Hollywood's Blacklists A Political and Cultural History

by Humphries, Reynold

• ISBN13: 9780748624560
• ISBN10: 0748624562
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-03-31
• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Summary

'Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?' That question was to be repeated endlessly during the anti-Communist investigations carried out by the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) in the early 1950s. The refusal of ten members of the film industry to answer the question in 1947 led to the decision by studio bosses to fire them and never to hire known Communists in the future. The Hearings led to scores of actors, writers and directors being named as Communists or sympathisers. All were blacklisted and fired.

Author Biography

Reynold Humphries is a former Professor of Film Studies at the University of Lille III.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. vii
The Background	p. 1
Drawing up the Battle Lines
Introduction	p. 9
Hollywood and the Union Question	p. 27
The War Years, 1939-1945	p. 40
Hollywood Strikes, the Right Strikes Back	p. 62
From the Hot War to the Cold War
The Hearings of 1947	p. 77
None Shall Escape: The Hearings of 1951-1953	p. 105
The Anti-Communist Crusade on the Screen	p. 128
Life (and Death) on the Blacklist	p. 144
Conclusion	p. 159
Archival Sources	p. 164
Bibliography	p. 166
Index	p. 175
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.