cinema through the decades
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Cinema Through
the Decades Final Project
How did the House Un-American Activities Committee
(HUAC) and
the “Red Scares” of the 1940s & 1950s
affect Hollywood?
What context?
Why Hollywood?
What ethical struggles?
What remaining effects?
What was the historical context for the anti-
Communist agenda?
What set the stage?
1930s
The Great Depression
Communism in Labor Unions
Competing Economic Ideologies
Xenophobia
Congressman Martin Dies (TX), Chair
Temporary Special Committee on Un-American Activities
1938-1944
WWII
Cinema as Propaganda Tool
The 5th Column
1940s
What was worth fighting for?
Unquestioned Patriotism
Film Venue as Meeting PlaceFilm as Social Equalizer
Smith Act 1940
“knowingly or willfully advocate, abet, advise or teach the duty, necessity,
desirability or propriety of overthrowing the Government of the United States or of any State by force or violence, or for anyone to organize any association which teaches, advises or encourages such an overthrow, or for anyone to
become a member of or to affiliate with any such association.”
The Cold Warmid-1940s -- onward
President Harry S. TrumanExecutive Order 9835
March 21, 1947
HUAC
House Un-American Activities Committee
J. Edgar Hoover testifies at HUAC, March 26, 1947.
Freshman congressman, Richard Nixon and J. Parnell Thomas, HUAC, 1948
Why was Hollywood vulnerable?
Celebrity
Economics of Entertainment
• 1930s Labor Disputes
• Blockade of US Films during WWII
• 1945-46 Hollywood Labor Strikes
• Post-war downward trend of filmgoing
• Rise of Television
• 1948 Consent Decree (anti-trust case)
What were the ethical issues?
“Are you now, or have you ever been a member of the
Communist Party?”
Informer Principle
Refusal = Guilt
Friendly vs.
Non-Friendlywitnesses
5th Amendment
The Hollywood Ten(link to video 2 of 2)
U.S. Supreme Court refused to review appeals of
The Hollywood Ten
Contempt of Congress$1000 fine
1 year prison term
What else was lost?
• Immediate jobs• Respect of community• Family position• Long-term employment opportunities• Freedom of Expression• Freedom to Peaceably Assemble• Peace of Mind• Creativity in Film
The Waldorf Meeting
Birth of the Blacklist
Was anti-Semitism an underlying part of the attack on
Hollywood?
Beyond Hollywood
1948-50 Alger Hiss Trial
(Rep. Nixon wanted Film to be clear about evils of Communism)
Loyalty Oaths
Scoundrel Time
McCarren Internal Security Act, 1950
McCarren-Walter Act, 1952
Communist Control Act, 1954
Shaking the Liberal Left
Dissent = Subversion
Everyone is suspect.
Are there parallels to HUAC and McCarthyism
in 2009?
SourcesAbrams, Nathan. “The Hollywood Ten.” St.James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. Vol. 2. Detroit: St. James P, 2000. 434-436.
Achatz, Bill. Nixon and Thomas, HUAC. Photograph. 1948. San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco, CA.
Associated Press. McCarthy Private Talk. Photograph. 1954. Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research, Madison, WI.
Geisel, Theodore. “After Him Sam.” Cartoon. PM 28 June 1942: 12. Dr. Seuss Went to War. 2000. Mandeville Library Special Collections, UCSD. 15 Mar. 2009 <http://orpheus.ucsd.edu///.htm>.
- - -. “Mighty Trapper.” Cartoon. PM 10 Mar. 1942. Dr. Seuss Went to War. 2000. Mandeville Library Special Collections - UCSD. 11 Mar. 2009 <http://orpheus.ucsd.edu///.htm>.
Georgakas, Dan. “Hollywood Blacklist.” Encyclopedia of the American Left. Chicago: U IL P, 1992.
Helpern, David, and Arnie Reisman. Hollywood on Trial. 1976. Videocassette. MPI Home Video, 1989.
Hollywood Ten. 1956. National Council of the Arts, Sciences, and Professions, South California Chapter. You Tube. 11 Mar. 2009 <http://www.youtube.com/?v=E0f4bjR5HS8&eurl=http://shabazzenglishcinemadecades.blogspot.com/&feature=player_embedded>.
HUAC with Elizabeth Bentley. Photograph. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAredS.htm. 15 Mar. 2009 <http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/.htm&usg=__YMbdV3xm8qgbDFW4qM6zGP3gBFk=&h=345&w=528&sz=48&hl=en&start=2&um=1&tbnid=qG7QEKw_M1DmEM:&tbnh=86&tbnw=132&prev=/images%3Fq%3Delizabeth%2Bbentley%2Bhuac%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG%26um%3D1>.
Navasky, Victor S. Naming Names. 1980. 3rd ed. New York: Hill & Wang, 2003.
Parish, James Robert. The Hollywood Book of Scandals: The Shocking, Often Disgraceful Deeds and Affairs of More than 100 American Movie and TV Idols. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004.
Purdy, Elizabeth. “McCarthyism.” St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. Vol. 3. Detroit: St. James P, 2000. 314-316.
“Recreational Life: Film, United States.” The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Daily LIfe: A Tour through History from Ancient Times to the Present. Ed. Andrew E Kersten. Vols. 6: Modern World. Westport, CT: Greenwood P, 2004. 523-528.
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