Posted on 01/27/2015 7:45:22 AM PST by Academiadotorg
With the war on Islamic terrorism being portrayed as a righteous cause in “American Sniper,” the Clint Eastwood film breaking box office records, a book which documents the days when Hollywood was a mouthpiece for communist propaganda might seem out of date. But Allan H. Ryskind’s book, Hollywood Traitors, is a reminder that Hollywood can’t always be counted on to take America’s side in a war, even a World War when the United States faced dictators by the names of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin.
The Ryskind book, published by Regnery, documents how the much-maligned House Committee on Un-American Activities, known as HUAC, uncovered dramatic communist infiltration of Hollywood and forced the studios to clean house.
Ryskind calls HUAC’s investigation of Hollywood in 1947 and 1950 “one of the most effective, albeit controversial, probes ever carried out by any committee of Congress.” He adds, “HUAC had revealed that Hollywood was packed with Communists and fellow travelers, that the guilds and the unions had been heavily penetrated, and that wartime films, at least, had been saturated with Stalinist propaganda. Red writers were an elite and powerful group in Hollywood—many of them working for major studios.”
He writes that, “HUAC, though bruised by elite opinion, had won the support of the American people and a victory over Hollywood Communists, fellow travelers, and the important liberals who supported them.” Members of Congress involved in HUAC did their jobs, in the face of opposition from “the East coast establishment newspapers” like The New York Times and The Washington Post.
The book reminds us that the Hollywood agents of Stalin had also been “Allies of Hitler,” a threat symbolized on the book cover by a Hollywood director’s chair featuring a Nazi swastika. The Hitler-Stalin Pact of 1939-1941 had paved the way for World War II.
(Excerpt) Read more at aim.org ...
Stalin was an "ally" in WWII. Our help was significant in helping his army defeat Hitler. Yes, he became an official enemy right after the war.
it’s good that you use ally in quotes
Unfortunately, it only stayed clean for about two minutes.
Allan Ryskind’s father Morrie was a Hollywood screenwriter who worked on these films...
The Cocoanuts (1929) (starring the Marx Brothers)
Animal Crackers (1930) (starring the Marx Brothers)
A Night at the Opera (1935) (starring the Marx Brothers)
My Man Godfrey (1936)
Stage Door (1937)
Room Service (1938) (starring the Marx Brothers)
His Girl Friday
Thanks for this post...very interesting! So also is the book entitled, Blacklisted by History, about Joe McCarthy, and how much of what he-—and HUAC—did being very much right on!
Sen Joe McCarthy's campaign to expose and rid Hollywood of commies has be derided (a concerted campaign by the leftists themselves, I suspect), but he was right and we could sure use him now - to cleanse Hollywood and DC.
RE:”.....Hollywood Communists, fellow travelers, and the important liberals who supported them...”
Some things never change, do they...
you are most welcome and that is a great book.
McCarthy was a senator. HCUA was from the House of Representatives. Read up on it.
What will probably be noted in the book is that friendly witnesses such as Allen Ryskind's father, Morrie Ryskind, also suffered a blacklist by the vengful Commies. A part of that Hollywood history little mentioned. Ayn Rand commented bitterly that Morrie Ryskind had more work than he could handle [before his HUAC testimony], but after he testified he never worked again. Friendly witness Adolph Menjou was smeared as an antisemite. The only reason that Ayn Rand did not suffer this reverse blacklist was because she was under contract to Hall Wallis at the time. Ayn Rand also wanted to testify about the Communists sneaking messages into such films as "The Best Years of our Lives," but congressman Thomas was afraid of such testimony. Ronald Reagan had to sleep with a gun under his pillow at that time, too. As SAG president he was in that much danger.
A few years after the hearing, Adolph Menjou had nothing but positive things to say about Jewish director Stanley Kubrick who directed Menjou in ‘Paths of Glory’ (a great film in which Menjou was great).
Stalin didn’t become a ally until June of 41, until then he was on Hitler’s side.
Tailgunner Joe was involved with cleaning out the infiltration at Department of State and a Vice President. Nixon was also in on that.
Churchill made the remark about making a deal with the devil to defeat Hitler. He knew at the moment the biggest devil was Hitler, but he knew after the war the Stalin would quickly replace Hitler as the biggest evil. Of course, he was correct.
Freepers know what effective ad hominem abusive tactics the Commies and Neo Commies are able to perform. Hell! Look at the smears about Sen. Joe McCarthy still being said. The Communist "Daily Worker" invented term of mccarthyism, for instance.
"Thank God someone is doing it."
J. Edgar Hoover commenting on Sen. McCarthy's investigations into Communist subversion (A quote generally ignored by history textbooks).
I’d always thought the term came from Washington Post cartoonist Herbert Block?
He unfunny cartoonist tried to take credit for it; however, late security expert Robert Morros traced the orgin of that term to the "Daily Worker." Roy Cohn also said the term Mccarthyism was from the "Daily Worker."
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