Hollywood blacklisting
Hollywood blacklisting refers to a period in the late 1940s and 1950s when individuals in the American entertainment industry were barred from employment due to suspected affiliations with the Communist Party. The practice gained momentum following the refusal of the "Hollywood Ten", a group of writers and directors, to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1947. This led to studio executives compiling a list of individuals deemed unfit for employment based on their political beliefs or their lack of cooperation with congressional investigations.
The infamous "Waldorf Statement" of December 1947 publicly announced these actions and emphasized the industry's rejection of communism. Many people found themselves blacklisted based on mere speculation, leading to a culture of fear and retribution within Hollywood. While the blacklist primarily affected well-known writers and actors, it also impacted technicians and support staff in the industry. By the 1950s, the blacklist had expanded to include around 300 individuals. The end of the blacklist began in 1960 when prominent figures like Otto Preminger and Kirk Douglas openly credited blacklisted writers, signaling a shift in Hollywood’s stance and contributing to the eventual dismantling of this controversial practice.
Hollywood blacklisting
The Event Informal banning of individuals from employment in the motion-picture industry based on alleged political beliefs or associations
Date Began in 1947
Many individuals’ lives and livelihoods were damaged or destroyed by their appearance on the list and the lack of work they suffered as a result.
The Hollywood blacklist was a semiformal list of American entertainers who were barred from employment because of their real or suspected links to the Communist Party. In November, 1947, ten writers, directors, and actors (the so-called Hollywood Ten) refused to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA). As a result, studio executives began compiling a list of individuals who either had ties to the American Communist Party or were less than enthusiastic in their dealings with congressional investigations into communist activities in the entertainment industry.
Shortly after the Hollywood Ten were cited for contempt of Congress for their refusal to comply with HCUA subpoenas, forty-eight studio executives met at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City. The result of the meeting was the “Waldorf Statement,” released to the public on December 3, 1947, in which the executives announced the firing of the Hollywood Ten, whose actions were deemed to have harmed the motion-picture industry and who were therefore no longer employable. The Waldorf Statement also declared the industry’s support for the congressional hearings, rejected the employment of anyone known to be a communist or a member of any radical organization, and assured that Hollywood had never included any subversive or un-American content in its motion pictures.
Although the statement included assurances that the executives and the industry as a whole would work to protect the freedoms of innocent men and women, many found themselves on the blacklist based on nothing more than hearsay or innuendo. Over time, the list came to be used as much as a tool for private retribution and vengeance as as a method of screening potentially subversive influences.
In some instances, the unions or guilds that were intended to support the rights of workers in the industry were supportive of the lists. The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the Screen Writers Guild (SWG) both actively supported the blacklisting of men such as screenwriters Dalton Trumbo and Ring Lardner, Jr., and actors Richard Attenborough, Charles Chaplin, andKim Hunter. In some cases, unions required loyalty oaths from members, while in the SWG, writers’ names were omitted from the credits. Though the list most famously included prominent screenwriters, directors, and performers, there were blacklistees who had been employed in less visible roles throughout the entertainment industry. Gaffers, grips, and continuity checkers were also prevented from working because of their real or perceived ties to the Communist Party or even because of their support of various liberal or humanitarian causes that some associated with communism.
The list expanded through the 1950’s to include as many as three hundred people. In 1960, director Otto Preminger announced that his release Exodus had been written by Trumbo. The same year, Kirk Douglas, the star and an executive producer of Spartacus, demanded that Trumbo’s name appear in the credits. The executives at Universal Pictures acquiesced, and the blacklist was effectively ended.
Impact
Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of men and women were prohibited from working in films or television because of the blacklist. Though it was never a formal or official document and its existence was often denied, the list damaged or ended the careers of many entertainers and industry workers.
Bibliography
Ceplair, Larry, and Steven Englund. The Inquisition in Hollywood: Politics in the Film Community, 1930-1960. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2003.
Dick, Bernard F. Radical Innocence: A Critical Study of the Hollywood Ten. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1989.