Spartacus, USA History, British History, Second World War, First World War, Germany,
McCarthyism, American Writers, Cinema, Teaching History, Author, Search Website, Email

 

Budd Schulberg, the son of the Hollywood movie producer, Benjamin Schulberg, was born in New York on 27th March, 1914.

After being educated at Dartmouth College, he became a screenwriter at Paramount. Schulberg held left-wing views and was a member of the Communist Party (1937-40). However, these views were not evident in his first two screenplays, Little Orphan Annie (1938) and White Carnival (1939).

Schulberg lost his job with Paramount. after the failure of White Carnival and he turned to writing novels. His first novel, What Makes Sammy Run? (1941), a satire of Hollywood power and corruption. He followed this with a novel about boxing, The Harder They Fall (1947).

In 1947 the House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) began an investigation into the Hollywood Motion Picture Industry. 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.

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.

Known as the Hollywood Ten, they claimed that the 1st Amendment of the United States Constitution gave them the right to do this. The House of Un-American Activities Committee and the courts during appeals disagreed and all were found guilty of contempt of congress and each was sentenced to between six and twelve months in prison. Others called before the HUAC were willing to testify and the screenwriter, Richard Collins, named Schulberg as a former member of the Communist Party.

When Schulberg heard the news he sent a telegram to the HUAC offering to provide evidence against former members of the Communist Party. When he appeared before the committee he named fifteen former comrades. He also explained how party members such as John Howard Lawson and Richard Collins had attempted to influence the content of his novel, What Made Sammy Run?

After giving evidence to the House of Un-American Activities Committee Schulberg was free to return to Hollywood scriptwriting. He worked with Elia Kazan, another former Communist Party member who named names, on the Academy Award winning film, On the Waterfront (1954). Other films include The Harder They Fall (1956) and A Face in the Crowd (1957). His autobiography, Moving Pictures: Memories of a Hollywood Prince was published in 1981.

---

 

(1) Budd Schulberg, telegram to House of Un-American Activities Committee (12th April, 1951)

I have noted the public statement of your committee inviting those named in recent testimony to appear before your committee. My recollection of my communist affiliation is that it was approximately from 1937 to 1940. My opposition to communists and Soviet dictatorship is a matter of record. I will co-operate with you in any way I can.

 

(2) In his testimony before the House of Un-American Activities Committee Budd Schulberg claimed that the Communist Party had tried to influence the content of his novel, What Makes Sammy Run? (April, 1951)

The feeling was that it was too individualistic; that it didn't begin to show what were called the progressive forces in Hollywood; and that it was something they thought should be either abandoned or discussed with some higher authority before I began to work on it.

Richard Collins and John Howard Lawson suggested I submit an outline and discuss the whole matter further. I decided I would have to get away from this if I was ever to be a writer. I decided to leave the group, cut myself off, pay no more dues, listen to no more advice, indulge in no more literary discussions, and to go away from the Party, from Hollywood, and try to write a book, which is what I did.

 

(3) Budd Schulberg was interviewed by Victor Navasky when he was writing his book, Naming Names (1982)

These people (those he named), if they had it in them, could have written books and plays. There was not a blacklist in publishing. There was not a blacklist in the theatre. They could have written about the forces that drove them into the Communist Party. They were practically nothing written. Nor have I seen these people interested in social problems in the decades since. They're interested in their own problems and in the protection of the Party.

 

 

Available from Amazon Books (order below)