Cinema Through The Decades

Cinema Thr oug h the D ec ades Final Pro ject

How did the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and the “Red Scares” of the 1940s & 1950s affect Hollywood?

What context? Why Hollywood? What ethical struggles? What remaining effects?

What was the historical context for the antiCommunist agenda? What set the stage?

1930s The Great Depression Communism in Labor Unions Competing Economic Ideologies Xenophobia

Congressman Martin Dies (TX), Chair Temporary Special Committee on Un-American Activities 1938-1944

WWII Cinema as Propaganda Tool The 5th Column

1940s What was worth fighting for? Unquestioned Patriotism Film Venue as Meeting Place Film as Social Equalizer

Smith Act 1940 “knowingly or willfully advocate, abet, advise or teach the duty, necessity, desirability or propriety of overthrowing the Government of the United States or of any State by force or violence, or for anyone to organize any association which teaches, advises or encourages such an overthrow, or for anyone to become a member of or to affiliate with any such association.

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The Cold War mid-1940s -- onward

President Harry S. Truman Executive Order 9835 March 21, 1947

HUAC House Un-American Activities Committee

J. Edgar Hoover testifies at HUAC, March 26, 1947.

Freshman congressman, Richard Nixon and J. Parnell Thomas, HUAC, 1948

Why was Hollywood vulnerable?

Celebrity

Economics of Entertainment • • • • • •

1930s Labor Disputes Blockade of US Films during WWII 1945-46 Hollywood Labor Strikes Post-war downward trend of filmgoing Rise of Television 1948 Consent Decree (anti-trust case)

What were the ethical issues?

“Are you now, or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?”

Informer Principle

Refusal = Guilt

Friendly vs. Non-Friendly witnesses 5th Amendment

The Hollywood Ten (link to video 1 of 1)

The Hollywood Ten (link to video 2 of 2)

U.S. Supreme Court refused to review appeals of The Hollywood Ten Contempt of Congress $1000 fine 1 year prison term

What else was lost? • • • • • • • •

Immediate jobs Respect of community Family position Long-term employment opportunities Freedom of Expression Freedom to Peaceably Assemble Peace of Mind Creativity in Film

The Waldorf Meeting Birth of the Blacklist

Was anti-Semitism an underlying part of the attack on Hollywood?

Beyond Hollywood

1948-50 Alger Hiss Trial (Rep. Nixon wanted Film to be clear about evils of Communism)

Loyalty Oaths

Scoundrel Time

McCarren Internal Security Act, 1950 McCarren-Walter Act, 1952 Communist Control Act, 1954

Shaking the Liberal Left Dissent = Subversion Everyone is suspect.

Are there parallels to HUAC and McCarthyism in 2009?

Sources Abrams, Nathan. “The Hollywood Ten.” St.James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. Vol. 2. Detroit: St. James P, 2000. 434-436. Achatz, Bill. Nixon and Thomas, HUAC. Photograph. 1948. San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco, CA. Associated Press. McCarthy Private Talk. Photograph. 1954. Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research, Madison, WI. Geisel, Theodore. “After Him Sam.” Cartoon. PM 28 June 1942: 12. Dr. Seuss Went to War. 2000. Mandeville Library Special Collections, UCSD. 15 Mar. 2009 . -

- -. “Mighty Trapper.” Cartoon. PM 10 Mar. 1942. Dr. Seuss Went to War. 2000. Mandeville Library Special Collections - UCSD. 11 Mar. 2009 .

Georgakas, Dan. “Hollywood Blacklist.” Encyclopedia of the American Left. Chicago: U IL P, 1992. Helpern, David, and Arnie Reisman. Hollywood on Trial. 1976. Videocassette. MPI Home Video, 1989. Hollywood Ten. 1956. National Council of the Arts, Sciences, and Professions, South California Chapter. You Tube. 11 Mar. 2009 . HUAC with Elizabeth Bentley. Photograph. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAredS.htm. 15 Mar. 2009 . Navasky, Victor S. Naming Names. 1980. 3rd ed. New York: Hill & Wang, 2003. Parish, James Robert. The Hollywood Book of Scandals: The Shocking, Often Disgraceful Deeds and Affairs of More than 100 American Movie and TV Idols. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004. Purdy, Elizabeth. “McCarthyism.” St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. Vol. 3. Detroit: St. James P, 2000. 314-316. “Recreational Life: Film, United States.” The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Daily LIfe: A Tour through History from Ancient Times to the Present. Ed. Andrew E Kersten. Vols. 6: Modern World. Westport, CT: Greenwood P, 2004. 523-528.