WEBVTT 00:00:13.314 --> 00:00:19.520 Hi. I'm Wheeler Winston Dixon, James Ryan Professor of Film Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and this is Frame By Frame, 00:00:19.520 --> 00:00:26.994 and today I want to talk about a very serious subject: the Hollywood blacklist of the 1940s, 50s and 60s. 00:00:26.994 --> 00:00:33.206 The blacklist has its roots in the Great Depression, which was the result of the 1929 crash. 00:00:33.206 --> 00:00:40.774 By 1933, 25% of America's workforce were out of work. Jobs simply weren't available. 00:00:40.774 --> 00:00:47.548 Thus there was the rise of labor unions, and particularly in Hollywood the major studios resisted this... 00:00:47.548 --> 00:00:55.623 because they had been using non-union labor for so long that they viewed any attempt to organize as "communistically" inspired. 00:00:55.623 --> 00:01:01.962 At the same time that this is happening, we have Hitler rising to power in Germany, 00:01:01.962 --> 00:01:04.965 and the conditions in Europe becoming more and more unstable. 00:01:04.965 --> 00:01:13.841 In 1936, the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees for the first time manage to organize unions and close shops... 00:01:13.841 --> 00:01:17.578 at studios like Warner Bros., Paramount and MGM. 00:01:17.578 --> 00:01:26.820 In 1937, the Supreme Court upheld the National Labor Relations Act, giving them the right to collectively organize and bargain. 00:01:26.820 --> 00:01:35.229 In 1938, Congress formed the House UnAmerican Activities Committee to investigate unionization... 00:01:35.229 --> 00:01:40.010 basically at the behest of the studios and large corporations that were against this. 00:01:40.010 --> 00:01:46.840 And in 1938, we have the first wave of HUAC's accusations against people. 00:01:46.840 --> 00:01:54.987 A former communist named James B. Matthews came forward, and this is his only appearance of any note in history... 00:01:54.987 --> 00:02:05.392 claiming that James Cagney, Bette Davis, Clark Gabel, Myriam Hopkins and Shirley Temple were all communist sympathizers... 00:02:05.392 --> 00:02:08.462 and at the time nobody took him very seriously. 00:02:08.462 --> 00:02:16.270 But then in 1939, Stalin and Hitler signed a non-agression pact on the eve of World War II. 00:02:16.270 --> 00:02:20.808 And then Hitler momentarily after that attacked Poland and Chekloslavikia. 00:02:20.808 --> 00:02:27.449 We, of course, got into the war in 1941, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7. 00:02:27.449 --> 00:02:32.789 And at that time the Soviet Union just more or less sat by between 1939 and 1941. 00:02:32.789 --> 00:02:38.158 It was only in 1941 that they came into the picture on the side of the Allies. 00:02:38.158 --> 00:02:43.797 And during WWII, the Soviets were our allies, but they were very uneasy ones. 00:02:43.797 --> 00:02:48.969 Winston Churchill once said, "I would make a deal with the devil in a fight against Hitler." 00:02:48.969 --> 00:02:53.006 And that's exactly what was happening here, but for a while the Soviets were our allies. 00:02:53.006 --> 00:02:59.546 But what happened, of course, after the war was that Stalin immediately began enslaving all of eastern Europe, 00:02:59.546 --> 00:03:03.617 and everybody became extremely afraid of the "Communist Threat." 00:03:03.617 --> 00:03:09.933 In 1941, we have an event which leads into this, and that's the great animators strike at Walt Disney. 00:03:09.933 --> 00:03:21.835 The Disney studio was a non-union shop, and in 1941 the animators struck seeking better pay, the right to unionize and better working conditions. 00:03:21.835 --> 00:03:28.673 Disney resisted and finally left the country because he was so angry about this, and convinced that it was a communist plot. 00:03:28.673 --> 00:03:33.614 The strike was settled 5 weeks later, but Disney was extremely bitter, and so were the employees. 00:03:33.614 --> 00:03:36.083 And this was really the beginning of the blacklist. 00:03:36.083 --> 00:03:44.124 In 1946, the HUAC held formal hearings on the communist influence on the motion picture industry. 00:03:44.124 --> 00:03:50.697 And in 1947, the HUAC held 10 days of closed hearings in Los Angeles. 00:03:50.697 --> 00:04:00.027 Robert Taylor, Lila Rogers (the mother of Ginger Rogers), Jack Warner and Adolph Mangue were the principle witnesses, or "friendly" witnesses. 00:04:00.027 --> 00:04:08.048 In 1947, the Screen Actors Guild signs the Loyalty Oath Agreement... you have to sign a loyalty oath, and if you don't, you don't work. 00:04:08.048 --> 00:04:20.294 In 1947, formal hearing begin with Gary Cooper, Walt Disney, Robert Montgomery, George Murphy and Ronald Reagan testifying as friendly witnesses before the House committee. 00:04:20.294 --> 00:04:25.940 RONALD REAGAN: We have done a pretty good job in our business of keeping those people's activities curtailed. 00:04:25.940 --> 00:04:44.518 In 1947, the HUAC charged the "Hollywood Ten," who included Howard Beberman, Edward Demetrik (who was a very famous Noir director), and Dalton Trumbo with contempt of Congress for refusing to answer their questions. 00:04:44.518 --> 00:04:54.461 Also in 1947, a series of Hollywood stars tried to fight against this. They called themselves the Committe for the First Amendment. 00:04:54.461 --> 00:04:57.631 And they flew to Washington to try to stop the hearings. 00:04:57.631 --> 00:05:08.038 And these people included Lauren Baccall, Humphrey Bogart, Ira Girshwin, Sterling Hayden, John Huston, Danny Kaye and Gene Kelly. 00:05:08.038 --> 00:05:14.121 But soon they realized that the forces were just so overwhelming that there was nothing they could do to stop the HUAC. 00:05:14.121 --> 00:05:16.699 They folded their tents and went home. 00:05:16.699 --> 00:05:22.623 I'm going to read a list of some of the people the HUAC identified as communists. 00:05:22.623 --> 00:05:28.529 Edward G. Robinson, who was a fixture at WWII bond rallies, selling bonds... 00:05:28.529 --> 00:05:41.041 Charlie Chaplin, Katherine Hepburn, Danny Kaye, Gregory Peck, Frank Sinatra, Orson Welles, Leonard Bernstein... the composer and conductor... 00:05:41.041 --> 00:05:45.612 Will Gear, who wound up later on "The Waltons" playing Grandpa Walton... 00:05:45.612 --> 00:05:48.185 Lena Horne, the African American singer, 00:05:48.185 --> 00:05:50.250 Langston Hughs, the writer, 00:05:50.250 --> 00:05:53.887 Joseph Lowese, the director who fled to England, 00:05:53.887 --> 00:06:00.928 Harry Belafonte, Louis Bunelle, the brilliant Spanish director... and the list goes on and on. 00:06:00.928 --> 00:06:09.503 When the Hollywood Ten were sent to prison in 1951, Edward Demetrik was the first to crack. He simply couldn't stand the conditions. 00:06:09.503 --> 00:06:11.505 He got out and he named names. 00:06:11.505 --> 00:06:17.311 And as a result of that, he was put back to work directing "Sniper" and later "The Caine Mutiny." 00:06:17.311 --> 00:06:22.683 Elia Kazan, in 1952, also gave friendly testimony before the committee... 00:06:22.683 --> 00:06:31.725 And in 1952, Charlie Chaplin leaves the country for England for a promotional tour for his film, "Limelight." 00:06:31.725 --> 00:06:38.131 When Chaplin tried to re-enter, J. Edgar Hoover sees to it that he is not allowed to re-enter the United States... 00:06:38.131 --> 00:06:43.303 on the grounds that he is a Communist sympathizer, and Chaplin is effectively barred from the U.S. 00:06:43.303 --> 00:06:50.693 In 1953, the Screen Writers' Guild allows producers to remove screen credits of any suspected communists. 00:06:50.693 --> 00:07:00.287 In 1957, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, excludes anyone on the Hollywood blacklist for consideration for an Oscar. 00:07:00.287 --> 00:07:09.096 In 1958, the Supreme Court of the United States rejects the argument that the Hollywood blacklist violated employee rights. 00:07:09.096 --> 00:07:13.124 But in 1959, the tide finally starts to turn. 00:07:13.124 --> 00:07:22.042 The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decides that screen writers and actors on the blacklist will no longer be prohibited for consideration for Oscars. 00:07:22.042 --> 00:07:27.214 In 1960, Dalton Trumbo does the screenplay for Otto Premiger's "Exodus," 00:07:27.214 --> 00:07:33.153 and becomes the first person who was blacklisted, since the beginning of the blacklist, to get a screen credit. 00:07:33.153 --> 00:07:40.941 In 1970, Dalton Trumbo delivers his famous "Only Victims" speech before the Screen Writers Guild. 00:07:40.941 --> 00:07:49.045 In 1972, Robert Vaughn, best known as "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.," writes a brilliant book called "Only Victims," 00:07:49.045 --> 00:07:54.775 which is a study of show business blacklisting, which is the first major book and still is one of the best on that. 00:07:54.775 --> 00:08:04.788 In 1972, Charlie Chaplin returns to the United States for the first time since 1952, to receive an honorary Academy Award for his life's works. 00:08:04.788 --> 00:08:12.325 CHARLIE CHAPLIN: Oh, you're wonderful sweet people. Thank you. 00:08:12.325 --> 00:08:20.267 in 1976, Martin Ritt directs "The Front" with Woody Allen, which is about screenwriters who are forced to work under false names, 00:08:20.267 --> 00:08:24.971 and they get "fronts" to front for their work. This is in 1976. 00:08:24.971 --> 00:08:32.180 WOODY ALLEN: I don't recognize the right of this committee to ask me these kind of questions. 00:08:32.180 --> 00:08:40.822 In 1991, producer Irwin Winkler directs "Guilty By Suspicion" starring Robert DeNiro, which is probably the best account of the blacklist. 00:08:40.822 --> 00:08:50.298 But all in all, the blacklist put a lot of people out of work, many of whom were entirely guiltless and were basically just the victim of a vendetta. 00:08:50.298 --> 00:08:57.205 But I'm going to leave the last word to Dalton Trumbo who was one of the victims of the blacklist, but who wrote very movingly about it. 00:08:57.205 --> 00:09:00.641 And this is part of his very famous "Only Victims" speech.