Films of Hollywood had always been regulated in different forms, but the House of Un-American Activities (HUAC) became indirectly involved with its regulation. When the committee was established in 1938 by congress, its purpose was to investigate people suspected of unpatriotic behaviour. Under mandate from the House of Representatives and Senator Joseph McCarthy, the House was responsible for spotlighting communists.

The committee became inactive during the war years, but it returned revitalized under the leadership of J. Parnell Thomas, the New Jersey congressman. Several investigations were propelled into many different fields. But none gained more attention or awareness than the Hollywood Trials. By capitalizing on society's fascination with Hollywood by calling celebrities to testify, the House achieved instant publicity. It was assumed that Communists would infiltrate into motion pictures to use it as a weapon in education and the spread of propaganda. The HUAC was conscious of the number of Hollywood producers, directors, screenwriters and actors who had joined or aided the Communist Party during the Depression of the 1930s.

In 1947 the House began its investigation of communism in the motion picture industry, the hunt for reds. It is remembered as the beginning of Hollywood's worst nightmare. The Hollywood trials had three purposes.

First, it was set up to prove that the Screen Writers' guild also included Communist members.

Second, it deemed that these writers were able to insert traitorous propaganda into films. (As a footnote here, Hollywood has done just this recently with the film about the capture of the Enigma machine)

Third, Thomas asserted that President Roosevelt had sanctioned pro-Soviet films during the war. None of these affirmations lived through the trial, the outcome forced many talented and creative people to leave Hollywood.

In September of 1947, the Primary hearings of the Communist Infiltration of Hollywood Motion Picture Industry saw so-labelled "friendly witnesses" testifying. Known friendly witnesses were Jack Warner and Louis B. Mayer (representing the studio heads), Ronald Reagan (head of the Screen Actors Guild), Robert Montgomery, Lela Rogers (mother of Ginger Rogers), Walt Disney, Adolphe Menjou, Gary Cooper and Robert Taylor.

These men brought mass publicity and answered questions openly, willingly and honestly. They were treated with respect and many read pre-compiled answers. Not at any time were they under suspicion. Immediately, out of the 41 subpoenaed witnesses, the committee singled out nineteen known, leftist directors, producers, screenwriters and actors as enemies of the state or communists.

They were declared to be "unfriendly", meaning they would refuse to answer questions about their political beliefs. Eleven of the nine were questioned about their connection with the Communist party. As a direct result, their lives were greatly affected. Bertolt Brecht, the German emigrant playwright, was the only person of the eleven "unfriendly" witnesses who answered questions while on the stand. After claiming he wasn't a communist, he immediately returned to East Germany. The remaining ten "unfriendlys" acquired the name "The Hollywood Ten".

The Hollywood Ten consisted of one director (Edward Dmytryk) and nine screenwriters (Alvah Bessie, Herbert Biberman, Lester Cole, Ring Lardner Jr., John Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz, Samuel Ornintz, Adrian Scott and Dalton Trumbo). Claiming their Fifth Amendment rights at the stand, they refused to answer any and all questions. Gordon Kahn also used the same excuse for not answering.

The 5th Amendment guaranteed the Ten protection against self incrimination. This was a staple of safe ground during the hunt for communists. As well as the 1st Amendment which guaranteed freedom of association and free speech. These amendments convinced the public that the House trials created a threat to the fundamental liberties given and guaranteed to all by the Constitution, even though it was ridding America of communists.

The hearings were not hearings but trials for crimes that weren't crimes, a congressman served the positions of prosecutor, judge and jury. Testifying incriminated yourself and those who you named. Refusing to do so also incriminated you, for one was "guilty" by testifying to the crime and for not.

The "Committee for the First Amendment" (CFA) was established to counter what they claimed were baseless attacks on Hollywood by the HUAC. The fifty members of the CFA included Lauren Bacall, Groucho Marx, Ira Gershwin, Frank Sinatra, Ronald Reagan, John Huston, Danny Kaye, William Wyler, Gene Kelly, headed by Humphrey Bogart.

The Committee of 50 Hollywood writers, producers and actors chartered a plane to Washington, D.C. on October 24, 1947 in an attempt to lend support as the eleven unfriendly witnesses began to testify. It tried to assure the protection of rights for the Hollywood Ten and failed in an effort to protest the violation of Constitutional rights. It held press conferences in St. Louis, Chicago, Kansas City and on the steps of the HUAC.

The eleven unfriendly witnesses responded with theatrics more irrational than the congressmen, the CFA became embarrassed and began to alienate. It is said the Hollywood Ten lost all their support when Lawson began haranguing with committee members. The only thing achieved by the CFA was trouble for its members.

Bogart found his heroic image being damaged by his actions, defence of "impertinent subversives". In a desperate attempt to salvage his image, he published a piece in Photoplay Magazine, March 1948. It was entitled "I'm No Communist" [1], he admitted being "duped" [2]. His trip to Washington, he said, had been "ill-advised" [3]. Where he describes himself as "foolish and impetuous American." [4] The statement ["As the guy said to the warden, just before he was hanged:'This will teach me a lesson I'll never forget'. No, sir, I'll never forget the lesson that was taught to me in the year 1947 at Washington D.C. When I got back to Hollywood, some friends sent me a mounted fish and underneath it was written: ‘If I hadn't opened my big mouth, I wouldn't be here.'..."[5] ] worked, because Bogart went on to win an Academy Award for Best Actor in 1952, while the "Hollywood Ten" had to work undercover if the could find any work at all. John Garfield wrote a similar article called "I'm a Sucker for a Left Hook". Edward G. Robinson lamented that the Red made a sucker out of him.

In the beginning it wasn't clear whether the studios would punish unfriendly witnesses. But on sight of the federal government law enforcement machinery backing the HUAC, their response was decided. At the end of November, immediately after the ten went before the HUAC, the head of the major Hollywood studios and fifty executives gathered for a two-day secret meeting at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.

The situation and their future actions were debated. Realizing huge box losses no matter what outcome came from the HUAC findings, a decision was complied. On November 24, 1947, as one, they released a statement that the Hollywood Ten had been suspended without pay. The statement included "We, will not knowingly employ a Communist or a member of any party or group which advocates the overthrow of the Government of the United States by force, or by any illegal or unconstitutional method." Later the statement became an announcement firing the Ten and explaining that they would not rehire them until cleared by the committee.

The Hollywood Ten was faced with three choices. They could perjure themselves (claim that they had never been Communists), admit to membership of the Communist Party and start naming names of other Communists (due to their former membership, jobs would be lost and images would be of ratting on others) or refuse to answer all questions asked. Their decision was to refuse to answer any questions. The Fifth Amendment guaranteed the right to select the last option but the HUAC and courts during appeals disagreed. All ten were held in contempt of congress, each served between six and twelve months in jail. Although Edward Dmytryk did not serve the whole ruling, by cooperating with the HUAC.

Prominent leftists could find no jobs in the film industry. While the ten was in the federal penitentiary in 1951, the second series of hearings began in Washington and Hollywood under watch of John S. Wood, now the director of the HUAC.

A list of 324 people were compiled showing present and former Hollywood employees who were or had been Communists and part of the party. All stayed on the blacklist (n. a list of persons who are under suspicion, disfavour, or censure, or who are not to be hired, served, or otherwise accepted) [6] whether confirmed or not. The 212 people who were working when the list was released, instantaneously lost their jobs. Many found out about their blacklist by being simply banned from the studio lot.

The famous were not excused. Sam Jaffe was a lifelong non-Communist progressive, but was blacklisted for refusing to collaborate. He was reduced to teaching high school math and living with his sisters. This was a man who was nominated for an Oscar for The Asphalt Jungle (1950) and was w ell-known for his roles in Lost Horizon (1937) and Gunga Din (1939).

Screenwriter Arnold Manoff's wife Lee Grant (nominated for an Oscar for her role in Detective Story, 1951) was blacklisted for not testifying against him. As the Hollywood ten, many of the over 200 people called to testify refused to cooperate.

But others openly spoke about themselves and others, like (writers) Martin Berkeley and Leo Townsend who are said to have incriminated literally hundreds of people. Actor, Zero Mostel told the committee that he would speak on behalf of his actions but was forbidden by religious convictions to name other Communists.

Others like ex-Communists Budd Schulberg and Elia Kazan, felt it was patriotic to expose others. Kazan named Lillian Hellman, Dashiell Hammett, Clifford Odets, Pamela Miller, Morris Carnovsky, Pheobe Brand, Tony Kraber, J. Edward Branberg and many others. Lucille Ball got through the trial by babbling nonsense testimony.

The most pathetic attempt to ask the committee for mercy was made by Larry Parks. Parks known for such roles as the lead of The Al Jolsen Story, pleaded with the house on his hands and knees. Parks named Morris Carnovsky, Joe Bromberg, Sam Rossen, Anne Revere, Lee Cobb, Gale Sondergaard, Dorothy Tree, Howard Da Silva, Roman Bohnen (who was then dead), James Cagney, Sam Jaffe, John Garfield, Sterling Hayden, Andy Devine, Madeleine Carroll, Gregory Peck, Humphrey Bogart and Edward G. Robinson.

It turned out that big names mentioned like Peck and Bogart were actually speaking against communisium in the situations Parks recalled. Parks was blacklisted even after his many attempts not to be. His career was never revived.

Opposition to the hearings meant being branded as a "Communist sympathizer" and instant place on the blacklist. Blacklisting people became a full-time job. In 1954, the HUAC left Hollywood after condemning over 324 people. There was no official blacklist, studios continuously denounced the fact that blacklisting existed. Even though blacklisted actors were told that they didn't get a part because they were "too good".

"Red Channels" was a private pamphlet issued in New York about the broadcast, radio and television industry. It listed the names of people who performed on broadcast media, who the editors of "Red Channels" felt did not deserve to work because they were either Communists, travellers or pinkos. Almost all levels of production of films were affected. The content of movies became more cautious. During 1947 to 1954, Hollywood churned out over forty anti-Communist films filled to the brim with propaganda. Little to no money was made off these films, but the studios continued in fear of boycotts. Social problems weren't touched at all.

The Blacklisted who didn't or wouldn't clear themselves were unemployable and shunned. If one could get a passport, a blacklistee left the country. Writers used pseudonyms and engaged "fronts" (people who would sell the blacklistees' script as their own). Fronts and aliases couldn't bring in the same amount of money that the established writer once got. Studios took advantage of this situation. "Richard Rich" (actually Blacklisted Dalton Trumbo) failed to claim his Academy Award for Best Screenplay for The Brave One in 1956. Actors could not hide behind another name. Broadway was an outlet but not the same as film.

Most blacklisted actors deserted their first love and did any job that could be found. The blacklist took its toll on everyone connected to the members. Mental and physical distress, broken marriages, even suicides were all common to blacklistees. Clifford Odets could never write as he had before the listing. Committee appearances are said to be the cause of the deaths of John Garfield, J. Edward B romberg, Canada Lee and a dozen others. Character actor Philip Loeb committed suicide.

The tragedy of the Hollywood Trials were that so many talented people were unable to work for a decade of blacklisting. Red-haired character-actor Lloyd Gough's (known for Sunset Blvd, 1950) growing film career was cut short when he was blacklisted on the basis of alleged communist ties; likewise prohibited from working in films was Gough's wife, Karen Morley. She starred in M (1951), The 13th Hour (1947) and Pride and Prejudice (1940). The most immediate effect of Gough's blacklisting occurred in the opening titles of RKO's Rancho Notorious (1952); though Gough was prominently cast as the film's principal villain, RKO head man Howard Hughes, a rabid commie-hater, demanded that the actor's name be removed from the credits. He retreated from movies until a decade later.

Zero Mostel, known for Du Barry Was a Lady (1943), Panic in the Streets (1950), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966) and work on Broadway, had his career was amputated when he became a victim of Hollywood's McCarthy-era blacklisting, and he would not work again until the end of the decade.

The socially film conscious director, screenwriter and producer Herbert Biberman was banished from Hollywood for his views. His primary accusers were Budd Schulberg and Edward Dmytryk in the investigations. Biberman's wife Gale Sondergaard (who won an Oscar for Anthony Adverse, 1936) was similarly accused and she too refused to testify. In 1954, Biberman independently made Salt of the Earth with other blacklistees. It is a provocative, moving chronicle of the terrible working conditions faced by miners in New Mexico. Though the film was backed by the miner's union and employed real workers and their families, other unions refused to show the film because Biberman was still blacklisted. Four years later, Biberman made his last film, Slaves (1969), an adaptation of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Screenwriter Ring Lardner, Jr. shared an Oscar in 1942 for Woman of the Year and his career looked quite promising until he refused to cooperate with the witch-hunts. For his refusal, he was blacklisted until the mid '60s. Though officially banned from Hollywood, Lardner continued working under pseudonyms (aka. Philip Rush) and also worked uncredited.

In 1953, Ian McLellan Hunter won a Best Story Oscar for Roman Holiday acting as a "front" for blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo. Ironically, Hunter was himself hounded out of Hollywood during the Red Scare and forced to work pseudonymously until 1979.

Alvah Bessie's screen writing career was ruined by the blacklisting, and he never returned to Hollywood. He was known for a nomination of his Objective Burma! (1945).

Sidney Buchman is noted for his writing of sophisticated comedies such as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and Here Comes Mister Jordan. His high-flying career abruptly crashed in 1951. His refusal to provide other names led to the charge of contempt of Congress, a $150 fine, a year's suspended sentence, and subsequent blacklisting until the early 1960s.

Morris Carnovsky debuted on screen in The Life of Emile Zola (1937), he refused to admit or deny past membership in the Communist party, after which he was blacklisted in Hollywood. He did, however, appear in a film or two in the '60s and '70s.

Actor Jeff Corey''s film career ended abruptly in 1952 when he was unfairly blacklisted for his left-leaning political beliefs. To keep food on the table, Corey became an acting coach, eventually running one of the top training schools in the business (among his more famous pupils was Jack Nicholson). He was permitted to return to films in the 1960s.

Howard Da Silva played the bartender in the Oscar-winning The Lost Weekend (1945). As one of the most vocal and demonstrative of Hollywood's Left Wing, Da Silva became a convenient target for the HUAC. He could not face the cameras again until 1962's David and Lisa when the ban had been lifted.

Betty Garrett of My Sister Eileen fame had her career ruined for several years when her husband, Larry Parks, admitted that he had been a communist.

Upon his release from prison, one of the Ten, Samuel Ornitz was finished in Hollywood. Albert Maltz wrote the screenplay for Destination Tokyo (1944). In 1942, he wrote the script for the Oscar-winning documentary Moscow Strikes Back. Another documentary he wrote, The House I Live In won a special Academy Award in 1945. After refusing to cooperate with Congress in 1947, Maltz was sentenced to nearly a year in jail and was blacklisted. Though he continued to anonymously contribute to scripts, Maltz received no credit until 1967.

Marsha Hunt debuted on screen in The Virginia Judge (1935) at age 18. Hunt went on to become a very busy screen actress through the early '50s. During the witch hunts, she was blacklisted, and after 1952 she appeared in only a handful of films through the '80s, she turned up occasionally on television.

Gordon Kahn was known for writting Death Kiss (1933), Newsboy's Home (1939), World Premiere (1941) and Buy Me That Town (1941). An avowed communist, he helped organize such reactionary groups as the League of American Writers. From 1945 to 1947, Kahn and Trumbo edited "The Screen Writer," the house organ of the Screen Writers' Guild, which Kahn helped formulate in the 1930s. When the investigations began, he promptly lost his job at Warner Bros. As one of the "Hollywood 19," he was subpoenaed and brought to Washington by the HUAC as an unfriendly witness. When the "19" was whittled down to ten, Kahn was never called to testify. During the second HUAC hearings Kahn moved to Mexico rather than face another subpoena.

Screenwriter Lester Cole took on such alias as Gerald L.C. Copley, Lewis Copley and J. Redmond Prior when blacklisted. He was credit under his alias until his last film Born Free (1966).

Lillian Hellman was one of the more popular and influential playwrights of the '30s and '40s. In the early '50s, Hellman refused to testify with this response to the HUAC "I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashions." [7] As a result she was blacklisted.

Dashiell Hammett writer of The Maltese Falcon had his career destroyed by the HUAC in 1951 when they identified him as an active communist. Hammett did not cooperate during the hearings and spent six months in jail. Later the Internal Revenue service accused him of tax delinquency and Hammett never wrote again.

Adrian Scott was named by Edward Dmytryk. He had been nominated for producing Crossfire (1947) during the trial. As one of the Hollywood Ten, he was sentenced to a year in prison. Following his release, Scott was blacklisted and never worked in films again.

John Howard Lawson was a co-founder of the Screen Writers Guild in 1933; that year he also served as its first president. Many of Lawson's films were political and embraced socialistic concepts, such as his tribute to the US-USSR alliance formed during World War II, CounterAttack (1945). The Spanish Civil War was also a favorite topic for Lawson in films such as 1938's Blockade (also nominated for an oscar for best writing and original story). In 1948, Lawson became one of the notorious Hollywood Ten. He was sentenced to one year in prison and was subsequently blacklisted in Hollywood. Lawson then exiled himself to Mexico to hide from his blacklisting.

These are only a few of the 324 blacklisted persons of the Hearings of Communist Inflitration in the Motion Picture Industry. It is speculated that over 200 more were blacklisted through other forms in the media. These people are Academy-Award winners, classic film makers, and staples in the form of how films are made.

There is no complete list of the names of the banned, here is to name a few people that were definately blacklisted (the Hollywood Ten is in bold); Orson Bean, Herschel Bernardi, Walter Bernstein, John Berry, Alvah Bessie, Herbert J. Biberman, Charles Bickford, Marc Blitzstein, Joe Edward Bromberg, Phoebe Brand, Bertolt Brecht, Peter Brocco, Phil Brown, Sidney Buchman, Hugo Butler, Jean Butler, Morris Carnovsky, Lee Cobb, Lester Cole, Richard Collins, Jeff Corey, John Cromwell, Howard Da Silva, Edward Dmytryk, Paul Draper, John Henry Faulk (radio personality), Jerry Fielding, Betty Garett, Bernard Gordon, Lloyd Gough, John Garfield, Lee Grant, John Howard Lawson, Robert Lees, Philip Loeb, Josep h Losey, Marsha Hunt, Sam Jaffe, Paul Jarrico, Gordon Kahn, Victor Kilian, Howard Koch, Tony Kraber, Ring Lardner Jr., Louise Lewis, Albert Maltz, Arnold Manoff, Burgess Meredith, Lewis Milestone, Pamela Miller, Karen Morley, Zero Mostel, Jean Muir, Frank O'Connor, Clifford Odets, Samuel Ornitz, Alfred Palca, Larry Parks, Irving Pichel, Abraham Polonsky, Robert Presnell Jr., Ayn Rand, John Randolph, Martin Ritt, Anne Revere, Bob Roberts, Edward G. Robinson, Robert Rossen, Waldo Salt, Adrian Scott, Joshua Shelley, Gale Sondergaard, Frank Tarloff, Dorothy Tree, Dalton Trumbo, Michael Wilson, Richard Wright and Nedrick Young. So much talent was put on hold for a decade or more.

The 1947 investigation of Communist Infiltration of the Hollywood Motion Picture Industry brought about by the House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) denied the Motion Picture Industry of the United States of America much of its talent in the 1950s by blacklisting humanitarian idealists or so called "communists".