Hollywood blacklist
-
What was the Hollywood blacklist?
The Hollywood blacklist was a list of media workers ineligible for employment due to alleged communist or subversive ties. Hollywood studios generated the list in the late 1940s and 1950s.
Fueled by post-World War II anticommunist fervor, the blacklist emerged from investigations into Hollywood, particularly by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Those who refused to cooperate with the committee risked being blacklisted, ending their careers. The blacklist effectively brought media workers under suspicion and fear. By the early 1960s, as anticommunism subsided, the Hollywood blacklist was slowly discontinued.
3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Why did people in Hollywood get blacklisted?
The Hollywood blacklist was a list of media workers who were ineligible for employment due to alleged communist or subversive ties.
Fueled by anticommunist sentiments after World War II, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) targeted the media, suspecting communist infiltration. Studios, wanting to prove their patriotism and avoid economic fallout, implemented the blacklist.
In 1947, ten individuals refused to testify before HUAC and were jailed and blacklisted. HUAC continued its investigations, pressuring people to name suspected communists. Groups like the American Legion also influenced the blacklist. The blacklist era ended in the early 1960s.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Who were the Hollywood Ten?
The Hollywood Ten were a group of 10 motion-picture producers, directors, and screenwriters who appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in October 1947. They refused to answer questions regarding their possible communist affiliations.
Cited for contempt of Congress, they were blacklisted by Hollywood studios after serving prison time. The ten were Alvah Bessie, Herbert Biberman, Lester Cole, Edward Dmytryk, Ring Lardner, Jr., John Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz, Samuel Ornitz, Adrian Scott, and Dalton Trumbo.
The Hollywood blacklist was a list of media workers ineligible for employment because of alleged communist or subversive ties. It was generated by Hollywood studios in the late 1940s and ’50s.
5 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How did the government get involved in the Hollywood blacklist?
During the post-World War II era, as anticommunist sentiments surged in the United States, both government entities and private individuals targeted the media, suspecting it of subversive infiltration.
The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) began investigating Hollywood in 1947, questioning individuals about their own and their colleagues' alleged communist affiliations. The Hollywood Ten, a group who refused to testify, were imprisoned for contempt of Congress. Subsequently, the Association of Motion Picture Producers announced that no subversive individuals would be knowingly employed, thus creating the Hollywood blacklist.
In addition to the HUAC, groups such as the American Legion monitored the entertainment industry and identified suspected subversives.
3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What were the effects of the blacklist on actors and writers?
The Hollywood blacklist emerged in the late 1940s amidst America's post-World War II anticommunist fervor. Hollywood studios generated lists of media workers deemed ineligible for employment due to alleged communist or subversive ties. The blacklist devastated the careers of many talented individuals in the film industry, with even a hint of suspicion sufficient to end a career.
The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) investigated alleged communist influence in Hollywood, subpoenaing members of the film industry and asking about their own and their associates' activities. Those who refused to cooperate risked being blacklisted and even jailed. Some, known as the Hollywood Ten, were imprisoned for contempt of Congress and largely blacklisted by Hollywood studios.
3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How did the Hollywood blacklist come to an end?
The Hollywood blacklist, barring media workers with alleged communist ties from employment, began to dissipate in the early 1960s as the fervor of anticommunism waned.
Several factors contributed to its end:
* Weakening of Anticommunist Crusade As the intensity of the anticommunist movement decreased, the studios gradually discontinued the practice of blacklisting.
* Dalton Trumbo Dalton Trumbo, a blacklisted screenwriter, received full credit for writing the screenplays for Exodus (1960) and Spartacus (1960). This action broke the McCarthy-era stigma and helped bring an end to the blacklist.
* Films About the Blacklist Hollywood itself created films such as Guilty by Suspicion (1991) and The Front (1976), which served as a commemoration of the blacklist era.5 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Hollywood blacklist, list of media workers ineligible for employment because of alleged communist or subversive ties, generated by Hollywood studios in the late 1940s and ’50s. In the anticommunist furor of post-World War II America, many crusaders—both within the government and in the private sector—targeted the media as a site of subversive infiltration. The blacklist was implemented by the Hollywood studios to promote their patriotic credentials in the face of public attacks and served to shield the film industry from the economic harm that would result from an association of its product with subversives. Though many of the entries on the blacklist were the result of rumors, the hint of suspicion was enough to end a career.
Congressional accusations of communist influence in the film industry began in 1941, when Senators Burton Wheeler and Gerald Nye led an investigation of Hollywood’s role in promoting Soviet propaganda. Wendell Willkie, the lawyer who defended the studios, revealed the senators’ conflation of Judaism with communism, casting the senators as anti-Semites rather than patriots. Those hearings anticipated the much more infamous and influential investigations that would take place after World War II.
In 1947 the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) began its investigation into Hollywood. Of the individuals subpoenaed by the committee that year, 10 refused to testify. Referred to as the Hollywood Ten, they were indicted for contempt of Congress and sentenced to brief imprisonment. Although the leaders of the motion picture studios had initially supported the Hollywood Ten, they soon denounced them, and the Hollywood Ten were suspended without pay. Shortly thereafter it was announced that no subversive would be knowingly employed in Hollywood. The Hollywood blacklist was born.
" height="20" alt="HEW Logo">
The HUAC continued to subpoena members of the film industry in the 1950s, asking questions not only about their own activities but also about fellow workers. One-third of those subpoenaed cooperated with the committee, which often meant accusing friends and coworkers, and those who did not cooperate risked going to jail and being blacklisted.
In addition to the HUAC, private groups monitored the entertainment industries and published articles and pamphlets that identified subversive individuals. Perhaps the most powerful of those groups was the American Legion, which not only disseminated information about communist associations of media workers but also encouraged its 2.8 million members to picket movies made by people who had not cooperated with the HUAC.
As the anticommunism crusade subsided in the early 1960s, the Hollywood blacklist was slowly discontinued. Hollywood itself has commemorated the days of the blacklist in films like Guilty by Suspicion (1991) and The Front (1976). Those movies reinforce the popular notion of the blacklist as a blight on the history of American entertainment, a time when the film industry pandered to the hysteria of both the HUAC and private anticommunist organizations. As part of the wider sweep of anticommunist activities of the postwar period, the Hollywood blacklist brought media workers into the web of suspicion and fear that characterized the era.
The trusted destination for professionals, college students, and lifelong learners.
SUBSCRIBE
