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The Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals (formed in the early 1940s)
HUAC ARCHIVE ^ | Circa 1940

Posted on 09/17/2008 5:47:18 AM PDT by Liz


Leading Hollywood conservative Walt Disney.

The Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals was formed in the early 1940s by some of Hollywood's high-profile conservatives including director Sam Wood, Walt Disney, and Leo McCarey. When the House Un-American Activities Committee investigated the motion picture industry, the "friendly witnesses" came largely from the Alliance. Below is the organization's "Statement of Principles."

STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals.

We believe in, and like, the American way of life: the liberty and freedom which generations before us have fought to create and preserve; the freedom to speak, to think, to live, to worship, to work, and to govern ourselves as individuals, as free men; the right to succeed or fail as free men, according to the measure of our ability and our strength.

Believing in these things, we find ourselves in sharp revolt against a rising tide of communism, fascism, and kindred beliefs, that seek by subversive means to undermine and change this way of life; groups that have forfeited their right to exist in this country of ours, because they seek to achieve their change by means other than the vested procedure of the ballot and to deny the right of the majority opinion of the people to rule.

In our special field of motion pictures, we resent the growing impression that this industry is made of, and dominated by, Communists, radicals, and crackpots. We believe that we represent the vast majority of the people who serve this great medium of expression. But unfortunately it has been an unorganized majority. This has been almost inevitable. The very love of freedom, of the rights of the individual, make this great majority reluctant to organize. But now we must, or we shall meanly lose "the last, best hope on earth."

As Americans, we have no new plan to offer. We want no new plan, we want only to defend against its enemies that which is our priceless heritage; that freedom which has given man, in this country, the fullest life and the richest expression the world has ever known; that system which, in the present emergency, has fathered an effort that, more than any other single factor, will make possible the winning of this war.

As members of the motion-picture industry, we must face and accept an especial responsibility. Motion pictures are inescapably one of the world's greatest forces for influencing public thought and opinion, both at home and abroad. In this fact lies solemn obligation. We refuse to permit the effort of Communist, Fascist, and other totalitarian-minded groups to pervert this powerful medium into an instrument for the dissemination of un-American ideas and beliefs. We pledge ourselves to fight, with every means at our organized command, any effort of any group or individual, to divert the loyalty of the screen from the free America that give it birth.

And to dedicate our work, in the fullest possible measure, to the presentation of the American scene, its standards and its freedoms, its beliefs and its ideals, as we know them and believe in them.

ANOTHER VIEW The Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals (MPA) was an American organization of politically conservative movie workers who wanted to defend the film industry against Communist infiltration. The group was formed in 1944 and served as a body of supporters within the film industry that were willing to testify publicly against possible Communists in front of HUAC.

Famous members of the MPA include John Wayne, who served as president of the organization, co-founders Walt Disney, Leo McCarey, Sam Wood, and prominent actors Clark Gable, Ward Bond, Gary Cooper and Ronald Reagan. Sam Wood was the MPA's first president.

In the 1940s, Charles Coburn served as vice-president of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, a right-wing group opposed to Communists in Hollywood. Organized by Walt Disney in support of the Hollywood blacklist (anyone supporting the Communist Party, now known to have been directed by the Soviet Union), supported by, among others, John Wayne, Hedda Hopper, Adolphe Menjou, Ward Bond, Robert Taylor, and Ginger Rogers led to many talented actors, writers and directors forced out of Hollywood and deprived of their livelihood.

Author Ayn Rand wrote a pamphlet for the Alliance, entitled Screen Guide for Americans, where she wrote: The purpose of the Communists in Hollywood is not the production of political movies openly advocating Communism. Their purpose is to corrupt our moral premises by corrupting non-political movies--by introducing small, casual bits of propaganda into innocent stories- thus making people absorb the basic principles of Collectivism by indirection and implication. The principle of free speech requires that we do not use police force to forbid the Communists the expression of their ideas--which means that we do not pass laws forbidding them to speak. But the principle of free speech does not require that we furnish the Communists with the means to preach their ideas, and does not imply that we owe them jobs and support to advocate our own destruction at our own expense. Texts taken from The Passion of Ayn Rand by Barbara Branden, p. 199

For more information see: The Independent Producers Face the Hollywood Blacklist (link).


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS:
How far we have fallen from those 1940's ideals. Fast-forward to Hollywood of today.

Hollyweirdos obsession with religious cleansing of the culture continues unabated......what's left in their wake is a perverse sub-culture completely devoid of humanity. Imagine the LA train engineer, carrying hundreds of people, who is so selfish and empty-headed---so devoid of simple human emotion for his fellow-man---that he considers text-messaging more important than the safety of his passengers.

Surfing through movie channels---one sees formula films peopled by self-absorbed robotic actors yelling and screaming at each other----flaunting their emptiness, trying to make themselves as offensive as possible (and succeeding).

These individuals will do anything on film that will tear down social conventions. As the foundation of Western civilization falls brick by brick, Hollyweirdos are providing the battering ram.

1 posted on 09/17/2008 5:47:18 AM PDT by Liz
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To: Liz

Bump for later


2 posted on 09/17/2008 5:48:18 AM PDT by Sans-Culotte
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To: Liz

I thought they had long ago changed their name to:

The Motion Picture Alliance for the PERVERSION of American Ideals...


3 posted on 09/17/2008 5:48:40 AM PDT by WayneS (Vote Obama bin Biden 2008 - "Because the world doesn't suck enough yet".)
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To: Liz
Related:

Ayn Rand's HUAC Testimony:
http://www.noblesoul.com/orc/texts/huac.html

"Screen Guide for Americans" (A pamphlet Rand wrote to fight against Communist propaganda in movies): PDF, 1.8MB
http://archive.lib.msu.edu/DMC/AmRad/screenguideamericans.pdf

4 posted on 09/17/2008 5:57:49 AM PDT by CE2949BB (McCain/Palin 08)
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To: Fedora

Jane Russell----beautiful inside and out.

In her 1985 autobiography, Jane Russell revealed that she got pregnant at age 19 and had a back alley abortion that was so badly botched she almost died. Upon inspecting her in the emergency room her doctor exclaimed, "What butcher did this to you?" After that Russell was unable to conceive.

Since then Jane has taken a staunch pro-life stance against abortion. Though her screen image was that of a sex goddess, her private life lacked the sensation and scandal that followed other actresses of the time, such as Lana Turner.

Although in her autobiography Jane did admit that she had survived two attempted rapes unharmed, that her first marriage had been speckled with adultery (on both sides) and violence, and that she had been an alcoholic since she was a teenager.

She also revealed that she was a born-again Christian, one of the things that had helped her cope.At the height of her career, Russell started the "Hollywood Christian Group," a weekly Bible study at her home for Christians in the film industry that was attended by some of its biggest names.

She appeared occasionally on the Praise The Lord program on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, a Christian television channel based in Costa Mesa, California.

She was a prominent Republican who attended the Eisenhower inauguration along with Lou Costello, Dick Powell, June Allyson, Anita Louise, Louella Parsons and many more.

5 posted on 09/17/2008 6:06:26 AM PDT by Liz (Taxpayer: one who works for the govt but doesn't have to take a civil service test. R. Reagan.)
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To: Liz
Is this the one headed by Jeffrey Harharwood, from the Institute?
6 posted on 09/17/2008 8:32:15 AM PDT by Defiant (Pacifism and Socialism: Death and Taxes, just more of it.)
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To: All
Director producer Sam Wood (1883 - 1949) was the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals' first president. Despite his film achievements, Wood's contribution to American cinema have been largely ignored perhaps because of his dedication to conservativism. His testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947 angered liberals since it helped underline the perception of Communist infiltration in the film industry.

Wood's daughter is actress K. T. Stevens (who was married 24 years to actor Hugh Marlowe---The Day The Earth Stood Still). KT Stevens appears as Mrs O'Brien in the famous I Love Lucy segment in which Lucy pretends she is a chair.

Son CHRIS MARLOWE is a sportscaster, and captained the 1984 Olympic Gold Medal Volleyball team.

BACKSTORY Director producer Sam Wood (1883 - 1949) was the MPA's first president. Wood was a former real estate broker, and acted in two-reelers around 1908, under the name Chad Applegate; in 1915 Wood became an assistant director to mega-director Cecil B De Mille. In 1919 Wood went to Paramount. In the 20s he handled the films of superstars Gloria Swanson and Wallace Reid, and was seen as a master craftsman turning mediocre material into entertainment.

In the 30s at MGM, Wood directed such diverse films as the classic Marx Brothers' A Night at the Opera (1935) and the poignant Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939). In the 40s, he turned out hits such as Our Town (1940), Kitty Foyle (1940), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), The Pride of the Yankees (1942), Command Decision (1948), and the moving drama, Kings Row (1942) starring Ronald Reagan.

7 posted on 09/17/2008 9:53:02 AM PDT by Liz (Taxpayer: one who works for the govt but doesn't have to take a civil service test. R. Reagan.)
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