Johannes Eisler, spy

  

Johannes Eisler’s brother, Gerhart, was a Communist journalist and his sister, Elfriede, was a leader of the German Communist Party in the mid-1920s. At age 14 Eisler joined a socialist youth group (His sister later moved to the US turned into an anti-communist, writing books against her former political affiliation, and even testifying against her brothers before the House Un-American Activities Committee.)

Eisler arrived in the US in 1938. B y the early 1940s he was composing with Bertolt Brecht in Hollywood as well as music for various documentary films and for eight Hollywood film scores, two of which — Hangmen Also Die! and None but the Lonely Heart — were nominated for Oscars in 1944 and 1945. From 1927 to the end of his life, Eisler wrote the music for 40 films, making film music the largest part of his compositions after vocal music for chorus and/or solo voices.

From 1943 onwards, the FBI would keep Eisler under almost total surveillance as his over-six-hundred-page FBI file attests. In 1946, Eisler and his brother Gerhart, a functionary of the KPD, who had been in America since 1941 were the subject of a furious press campaign. Eisler was called before the Committee to find that he had been denounced by none other than his own sister Elfriede, now using the name Ruth Fischer. She also began taking out full-page ads in newspapers across the country accusing her brother Gerhart of having murdered Soviet politician Nikolai Bukharin and of being a nuclear spy for the Soviet Union.

Eisler was interviewed twice by the House Committee on Un-American Activities, who suspected him to be the chief Soviet agent in Hollywood. Perhaps the most powerful moment of Eisler’s testimony was when he faced repeated questioning as to whether he was officially a Communist Party member. He stated passionately that “The Communists have sacrificed so much and fought so heroically, I would be a swindler if I called myself a Communist, I have no right to say this, the Communist underground workers in every country, they are heroes! I am not a hero I am a composer.”

 

Charlie Chaplin, Igor Stravinsky, Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein—organized benefit concerts to raise money for his defense fund, but he was deported early in 1948. He died in 1963, however was never Blacklisted ad continued to sell his works until 1961.

 1962Esther (TV Movie)

 1962The Life of Galileo (TV Movie)

 1961Aktion J (Documentary)

 1961Schweyk im zweiten Weltkrieg (TV Movie)

 1960Herr Puntila and His Servant Matti

 1960The Opportunists

 1958Geschwader Fledermaus

 1957Katzgraben

 1957The Crucible

 1956Night and Fog (Documentary short)

 1955Bel Ami

 1955Bel-Ami Der Frauenheld von Paris

 1954Schicksal am Lenkrad (as Hans Eisler)

 1952Frauenschicksale

 1952Krízová trojka

 1951Wilhelm Pieck - Das Leben unseres Präsidenten (Documentary)

 1950Der Rat der Götter

 1949Our Daily Bread

Bertolt Brecht before the HUAC

Philip Loeb killed himself

On  September 1, 1955, actor and director Philip Loeb took a room at the Taft Hotel at 50^th and Seventh Avenue in Manhattan under the name “Fred Lange” which means “a long peace in German, and ended his life with an overdose of 36 sleeping pills.

In April 1952, four years before Loeb took his own life, director Elia Kazan named Loeb as a communist in his testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Kazan and Lee J. Cobb gave information on his radical political activity in the 1930s. Cobb testified that he did not know if Loeb was a former member of the American Communist Party but he accused him of working with Sam Jaffe to control a left-wing caucus in the Actors Equity Association.

Supposedly Loeb was blacklisted due to Kazan’s testimony and unable to find work. But he had actually been named as a communist in the June 1950 edition of  Red Channels, in a section called “The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television”

Loeb denied being a Communist. The studios and the networks wanted him gone because for them, he was a trouble maker, a strong union advocate who had fought to get rehearsal pay and better salaries for all actors. The FBI had determined that although Loeb leaned extremely far left, he had never been a communist.

At the time, Loeb was at the height of his popularity starring in The Goldberg’s  a TV smash hit. (Where he made $20,000 a year) General Foods, the sponsors of The Goldberg’s, insisted that he be dropped from the show's cast.  The producer refused to fire Loeb so CBS dropped the program which was immediately picked up by NBC, with the condition that Loeb be replaced.   Loeb resigned on his own and left the show with a settlement of almost $400,000 at a time when a healthy years income for a family of three was $3,300.

Loeb landed  the lead role in the Broadway production of "Time Out for Ginger". Being named a communist and leaving his TV show with a half a million dollars didn’t cause Loeb to kill himself. He was badly despondent of his wife’s recent death, his own health was failing rapidly, and his adult son’s mental health was growing steadily worse. (He was delusional and saw communist spies everywhere, all of whom intended to kill him.) His sons hospitalization cost him $12,000 a year.

 The week before he killed himself, the State of new York sent Loeb a summons  to account for $1,000 in back taxes.  Loeb responded that he had less than $220.00 in the back, which seems highly unlikely.

friend of the court

[Norman Mailer] was hoping to have many of the most important people in Hollywood sign an amicus curiae—friend of the court—brief, which could be presented with an appeal to the Supreme Court before the Hollywood Ten were put in jail like common criminals by HUAC. His speech was wonderful, and everyone in the room was shoving money at him. Shelley [Winters] and I each gave him a check for $100 and ran to get the car because we were late for dinner.

After an exhaustive campaign, Shelley finally succeeded in getting George Stevens to give her a screen test for A Place in the Sun. She called Norman the night before the test and asked if they could have dinner. She desperately needed to pick his brains because she had not done her homework. She had not read Dreiser’s An American Tragedy, on which the movie was based. Her justification for this laziness was that an important American writer could give her insights she might overlook on her own. She went to Norman’s house, and they spent the evening discussing the story and her character. Whatever he told her must have helped, because she got the part. As she was leaving Norman’s, he gave her back the checks we had written at the Kellys’ and told her he had torn up the brief. He had wanted to get some blockbuster names that evening, but she and I were the only ones who signed it. He didn’t deposit our checks, either. Everyone else had donated cash.“— Farley Granger, Include Me Out.

Leninade

Jazz pianist Hazel Scott appears either not to have been very bright or was found of word games.

Scott's name appeared in Red Channels in June 1950. In an effort to clear her name, Scott voluntarily appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee on September 22, 1950.

She denied that she was "ever knowingly connected with the Communist Party or any of its front organizations." …except for the time she endorsed and worked for Communist Party member Benjamin J. Davis's run for City Council.

Her argument was that it was okay because Davis was supported by socialists, a group that "has hated Communists longer and more fiercely than any other."

Morris Carnovsky

Morris Carnovsky was a stage and film actor. He was one of the founders of the  Communist front, the Group Theatre (1931-1940) Named as a communist, he left Hollywood in 1952. He left on his own accord. No matter what Wikipedia says, he wasn’t blacklisted largely because as a stage actor he didn’t really have a career in films.  From 1937 through 1949, he had small parts in 15 films and one television program. He made four films in 1950. In April of 1951, he appeared before the HUAC and refused to say whether he is or ever has been a Communist, even after HUAC investigator confronted him with his party ID card,  No. 43975.

1959

The World of Sholom Aleichem (TV Movie)

Play of the Week (TV Series)

1958

The Cold Wind and the Warm (Dec 08, 1958 - Mar 21, 1959)

1957

Nude With Violin (Nov 14, 1957 - Feb 08, 1958)

The Taming of the Shrew (Feb 20, 1957 - Mar 10, 1957)

Measure for Measure (Jan 22, 1957 - Feb 17, 1957)

1956

The Lovers (May 10, 1956 - May 12, 1956)

1955

Tiger at the Gates (Oct 03, 1955 - Apr 07, 1956)

1951

An Enemy of the People (Dec 28, 1950 - Jan 27, 1951)

1950

Cyrano de Bergerac (film)

The Second Woman(film)

Western Pacific Agent(film)

Gun Crazy(film)

Producer Mark Goodson

“In 1952, our panel show "I've Got a Secret" Henry Morgan was named in Red Channels, but for such a frivolous reason that no one -- not even CBS -- took it seriously. Morgan was essentially an apolitical curmudgeon who shot darts at any pompous balloon he saw floating by. Certainly he was no "Communist dupe." The closest he came to being duped was by his wife, who, Morgan told me, was a leftist sympathizer, and it was understood that one reason Morgan was getting a divorce was his aversion to Mrs. Morgan's politics. Thus he was listed in Red Channels as a result of a marital connection he was trying to terminate.

But R. J. Reynolds took the listing seriously. At least the William Esty agency did, and I was informed that Morgan would have to go. I'd done previous business with the two men in charge of the account -- reasonable, decent guys -- and paid them a visit. They agreed completely that the charge in Red Channels was nonsensical. But as they put it: "Camel cigarettes don't want to know from reasons. They're in the business of selling tobacco, and hostile mail will make Winston-Salem edgy." The account could be at risk. And for what? For one man? I left that meeting with an ultimatum: dump Morgan pronto or Reynolds would cancel.”

 At roughly the same time, over at ABC, I had another show called "The Name's the Same." For whatever reason, no doubt budgetary, ABC did not maintain an elaborate monitoring department, and it soon became clear that here was a venue where I could use otherwise blacklisted performers. I remember booking Judy Holliday, Jack Gilford and others who were not permitted appearances elsewhere. And I put Abe Burrows on as a regular.

Burrows was a brilliant comedy writer known for "Duffy's Tavern" on radio, and he was a co-author of "Guys and Dolls," the 1950 Broadway hit. But he still couldn't be used in television. During the war years Burrows had apparently taken part in cultural activities sponsored by Communists in California. To clear his name, he appeared twice before the House Un-American Activities Committee. The committee, after extensive hearings, released Burrows, apparently cleared, from further questioning. But the mere story of his appearance before the committee made headlines in the tabloid press, and Aware Inc., a group formed "to combat the Communist conspiracy in entertainment-communication," and the American Legion were not so forgiving. So when we booked Burrows on "The Name's the Same," it wasn't long before organized mail began to roll in. A sponsor of that program was a privately held Midwestern company, C. A. Swanson & Sons, makers of Swanson frozen TV dinners.

The mail demanding Burrows's expulsion continued to escalate. We were receiving upward of a thousand letters a week. I quietly dropped them in wastebaskets hoping that protest groups would tire of the battle. No such luck. The mail increased. In addition, the Catholic War Veterans began to picket the theater in New York where the show was broadcast. I kept waiting for a call from the sponsor, and it finally came from Omaha.

"Are you getting mail about Abe Burrows?" he asked. I conceded that we were. "We're getting a lot of it back here," he said, worried. "Is Burrows a Communist?" I replied that to my best knowledge he was not. "In that case, what's the shooting about?" he asked. I filled him in on Abe's story. "If that's what it's all about," he said, "forget it. If you feel like it, keep on using him."

In 1951 the Authors' League of America

In 1951 the Authors' League of America indicated that it had "positive proof" of blacklisting. Yet the majority of writers who "knew for sure" that blacklisting was rife declined to testify before the Federal Communications Commission. As Cogley said: "The dangers of reprisal are too great."

OR MAYBE IT JUST DIDN’T EXIST

Ossie Davis was never blacklisted

Stage actor Ossie Davis was named as a communist in Red Channels in 1953. In 1958  he subpoenaed to testify at a New York HUAC hearing. At no time in the decades of 1950s was he out of work.

1959

A Raisin in the Sun (Belasco Theatre, 1959) – Walter Lee Younger (replaced Sidney Poitier)

1957

Jamaica (Imperial Theatre, 1957) – Cicero

Montgomery Footprints (Local 1199, 1957)

writer

The Union Democracy Built (Local 1199, 1957)

writer

1956

*No Time for Sergeants (Alvin Theatre, 1956) – A Lieutenant (also Asst. Stage Manager, replaced Earle Hyman)

What Can You Say to Mississippi (Local 1199, 1956)

Writer

1955

Kraft Theatre (TV Series)

The Emperor Jones

The Emperor Jones (TV Movie)

The People of Clarendon County, Chicago: Third World Press, 2007 (Local 1199, 1955)

writer

1953

The Joe Louis Story

(uncredited)

Touchstone (The Music Box, 1953) – Dr. Joseph Clay

The Big Deal (New Playwrights Company, Yugoslav Hall, 1953)

writer

1952

Jezebel’s Husband (Westport, CT, pre-Broadway tryout tour, 1952)

Alice in Wonder (Elks Theatre, 1952)

Writer

1951

Fourteen Hours (uncredited)

 Showtime, U.S.A. (TV Series)

The Royal Family (City Center)

The Green Pastures (Broadway Theatre)

Remains to Be Seen (Morosco Theatre )

1950

No Way Out- uncredited

*The Wisteria Trees (Martin Beck Theatre)

Irwin Corey was never blacklisted.

Irwin Corey was never blacklisted. Cory was primarily a stand-up comic who worked the club circuit. He was a loud supporter of  Communist/Socialist left-wing politics. He was a dedicated supported of Cuban children and the American Communist Part. 

He said that when not performing, he panhandled for change from motorists exiting the Queens–Midtown Tunnel. Every few months, he told the interviewer, he donated the money to a group that purchased medical supplies for Cuban children. 

He said of the drivers who supplied the cash, “I don’t tell them where the money’s going, and I’m sure they don’t care.”

Cory liked to play the victim and complained that he blacklisted, in fact he never returned to Late Night with David Letterman after his first appearance in 1982, which he claimed was a result of the blacklist still being in effect.

He lived in an 1840 carriage house on East 36th Street estimated to cost in or about $4,000,000.00

He was drafted during World War II, but was discharged after six months, after he claimed he convinced an Army psychiatrist that he was a homosexual. he thought that was funny.

1959

The Phil Silvers Show (TV Series, two appearances )

The Jack Paar Tonight Show (TV Series)

One Night Stand (TV Series, two appearences)

1958

Omnibus (TV Series, two appearances)

The Jack Paar Tonight Show (TV Series, two appearances)

1957

The Steve Allen Plymouth Show (TV Series)

1956

The Edge of Night (TV Series)

The Jack Paar Tonight Show (TV Series)

The Steve Allen Plymouth Show (TV Series)

  

1954

Your Chevrolet Showroom (TV Series, appearances)

1953

Mrs. McThing (Feb 20, 1952 - Jan 10, 1953)

Broadway Play

1952

Mrs. McThing (Feb 20, 1952 - Jan 10, 1953)

Broadway Play

1951

Showtime, U.S.A. (TV Series)

General Electric Guest House (TV Series)

Cavalcade of Bands (TV Series)

Flahooley (May 14, 1951 - Jun 16, 1951)

Broadway play

1950

Cavalcade of Stars (TV Series, 2 appearances)

Happy as Larry (Jan 06, 1950 - Jan 07, 1950)

Broadway play

Bromberg had been “blacklisted” for a total of five month before he died.

Joseph Edward Bromberg wasborn Josef Bromberger, December 25, to a Jewish family in Temeschburg (Temesvár), Austria-Hungary (now Timișoara, Romania)

Bromberg made his screen debut in 1936 under contract to Twentieth Century-Fox who dropped him in 1941. After that he bounced around Hollywood picking work where he could. His last film, a walk on part, was in 1949.

In September 1950, Red Channels wrote, correctly, that Bromberg was a member of the American Communist Party. Elia Kazan later named him as a fellow traveler in the party. He was subpoenaed to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in June 1951 but refused to answer any questions. Later that year, he went to England, but died shortly after his arrival of a heart attack. He was working in theater on the day he died.