Show Trial (eBook)

Hollywood, HUAC, and the Birth of the Blacklist

Thomas Doherty (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2018
Columbia University Press (Verlag)
978-0-231-54746-8 (ISBN)

Infos

Thomas Doherty tells the story of the 1947 hearings into alleged Communist subversion in the movie industry. Show Trial is a character-driven inquiry into how the HUAC hearings ignited the Hollywood blacklist, providing a gripping new history of one of the most influential events of the postwar era.

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In 1947, the Cold War came to Hollywood. Over nine tumultuous days in October, the House Un-American Activities Committee held a notorious round of hearings into alleged Communist subversion in the movie industry. The blowback was profound: the major studios pledged to never again employ a known Communist or unrepentant fellow traveler. The declaration marked the onset of the blacklist era, a time when political allegiances, real or suspected, determined employment opportunities in the entertainment industry. Hundreds of artists were shown the door-or had it shut in their faces.In Show Trial, Thomas Doherty takes us behind the scenes at the first full-on media-political spectacle of the postwar era. He details the theatrical elements of a proceeding that bridged the realms of entertainment and politics, a courtroom drama starring glamorous actors, colorful moguls, on-the-make congressmen, high-priced lawyers, single-minded investigators, and recalcitrant screenwriters, all recorded by newsreel cameras and broadcast over radio. Doherty tells the story of the Hollywood Ten and the other witnesses, friendly and unfriendly, who testified, and chronicles the implementation of the postwar blacklist. Show Trial is a rich, character-driven inquiry into how the HUAC hearings ignited the anti-Communist crackdown in Hollywood, providing a gripping cultural history of one of the most transformative events of the postwar era.

Autor

Thomas Doherty is professor of American studies at Brandeis University. His previous Columbia University Press books include Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema, 1930–1934 (1999); Cold War, Cool Medium: Television, McCarthyism, and American Culture (2003); Hollywood’s Censor: Joseph I. Breen and the Production Code Administration (2007); and Hollywood and Hitler, 1933–1939 (2013).

Inhalt

Program NotesThanks and AcknowledgmentsList of AbbreviationsPart I. Backstories1. How the Popular Front Became Unpopular2. Hollywood’s War Record3. The Preservation of American Ideals4. The Magic of a Hollywood Dateline5. Smearing Hollywood with the Brush of CommunismPart II. On Location in Washington6. Showtime7. Lovefest8. Friendlies, Cooperative and Uncooperative9. Hollywood’s Finest10. Doldrums11. Crashing Page 112. Contempt13. $64 Questions and No Answers14. Jewish Questions15. The Curtain DropsPart III. Backfire16. The Waldorf and Other Declarations17. Blacklists and Casualty Lists18. Not Only VictimsA Bibliographical NoteNotesIndex

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 10.4.2018
• Reihe/Serie: Film and Culture Series
• Zusatzinfo: 41 black and white interior images
• Verlagsort: New York
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik ► 20. Jahrhundert bis 1945
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Systeme
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Theorie
• ISBN-10: 0-231-54746-3 / 0231547463
• ISBN-13: 978-0-231-54746-8 / 9780231547468