Samuel Ornitz
Samuel Ornitz was an influential American writer and social reform advocate, born on November 15, 1890, in New York City. His early career as a social worker laid the groundwork for his later literary pursuits, which often explored themes of corruption, crime, and social intolerance. Ornitz initially gained recognition as a playwright and then as a novelist, with notable works such as "Haunch, Paunch, and Jowl" and "A Yankee Passional," which addressed issues pertinent to Jewish and Catholic communities in America.
In 1928, he transitioned to Hollywood, where he wrote or co-wrote twenty-nine screenplays, including notable films that tackled subjects like racism and the struggles of immigrants. Despite his contributions to cinema, Ornitz faced significant challenges during the Red Scare; he was accused of Communism and was part of the Hollywood Ten, a group of screenwriters who were blacklisted after refusing to cooperate with the House Committee on Un-American Activities. After serving a prison sentence, he returned to novel writing until his death from cancer on March 11, 1957. Ornitz's literary and cinematic works reflect a commitment to social issues and a complex relationship with his political beliefs.
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Samuel Ornitz
Writer
- Born: November 15, 1890
- Birthplace: New York, New York
- Died: March 11, 1957
- Place of death: Woodland Hills, California
Biography
Samuel Ornitz was born in New York City on November 15, 1890. His father was a dry-goods merchant. By age twelve, he had committed himself to social reform, and began giving public speeches. In 1908, he began work as a social worker for the New York Prison Association, where he remained until 1914. From 1914 to 1920, he went to the Brooklyn Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children, after which he focused on writing.
Ornitz wrote plays as a young man, with his first production, The Sock, occurring in 1918. The following year, he had a second play, The Deficit, produced. However, he first achieved national recognition from his novels. Most were well received at the time of their publication, but have not been widely read afterward. Many were written in a style which focused on the thoughts of their narrators. This narrative style was seen by literary scholars like Harvey Pekar as a forerunner of the later development of “stream of consciousness” narration by James Joyce.
Ornitz’s novels generally dealt with issues of corruption, crime, and intolerance. For instance, his first novel, Haunch, Paunch, and Jowl: The Making of a Professional Jew (sometimes referred to as Allrightnik’s Row) published in 1923, depicts the life of a dishonest judge who interacts with a poor Jewish immigrant neighborhood in New York City. In his second novel, A Yankee Passional, a spiritual Catholic layman encounters friction with his own church and murder at the hands of Protestant bigots.
In 1928, Ornitz moved to Hollywood and began a two-decade career writing for movies. He wrote or cowrote twenty-nine screenplays. He also helped to found the Writers’ Guild of America with Lester Cole and John Howard Lawson. Although later viewers and critics generally have not praised the majority of his motion-picture scripts for dramatic quality, they also point out that many of Ornitz’ screenplays offer perspectives on such issues as racism (Thirteen Women, 1932, and Imitation of Life, 1934, remade in 1959), prison abuse (Hell’s Highway, 1932), and the plight of immigrants separated from family (They Live in Fear, 1944).
Although Ornitz could openly express his Communist ideals via motion pictures, he remained critical of what he viewed as flaws in American society. For many years, he expressed sympathy for Josef Stalin and the latter’s Communist Party, rejecting reports of brutality and oppression as propaganda invented by Stalin’s opponents. When he eventually learned the reports were true, he was angered, but never lost faith in Marxism itself.
In 1947, Ornitz was one of several screenwriters accused of being Communists by and summoned to appear before the House Committee on Un-American Activities headed by Senator Joseph McCarthy. Although he obeyed his summons, he refused to answer questions, and was held in contempt of Congress. (Nine other writers, including Cole and Lawson, also acted as did Ornitz and together were nicknamed “the Hollywood Ten.”) Ornitz was sentenced to a year in prison and a fine of one thousand dollars. He was also blacklisted, and never again wrote a film script. After prison, Ornitz went back to the writing of novels. He died on March 11, 1957, from cancer in Woodland Hills, California.