Mr. Moore, are you now or have you ever been.....

Mr. Moore, Are You Now or Have You Ever Been…..

On May 5th Michael Moore announced that Disney would prohibit the producer Miramax, owned by Disney, from distributing his new movie, Fahrenheit 9/11. The reason cited on Michael Moore’s Website and The New York Times was, “it might endanger millions of dollars of tax breaks Disney receives from the state of Florida because the film will "anger" the Governor of Florida, Jeb Bush.” This isn’t something new, the content of Hollywood films have always been regulated in one form or another by the tentacles of Washington. Between 1947 and 1954 the House on Un-American Activities, HUAC cast its dark shadow over Hollywood. Careers were destroyed, families ruined, friendships lost, and civil liberties were stripped from what became known as The Blacklist.

HUAC, working under the auspices of The Internal Security Act of 1950, sometimes called the McCarran Act or the anticommunist law, systematically went to work destroying the lives of many of Hollywood’s elite directors, screenwriters, and stars. Their strategy was threefold, first to prove The Screenwriters Guild had Communist members, secondly, to show these writers had inserted communist propaganda into films, and thirdly, to show that President Roosevelt had encouraged pro-Soviet films during the war.

Let us look at the third strategy of the committee first, Roosevelt’s involvement. During World War II President Roosevelt asked Hollywood to make films that would rally America behind the war cause. John Wayne, perhaps the biggest star of the time made five war films during this time. It wasn’t one of these ‘rockum-sockum’ epics the committee focused its attention on, it was a small film entitled, Song of Russia, produced by MGM in 1942. Song of Russia is the story of a visiting American conductor falling in love with a Russian peasant girl. HUAC’s sole basis for singling this movie out was the suggestion that the Russian peasant girls smiled during some of the musical numbers. Novelist and anti-communist Ayn Rand was brought to testify as a “friendly” witness before the committee, “I have never seen so much smiling in my life. . . . It is one of the stock propaganda tricks of the Communists, to show these people smiling.” It’s important to mention here that Russia was our ally at the time this movie was made, and Roosevelt’s involvement, if any, was meant to show the world the good people fighting along with us. The goal of the committee and Ms Rand was to portray the Russian way of life as brutish, and stricken by poverty. The same holds true today, think about any film you’ve seen portraying life in the Soviet Union, dark, always cold, dirty streets, and people waiting in lines, a portrayal that has endured throughout the Cold War.

If smiling peasant girls were enough to incite America into revolution then Salt of the Earth could destroy mankind, according to HUAC. Blacklisted writers and directors produced Salt of the Earth, shot outside the control of Hollywood, billed as, “An Honest Movie about American Working People” in 1953. The movie portrayed miners and their families fighting against a giant company, cultural feuds between Chicanos and Anglos, and struggles between miners and their families. Only two Hollywood actors participated in the film, both blacklisted, Will Geer, who would later go on to become Grandpa Walton, and Mexican actress Rosuara Revueltas. When Subpoenaed before the committee and asked by Republican Harold Velde of Illinois, “Do you consider yourself to be a patriotic citizen?” Will Geer replied, “I love America, I love it enough to want to make it better.", he found very little work after that. The film’s director, Herbert Biberman, had spent six months in prison as one of the Hollywood Ten who declined to give testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee.

It’s important to note that the “blacklist” came from the Hollywood executives in order to please the members of HUAC. Along with this “pacification” came the “fluff” movies of the 50’s. Hollywood, in an attempt to be as non-controversial as possible, carefully chose film projects such as, Father of the Bride, Cinderella, Singing in the Rain, and Pillow Talk, films intended to be as free as possible from any kind of controversy, much like today, pick up any paper and you’ll see the “teenage fluff” movies being assembly lined out of Hollywood. Although most of the films released during this time followed the, “safe” path dictated by the commission, a few chose to push the boundaries. Films such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers, where citizens are transformed into “pod people”, managed to make their way into theaters. Many people have suggested, about Invasion of the Body Snatchers, that the Pod People were actually conformists to this McCarthyism sweeping the nation, having lost their humanity, with the hero’s being those who fight conformity. It’s a very good chance Michael Moore IS NOT a pod person.

If you’ve stuck with this article this far you may be asking yourself, “yeah, but what does this have to do with Michael Moore’s new film?” Good question. While we don’t have actors, screenwriters, and directors being called to Washington to testify against one another, or incriminate themselves and face unconstitutional imprisonment, we do have a media willing to “blacklist”, ban, or “shelf” projects. Many of you just witnessed a recent form of media “blacklist”, the refusal by The Sinclair Broadcasting Group to air the list of soldiers lost in battle. While the HUAC committee has become a dinosaur, the “blacklist” has not. If there is interest in the history of HUAC and Hollywood I’ll continue to submit more articles on the subject, in any event remember, when asked, “Are you now or have you ever been….” Reply, “Hell yeah, its my constitutional right!!”

Michael Harris

The film will be shown. Many more people will watch it because of this flap. Please put away your crying towel until it is banned. As for your history,no one has been banned or blacklisted. Money rules,not the fools.

you want a list? 10 were imprisoned. If you like I'll provide the names of famous actors who never worked again after HUAC.

Alvah Bessie, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Story for the patriotic Warner's film Objective Burma(1945), career was ruined by the blacklisting, and he never returned to Hollywood.

Herbert J. Biberman, first accused of communist activities by the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947. Biberman refused to confirm or deny the allegations and in 1950 was sentenced to 6 months in prison and banished from Hollywood

Lester Cole, During the 1920s and '30s he worked as an actor on stage and screen before embarking on his screenwriting career. While in Hollywood, he was a union activist and became a co-founder of the Screen Writers Guild in 1933. He was later black-balled for challenging the committee's right to interrogate him about his political beliefs. He then served 1 year in prison, leaving behind an unfinished script that was later finished by John Steinbeck for Kazan's Viva Zapata (1952).

Edward Dmytryk, accused of having ties to the communist party and was sentenced to a year in prison for contempt of Congress. Following his imprisonment, Dymtryk was blacklisted in the U.S

Ring Lardner, Jr., shared an Oscar in 1942 for Woman of the Year and his career looked quite promising until he refused to cooperate with the witch-hunts of the House Un-American Activities Committee and became one of the Hollywood Ten. For his refusal, Lardner spent a year in prison and then was blacklisted until the mid '60s. Though officially banned from Hollywood, Lardner continued working under pseudonyms and also worked uncredited

John Howard Lawson, during WW I, he was a volunteer ambulance driver for the Red Cross. sentenced to one year in prison and was subsequently blacklisted in Hollywood. Lawson then exiled himself to Mexico

Albert Maltz, refusing to cooperate with Congress in 1947, Maltz was sentenced to nearly a year in jail and was blacklisted

Samuel Ornitz, served a year in prison for contempt of court, during which time he published his last truly important novel, Bride of the Sabbath. Upon his release, Samuel Ornitz was finished in Hollywood

enough? should I continue?

but the fools have ruled and are doing so again today.

You are the one who needs to brush up on a little history.

like a drive by. I researched his 72 posts and they were all "drive bys". Unfortunately he's loosing out on a good chance at some educatin'

back in the 50s and 60s, you couldn't get a job or even get into college without signing a paper saying you hadn't been a member of the Communist Party. It always made me feel bad to sign it, because I felt it infringed on the rights of an American to belong to any political party they liked.

The blacklist ruined the lives of many people, even those who were later rehabilitated had tragedy strike. You may remember Will Geer, who played the grandfather on "the Waltons". He was blacklisted. He lost his home, his marriage couldn't stand the strain, and his children have told of the trauma of being homeless. And this was one fellow who eventually was able to get back into acting.

The foreign distribution rights for Moore's film are still ok, which I find extremely interesting. The idea seems to be that the PTB don't care about the rest of the world, just what gets shown here. I predict the film will eventually come out, if only as an independent-but long after the election. And if Shrub takes over (he won't win, but he could steal the election or declare martial law to stay in power), we'll never see this because we'll all be in jail, held without cause and without access to attorneys.

the 10 who did not cooperate. No one ever comments that in the 50's, as well as now there is a Communist Party, albeit a small one. It's always been a constitutional right to belong to that party, these people were denied that right and jailed for using their rights under the constitution. I'm a Democrat and have always been but I'll fight for anyone's rights to join whatever party they choose. Without those rights we all might as well get the number on our foreheads.

they'll be in jail with us.

are filing appeals as we speak

Subj: Cc: DNC Should Screen Moore's New Film
Date: 5/5/04 9:11:59 AM Eastern Daylight Time
From: LEVEYMG
To: mike@michaelmoore.com



Mike - Have been floating this in Dem circles. Hope that is okay with you.
Regards - Mark
__________________________________________________________________
Dear DNC Staffer -


Here's a great fundraising opportunity. Disney has refused to distribute Michael Moore's "Farhenheit 911". The DNC should franchize the film, and screen it nationwide this summer through all the state/local committees as a fundraiser. IT WILL DRAW BIG CROWDS AND $$$s.

Look at what happened with Gibson's "Passion."

Pass this on to YOUR boss.

See, NYT article: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/05/national/05DISN.html

cc: DNC, VA State and Alexandria committees, Mike Moore

Mark Levey

It is clear the hot button the administration fears most is the bin Laden Bush family connection.

Concentrating on that issue wherever possible should be persued to the maximum.

I respect Michael Moore for meeting the challenge to expose the awful truth. In my own small way I feel the duty to show things the way they are and will be. This is sometimes so graphic that you are not allowed to see them. However I have NEVER depicted blood to the extent of ANY violent Mel Gibson movie.

In my vast collection of video one of my prized clips is GHW Bush kissing Saddam Hussien on both cheeks at his State birthday party.

Government suppression does make certain images rare but can not eradicate them entirely. The effort to bring images such as the largly unseen pictures of the Tianamen Square massacre come at a high price to those willing to document and show the truth. As you know one can be fired for photographing a coffin.

I sincerely appreciate the efforts of the administrators here to allow certain images I post as long as a suffient warning is included in the title.

I don't think I've seen shrub doing smootchy pics with Saddam. Was there tongue?

Moore is, above all else, a person in the entertainment business. If he were to go outside the Hollywood establishment to get this film distributed, he would (in the classic phrase) never eat lunch in that town again. He would never make another film, because no one would finance him if he "turned traitor" to the Hollywood establishment.

While Moore has strong opinions and promotes them, I doubt he'd be willing to commit career suicide to do so. (See, while I share some of Moore's beliefs, I also know he's an egotist, and he will never willingly step out of the spotlight.)

probably but wouldn't it make a good story if he did? We all need heros every now and then.

cool idea, welcome to DU Mark.

Does their refusal to screen the film mean it won't be shown?

In a side note, the pendulum does sway....the 60's were a response to the repression and scaremongering of the 50's. Can we hope for a similar upswing in liberal values as our country frees itself of the conservative grip?

so far is the foreign distribution is a seperate entity from Disney, meaning Disney will have no control over that. If Disney has sole ownership of Dist. in North America then they can tie it up forever. My guess is they hope to keep it in limbo until after the election. Just a guess though, I have no inside info on it.