The Final Victim of the Blacklist: John Howard Lawson, Dean of the Hollywood TenBefore he attained notoriety as Dean of the Hollywood Ten—the blacklisted screenwriters and directors persecuted because of their varying ties to the Communist Party—John Howard Lawson had become one of the most brilliant, successful, and intellectual screenwriters on the Hollywood scene in the 1930s and 1940s, with several hits to his credit including Blockade, Sahara, and Action in the North Atlantic. After his infamous, almost violent, 1947 hearing before the House Un-American Activities Committee, Lawson spent time in prison and his lucrative career was effectively over. Studded with anecdotes and based on previously untapped archives, this first biography of Lawson brings alive his era and features many of his prominent friends and associates, including John Dos Passos, Theodore Dreiser, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Charles Chaplin, Gene Kelly, Edmund Wilson, Ernest Hemingway, Humphrey Bogart, Dalton Trumbo, Ring Lardner, Jr., and many others. Lawson's life becomes a prism through which we gain a clearer perspective on the evolution and machinations of McCarthyism and anti-Semitism in the United States, on the influence of the left on Hollywood, and on a fascinating man whose radicalism served as a foil for launching the political careers of two Presidents: Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. In vivid, marvelously detailed prose, Final Victim of the Blacklist restores this major figure to his rightful place in history as it recounts one of the most captivating episodes in twentieth century cinema and politics. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
1 Beginnings | 14 |
2 Toward Commitment | 35 |
3 Hollywood | 50 |
4 From Hollywood to Broadway | 66 |
5 Commitment | 80 |
6 Theory and Practice | 98 |
7 Struggle | 116 |
10 Red Scare Rising | 166 |
11 Inquisition | 184 |
12 Jailed for Ideas | 202 |
13 Blacklisted | 222 |
14 The Fall of Red Hollywood | 241 |
Conclusion | 263 |
Notes | 269 |
| 347 | |
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actors Adrian Scott Adrian Scott Papers Albert Maltz American Angeles anti-Semitism April artist August blacklist Blockade Clurman Committee Communist Party comrades creative critical cultural Daily Worker Dalton Trumbo Dawn Powell December DeMille director Dmytryk dramatic Dreiser File film Folder Hollywood Reporter Hollywood Ten Howard Lawson autobiography Howard Lawson Papers HUAC idea Internal Security Subcommittee Interview Jack Warner January Jarrico Jewish Jews John Dos Passos John Howard Lawson Joseph Breen June later LAW Papers Lawson to John Lester Cole letter liberal Lynn Schwartz Papers lywood March meeting moguls Moscow Motion Picture Industry movie Nancy Lynn Schwartz Negro Nixon November October Odets Oral history organization play playwright political producers radical recalled Record Group 46 Red Hollywood Richard Ring Lardner Jr Schulberg screenplay screenwriter script Senate Internal Security Southern California Soviet Union stars story studios theatre thought tion UCLA Undated V. J. Jerome Walter Wanger Washington York
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Page x - The question of communism is in no way related to this inquiry, which is an attempt to get control of the screen and to invade the basic rights of American citizens in all fields.
Page x - The Chairman: Then you refuse to answer that question; is that correct? Mr. Lawson: I have told you that I will offer my beliefs, affiliations, and everything else to the American public, and they will know where I stand.
Page xvii - Chicago, as an extraordinarily diverting fellow, recently out of Williams, with bright brown eyes, untidy hair and a great beak of a nose that made you think of Cyrano de Bergerac. There was a lot of the Gascon in him at that. He was a voluble and comical talker. He had drastic ideas on every subject under the sun. He was never away from you for ten minutes that he didn't come back with some tale of abracadabrating adventures that had happened in the meanwhile.