In October 1947, the US Congress Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), made the claim that: “Communists had infiltrated Hollywood in order to pour Marxist ideas into the minds of the American public.” They summoned a hearing in Washington, D.C., in order to carry out an in depth investigation into the entertainment industry’s seditious activities pertaining to Communism. In total, 41 producers, directors, and screenwriters received subpoenas. They all attended the hearing on their own volition, and as such, were referred to as “friendly witnesses”. They answered the main question posed by the HUAC:”Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?” Anyone who gave an affirmative answer was given the chance to give the committee the names of any individuals who were fellow members, and this got them off the hook with the HUAC, and did not cause them any problems with their standing in the US film industry. While being interviewed, they gave the committee names of 19 individuals who they accused of holding holding views that were left-wing.
There were however, ten individuals who resisted answering the questions demanded by the committee. They were: Alvah Bessie, John Howard Lawson, Ring Lardner Jr., Edward Dmytryk,
Dalton Trumbo, Samuel Ornitz, Adrian Scott, Albert Maltz, Lester Cole, and Herbert Biberman. They felt victimized, and repeatedly claimed that they were abiding by the US Constitution and the First Amendment, and that they were simply exercising their legal rights. Because of the general public’s knowledge of individuals’ rights under the Constitution, the HUAC’s appalling action turned the generally unheard of Hollywood Ten, into liberal heroes who were fighting for a just cause.
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"The Hollywood Ten Trial".
The Hollywood Ten who were either former or current Communist party members, acted as a group to fight the establishment. They spoke out about their entitlement to: freedom of association, right of assembly, and freedom of speech, yet regardless of their rights protected by the US Constitution, the HUAC did not concur with their perspective. They also lost their appeals in the courts. It was clear that neither the HUAC or the appeal courts were interested in the First Amendment. In deliberating, the committee sentenced the Hollywood Ten to up to 12 months incarceration in a federal jail, and fined each individual $1,000, for contempt of Congress. On top of this, all ten men lost their livelihoods after being fired by studio executives, and found themselves on the blacklist.
When the HUCA interviewed Roy M. Brewer, a very strong anti-communist, he stated that he knew 13 directors, actors and writers who partook in communist activities. The names included Dalton Trumbo and John Garfield, two men who had worked as non-paid studio picket observers during the Conference of Studio Unions strike action. The migrant playwright, Bertolt Brecht, who was reported to the committee as having Communist sympathies, gave evidence prior to his departure to Communist East Germany.
The only actor from the 19 individuals who were named, was Larry Parks. Furthermore, he was the only person on the list who film fans would have been familiar with. He respected the HUAC’s process, and agreed to answer their questions. He informed them that in 1941, he signed up to the Communist Party, and that he only remained a member for four years. The committee demanded that he told them the names of other party members, to which Parks responded that if possible, he would not give them any names. He asked them not to put him in the position of being so low as to be an informer, being sent to prison, or being in contempt of Congress. Unfortunately, the committee refused, and according to a leaked report, Parks had a private session with the HUAC, and named other members. All very sad.
