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CBS News
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- CBS News
New exhibit explores the impact and legacy of the Hollywood blacklist
New York — The central question in 1947, as the House Un-American Activities Committee investigated alleged Communist influence in Hollywood, was: "Are you a member of the Communist Party?" Chaired by Republican Rep. John Parnell Thomas of New Jersey, the committee eventually led to a Hollywood blacklist, now the focus of a new exhibit at the New York Historical Society. "The exhibit really tells the story of the Hollywood Ten," Louise Mirrer, president of the New York Historical Society, told CBS News, of a group of 10 Hollywood writers and directors. "And the charge was for the Hollywood Ten, that they were making movies that espoused the Communist point of view." The Hollywood Ten refused to answer the committee's questions. They were held in contempt of Congress, each sentenced from anywhere between six months to a year in prison, and blacklisted by studio executives. "I think it had an enormous effect," Anne Lessy, who helped curate the exhibit, told CBS News of the impact of the blacklist. "If you wanted to be a part of the film industry, you essentially forfeited your privacy and your right to your own political ideas and affiliations." Screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, one of the Hollywood Ten, spent 10 months in prison. His daughter, Mitzi, was 5 years old at the time. Her drawings and letters to him are on display in the exhibit, as well as testimony from those who named suspected Communists. "In an effort to save themselves, their careers and their reputations, many, you know, creatives felt compelled to name names, which is what the committee wanted," Lessy said. Even Walt Disney famously testified before the committee. "Walt Disney very much objected to labor organizing that had taken place in his studios and blamed it on Communist infiltration," Lessy said. "And then you also have Ronald Reagan, who at the time, was president of the Screen Actors Guild. While he didn't name names in public, he did to the committee's investigator. And he went on to very much endorse the anti-Communist crusade." The blacklist later expanded to include classically trained pianist Hazel Scott, the first Black entertainer to have a nationally syndicated TV show. But the show was canceled after she was named in an anti-Communist pamphlet. Once out of prison, Trumbo used pseudonyms to write the Academy Award-winning films "The Brave One" and "Roman Holiday." "So it took about four the Academy Awards to finally recognize Dalton Trumbo," Lessy said. " was seen as the beginning of eroding of the committee's power." The impact of the Red Scare also extended beyond Hollywood. "A number of regular Americans got caught up in this anti-Communist fervor, members of labor unions, high school teachers," Lessy said. "College professors also came under scrutiny. There was a well-known publication called Red Channels that would provide very detailed information on a wide range of creatives. And so even just your name appearing in one of these publications was enough to get you blacklisted." By the 1960s, as the Red Scare had faded, so too did the blacklist's power. And in 1975, the House Un-American Activities Committee was abolished. "I think it [the Hollywood blacklist] raises important questions about how to protect a robust democracy," Lessy said. "How do we protect our rights and freedoms, particularly freedom of you hold unpopular views, should you be punished? Should you lose your job? These are all questions we should be wrestling with."
Time Out
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
First look: ‘Blacklisted: An American Story,' a new exhibit about the Hollywood Red Scare
Amid the Hollywood Red Scare nearly eight decades ago, Paul V. McNutt offered these words that still ring true today: 'It does not require a law to cripple the right of free speech. Intimidation and coercion will do it.' McNutt, who was serving as lead counsel for the Motion Picture Alliance, went on to explain that the film industry cannot be a free medium if it's called 'un-American' any time it introduces a new idea or produces a film critical of the status quo. His words, which encapsulate the Hollywood Blacklist era, are now part of a new exhibit at The New York Historical titled ' Blacklisted: An American Story.' It's on view at the Upper West Side museum through October 19, 2025; it's included with general admission ($24/adult). The museum began working on the exhibit two years ago in partnership with the Jewish Museum Milwaukee, where the show debuted. 'When The New York Historical decided to mount 'Blacklisted,' none of us could anticipate the timeliness of an exhibition that focused attention on the history of the Hollywood Red Scare,' the museum's president Louise Mirrer said in a statement. ''Blacklisted' can seem almost contemporary in its exploration of the intersection of politics, economics, art, and the social dynamics that impacted American First Amendment rights.' The exhibition digs into the Red Scare of 1945–1960, a time when political and corporate interests superseded the rights of speech and assembly. The movement began on the heels of the Great Depression, which prompted some Americans to engage in what were considered 'radical' politics. At that time, the Communist Party was the only interracial political party and the only party to support racial equality. None of us could anticipate the timeliness of an exhibition that focused attention on the history of the Hollywood Red Scare. It's worth noting that while Senator Joseph McCarthy is often associated with the Red Scare, this particular exhibit doesn't focus on him. Instead, it focuses on the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC), which began its work years before McCarthy was elected. That committee subpoenaed film stars and other entertainment leaders to testify about alleged Communist subversion in films, demanding that they 'name names,' a.k.a. snitch on others. Eventually, nine Hollywood screenwriters and one director refused to answer the committee's questions about their political affiliations. They became known as the Hollywood Ten. 'They were prepared to make appeals, go through the judicial system and believe they would be exonerated and maybe even celebrated as protectors of rights and freedoms,' curator Anne Lessy explained. Instead, the Hollywood Ten were sent to jail in 1950—even though there was no evidence for their sentence. The exhibition tells the story of their trials and even highlights personal letters they sent to their families while incarcerated. Many others in film were blacklisted for their political affiliations, often leading them to be denied employment, which destroyed careers, families and lives. Publications like The Hollywood Reporter printed names of suspected Communist sympathizers; the exhibition features front pages of the magazine with headlines like 'Film industry to ban all Reds.' Former FBI agents even created a publication called Red Channels, which listed page after page of suspected creatives, including Orson Welles and Langston Hughes—'even just appearing in Red Channels could make you vulnerable to being blacklisted,' Lessy added. One section of the exhibit, titled 'Talented and Targeted,' focuses on artists whose careers were upended by the blacklist. Some like actor Paul Robeson were well-known, but others such as musician Hazel Scott and actor John Garfield didn't get as much recognition as they deserved, Lessy said. For a New York City lens on the story, 'Blacklisted' highlights how Broadway and the theater community became an outlet for some blacklisted artists. As the show comes to a close, it explores how HUAC's powers waned over time. Eventually, blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo posthumously received the Academy Award for films he secretly penned either under pen-names or under the name of a friend— Roman Holiday and The Brave One. You can see his awards on view. What are the consequences for standing up to power or moments when dissent is punished? While the exhibit focuses on the Hollywood Red Scare, the movement didn't just target celebrities and public figures; it also went after labor union members, educators and other ordinary people, leaving them exposed and 'essentially doxxed by the federal government,' Lessy said. To her, 'Blacklisted: An American Story' offers a chance to explore 'how have other people battled over 'what does American democracy mean?' What are our rights, freedoms and protections? What are the consequences for standing up to power or moments when dissent is punished or there's a crackdown on creative expression? How do you navigate those periods and how also do they end?'
