,

largerrhantheinternaIsecuritysituationrequiles.
The govemmellt of Vietnam has Cbmiorn~allyyy
been
tryingtocounteractthepicture
which the Johnston
document draws of that country. A Vietnamese reply
has been coilveyed to a number of Senatorsandto
the State ,Department wl1lch points up that in the four
yearsending
in 1956, Vietnam's importsfromthe
United States were trebIed, whde imports from France
dropped, , t o one-sixth. If Vietnamwere t o devalueits
currency, runs the argument, it would, have t o , reduce
its American purchases sI1,arpIy. In any case, the figures
indicate t h a t since France lost this outpost
of empire
in 1954, Americanbusiness
hastakenoveranddone
well.
As President Eisenhowers gllest, Mr.. Dieln will be
assured of courteoustreatment. B,ut the distinguished
vlsltqr wdl be well advised t o avoid lettiug ourcor-
diality blind liim to t h e misgivings whicli tlle Johnston
report has aroused c,oncerning his regime.

Jim Crow Dressed U i

Qp M a y 14, the citizens of New Rochelle, New York,
wdl vote on a school referendum which, if paqsed, will
perpetuate for anotller flfty years an anach-ronistic Jim
Crow highschoolwhich
hasdisgraced the community
I

fornearly half acentury.Everyone

in NewRochelle
opposes segregation in Mississippi, but the election will
decide how many oppose it in tlus attractive suburb of
Ney Yorlr Citymany
miles north of t h e MasonDixon line. hTewRochelles other schools are integrated;
Lincoln High School is not. In 1930, a new school wasbuilt nearLincoln and the dlstrlct liiles were redrawn
insuch a manner that the new structurewasalmost
completely withinawhiteresidentialarea.White
childrenleftliving
in t h e Lincolndistrictwerethen
given transfers t o other schools.
T h e need to replace the Lmcoln school-a tottering
structure whose auditorium has lieen unflt fpr use for
thepasttwo
years-creates
an opportunity to integrateitsstudents
innon-segregatedschools.
Butthe
referendumproposes theconstruction of a newbudding on the old site which wouId notonlyretainthe
name of , Lincoln-an
offense in itself-but
would
,freezeyJitsstatusasasegregated
school. Andthis
threefullyearsaftertheSupremeCourts
decisivn iu
the desegregation cases! Voters in New Rochelle should
keep in mind that Southern communities will be watch, ing- the outcome of thelr election with interest.
( FOP
further cvidence of Northern Jrrn Crow practices, see
p. 390 thisissue.)

,
Walter &-anger andEddieMannix
Activities. Upon hismodest shoulders
app,eared before the, Screen Writers has fallen the glory t h a t was Zanucks
Guild to,plead for acquiescence in t h e and the power t h a t wasMayers.
The paradox of thetenth
ariniblaclclisting of the Hollywood Ten.
v e h a r y of the blacklist lies inthe
Mr. Schary,who is probablythe
,most civilized and certainly the most fact that while itfmdsmostsurvivingmembers
of the Hollywood
literate man- ever t o achleveexecuTen busdy engaged in the tpractice
tive leadership of amajormotionSchary,
picture producing company, acted as of their professions, Mr.
reluctant
spokesman
for
t h e pro- amidst a hideous outcry from avarijust
been
ducers:reluctant
bec,ause some of cious stockholder^, has
111s producership a t
from
the doomed men werehis
friends; ejected
as the eureluctant because he had worked with M-G-14 andpresently,
others of them in the various Roose- phemism goes, is at liberty.
velt campaigns; reluctant because he
T h e reason for hisdischarge, Mr.
in T h e Reportel- of
wasand is a llberalwho hated the Scharywrote
idea of a blacklist and probably hates April 1S, 1957,- was that I made
toomany
speeches andwrotetoo
i t even more today.
Despite assurances that ten heads, many artlcles,and t h a t m y particiHollywood wouldappease the gods, the guiIIo- pation in the 1956 ,Presidential camAS THE YEAR 1957 lurches toward tine has smceclaimed some 250 other paignon
behalf of theDemocrats
had made for irritation and enmity.
Its mid-point, Hollywood fmds
itself artists
and
technicians.
Themost
celebrating,willingly
or unwdlingly powerful manin
Hollywood today Mr. Schary,. in a word, fell victim
as the case may be, the tenth anni- is- a n inconspicuous, pleasant-man- t ot h e blackhst hisowneloquence
versary sf a blacklist whichbegan
ends,
nered fellow named WiIIiaF WheeIer, hadinaugurated;thedecade
111 1947 when a produced ddegatlon
who worksasinvestigator
for the as i t began,withanabsurdlty.
composed of Messrs. Dore Schary, House Committee on Un-American
Thetruth, of course, is t h a t the
I

M n v 4. 1957

383

blacklist was openly called for in

1947 bytheHouseCommittee
on
Un-American Activities I. . Dont
you think the most effective way is
the payroll route?
Do you
thlnk the studios should continue t o
employ these
individuals?)
and
that the produceis opposed the idea.
Eric Johnston, president of the Motion Picture Association o America,
toldthecommitteethat
for producers tojointogetherand
t o refuse to hire someone or some people
would be a potential conspiracy, and
our legal counsel advised against it.
Louis B. Mayer
testified
that
They have mentioned two or three
writers t o me several times. There
is no proof about it, exceptthey
mark them as Communists, and when
I look a t the pictures they have
written for us I cant find once where
t h e y have writKen anything like that. .
. . I have asked counsel. They
claim that unless you can prove they
are Cornmuniststhey could hold yoL1
or damages. Jack L. Warner declared under oath that he Lwouldnt
be a party with anyone in a n associatior, especiallywhere you would
be liable for having a fellows livelihood impaired; I wouldnt want to
,do that.

. - .

THEY DID it, however, a few days

The Crash of Silence

Almtg mi&
mawuscrlpt, MI. ing
phone number. CalI Wales
Trunnbo seqrt us the following brief 1-50 p.m. Not back from lunch.
aiary wAicft records his attempts t o
Three p.m., no calI from Wales. Send
get t h e Motion Picture AssociatioTa of following straight fast wire 3:02 p.m.
America t o answer some pointed
C.H. WALES
gn~stions.-Editors

MPAA
8480 BEVERLY BOULEVARD
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA
HAVE ACCURATE RECORD
OF OUR TELEPHONE CONVERSATION AND OF MY
SUBSEQUENT
CALLS. I
DONT, BLAME YOU FOR
I. Would the MPAA d m y that
DUCKING, BUT UNLESS I
major studios are pz+asing
material
HEAR FROM YOU BEFORE
f ~ o mFifth Amendmemt writers and
MY DEADLINE SIX P.M.
nmzouing theiv Jnomes faom the
TONIGHT I SHALL NOTE
rcreen?
THE EXTENT OF MY EF2. Wozrld t h e M P A A say there is
FORTS AND THEIR FAILno blacklist in H o i L p o o d ezcept
URE AND ASSUME MPAA
- that which applies to t h e Hollywood
HAS TAKEN THE FIFTH.
Tan?
ALTHOUGH
I HAVENT
HAD THE PLEASURE OF
3. lWowld the MPAlfi have any
INVOKING THE FIFTH,
ohjecrioru if a major rtxdio openly
ITSA GRAND OLD AMENDhired ,u F i f t h Amendment uviiter La?
MENT AND I SHOLTLDNT
a membzr of the Hollywood T e d ,
TO DEPRIVE ERIC
.1. Does t h e M P A A deal with. the WISH
jGEWiGN OF ITS PROTEG
Committee on Un-Ahencan A2tiviTION, CORDIALLY,
ties, or m y representative of that
DALTON TRUMBO
committee, in deternGning the employability of artists or other per-rons Call Wales 5 : 14 p.m. Young man
in t I ~ emotion picttlra Industvy?
says Wales not available.
Chill
5. If there is,a blacklist in. the ;TItouches my heart: first time word
dzhstry, t o what persons or orgamiza- unavailable has bee? used. Tell
t i o m does t h e MPAA attribute is?
young man Ill s t a y by phone til1
Wales copies list, reads it back. Hell 7; p:m. Wales doesnt get through.
of a copyist. Everything checks out.
Sorry about Wales, but console self
I: suggest he may want a little time. with Eric Johnston 1947 statement,
Wales agrees. Will be in office from AS long as I live I will never be ,a
2:30 p.m. on, call him then. Call at party t o anything as un-American as
2:40 p.m. Wales not back yet. Call a blacklist. Feel certain Erics
4:OO p.m. Wales gone for day. heart still in right pIace. satisfied
Troubled by4this,but stili have faith Wales will call tomorrow.
. i n Wales.
Saqqday, April 20. No call from
Fkiday, April 19.Call Wales 9:34 a.m. Wales. Hope he isnt ill. Mission unHoltyrtmod
Tkrcrsdoy, ApriZ 18. Telephone C. H.
(Doke) Wales, popular and capable
press relations man for Motion
Picture Association of America. Explain mission re Nation, et al, read
him folIowing list of questions:

the
later a t a famous meetingin
Waldorf-Astoria.Depositions
taken
frompersonspresentreveal
a long
and stormy session during which the
Hollywood executivesstrongly
opposed demands of the Eastern
people for a blacklist. The Eastern
people, unfortunately,
controlIed
the film corporations i,nvolved and
t h e source of investment capital with
which-production is maintained. It
wasnocontest.
T h e meetingended
N o t in yet. Send fast straight wire completed.
reminding him of situation and givwith a sullenly unanimous proclama-E. T.
tion of the first blacklist in the history oi motion pictures.
T h e Hollywood Ten, blacklisted ance with ~ X - C G E ~ ~ ~J.S S
giory of
PziE Z ~who had cdebraredthe
and cursed
with
the
worst
press
few
ne11 Thomas,chairman of the 1947 Americanarmsbysnatchinga
since Bruno Hauptmann, stood tda! hearings which had done them i?. wartime defense bribes. Airnost every
for contempt of Congress, drew maxi- Thomas had been caughtwith
his jail in the country dyring that curimum fines and sentences, wrangled hand in the wrong c2& d r a ~ e r .
0 3 s time fouzd Congressman and
their way throughskepticalcourts
Jack Lawson, Adrian Scott and contemptee standing cheek by jowl
and finally were distributed through- correspondent,
in the chow line, all their old malignithis
incarcerated.
dissolved
in common
hunger
out the federal penitentiary system.
under heavy guard in the grand old ties
RingLardner, Jr; and Lester Cole state of Kentucky, were thrown into
for a few more of them there beans.
Meanwhile,sustained
by an Aplanded in Danbury, Connecticut, intimatecontactwith
its favorite
decision
which
conwhere they renewed an sld acquaint- son, es-Congressman Andy May, pellateCourt
3 84

The NATION

firmed its right and even its a u t y to

investigateartistsandtheir
works,
the committee embarked on a perma,nentcareerin
Hollywood. Francis
Walter, his. chariot drawn by 'captive
starlets,passedlikeCaesarthrough
the lots' attended' by a chanting host
of the repentent. Under the yelping
attack of thisstream-lined,sharptoothed wolf pack, Communists,
near-Communists,
neo-Communists,
proto-Comm,unists,n'on-Communists
and a few friends of anti-Gommu-'
nists fell like.tenpins. '
'
And then,'imperceptibly a t first,
the uproar
began
to diminish. It
faded off, about a year ago, into a
stunnedandterrible
silence. There
wasn't anybody left, to
investigate.
The silynce continues tothisday,
broken only occasionally b y ' the
contemplative licking of, old wounds.
I

A BLACKLIST, far froni being a

funny thing, is an illegal instrument
of terror which can'exist only bysufferance of and connivance with the
federalgovernment.The
Hollywoad
;blacklist is but part of an,immensely
greater official blacklist-barring
its
victims from work at home, and denying Ithem passage 'abroad-wFich
mocks our government in all its relations
with
civilized powers t h a t
neither tolerate nor understand 'such
repression.' T h e shock' 'of the blacklist pyoduces psychic"dis0rders among
sensitivepersons,fromwhichresult
broken homes' desolate
children,
premature!'
deaths
and
sometirhes
suicide.
It is 'not alone the loss of income
, or of property that hurts: .the more
terrible wound is the loss o f ,a profession tp which one's entire' life has
,been dedicated. A director must have
denied
the faciliti'es of a Studio:,
hem, -he sells real ,estate. A violinist
mustappearinpersonforthe
con, he
cert:'barredfrom,admittance,
becomes a milkman
and
practices
six hours a day kgainst the unrevealed timewhen hismusiconce
more
m a y ' be heard. ,The actor's physical
personality, which is his greatest
asset, liecomes ,his
supr,eme
curse
under the>blacklist; he must be seen,
andwhen the sight of him is prohibitedhe becomes a carpenter,an
insurance
salesman,
barber.
a
A writer is morefoitunate.Give
I

.hhy
,

'4, 1957
,

,"

him
nothing
more
than
paper,
a t o a position of SUCK prominence
pencil and a nice clean cell, and he's that he was subpoenaed by the cornin business. Dante, Cervantes, Rousmittee.Appearing before i t in good
sehu, Voltaiie,Ben Jonson, Milton, form, Wilson to& the Fifth AmendDefoe, Bunyan, Hugo, Zola and. a ment, ending' his career 'at the very
score of others have longsiace proved rnomsnt it seemed ready' to flower.
that' in ' jail 'or out, writi,ng under
Four, mowths later his screenplay of
their ,own names or, some one
else's' A P h c k i n t h e STLW,adaptedfrom
or a pseudonymoranonymously,
Arz Amelicam TrLigedy, was nomiwriters will write;and t h a t having natedforanAcademyAward.
He
written, they will find an ,audience. .thus
became
the
first
American
Only: fools with noknowledge
of screenwriter t o b e nominated for an
history
and
bureaucrats
with
no
A
award
after
bei,ng
blacklisted.
knowledge' of literaturearestupid
monthlaterhechalkedupanother
enougli to think otlierwise.
firstfor, $he blacklist b y winning
And so it chanced in 'Hollywood the Oscar.
that eachblacklistedwriter,after
Wilson apparentlyhad a number
' of 'unproducedscriptslyingaround
the studios,for the foIIowing year
his screenplay" of Five Filtgers was
produce'd, and once again he received
the Academy'sscroll of n'omination
for the Award. With two nominations
and one' Oscar under,hii belt, Wilson
continued the quiet life of a black- ,
listeeuntil
,some twoyearslater,
when Allied Artists decided t o produce another of his old scripts, this
one an
adaptation
of Jessamyn
West's Frimdly Persmzsiott.
,
When thetimerolled,aroundfor
screen credits,Wilsondiscovered
that ,Miss West and RoLert Wyler,
brother of the fllrn's~~director,were
credited as sole authors of the screenplay: WiJson appealed to the, Writers'
Guildarbitrationcommittee,which
hls
favor.
Allied Artists
swiftly $describingthat Iong parabola ruled in
frqm th? heart of the motion-picture thereupon released the picture withindustry to asmallhouseina
low- out screenplay credits 'of any kind.
rent
,district,
picked himself up,'
dusted his
trousers,
anointed,
his
,THE Acadelny' of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences was now confrontabrasions, looked'laround for a ream
ed withthe horridpossibility
that
of clean white paper and something
t o deface i t with, and began t o write. the picture' might bring Wilson, who
Through
secret
channels,
and
by
had
been
dead
professionally
for
' five yeals, still'anotherOscar.
The
means so cunningtheymaynever
be revealed, wliat he wrote was pass- man seemed to be gettingout
of
ed along untdfinally
i t appeared hand; Godaloneknewhow
many
on a producer's desk, andthe pro? more of his unproduced manuscripts
ducer ,looked upon it and'found it were lying in studio, files. So twentygood, and monies
were
paid,
and two niembers of the Academy's
the writer'schildrenbegancontentBoard of Governors passed a by-law
edly to eat. Thus the black market.
whichwas
to remainsecretunless
Inthe
mkantime,quietly
domi- "F? iendly Persuasion receives a
nomination
"as t h e best
ciled nearby with his stunningly beau- writing
scr,eenplay." It provided t h a t n o pertiful wife and two infant daughters
sop who behaved as WiIson had bela young man of Irish descent named
Michael Wilson sat down a t his type- fore a CongressibnaI committee was
writerandwentfuriously
t o work' eligible or an. Academy prize. T h a t
writing scripts. By 1951 he had risen is why, when the screenwritersdid
I

'I

3 8s

nominate Wilson for Friendly Per- itself Cerberus of t h e blacklist and W~ilson, from Wilson toCarlForeS Z L C I S ~there
~ ~ ~ , wasappended
to the
barbarian
man,fromForemantoPauIJarsensing that a second
llstrng t h e sad littlenote: Achieve- mighthavebreachedthe
defenkes rico t o others of the damned.
As the fourth dayof turmoil dawnment nominated, but writer
ineligible andprofanedthesanctuary,rushed
. for Award under Academy by-laws.
most ed, theAcademytookruefulstock
a t once intoprintwiththe
(See Credlts and Oscars, TJte Nntio.rL, disastrous
publicity
release
of its of its coup. Someone with more perMarch 30.)
history. Robert spicacitythanpresidentSeatonbetwenty-nine
year
Wllson, who during World War I1 Rich, i t announced ominously, gantocomprehendwhathadhapserved as a Captain in theFifth
credited by thestudlo which pro- pened t o the Immortals. First, they
AmphibiousCorps,
U. S. Marines, duced The Brave O ~ Zwith
had flatly declared that Roberr Rich
P authorunder
Major
General
I-Iolland ship of the motion-picture story and wasnt, the author of The Brave O m ,
whereas there was a very good suing
(Howling) M. Smith, doesnt scare winner of theAcademyAwardin
t o takea
chance t h a t Robert Rich was. ,
too easdy, ahdappears
thiscategory:statedtodayhewas
Second, they had revealed themselves
dlm view of secretby-lawsdesigned
nottheauthor
of the story.
t o celebrate, his professional demise.
as chief adThere followed a series of dire somewhattoonakedly
vocates and policemen of a blacklist
H e is presently bringing suit against
warningsfromMr.Seatonandhis
t h e Academy, in the course of which underlings. The original story, it was that everybody else was fed up wlth.
a fatal
the patriots on the Academys board
hinted,wasntoriginal
a t all, or if Andthird,theyhadcast
whobarredhisworkwdlbegiven
so it wasverylikely
a plagiarism, shadowovertheonlyotherOscar
an opportunity t o explain under oath andtheAcademywouldprobably
won this ~7ear by an American writer,
disw~thholdtheaward,or
punish t h e the f m t havingalreadybeen
just how
their
unanimity
was
honored by t h e ex post facto annii t t ot h e
KmgBrothersbygiving
achieved.
were hilation of Michael Wilson. The AcaWIth F~iendLyPerst~nsio.n barred, owners of anotherstorywho
demy,retiringbehinditsownverthe Academy for the first timein its suing the Kings, or even
declare
sion of theFifthAmendment,an1 history offered fourinstead
of five Robert Rich,
like
Wilson,
nona
candidatesforitsBestScreenplay
person, and turn the Oscar
over t o nounced that on advice of counsel
we are going t o keepout
of this
Award. T h e Oscar, shabby and com- thenext highest maninthevote,
promised but quite as golden as its or maybe shoot craps for its custody. situation. Since then there has been
twenty brethren, went almost by denothing but blessed silence.
f a u l tt o James Poe, JohnFarrow
a hri1MeanwhileWilliamStout,
ENGROSSED in its fierce pursuit of
screen- the infidel, the Academyhadoverlant young news commentator or
and S. J. Perelmanforthe
play of Eighty D a y s Arowad the looked the fact that there are literally
Los Angeles Station KNX-TV, casteyes
a t Mr.
Seaton
World. T h e Oscar for the Best Origi- hundreds of valid,
free-born,
no- ing bemused
a
and hiscohorts,began
tohave
nal Story. glowing with the virtue of Amendment Robert Riches scattered
a fair contest, went to Robert Rich
funny feeling. He telephoned
me
through practically every country in
for T h e B r a v e One. The remaining the Western world. The King Broth- suggestinglunch,andwediscovered
t h a t webothhad
writers
Oscar,
for
Best
Original
a funny feeling.
ers said theirs was a goateed young
Screenplay. fell into the foreign hands photographer-writer from whom they There was a stillness over Hollywood
of AlbertLamorissefortheFrench
hadpurchasedthestory
in 1952 in t h a t seemed to call for a little noise.,
film, Th.e Red BnlLooat.
dls- We decided on the spot t o make our
Munich,andnoonehasyet
provedtheir
claim. Overnight the feelings lcnown t ot h e world via a
AND THEN something happened. A New York Post turned up five filmed interview about the blacklist
young man named Robert Rich (but Robert Riches. FromSanFrancisco
and the black market it produces.
The next evening Mr.Stout put
not theRobertRichfor
wh,om a the nephew of adeceased
Robert
part of the interview on the EmmyRich
announced
he was
arriving
proxyhad
picked up theOscar),
program
called
Th.e Big
thinking no doubttomakesport
shortlyto claim the trophy for
his winning
News. T h e following day four more
of the Academy,pretended
t o be uncle. T h e large vacuum which now
the
t h e real Robert Rich and sought-to
surroundedtheOscar
was quickly minuteswentcoast-to-coaston
receive
from
the
Academy
those
filled with cIaims, counter-c!zims and D o q l a s Edwards CBS-TV ~ e w s
courtesies and
distinctions
that
disavowals
on
behalf of such dis- show originating in New York. Later
I t up
seemed t o lie without visible
claim- parate characters as the late Roberr
that night Mr. Stout wrapped
ant. I n some fashion not: yet known Flaherty, O r s o i i Welles, Jesse Lasky, with a second interview
over
KNS-TV.
hegottangled
up withMissMarJI., Willis OBrien and Paul Rader.
T l
What i said duringtheinterview
of
L I I ~ searchevenpenetratedthose
garetHerrick,cxecutivedirector
the Academy, or George Seaton, its ,cavernousdepthswherein
everyone
in
Hollywood
dweIl the was what
presidenr, or some other P-cademy blacklisted
:he
anmymous. knew but no one had ever mentionand
ed: that I had been working steadily
factotum yet undiscovered, and con- Among those flushed for questioning
fessed hisdeception.
since the blacklist began; that others
was this correspondent, who cannily
T h e Academy, giddy by now with refused t o affirm ordeny authorship. of m y kindhad also beenworking;
patriotism, flushed withitsvictory
that the major studios wereopenly
Suspicions then skittered like a starto proclaim lingfromAlbertMaltz
black
market,
purchasing
over
Wilson,
anxious
t o Michael in the

plays ana d e r 'materialana

releasing them without' their authors'
names; thattheAcademy. had become official guardian of the blacklist; that i t hadlaunchedagainst
the' producers of The BTaue Owe an
attack it would'never have3,dared
makeagainstanymajorproducer;
that I myself had been nominated
for Academy Awards and would not
tell-whetherhad
won any Oscars;
keeprighton
that I intendedto
working, 'and that I assumed others
would continue also.

FIVE years ago, two years ago, perhapsevensixmonths

ago, such an
,interview would have brought
down
upon m y headmaledictions ' from
the committee, outraged d'enials from
the
producers
,and
parading
delegations from the American Legion.
But. in this pleasant April of 1957
I heard not one yelp of anger nor a
single 'denial. All over town publicity
departments workedfuriouslyand
overtime at the job 01saying nothing
and makingsurenobody
else said
anythingeither:Fortliefirsttime
in ten,years I was the only man
inHollywoodwho
could be heard:
Feeling t h am
ty
personal
charm
s u c h amiable
alode couldn't explain
treatment, I glanced
:cautiously
, about for the
realreason,andcame
acrossalegal
action called Wilsom
I

Loew's, I n c . '
Don three different occasions, mem,bers of the Hollywo'od Ten'have won
jury, decisions contract
in
cases
against the producers; but, each victoryhas
beenreversed
byhigher'
courts who ,found little merit in the
opinions of twelve, good menand
true. Thus when Wilsogz us. Loew's,
I m . was filed, it seemed only another
futile
and
' expensive
attemptto
crack the Jrnpregnable structure of
the , blacklist, and,was
presumed
doomed t o faillikeall
the 'others.
The suit, filed by Michael Wilson,,
Ann Revere, Gale Sondergaard, Guy
, Endore and nineteen others, charged
thatthe plaintiffshadbeenblacklisted and demanded &52,000,000 for
t k l o s s e s a n d damages inflicted upon
them. Loew's, Inc., while n&t admitting the existence of ablacklist,
arguedfromtheassumptionthat
if
ablacklist does exist it isjustified
and therefore legal. The district court
us.

May
I

4, 1957
,

ruIed &at even if evelyth'ing alleged holding executiire sessions t o p r s h a

weretrue,thedefendants
were not rdport that one sf its ,'members rea show-busientitled t o judgment, and hence there ceived moneytoclear
of beness
personality
of
suspicior~s
was no reason for a trial. The' Circuit
ing
a
Red.'2
Court of Appeals sustained the lower
court. And 'then,,, quite suddenly' and Thus far no member of the cornThe
mittee has denied thereport.
withoutivarning
of anykind,the
committee'sownstandards
of eviSupreme
Court
granted
certiorari,
dencewouldseem
t o require that
indicating thesuit
involves
more
each of itsmemberstaketheoath
substantialquestions
of lawthan
andswear
t h a t he isn'treceiving
the lower courts suspected.
t o tell
how
much
and
,Wilso~bvs. Loew's, I n c . will b e ' bribes-or
from whom. It seems
inconceivable
arguedbefore
' t h e SupremeCourt
next autumn. If the courtrules for that future witnesseswon'tdemand
suchtestimonyinreturnfortheir
the plaiatiffs-and
there is justas
much reason t o believe it will decide own.
for them as against them-the ruling
will declare, in effect, that if t h e IN THE lneanwhile there is a still*factschargedare true the plaintiffs ness a t Appo'mattox, broken only by
an occasionalcrackin
the blackhst.
are entitled to judgment. Then the
clothes, no
lower courts will be compelled to'ac- Thecommitteehasno
honor,, small power andpractically
mcept fortrialan
issuewhichjuries
no remaining candidates for oblivion.
thus far have invariably
decidedin
favor of plaintiffs.
Pondering
the Far irom .being abIe t o sell indulgive them
possibilities, I a m inclined t o ljelieve gences, it canscarcely
awayinthepresent
declining mart h a t Wilso~zvi. Loew's accounts for
ket. The black market flourishes and
a great deal of the silence that has
settled
over
Hollywood. It might the producers know it and dare not
a
deny i t andpray eachnightfor
even be the reason why the Motion
PictureAssociation of America, or- court decision, please God just one
decision, t h a t w ~ l l give them an esdinarily so bgreedy for space, denied
cuse
toshakeyoungMr.Wheeler
t o readers 'of T h e Nation answers
off
their
backsand
regaincontrol
to ,thequestions propounded by their
of the organizations they head. The
correspondent (see page 384).
"Eastern' people," cocking a thoughtTHERE is, of course, anpther reason, :fuleye a t the Supreme Court and
which lies in' the fading power and WiZsom us. Z o e d s , , .Izc., begin t o
the growingdisrepute of,the com- recall the glories of freeenterprise,
and to wonder whether those
plainmittee itself. 'Only a few weeks ago
the Board of Governors of 'the e'mi- tiffs would reallywant $52,000,000
of if they were given a chance to return
nentIy
conservative
Stare
Bar
Californiacharged
that ,''the pro- openly to their professions.
and twentyOnlyGeorgeSeaton
ceedings of ' the committee and the
two Immortals still llke the blacklist;
conduct of the committee'scounsel
but even they, with the shadow
of
. . wereimproperandlackingin
US. A4cade?q?Bonrd of Gnvdignity and impartialitywhich should ~Vi'Eso~z.
govern theconduct of agencies, of e m o n darkening their little patch of
it in their hearts to
the United States . . . and they were sky,mayfind
of suchacharacterasto
pose a decide that ten years is punishment
enough for
any
crime-especi,aIIy
*threattothe
right toaphearby
counsel , and to theproper'
inde- when YOU can't be sure the criminal
pendence of the Bar." (See editorial isn't anonymously undercutting you
in the financial department.
in TIze Nation, April 13.)
,
Theremay come a time in this
Rumblingsnowareheark$from
blacklists
turn p o p another quarter. The Hollywood Re- country when
lar,
and
inquisitors
are
invited
to
porter, ' a trade paper which has been
dinner, and mothers at bedtime 'read
the,
committee's
staunchest
friend,
children thestory
of the
carried on March 14 an item by its totheir
now the
leadingreporter,Mike
Connelly, t o good informer.Butjust
current.Iuns in in opposlte direction.
the effect that "The
House
UnAll things, as the man said, change.
American Activities Committee plans
.

I ,

' .

.I

3 sa