The Hollywood Blacklist Myth : March 2020

Harry Belafonte

Harry Belafonte’s Wikipedia page says he was “blacklisted during the McCarthy era” …Yeah, that’s a lie. Bear in mind, he was primarily a singer and stage performer who started his career in 1949.

1950

Signed with Jubilee Records.

1953

Debut at the jazz club the Village Vanguard

(Stage) John Murray Anderson's Almanac (Entire year)

(Film) Bright Road.(his first film)

Signed with RCA records

1954

(Musical album) "Mark Twain" And Other Folk Favorites 1954 which reached the number three slot on the Billboard charts

Wins a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Featured Role - Musical for "John Murray Anderson's Almanac."

(Film) Carmen Jones

1955

(Stage) 3 for Tonight (Entire year)

Empire Room of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel

(TV) General Electric Theater

(TV) Front Row Center

1956

(Musical album) Calypso

(Single) Calypso (Sold over 2 million copies in three month)

(Musical album) Belafonte

The 28th Annual Academy Awards (TV Special)

1957

(Musical album) Belafonte Sings Of The Caribbean

(Musical album) An Evening With Belafonte

(Musical album) The Versatile Mr. Belafonte

(Recording single hit) Mary's Boy Child

(Film) Island in the Sun.

1958

(Musical album) Harry Belafonte à Paris

(Musical album) To Wish You A Merry Christmas

(Musical album) Belafonte Sings The Blues

The Steve Allen Show

1959

(Film) Odds Against Tomorrow (co-producer)

(Film) The World, The Flesh and The Devil (producer)

(Musical album) Belafonte At Carnegie Hall (Best seller for three years)

(Musical album) Love Is A Gentle Thing

(Musical album) Lena Horne / Harry Belafonte - Porgy And Bess

(Musical album) Belafonte At Carnegie Hall: The Complete Concert

(Musical album) Excerpts From The Belafonte Carnegie Hall Concert

(TV Special) Tonight With Belafonte

(Stage) Moonbirds (Star and producer)

(Stage) Belafonte at the Palace

(Broadway) Belafonte at the Palace (Dec 15, 1959 - Mar 1960)

Langston Hughes’ name was first submitted to HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee) in 1944. The 2,000-page report accused Hughes of being involved in some way with 49 allegedly left-wing organizations.

On 26 March 1953, Hughes was called before HUAC to testify about his alleged involvement with the Communist Party.

Hughes was considered by many to be a “friendly” witness, and while he talked openly about his own political ideas (he had never joined the Communist Party, he explained, because the Party was “based on strict discipline and the acceptance of directives that I, as a writer, did not wish to accept”), but was careful not to name names.

Hughes effectively distanced himself from his previous involvement with leftist organizations, and his writing moved away from overtly political poems. He also omitted his more political poems from his Selected Poems (1959).

Dashiell Hammett

On 26 March 1953, Dashiell Hammett testified before HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee), where he was considered a hostile witness for refusing to answer questions for refusing to provide names of people he had associated with in organizations Senator Joseph McCarthy and HUAC considered dangerous to democracy.

Hammett had served in both WWI and WWII (he had volunteered for service in WWII, despite being 47 and still suffering from the tuberculosis he had contracted during WWI). After the War, Hammett had served as a chairman and President of the Civil Rights Congress (CRC), which tried to call attention to racial injustice in the US. The CRC was named a Communist organization in 1947.

The CRC posted bail for 11 men who were appealing convictions on conspiracy charges for “to advocate, abet, or teach the desirability of overthrowing the government.”

In 1951 Hammett was called to testify before Congress about the CRC’s involvement. Specifically, he refused to provide names of those who had contributed to the bail fund. Hammett invoked the Fifth Amendment but was cited for contempt and served 5 months in a Federal Prison.

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