Effect of the blacklist to the hollywood ten
With tension building up between the United States and the Soviet Union, the United States had zero tolerance for communism in the U.S. The U.S was paranoid about the influences that these ten men had in Hollywood. The lives of these ten men that were blacklisted changed dramatically. Many of the blacklisted were fined. They were also were sentenced to serve time in prison. Many refused to answer questions about their affiliation with the Communism Party USA. The Communist Party USA, which was, established 1919, was the largest communist party in the U.S. Many of the consequences of being blacklisted were that the Hollywood Ten were not obtaining work in the film industry. Many of the Hollywood Ten had to create pseudonyms. For example, Dalton Trumbo created many pseudonyms. Some of Dalton Trumbo pseudonyms were, John Abbott, Doc Abbott, James Bonham, Theodore Flexman, Sam Jackson, Peter Flint, and various others. Many of the Hollywood ten had to use pseudonyms because their names were blacklisted. “During the first ten years of the Blacklist, when everyone was informing on everyone else, no sane employer in the black market would draw a check to the name of a blacklisted person, lest some bank clerk report passage of the check to trade papers or some friend of the committee” said by Dalton Trumbo [1]. Dalton Trumbo had to go through this whole system to place money in his bank account all because he was blacklisted. In order to cash checks made out to those pseudonyms, Dalton Trumbo and his wife created bank accounts with the names James and Dorothy Bonham. They would later forge the pseudonym of the person who the check was made out to. They would then deposit the check to their Bonham account. Later whenever they wanted to withdraw the money from the Bonham account they would place the money into the regular Trumbo account. The reason for this was for no trace to be left behind and no one would know. Dalton Trumbo wrote a letter to Nelson Algren [2]. In the letter Trumbo proposes a deal to Nelson. In the proposal he tells Nelson about the scheme he had going about using someone else’s name to sell his work. Whatever he got paid he would give him one third. Dalton Trumbo explains his scheme to Nelson. He explains to him that he has to be discreet about and keep it a secret. Trumbo tells that after being released from prison he wants to go back to business and that all his friends that would let him use their name to sell his stories were either under investigation, blacklisted, or just left town. Trumbo was basically asking Nelson for help. Not only were the lives of these men that were blacklisted affected dramatically but also the film produced were affected. Many of the films were censored. Most of the films were mainly portraying American Ideals of democracy for the fear of even being considered to be part of anything communist.
1. Dalton
Trumbo’s Response to income tax investigation, October 1 1962, in Income Tax Investigation. http://www.wcftr.commarts.wisc.edu/collections/featured/blacklist/digitaldocs/trumbo/TrumboIncomeTaxInvestigation.pdf.
2. Dalton Trumbo to Nelson Algren, June 15 1951, in Trumbo’s Black Market Explanation. http://www.wcftr.commarts.wisc.edu/collections/featured/blacklist/digitaldocs/trumbo/TrumboBlackMarketExplanation.pdf.
2. Dalton Trumbo to Nelson Algren, June 15 1951, in Trumbo’s Black Market Explanation. http://www.wcftr.commarts.wisc.edu/collections/featured/blacklist/digitaldocs/trumbo/TrumboBlackMarketExplanation.pdf.