Joseph
Bromberg was
born
in Timisoara, part of the Austria-Hungarian
Empire, on 25 December, 1903. He moved to the United States and
eventually joined the Group Theatre in
New York led by Lee Strasberg. Members
of the group tended to hold left-wing political views and wanted to
produce plays that dealt with important social issues. Bromberg joined
the American Communist Party and in
1935 appeared with Elia Kazan in Waiting
for Lefty, a play by a fellow party member, Clifford
Odets.
Bromberg, like others involved in the Group
Theatre moved to Hollywood and appeared in his first film,
Star
for a Night,
in 1936. Over the next ten years Bromberg appeared in 46 films including
Three Sons
(1939), The
Mark of Zorro
(1940), and Phantom
of the Opera
(1943).
After the Second World War
the House of Un-American Activities Committee
began an investigation into the Hollywood Motion Picture Industry.
In September 1947, the HUAC interviewed 41 people who were working
in Hollywood. These people attended voluntarily and became known as
"friendly witnesses". During their interviews they named
several people who they accused of holding left-wing views. This included
Bromberg and several of those involved with the Group
Theatre including John Garfield,
Lee J. Cobb, Elia
Kazan, and Clifford Odets.
One of those named, Bertolt
Brecht, an emigrant playwright, gave evidence and then left for
East Germany. Ten others: Herbert Biberman,
Lester Cole, Albert
Maltz, Adrian Scott, Samuel
Ornitz, Dalton Trumbo, Edward
Dmytryk, Ring Lardner Jr., John
Howard Lawson and Alvah Bessie refused
to answer any questions.
