The Hollywood Blacklist Myth : Doubtfully blacklisted: Lester Koenig

Doubtfully blacklisted: Lester Koenig

Lester Koenig, producer. Koenig occasionally worked in Hollywood, that needs to be established. The story that he was run out of Hollywood has no basis. He was a member of three communist front organizations: the League of American Writers, the Theatre Arts Committee, and the Committee for the First Amendment and was named as a member of the communist party during the 1947 HUAC hearings.

That same year, he started working in Hollywood and was the Writer/actor of Thunderbolt, a documentary short. While supposedly blacklisted in 1949, he was the associate producer The Heiress. In 1951 he was the associate producer Detective Story. In 1952 he was the associate producer Carrie and in 1953 he was associate producer Roman Holiday.

Between all that, in 1949 he established the famed label, Good Time Jazz Records and in 1951, Koenig founded Contemporary Records. In 1952 he purchased the Jazz Man label (Crescent Records had been merged into Jazz Man) Koenig produced nearly a hundred record between 1952 and 1959.

The problems we have with the Hollywood left

The problem we have with the Hollywood left is it's the notion that accepting differences is no longer good enough, you have to be complicit in them. The problem we have with the Hollywood left it's the notion that any differing opinion is a threat to your very way of existence but never the opposite. The problem we have with the Hollywood left is the blatant hypocrisy of claiming to care about democracy well on abashedly striving to take control of every step of the political process. The problem we have with the Hollywood left is the notion that any idea or opinion outside of your own ideology is morally repugnant and therefore needs to be silenced. The problem we have with the Hollywood left is the notion that your goals must be achieved using everyone resources regardless on whether they agree. The problem we have with the Hollywood left is their supporting of rights situationally when convenient and the outright rejection of those rights when it's in it's the inconvenient for you. The problem we have with the Hollywood left isthat somehow you know what's best for me enough to allow the government to make that choice for me The problem we have with the Hollywood left it's their failure to see the irony in labeling anyone different than yourself as an extremist or a fundamentalist. Originally written by Jason Blood. Edited for this page.

Just because someone’s name appeared in Red Channels, that doesn’t mean they were blacklisted. It just means there name appeared in Red Channels.

Just because a person said they were blacklisted doesn’t mean they were. Many people in Hollywood have lied about being blacklisted over the years.

If a person was actually blacklisted…and not many were actually blacklisted….it was the studios and TV sponsors who blacklisted them. Not the United States federal government.

If a person claims the blacklist ruined their career, they should be able to prove they had a career before the blacklist.

For the most part, front organizations assumed the character of either a mass or membership organization or a paper organization. Both solicited and used names of prominent persons. Literally hundreds of groups and organizations have either been infiltrated or organized primarily to accomplish the purposes of promoting the interests of the Soviet Union in the United States, the promotion of Soviet war and peace aims, the exploitation of Negroes in the United States, work among foreign-language groups, and to secure a favorable viewpoint toward the Communists in domestic, political, social, and economic issues. The first requisite for front organizations is an idealistic sounding title. Hundreds of such organizations have come into being and have gone out of existence when their true purposes have become known or exposed while others with high-sounding names are continually springing up. J. Edgar Hoover on the subject of Communist front organizations. March 26, 1947