http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JerIHjXKa-k

Academy Award winning screenwriter, Walter Bernstein on his film The Front. The Front starred Woody Allen and explores what it was like to be a writer on the Hollywood Blacklist during the red scare and McCarthyism. He brings humor and candor to the ordeal that impacted his career for over a decade.  “Fronts” were writers who were not on the blacklist whose names blacklisted writers could use. The film was nominated for an Academy Award.

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Walter Bernstein on his film The Front appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxlXEZfB5lw

Academy Award winning screenwriter, Walter Bernstein describes what it was like to be on the Hollywood Blacklist during the red scare and McCarthyism. He brings humor and candor to the ordeal that impacted his career for over a decade.

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Walter Bernstein on Being on the Hollywood Blacklist appeared first on Witnify.

Author: Megan O’Toole

Members of the Hollywood Ten and their families in 1950, protesting the impending incarceration of the ten. Source: Creative Commons.

In the golden age of Hollywood, many film industry employees fueled a stable “studio system” by signing contracts with a select number of major studios. Between the years 1927 to 1963, five large studios including Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Paramount Pictures controlled the film industry–creating thousands of efficiently-made movies. Yet this system, which bolstered Hollywood’s economy, was rattled when politics started to play a stronger role in the production and distribution of films following World War II.

The reoccurrence of the Red Scare and the threat of communism led many talented individuals in Hollywood to face accusations of membership in the American Communist Party. The alleged communist members were threatened with being “blacklisted,” a practice that banned a person from any future employment in the film industry.

This practice began in 1947 when ten screenwriters were accused of being communists in the Hollywood Reporter. The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) required that the writers confirm their political beliefs but the committee found the accused to be in contempt of Congress because they refused to answer their questions. The committee also encouraged several witnesses such as Gary Cooper and Ronald Reagan to testify against the “Hollywood Ten,” and the ten were eventually given year-long prison sentences.

Following this “Hollywood Ten” incident, forty-eight executives from the major studios constituted the Waldorf Statement to publicly announce that the writers would be blacklisted. The president of the Motion Picture Association of America, Eric Johnston, and many others expressed that the studios “will not re-employ any of the ten until such time as he is acquitted or has purged himself of contempt and declares under oath that he is not a communist.”

Actress Jean Muir. Source: Creative Commons.

As skepticism about communist involvement grew, politics gained a larger influence over Hollywood and many more professionals in the entertainment business faced accusations. In 1950, a publication called the Red Channels from Counterattack Magazine listed 151 men and women who were supposedly involved in communist actions. This list was taken seriously in Hollywood, and many of the accused persons were blacklisted and denied livelihood for many years. The list included major celebrities like actor Orson Welles and folk singer Pete Seeger–only some performers were able to clear their names by testifying in front of HUAC regarding their political beliefs.

However, some people involved in the film industry, such as actress Jean Muir, were unable to find work even after testifying. In a series of interviews with the Hollywood Reporter, Marsha Hunt, Cliff Carpenter, Lee Grant, Norma Barzman, and Walter Bernstein discuss what it was like to be cast away from Hollywood for many years after achieving success there. The blacklisted Hollywood writers mention that they needed to consider using pseudonyms in order to continue writing screenplays again. Grant also recalls the disgust she felt once actors were encouraged to betray fellow members of the Hollywood community to HUAC as communists.

The blacklisting period in Hollywood was steeped with anxiety and suspicion–and it led to the infamous conclusion of many prosperous careers. This practice of blacklisting essentially ended in 1957 when professionals in the entertainment business started taking a firm stand against it. That year, Alfred Hitchcock hired the blacklisted actor Norman Lloyd and radio show host John Henry Faulk sued a firm for investigating him for communist affiliation. In the coming years, many other instances occurred when members of the Hollywood elite began to insist on returning talented blacklisted workers out of exile.

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[Blog] The Hollywood Blacklist appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G4xWLtHf2E

Screenwriter Norman Lear recalls being asked to take credit for the work of blacklisted screenwriters during the 1940's and 1950's. Many screenwriters and directors were blacklisted from working in Hollywood for refusing to name the names of potential communists during at House Committee on Un-American Activities.

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Norman Lear on Refusing to Front for Blacklisted Writers appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv97sMC2_bM

Screenwriter Ring Lardner, Jr. recalls what it was like to testify in front of the House Committee on Un-American Activities and explains what life was like as one of the Hollywood Ten. The Hollywood Blacklist was instituted on November 25, 1947 in response to the Ten screenwriters and directors who refused to answer HUAC questions about any involvement they had with the Communist Party.

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Ring Lardner, Jr. on Being One of the Hollywood Ten appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmeTKECkM2U

Hollywood actors and crew members discuss what it was like to be on the Hollywood Blacklist and how being identified as communists changed their careers. Read more about the Hollywood Blacklist here.

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Cast & Crew Recall Their Time on the Hollywood Blacklist appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds2SDTFXIgM

Watch director and screenwriter Herbert Biberman attempt to give his testimony to the House Committee on Un-American Activities. He was later added to the Hollywood Blacklist for being an uncooperative witness and is one of the Hollywood Ten.

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Herbert Biberman Speaks to the House Committee on Un-American Activities appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBIXB40Q8-M

Actress Betty Garrett recalls what her husband, Larry Parks, went through as an actor on the Hollywood Blacklist and how it affected their lives. The Blacklist instituted on November 25, 1947, after ten writers and directors refused to give testimony to the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

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Actress Betty Garrett on the Hollywood Blacklist appeared first on Witnify.