Communist Influence In Hollywood

The Hollywood Ten happened in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. The Hollywood Ten is where there was a communist influence in the American motion picture business. Screenwriters and Directors in Hollywood Known as the Hollywood Ten received jail time and were blacklisted, meaning they could not work for major Hollywood studios. The ten people include Alvah Bessie, Herbert Biberman, Lester Cole, Edward Dmytryk, Ring Lardner Jr, John Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz, Samuel Orntiz, Robert Adrian Scott, and Dalton Trumbo. These ten people denounced the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) anti-communist hearings as a violation of their civil rights.

The list accused 151 writers, directors and performers and claimed they were member of the Communist organization during World War II. The blacklist against Communists would make it significantly more difficult for a person to find employment in most industries and most likely would get a person fired just for even being interrogated or being any form of a suspect of Communism. Even a person who worked with a person accused of Communism had significantly less chance to be able to find a job. Ten stars that were most famous for standing up for themselves and pleaded the 5th amendment when asked to name Communists were known as the Hollywood ten. Their names were Herbert Biberman, Albert Maltz, Lester Cole, Adrian Scott, Samuel Ornitz, Dalton Trumbo, Edward Dmytryit, Ring Lardner Jr., John Howard Lawson and Alvah Bessie. The ten did not defend themselves because they were prideful Americans who saw their rights and the rights of others being harmed and decided to do something about, no. They were already asked if they were Communists when they went on a trip to California and they did not want to get charged with perjury. Some Americans did take action and saw that their rights were being put into question and decided to protect themselves, for example Alger Hiss who was accused and in order to solidify the fact that he was a Communist lawyers used his day to day schedule in full detail to solidify that his behaviors were that

For my arcival project I chose to research the Hollywood Ten, I chose this because I am fascinated by the events of that occurred around this time and group. The Hollywood Ten was a group of writers, directors, and other artists who bravely refused to answer questions in front of the House of Un-American Activities and were therefore sentenced to jail time and banned from working in Hollywood. The actions of that the House of Un-American Activities and the resistance of the Hollywood Ten raised attention and a debate across the country about the actions that the government was taking against Hollywood artists.

At the end of the 1940’s and the beginning of the 1950’s, the United States were in the midst of the Second Red Scare and a fear that Communism might over throw the American way of life. Cold War tensions were at an all time high, which only fueled the widespread fears of Communist subversion. It was here that Senator Joseph McCarthy became a public face when he began making claims that the U.S. Government, as well as many other areas of the country, including the entertainment industry, had been invaded by Soviet and Communist spies, looking to destroy America from within. Hearings before the House Un-American Activities Committee, Hollywood Blacklisting, and anti-communist activity from the FBI soon followed. McCarthy was under intense analysis

“As anti-Communist liberal screenwriter Philip Dunne said, If there is one thing about the blacklist that angers me more than any other, it is that we were all deprived of the movies Ring Lardner was not allowed to make” (Buhle). This shows that even anti-Communists were annoyed with the fact that blacklisting not only affected the people but also the movies and that some people including Ring Lardner were not allowed to make the

The individuals, who were persecuted during what is now referred to as the “McCarthy Era,” had their once prominent careers destroyed. They lost their friends and family, and all based on untrue rumors which were spread about them, such as planning to start a revolution and attempt to overthrow the Government of the United States. At no time did the Communist Party have the manpower or financial resources to do anything more than a small demonstration and no party member from Hollywood gave serious thought to even that idea.

How did the Paramount decision of 1948 change the U.S. film industry? To what degree did the decision alter the way the industry did business?

The 1970s is known for being the decade for changing the American values and culture and Hollywood played a major part in this change. It all began with president Nixon being elected in 1969. He ordered bombing in the neutral Cambodia, which he though would help end Vietnam war, but it did not. The 1970s were a very turbulent time due to the tragedy of Vietnam and the trauma caused by the Watergate Scandal. Due to this, People were losing faith in the government and many riots occurred during this time. While the People went through many changes in the 1970s, the Hollywood industry also went through many changes during this time.

As already mentioned, the United States readily took part in the propaganda parley of World War II. The threat of subversive Nazi propaganda on U.S. soil caused private citizens to use their contacts to pressure the government into counteracting the “attack on democracy” (Laurie 30-32). This spurred the creation of government organizations such as the U.S. Office of the Coordinator of Information (COI) and the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS). The role of these organizations was to oversee the propaganda released on behalf of the government (Laurie 45). The military naturally became involved in the creation and implementation of propaganda films to promote anti-Nazi feelings across a nation immersed in a global war. Also, the hope was that these films would act as a morale booster necessary in a nation that had just experienced the horrors of Pearl Harbor (Fyne 12).

John Huston was born in 1906 in the Midwest. As a young boy, he already spent his time discovering the world and exploring to find personal experience with the world around him (Meyers 1-2). As a young child, John Huston never experienced the unity of a family because his father and mother were divorced. In addition, he was never able to stay in one location. Throughout his childhood he would consistently move from one house to another, always experiencing new events (23). His mother was a sports writer while his father, Walter Huston was a performer who later played a part in John Huston's famous films (Philips). Growing up, John Huston had started out as a boxer, which made him feel powerful and strong. Then, he started his writing career

Human history has been kept alive through a variety of mediums over the centuries. Throughout much of time, stories were told verbally to younger generations while written records and artifacts enhanced the story’s authenticity. In the late 19th and early 20th century, technology revolutionized story-telling with the invention of the video camera. Rather than hearing anecdotal stories about historic events, people could now see images of events happening all over the world. In addition, motion pictures were created to present fictional and non-fictional stories for education and entertainment. The United States, and specifically Hollywood, became the center of the film industry world-wide. The widespread social and political changes which

Labor union is a group of organized association of workers, often in a trade or profession, formed to protect and further their rights and interests. Hollywood labor unions are considered necessary because even your favorite actor and/or actress could be treated unfairly bt studios. Actors were forced to worked long days with very little pay in the 20th century. Actors were also not allowed to work with other studios until their contract was over, so it was hard for them to advance in their careers. Having a union by their side helped them have a freelance workforce. Hollywood labor unions are also important because of the discrimination against race and sex. Studios will often try to pay less because of the race of an actor or will pay an

It was estimated that by the late teens of the 20th century, Zukor held 75% of the best talent in the filmmaking business. I was baffled by this statistic when I read it. For one studio to hold ¾’s of the best talent in the industry is nearly a monopoly. Another thing I found interesting was that Fox worked on 70 mm wide-screen techniques. This was thought provoking to me because this summer I saw the film Dunkirk, and my friends and I saw it with the 70 mm wide-screen edition. I had never seen a movie with this wide-screen 70 mm and it was definitely different from a regular screen. Another thing that caught my attention was the connection between film and politics. I was interested to learn that MGM used a film to bring down Upton Sinclair as he was running for office. I was also shocked to read that Charlie Chaplin was not let into the United States because of his progressive political views. I was baffled that a man that was once called the “king of comedy” in the United States was denied entry because of his political

This paper was prepared for Introduction to Film History, Module 1 Homework Assignment, taught by Professor Stephanie Sandifer.

A great change came during WW1 and WW2. War images were not the only way war was portrayed, but motion pictures also came along. The motion pictures gave a whole new perspective on war to the American people. Thus, by seeing this influence, many powerful leaders saw an advantage. They saw, “the tremendous potential of movies for propaganda and