Exhibit on Hollywood Blacklist

Re “ ‘We Behaved as Badly as Anybody,’ ” Feb. 2: It was interesting to read that during the so-called witch hunts in Hollywood of the ‘50s, many believed communists posed a real threat to the movie industry. Testimony from the era released last year by the National Archives indicates that communists had indeed infiltrated trade unions, inserted pro-communist messages into scripts and taught actors and directors how to portray pro-communist attitudes in their scenes. The evidence seems to be well established.

“Uncle Joe” Stalin stated, “Give me Hollywood and I will have the world!” Another left-wing icon, V.I. Lenin, said, “Film is the most sophisticated of all the arts. It must and shall become the foremost tool of the proletarian revolution.” What’s to argue?

Joseph A. Lea

Associate Professor

Instructional Media

Cal State Long Beach

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If the Communist Party wished to infiltrate an industry and targeted Hollywood, it could not have made a greater miscalculation, since its influence would have been open to public scrutiny before virtually the entire population of this country. This sorry chapter in our country’s history represents the triumph of emotion over reason, and represents a threat as current as today’s headlines.

Jerome Kleinsasser

Bakersfield

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Your engaging account of the Hollywood blacklist had one large omission. The “rest of the story” is how the blacklist was irretrievably broken by an actor-producer named Kirk Douglas. In 1958, Douglas finished shooting his now-classic story, “Spartacus.” But he was faced with a dilemma: Whose name to put on the screen as the writer? The actual writer was Dalton Trumbo. But Trumbo was on the blacklist. And whosoever dared put a blacklisted name on a film would face the fiery wrath of the movie establishment.

But finally Douglas said: “Dalton Trumbo wrote this film and his name goes on the screen.” This unanticipated act of audacity was greeted unwholesomely by many moguls. But by this action, Douglas broke the blacklist, forever. Some years ago, the Directors Guild of America honored him in a moving ceremony celebrating his courage.

After the film premiered, Douglas received a note from Trumbo, the paper still stained by his tears. The letter said: “Dear Kirk, thank you for giving me back my name.”

Jack Valenti

Chairman, Motion Picture Assn., Washington