Yordan formed his own company, Security Pictures. In 1949, he announced he would write and produce The Big Blonde based on a story by Dorothy Parker . Irving Lerner was going to direct. It
432-408: A conspiracy outside all the legal processes to undermine the very fundamental American concepts upon which our entire system of democracy exists. Stander was clearly speaking of the committee itself. The hunt for subversives extended into every branch of the entertainment industry. In the field of animation, two studios in particular were affected: United Productions of America (UPA) was purged of
540-427: A famous pro- Loyalist speech by La Pasionaria about it being 'better to die on your feet than to live on your knees' into a pep talk delivered by a football coach." Others have argued that Communists did affect the film industry by suppressing production of works they politically opposed. In a Reason magazine article entitled "Hollywood's Missing Movies", Kenneth Billingsley cites a case where Trumbo "bragged" in
648-480: A form of suicide on the installment plan." For all that transpired in the HUAC hearings, the proof that Communists actually used Hollywood films as vehicles for subversion remained hard to come by. Schulberg reported how his manuscript for the novel What Makes Sammy Run? (later a screenplay also) had been subject to ideological critique by Hollywood Ten writer John Howard Lawson , whose comments he had solicited. But
756-702: A highly publicized trial and conviction, with a maximum of one year in jail in addition to a $ 1,000 fine ($ 12,700 today). The Congressional action prompted a group of studio executives, acting under the aegis of the Association of Motion Picture Producers , to suspend without pay these ten film artists – initially labeled "The Unfriendly Ten" but soon changed to "The Hollywood Ten" – and to pledge that "thereafter no Communists or other subversives would 'knowingly' be employed in Hollywood." The blacklist eventually expanded beyond ten into
864-442: A large portion of its staff, while New York-based Tempo was entirely crushed. HUAC investigations sometimes had the effect of destroying families. For example, screenwriter Richard Collins , after a brief period on the blacklist, became a friendly witness and abandoned his wife, actress Dorothy Comingore , who refused to name names. After divorcing Comingore, Collins gained custody of the couple's young son as well. The family's story
972-526: A letter from his daughter, a young woman he has not seen since he lived in Sweden with his family and she was five years old. They meet at the bar and she agrees to go to the coal barge with him. The barge crew rescues Mat Burke and four other men who survived a shipwreck in an open boat. Anna and Mat don't get along at first, but quickly fall in love. A confrontation on the barge among Anna, Chris and Mat. Mat wants to marry Anna, Chris does not want her to marry
1080-405: A major cult film, although it is unclear how much Yordan actually contributed to the final script. Ben Maddow claimed to have written the entire Johnny Guitar screenplay, but recanted after seeing the picture years later. Roy Chanslor, the author of the original novel and a prolific screenwriter himself, also wrote a screenplay draft. Hollywood blacklist The Hollywood blacklist refers to
1188-402: A major studio was House of Strangers (1949) which he adapted from a Jerome Weidman novel for Fox. Yordan had been fired by producer Sol C. Siegel after an incomplete first draft which Siegel felt wasn't working. Yordan's unfinished script was rewritten by director Joseph L. Mankiewicz , who replaced Yordan's dialogue with his own. He directed the film using his own revised screenplay. When
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#17327985972421296-530: A man without any known political views or associations, suddenly had his career yanked out from under him because the American Legion confused him with Louis Pollack, a California clothier, who had refused to co-operate with HUAC." Orson Bean recalled that he had briefly been placed on the blacklist after dating a member of the Party, despite his own politics being conservative. During this same period,
1404-464: A number of powerful newspaper columnists covering the entertainment industry, including Walter Winchell , Hedda Hopper , Victor Riesel , Jack O'Brian , and George Sokolsky , regularly suggested names that should be added to the blacklist. Actor John Ireland received an out-of-court settlement to end a 1954 lawsuit against the Young & Rubicam advertising agency, which had ordered him dropped from
1512-553: A play based on Eugene O'Neill 's Anna Christie , adapted to be about a Polish American family and titled Anna Lucasta . Later he found out that Abram Hill had rewritten the same play for the American Negro Theater in New York. The lighter, more comedic production had received critical accolades. Yordan received financial backing and signed an agreement with Hill and producer John Wildberg . Anna Lucasta
1620-549: A sailor, and Anna doesn't want either of them to think they can control her. She tells them the truth about her past: She was raped while living with her mother's relatives on a Minnesota farm, worked briefly as a nurse's aide, then became a prostitute. Mat reacts angrily, and he and Chris leave. Mat and Chris return. Anna forgives Chris for not being part of her childhood. After a dramatic confrontation, Anna promises to abandon prostitution and Mat forgives her. Chris agrees to their marriage. Chris and Mat have both signed to work aboard
1728-480: A ship that is leaving for South Africa the next day. They promise to return to Anna after the voyage. O'Neill's first version of this play, begun in January 1919, was titled Chris Christopherson and performed as Chris in out-of-town tryouts. O'Neill revised it radically, changing the barge captain's daughter Anna from a pure woman needing to be protected into a prostitute who finds reformation and love from life on
1836-511: A teenager, he ran a mail-order beauty supply business out of the family basement. Yordan was an avid fan of detective stories; he contemplated a career as a writer. After graduating from high school, he acted at the Goodman Theatre , before earning degrees from both University of Illinois and Chicago-Kent College of Law . A common anecdote in Hollywood was that he hired someone else to go through law school for him using his name to get
1944-545: A witch hunter if the witches are Communists. I am a Red-baiter . I would like to see them all back in Russia." Unlike the friendly witnesses, other leading Hollywood figures—including directors John Huston , Billy Wilder , and William Wyler ; and actors Lauren Bacall , Lucille Ball , Humphrey Bogart , Bette Davis , Henry Fonda , John Garfield , Judy Garland , Sterling Hayden , Katharine Hepburn , Danny Kaye , Gene Kelly , Myrna Loy , and Edward G. Robinson —protested
2052-584: Is really sportsmanlike. I don't think this is American. I don't think this is American justice. Parks ultimately testified, becoming, albeit reluctantly, a "friendly witness", and found himself blacklisted anyway. The legal tactics of those refusing to testify had changed by this time. Instead of relying on the First Amendment, they invoked the Fifth Amendment 's shield against self-incrimination (although, as before, Communist Party membership
2160-479: Is today referred to as the Waldorf Statement . The statement said the ten uncooperative witnesses would be fired or suspended without pay and not re-employed until they were cleared of contempt charges and had sworn that they were not Communists. The first Hollywood blacklist was in effect. The HUAC hearings failed to turn up any proof that Hollywood was secretly disseminating Communist propaganda, but
2268-622: The Daily Worker about quashing films with anti-Soviet content: among them were proposed adaptations of Arthur Koestler 's anti- totalitarian books Darkness at Noon and The Yogi and the Commissar , which described the rise of communism in Russia, and Victor Kravchenko 's I Chose Freedom . Authors Ronald and Allis Radosh make a similar point in Red Star over Hollywood that prominent anti-Communist books were only influential "in
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#17327985972422376-470: The Communist Party USA (CPUSA), or on the basis of their refusal to assist Congressional or FBI investigations into the Party's activities. Even during the period of its strictest enforcement from the late 1940s to late 1950s, the blacklist was rarely made explicit nor was it easily verifiable. Instead, it was the result of numerous individual decisions implemented by studio executives and
2484-618: The FBI . The following year, the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals (MPA), a political action group co-founded by Walt Disney, issued a pamphlet written by Ayn Rand and entitled "Screen Guide for Americans". It advised film producers on the avoidance of "subtle communistic touches" in their films. The pamphlet's advice was encapsulated in a list of ideological prohibitions, such as "Don't Smear
2592-517: The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). The ten men— Alvah Bessie , Herbert Biberman , Lester Cole , Edward Dmytryk , Ring Lardner Jr. , John Howard Lawson , Albert Maltz , Samuel Ornitz , Adrian Scott and Dalton Trumbo —had been subpoenaed by the committee in late September to testify about their Communist affiliations and associates. The contempt citation included a criminal charge that led to
2700-507: The Screen Writers Guild decided that it should be listed as a shared credit, Mankiewicz angrily refused to split and Yordan was awarded sole credit. In 1955, he won an Academy Award for Broken Lance . It was a remake of 1949's House of Strangers , and he did not write single word. He won his Oscar for Best Original Story for material in the story files that had formed the basis for House of Strangers , salvaged, provided
2808-617: The "alien minded Russian Jews in Hollywood." Mississippi congressman John E. Rankin , an HUAC member, held a press conference to declare that "one of the most dangerous plots ever instigated for the overthrow of this Government has its headquarters in Hollywood ... the greatest hotbed of subversive activities in the United States." Rankin promised, "We're on the trail of the tarantula now, and we're going to follow through." Reports of Soviet repression in Eastern and Central Europe in
2916-539: The Constitution of the United States by depriving artists and others of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness without due process of law ... I can tell names and cite instances and I am one of the first victims of it ... [This is] a group of ex-Fascists and America-Firsters and anti-Semites, people who hate everybody, including Negroes, minority groups, and most likely themselves ... [T]hese people are engaged in
3024-865: The Free Enterprise System", "Don't Smear Industrialists", "Don't Smear Wealth", "Don't Smear the Profit Motive", "Don't Deify 'the Common Man'", and "Don't Glorify the Collective." On July 29, 1946, William R. Wilkerson , publisher and founder of The Hollywood Reporter (THR), titled his front-page "Tradeviews" column, "A Vote for Joe Stalin ". In the column, Wilkerson named as Communist sympathizers Dalton Trumbo , Maurice Rapf , Lester Cole , Howard Koch , Harold Buchman, John Wexley , Ring Lardner Jr. , Harold Salemson , Henry Meyers, Theodore Strauss, and John Howard Lawson . Over
3132-511: The HUAC and formed the Committee for the First Amendment (CFA). A sizable CFA delegation flew to Washington, D.C. on a chartered plane in October to voice their opposition to the government's political harassment of the film industry. A few CFA members, such as Hayden, had privately assured Bogart they were not Communists. During the HUAC hearings, a local Washington paper reported that Hayden
3240-658: The HUAC released a report in 1938 claiming that communism was pervasive in the movie industry. Two years later, Dies privately took testimony from a former Communist Party member, John L. Leech, who named forty-two movie professionals as Communists. After Leech repeated his charges in supposed confidence to a Los Angeles grand jury, many of the names were leaked to the press, including those of stars Humphrey Bogart , James Cagney , Katharine Hepburn , Melvyn Douglas and Fredric March , among other Hollywood figures. Dies said he would "clear" those who cooperated by meeting with him in what he termed "executive session". Within two weeks of
3348-612: The HUAC when it was discovered he had written some music reviews for a Communist newspaper. After he refused to name names, pointing out that he had never attended a Communist Party meeting, he found himself composing music for movies such as Cat Women of the Moon . While there were film artists like Parks and Dmytryk who eventually cooperated with the HUAC, other friendly witnesses gave damaging testimony with less apparent hesitation or reluctance, most notably director Elia Kazan and screenwriter Budd Schulberg . Their willingness to describe
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3456-580: The House committee's investigation as unconstitutional – political pressure mounted on the film industry to demonstrate its "anti-subversive" bona fides. Late in the hearings, Eric Johnston , president of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), vowed to the committee that he would never "employ any proven or admitted Communist because they are just a disruptive force, and I don't want them around." On November 17,
3564-550: The May 1948 issue of Photoplay magazine, that vigorously denied he was a Communist sympathizer. The Tenney Committee , which had continued its state-level investigations, summoned songwriter Ira Gershwin to explain his involvement with the First Amendment Committee because involvement alone was sufficient to arouse suspicion. A number of non-governmental organizations participated in enforcing and expanding
3672-505: The Red-baiting activities of J. Edgar Hoover 's FBI. Adversaries of HUAC such as lawyer Bartley Crum – who defended Hollywood Ten members in front of the committee – were themselves branded as Communist sympathizers and targeted for investigation. The FBI tapped Crum's phones, opened his mail, and placed him under continuous surveillance. As a consequence, he lost most of his clients and, unable to cope with
3780-536: The Screen Actors Guild voted to make its officers swear a loyalty pledge asserting each was not a Communist. On November 24, the House of Representatives voted 346 to 17 to approve citations against the Hollywood Ten for contempt of Congress. The next day, after a meeting of 50 film industry executives at New York City's Waldorf-Astoria hotel, MPAA President Johnston issued a press release that
3888-582: The Screen Writers Guild or CPUSA, citing their First Amendment right to freedom of speech , opinion, and association. Most of the Ten challenged the legitimacy of the committee itself. John Howard Lawson said during his testimony: "I am not on trial here, Mr. Chairman. This committee is on trial here before the American people. Let us get that straight." Among the questions they declined to answer
3996-407: The U.S. Congress now under Democratic control, HUAC launched a second investigation of communism in Hollywood. As actor Larry Parks said when called before the panel, Don't present me with the choice of either being in contempt of this committee and going to jail or forcing me to really crawl through the mud to be an informer. For what purpose? I don't think it is a choice at all. I don't think this
4104-516: The West on which the 1957 film Gun Glory (1957) was based. (Yordan disputed the screenwriter' contribution to God's Little Acre .) Although he also spoke well of Yordan, in an interview Maddow once remembered his anger and astonishment at passing through England and discovering a Penguin edition of Man of the West for which he had not been compensated. Yordan received sole credit for Johnny Guitar (1954) for Republic Pictures, which became
4212-666: The Westerns The Bravados (1958) and The Fiend Who Walked the West (1958) (a remake of Kiss of Death ). Yordan adapted Little Man Big World by W. R. Burnett for Robert Ryan to star for Security, but the film was not made. In 1957 Security and Milton Sperling purchased the King Studios. He wrote and produced Day of the Outlaw (1959) at Security and wrote The Bramble Bush (1960) for Warners. Security optioned The Tribe That Lost Its Head but it
4320-447: The author was entirely free to accept it or reject it as he or she pleased without incurring the slightest "consequence" or sanction.'" Much of the onscreen evidence of Communist influence uncovered by the HUAC was flimsy at best. One witness remembered Stander, while performing in a film, whistling the left-wing " Internationale " as his character waited for an elevator. "Another noted that screenwriter Lester Cole had inserted lines from
4428-573: The best known actors to name names. Time Out Film Guide argues that On the Waterfront is "undermined" by its "embarrassing special pleading on behalf of informers." Anna Christie Anna Christie is a play in four acts by Eugene O'Neill . It made its Broadway debut at the Vanderbilt Theatre on November 2, 1921. O'Neill received the 1922 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for this work. According to historian Paul Avrich ,
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4536-430: The blacklist were played out metaphorically on the big screen in various ways. As described by film historian James Chapman, " Carl Foreman , who had refused to testify before the committee, wrote the western High Noon (1952), in which a town marshal (played, ironically, by friendly witness Gary Cooper ) finds himself deserted by the good citizens of Hadleyville (read: Hollywood) when a gang of outlaws who had terrorized
4644-634: The blacklist; in particular, the American Legion , the conservative war veterans' group, was instrumental in pressuring the studios to ban Communists and fellow travelers. In 1949, the Americanism Division of the Legion issued its own blacklist – a roster of 128 people who it claimed were part of the "Communist Conspiracy". Among the names on the Legion's list was that of playwright Lillian Hellman . Hellman had written or contributed to
4752-429: The blacklisted Dalton Trumbo inadvertently received screen credit for having written, years earlier, the story on which the screenplay for Columbia Pictures ' Emergency Wedding was based. But "lapses" of that kind were not repeated. There were no more instances of film accrediting of blacklisted individuals until 1960. For example, the name of Albert Maltz , who had written the original screenplay for The Robe in
4860-468: The cases arrived before the Supreme Court . Among the submissions filed in defense of the Ten was an amicus curiae brief signed by 204 Hollywood professionals. After the court denied review, the ten men began serving their prison sentences in 1950. One of them, screenwriter Dalton Trumbo , said during an interview for the documentary film Hollywood On Trial (1976): As far as I was concerned, it
4968-743: The cast included Theo Shall, Hans Junkermann , and Salka Viertel . In 1957, a thoroughly reworked adaptation by George Abbott with music and lyrics by Bob Merrill , called New Girl in Town , opened on Broadway. It ran for 431 performances. In 2018, Encompass New Opera Theatre presented an opera adaptation composed by Edward Thomas with a libretto by Joe Masteroff at the Baruch College Performing Arts Center in New York City. Directed by Nancy Rhodes and conducted by Julian Wachner , it featured Melanie Long in
5076-416: The cast of the television sitcom The Aldrich Family , in which she had been cast as Mrs. Aldrich. NBC had received between 20 and 30 phone calls protesting her being in the show. General Foods , the sponsor, said that it would not sponsor programs in which "controversial persons" were featured. Though the company later received thousands of calls protesting the decision, it was not reversed. In 1951, with
5184-502: The comment, "Your prose is stilted, but your dialogue is excellent. Why don't you try writing plays?" His first play, Any Day Now , a comedy about a family of Polish Americans was staged at a small off-Broadway theatre in 1941. Director William Dieterle saw the play and invited Yordan to Hollywood to work on a project Dieterle was making about the history of jazz. In Los Angeles Yordan did some uncredited writing on The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941), directed by Dieterle, and then
5292-631: The decade until reaching 66,000 in 1939. Although the CPUSA lost substantial support after the Moscow show trials of 1936–1938 and the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939, the organization's membership was still well above its pre-1933 levels. With this as a backdrop, the U.S. government began turning its attention to possible links between the CPUSA and Hollywood. Under then-chairman Martin Dies, Jr. ,
5400-523: The degree without having to do any of the work, however Yordan himself denied it. He became dissatisfied with a legal career. He started working at the Goodman Theatre as an actor and began writing stories. He decided to pursue writing, eventually becoming a playwright. He said "I enjoyed reading, and thought that I would write because I hated the idea of a job, of having to go down to an office. The magazine Esquire rejected some short stories with
5508-624: The editors of Counterattack had direct access to the files of both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and HUAC; the results of that access became widely apparent with the June 1950 publication of Red Channels . This Counterattack spinoff listed 151 people in entertainment and broadcast journalism, along with records of their involvement in what the pamphlet meant to be taken as Communist or pro-Communist activities. A few of those named, such as Hellman, were already being denied employment in
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#17327985972425616-520: The film industry was a serious one, and he named specific ex-employees as probable Communists. Reagan, who was then president of the Screen Actors Guild , testified that a small clique within his union was using "communist-like tactics" in attempting to steer union policy, but that he did not know if those (unnamed) members were Communists or not, and that in any case he thought the union had them under control. Adolphe Menjou declared: "I am
5724-411: The first act the curtain was rung up a dozen times during the applause." The play was adapted by Bradley King for a 1923 film of the same name directed by John Griffith Wray and Thomas H. Ince , with stars Blanche Sweet , William Russell , George F. Marion , and Eugenie Besserer . The play inspired Kiri no Minato , directed by Kenji Mizoguchi in 1923, though the plot is quite different from
5832-471: The first draft which Yordan then rewrote. They all did well enough for Yordan to be able to make Dillinger (1945). Reportedly, he wrote the script with William Castle and Robert Tasker, neither of whom received any credit. The screenplay earned Yordan an Oscar nomination, a first for Monogram Pictures . Yordan wrote Woman Who Came Back (1945) for Republic Pictures and Whistle Stop (1946) for producer Seymour Nebenzal starring Ava Gardner . Yordan
5940-559: The grand jury leak, all those on the list except for actress Jean Muir had met with the HUAC chairman. Dies "cleared" everyone except actor Lionel Stander , who was fired by the movie studio, Republic Pictures , where he was under contract. Two major film industry strikes during the 1930s had exacerbated tensions between Hollywood producers and unionized employees, particularly the Screen Writers Guild , which formed in 1933. In 1941, producer Walt Disney took out an ad in Variety ,
6048-426: The hearings swept onto the blacklist those who had never even been politically active, let alone suspected of being Communists: [O]n March 21, 1951, the name of the actor Lionel Stander was uttered by the actor Larry Parks during testimony before HUAC. "Do you know Lionel Stander?" committee counsel Frank S. Tavenner inquired. Parks replied he knew the man, but had no knowledge of his political affiliations. No more
6156-399: The hearings – and (b) the graylist – those who were denied work because of their political or personal affiliations, real or imagined. The consequences of being on either list were largely the same. The graylist also refers more specifically to those who were denied work by the major studios but could still find jobs on Poverty Row : Composer Elmer Bernstein , for instance, was called before
6264-425: The hundreds. On June 22, 1950, a pamphlet-style book entitled Red Channels was published. Focused on the field of broadcasting, it identified 151 entertainment industry professionals as "Red Fascists and their sympathizers" who had infiltrated radio and television. It wasn't long before those named, along with a host of other artists, were barred from employment in the entertainment field. The Hollywood blacklist
6372-530: The industry trade magazine, declaring his conviction that "Communist agitation" was behind a cartoonists and animators' strike . According to historians Larry Ceplair and Steven Englund, "In actuality, the strike had resulted from Disney's overbearing paternalism, high-handedness, and insensitivity." Inspired by Disney, California State Senator Jack Tenney , chairman of the state legislature's Joint Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities , launched an investigation of "Reds in movies". The probe fell flat, and
6480-408: The industry was nonetheless transformed. The fallout from the inquiry was a factor in the decision by Floyd Odlum , the primary owner of RKO Pictures , to leave the industry. As a result, the studio passed into the hands of Howard Hughes . Within weeks of taking over in May 1948, Hughes fired most of RKO's employees and virtually shut the studio down for six months while he had the political views of
6588-421: The lead role in a TV series it sponsored. Variety described it as "the first industry admission of what has for some time been an open secret – that the threat of being labeled a political non-conformist, or worse, has been used against show business personalities, and that a screening system is at work determining these [actors'] availabilities for roles." The Hollywood blacklist had long gone hand in hand with
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#17327985972426696-490: The left-wing associations. They were to split the money down the middle, with Yordan assuming sole credit. Maddow wrote Man Crazy which Yordan and Sidney Harmon produced for Security Pictures and The Naked Jungle which was directed by Byron Haskin at Paramount . Maddow would go to write several scripts for him including Men in War (1957) and possibly God's Little Acre (1958) as well as Yordan's only novel, Man of
6804-479: The mid-1940s, was nowhere to be seen when the movie was released in 1953. As William O'Neill notes, pressure was maintained even on those who had ostensibly been cleared: On December 27, 1952, the American Legion announced that it disapproved of a new film, Moulin Rouge , starring José Ferrer , who used to be no more progressive than hundreds of other actors and had already been grilled by HUAC. The picture itself
6912-574: The mid-20th century banning of suspected Communists from working in the United States entertainment industry. The blacklist began at the onset of the Cold War and Red Scare , and affected entertainment production in Hollywood , New York , and elsewhere. Actors , screenwriters , directors , musicians , and other professionals were barred from employment based on their present or past membership in, alleged membership in, or perceived sympathy with
7020-472: The motion picture, TV, and radio fields; the publication of Red Channels meant that scores more were placed on the blacklist. That year, CBS instituted a loyalty oath which it required of all its employees. Jean Muir was the first performer to lose employment because of a listing in Red Channels . In 1950, Muir was named as a Communist sympathizer in the pamphlet, and was immediately removed from
7128-493: The names of friends who posed as the actual writers (those who allowed their names to be used in this fashion were called "fronts"). Of the 204 who signed the amicus brief on behalf of the Hollywood Ten, 84 were themselves blacklisted. There was a general chilling effect in the entertainment business. Humphrey Bogart, who had been a key member of the Committee for the First Amendment, felt compelled to write an essay, printed in
7236-536: The next two months, Wilkerson published more columns containing names of other suspected Communists and " fellow travelers " working in Hollywood. His daily column earned the moniker "Billy's Blacklist" or simply "Billy's List". When Wilkerson died in 1962, his THR obituary stated that he had "named names, pseudonyms and card numbers and was widely credited with being chiefly responsible for preventing communists from becoming entrenched in Hollywood production – something that foreign film unions have been unable to do." In
7344-747: The original of Anna Christie was Christine Ell, an anarchist cook in Greenwich Village , who was the lover of Edward Mylius , a Belgian-born radical living in England who libeled the British king George V . Anna Christie is the story of a former prostitute who falls in love, but runs into difficulty in turning her life around. The first act takes place in a bar owned by Johnny the Priest and tended by Larry. Coal-barge captain Old Chris receives
7452-460: The original. This film is actually lost. A 1930 film adaptation by Frances Marion was directed by Clarence Brown and starred Greta Garbo , Charles Bickford , George F. Marion and Marie Dressler . This pre-Code film used the marketing slogan "Garbo Talks!", as it was her first talkie. Her first spoken line has become her most famous: "Give me a whiskey with ginger ale on the side, and don't be stingy, baby." George F. Marion, who had performed
7560-402: The other committee members that "we oughta fold." Besides the twenty-three friendly witnesses, there were also nineteen "unfriendly" or "hostile witnesses" who announced they would not cooperate with the HUAC. Many of the nineteen were alleged to be CPUSA members. Thirteen of them were Jewish. When the hearings for the "Hollywood Nineteen" commenced on Monday, October 27, the nation's attention
7668-529: The people subpoenaed by the HUAC, twenty-three were deemed "friendly", some of whom had previously testified in closed HUAC sessions in Los Angeles. The October hearings in Washington, D.C. began with appearances by fourteen friendly witnesses, among them Walt Disney , Jack L. Warner , Gary Cooper , Ronald Reagan , Robert Taylor , and Adolphe Menjou . Disney asserted that the threat of Communists in
7776-581: The political leanings of their friends and professional associates effectively brought a halt to dozens of careers and compelled a number of artists to depart for Mexico or Europe to find employment. Director Jules Dassin was among the best known of these. Briefly a Communist, he dropped out of the Party in 1939. He was blacklisted after Dmytryk and fellow filmmaker Frank Tuttle named him at HUAC hearings. Dassin left for France, and spent much of his remaining career in Greece. Scholar Thomas Doherty describes how
7884-491: The rare intellectual atmosphere of the East Coast" but were kept apart from Hollywood's consideration. In 1952, the Screen Writers Guild – founded in 1933 by three future members of the Hollywood Ten – amended its screen credit rules to authorize the studios to omit the names of any individuals who had failed to clear themselves before Congress. This agreement prevented a recurrence of what happened in 1950. That's when
7992-486: The remaining employees investigated. Then, just as RKO swung back into production, Hughes made the decision to settle a long-standing federal antitrust suit against the Big Five studios . This was one of the crucial steps in the collapse of the studio system that had governed Hollywood for a quarter-century. In early 1948, all of the Hollywood Ten were convicted of contempt. Following a series of unsuccessful appeals,
8100-509: The role of Anna's father in the original Broadway production, reprised the role in both the 1923 and 1930 film adaptations. A German-language adaptation , also starring Garbo, was filmed in 1930 and released the same year, using the same production as the English language film that had concluded filming in 1929. This version was adapted by Frances Marion, translated by Walter Hasenclever and directed by Jacques Feyder . In addition to Garbo,
8208-517: The screenplay for Exodus (1960). Several months later, actor Kirk Douglas publicly acknowledged that Trumbo wrote the screenplay for Spartacus (1960). Despite Trumbo's breakthrough in 1960, other blacklisted film artists continued to have difficulty obtaining work for years afterward. The first systematic Hollywood blacklist was instituted on November 25, 1947, the day after ten left-wing screenwriters and directors were cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions before
8316-499: The screenplays of approximately ten motion pictures up to that point; she was not employed again by a Hollywood studio until 1966. Another influential group was American Business Consultants Inc., founded in 1947. In the subscription information for its weekly publication Counterattack , "The Newsletter of Facts to Combat Communism", it declared that it was run by "a group of former FBI men. It has no affiliation whatsoever with any government agency." Notwithstanding that claim, it seems
8424-431: The script in order to produce. Yordan wrote The Man from Laramie (1955) for James Stewart and director Anthony Mann , the last film Stewart and Mann made together. Yordan wrote Conquest of Space (1955) for Haskin. He worked on the script for Joe MacBeth (1955), and did another for Mann, The Last Frontier (1955). Yordan produced and adapted Budd Schulberg 's novel The Harder They Fall (1956), which
8532-553: The sea. The new version, now titled Anna Christie , premiered on Broadway at the Vanderbilt Theatre on November 2, 1921, and ran for 177 performances before closing in April 1923. The production was staged by Arthur Hopkins and starred Pauline Lord . Alexander Woollcott in The New York Times called it "a singularly engrossing play", and advised "all grown-up playgoers" to see it. The London West End premiere
8640-628: The significance of such interactions may have been exaggerated. As historian Gerald Horne notes, many Hollywood screenwriters had joined or associated with the local CPUSA chapter not because of allegiance to communism, but because the CPUSA chapter "offered a collective to a profession that was enmeshed in tremendous isolation at the typewriter. Their 'Writers' Clinic' had 'an informal "board" of respected screenwriters' – including Lawson and Ring Lardner Jr. – 'who read and commented upon any screenplay submitted to them. Although their criticism could be plentiful, stinging, and (sometimes) politically dogmatic,
8748-469: The story for Mara Maru (1952) at Warners. Detective Story earned Yordan an Oscar nomination. Yordan adapted Houdini (1953) for Paramount and Blowing Wild (1953) for Warner Bros. In 1953 he sold The Men from Earth to Milton Sperling. Security Pictures made The Big Combo (1955), a co-production with the company of star Cornel Wilde ; Yordan wrote the script and produced with Sidney Harmon . Yordan said he turned down an offer of $ 75,000 for
8856-512: The stress of ceaseless harassment, committed suicide in 1959. Intimidating and dividing the left is now seen as a central purpose of the HUAC hearings. Fund-raising for once-popular humanitarian efforts became difficult, and despite the sympathies of many in the industry there was little open support in Hollywood for causes such as the Civil Rights Movement and the opposition to nuclear weapons testing . The struggles attending
8964-462: The title role, Frank Basile as Chris, Jonathan Estabrooks as Mat, Joe Hermlayn as Marthy and Mike Pirozzi as Larry. It ran for 12 performances. A recording with the original cast, produced by Thomas Z. Shepard and conducted by Julian Wachner , with the orchestra NOVUS New York, will be released by Broadway Records on August 16, 2019. It is a collaboration of Trinity Church and Encompass New Opera Theatre. According to actress Ellen Burstyn in
9072-501: The town several years earlier (read: HUAC) returns." Cooper's lawman cleaned up Hadleyville, but Foreman was forced to leave for Europe to find work. Meanwhile, Kazan and Schulberg collaborated on a movie widely seen as justifying their decision to name names. On the Waterfront (1954) became one of the most honored films in Hollywood history, winning eight Academy Awards , including Oscars for Best Film, Kazan's direction, and Schulberg's screenplay. The film featured Lee J. Cobb , one of
9180-572: The war's aftermath added more fuel to what became known as the " Second Red Scare ". The growth of conservative political influence and the Republican triumph in the 1946 midterm elections , which saw the GOP take control of both the House and Senate , led to a major revival of institutional anti-communist activity, publicly spearheaded by the HUAC but with an investigative push by J. Edgar Hoover and
9288-432: Was a completely just verdict. I had contempt for that Congress and have had contempt for several since. And on the basis of guilt or innocence, I could never really complain very much. That this was a crime or misdemeanor was the complaint, my complaint. In September 1950, Hollywood Ten member Edward Dmytryk announced that he had once been a Communist and was prepared to give evidence against others who had been as well. He
9396-439: Was an associate producer on the latter. He did uncredited work on Why Girls Leave Home (1945). The King Brothers used him again for Suspense (1946) then he wrote The Chase (1946) for Nebenzal. In 1948 he sold his script Joe MacBeth to Nasser Studios. (It would be made years later.) The Kings got him to do a Western, Bad Men of Tombstone (1949). According to Patrick McGilligan Yordan thrived in Hollywood. It
9504-442: Was based on the life of Toulouse-Lautrec and was totally apolitical. Nine members of the Legion had picketed it anyway, giving rise to the controversy. By this time, people were not taking any chances. Ferrer immediately wired the Legion's national commander that he would be glad to join the veterans in their "fight against communism". The group's efforts dragged many others onto the blacklist: In 1954, "[s]creenwriter Louis Pollock,
9612-538: Was contracted to receive five percent of all production rights and two percent of the subsidiary rights for Anna Lucasta if the play went on the road with a different cast, however they received considerably less than that for the Broadway show and none at all for the tour or any of the films. When Anna Lucasta went to Broadway, the new production retained only a few of the ANT actors. The first film adaption in 1949
9720-595: Was credited as co writer on the jazz project, Syncopation (1942), directed by Dieterle at RKO. He also worked briefly at Columbia Pictures as a staff writer. Yordan wrote a script for the King Brothers, Dillinger , which was too expensive to produce. They suggested he write something less expensive. He came up with a melodrama, The Unknown Guest (1943). The Kings liked his work and hired Yordan to write Johnny Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1944) and When Strangers Marry (1944), although Dennis Cooper wrote
9828-459: Was directed by Mark Robson . In February 1955 Jerry Wald of Columbia announced they would make a film based on the Krakatoa explosion written by Yordan, under Yordan's new contract with Columbia. The film would not be made until over a decade later. For Security Pictures he produced The Wild Party (1956) and wrote Four Boys and a Gun (1957). He and Harmon bought Man on Spikes but it
9936-567: Was in fact a Communist. After returning to Hollywood, Bogart shouted at Danny Kaye, "You fuckers sold me out." The CFA was attacked for being naïve. Under pressure from Warner Bros. to distance himself from the purported Hollywood Reds , Bogart negotiated a statement, syndicated in Hearst newspapers under the title "As Bogart Sees It Now", which did not denounce the CFA but said his trip to D.C. had been "ill-advised, even foolish." Billy Wilder told
10044-421: Was later dramatized in the film Guilty by Suspicion (1991), in which the character based on Comingore "commits suicide rather than endure a long mental collapse." In real life, Comingore succumbed to alcoholism and died of a pulmonary disease at age 58. According to historians Paul Buhle and David Wagner, "premature strokes and heart attacks were fairly common [among blacklistees], along with heavy drinking as
10152-656: Was mocked in Variety headlines. The wartime alliance between the United States and the Soviet Union brought the CPUSA newfound credibility. During the war, Party membership climbed back up to 50,000. As World War II drew to a close, however, perceptions changed again, with communism increasingly becoming a focus of American fears and hatred. In 1945, Gerald L. K. Smith , founder of the neofascist America First Party , began giving speeches in Los Angeles assailing
10260-481: Was not illegal). While this usually allowed a witness to avoid "naming names" without being indicted for contempt of Congress, "taking the Fifth" in one's HUAC testimony guaranteed membership on the industry blacklist. Historians sometimes distinguish between (a) the "official blacklist" – i.e., the names of those who were called by the HUAC and, in whatever manner, refused to cooperate or were identified as Communists in
10368-629: Was not made – the rights to the story went to Mark Robson 's company. For Walter Wanger he did The Black Book (1949). He did some uncredited work on Panic in the Streets (1950) and No Way Out (1950), both for Fox. He wrote Edge of Doom (1950) for Sam Goldwyn , based on a story by Goldwyn. The King Brothers used him for a Western, Drums in the Deep South (1951), and a South Sea film, Mutiny (1952). He did Detective Story (1951) for William Wyler at Paramount and provided
10476-578: Was not made. In 1956 he was reportedly working on a script for Mario Lanza and Anthony Mann that was not made. He provided the story for Street of Sinners (1957) for Security. Yordan was a writer-producer for The Harder They Fall (1956) directed by Mark Robson. In January 1957 he sold a story Diamond in the Rough to Jerry Wald. Yordan wrote No Down Payment (1957) for Martin Ritt at Fox, and Island Women (1957) at Security. At Fox he wrote
10584-473: Was not made. In 1959 Yordan and Harmon announced they would make four films for Columbia. They were going to start with a World War II story, Kingdom of Man . Yordan produced the TV series Assignment: Underwater (1960–61). He also made some uncredited contributions to the script of The Time Machine (1960). Yordan struck a deal with screenwriter Ben Maddow who was having difficulty getting work because of
10692-471: Was not the result of formal legal statute. Nevertheless, the blacklist directly damaged or ended the careers and incomes of scores of persons working in film, television, and radio. Although the blacklist had no official end date, it was generally recognized to have weakened by 1960, the year when Dalton Trumbo – a CPUSA member from 1943 to 1948 and one of the "Hollywood Ten" – was openly hired by director Otto Preminger to write
10800-482: Was produced by Yordan with a Polish American family like in his original version. The other, made in 1958 had an all-black cast like the American Negro Theater production, and starred Eartha Kitt , Sammy Davis Jr. , and Henry Scott. Only Yordan retained a writing credit for both films. In 1946 Yordan's play Windy City was staged in Chicago. However, after that he focused on movie work. Yordan's first credit for
10908-670: Was released early from jail. Following his 1951 HUAC appearance in which he described his past Party membership and named names, his directorial career recovered. The other nine remained silent and most were unable to obtain work in American film and television for many years. Adrian Scott , who had produced four of Dmytryk's films – Murder, My Sweet ; Cornered ; So Well Remembered ; and Crossfire – was one of those named by his former friend. Scott's next screen credit did not come until 1972 and he never produced another feature film. Some blacklisted writers managed to work surreptitiously, using pseudonyms or
11016-478: Was revised with a gala opening at the Mansfield Theatre on August 30, 1944. It was a tremendous success, running for a record 957 performances and leading to two film adaptations. Yordan had hired several writers to rewrite Anna Lucasta before the play premiered on Broadway. In 1947, Lee Richardson, Antoinette Perry and Brock Pemberton sued Yordan for not paying them. The American Negro Theater
11124-430: Was riveted, especially given the presence in Washington, D.C. of movie stars from the First Amendment Committee. As it turned out, only eleven of the nineteen were called to testify. One of them, émigré playwright Bertolt Brecht , decided after legal advice to answer the HUAC's questions, though he did so evasively and fled the U.S. the very next day, never to return. The other ten refused to answer whether they were in
11232-594: Was rooted in events of the 1930s and early 1940s, encompassing the depths of the Great Depression , the Spanish Civil War , and the U.S.-Soviet alliance in World War II . The widespread economic hardships in the 1930s, as well as the rise of fascism in the world, caused a surge in Communist Party USA (CPUSA) membership. Levels had remained below 20,000 until 1933 and then steadily grew during
11340-448: Was said about Stander either by Parks or the committee – no accusation, no insinuation. Yet Stander's phone stopped ringing. Prior to Parks's testimony, Stander had worked on ten television shows in the previous 100 days. Afterwards, nothing. When Stander himself appeared before the HUAC, he began by pledging his full support in the fight against "subversive" activities: I know of a group of fanatics who are desperately trying to undermine
11448-582: Was staged at the Strand Theatre (now the Novello) in 1923. This was the first time an O'Neill play was seen in the West End . The play starred Pauline Lord, who had been the original Anna Christie on Broadway. The play had a great reception. Time magazine wrote, "In London, the first night of Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie , with Pauline Lord in the title role, received a tremendous ovation. After
11556-570: Was the one now generally rendered as, "Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Communist Party ?". The HUAC formally charged the ten men with contempt of Congress and began criminal proceedings against them in the full House of Representatives . In light of the Hollywood Ten's defiance of the HUAC ;– in addition to refusing to answer questions, they also tried unsuccessfully to read opening statements decrying
11664-494: Was the perfect jungle for expression of his genius at supplying the demand. In short order, he became known among producers as a bravura "spitballer," that is, one who can talk a good script (and one has only to meet Yordan to appreciate how spellbinding is his vernacular). He became a much-sought-after script doctor and coarse dialogue specialist, often arriving at the 11th hour to contribute the famed lightning-quick "Yordan touch." A lot of his work went uncredited. Yordan had written
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