A History of Screen Writing, Part 3

During the 1940’s the production line mentality among studios still prevailed meaning that there was a lot of work for the screenwriter. Just after World War II the employment figures for the screenwriting trade peaked at 560 writers working in Hollywood. There were still problems regarding the allocation of credit as a selfish director could and did claim all or part of the writing credit. To combat this the Screenwriter’s Guild under took the task of creating a comprehensive directory giving credit to where it was due. Writers, with a greater sense of security were establishing themselves as more important players in the industry. Preston Sturges had started out as a screenwriter and was now among a number of writers who were directing their own material, such as; Sullivan’s Travels (1941), The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1944) and creating for themselves and those who followed the dual title of ‘writer/director’. Ring Lardner Jr. and Michael Kanin were two writers who broke the mould. When Katherine Hepburn informed Louis B. Mayer at MGM that she was interested in their script, Woman of the Year (1942), the writers received $100,000 for their work. Screenwriters were now taking chances by leaving their studio jobs and going free lance. The risks were great but so were the rewards. By the end of the decade writers were making more money than they had thought possible.

As soon as it started getting good for the once lowly screenwriter, things started getting bleak. In 1946 the first regular Television Network service came into operation. Television then exploded in popularity in the 1950’s. 1947 saw the House of Un-American Activities visit Hollywood to weed out those found guilty of belonging to the Communist party. In May 1948, the studios faced a severe blow after the Paramount anti-trust ruling ordered the end of the studio monopoly of cinema theatres and their block booking. Studios could no longer control the theatres to which they had distributed their products. As a result there was a sharp decline in production and massive layoffs. The once large pool of studio writers began to dwindle as the massive job losses affected them more so that any other area. However, the success of television saw the need for more material so many Hollywood screenwriters made the transition to the medium, and did so successfully.

Above all else it was the blacklist that affected screenwriters most during this critical period. The House of Un-American Activities (HUAC) sat in 1947 and again in 1951 and declared that a communist element had established itself in the dominant medium of mass culture and was sending subversive messages through the Hollywood mainstream, picturing the USA in a negative fashion.[1] Films such as Song of Russia (1944) written by Richard Collins and Paul Jarrico, both subsequently blacklisted, were subject to investigation because of so-called leftist images and dialogue. At last writers were being acknowledged for their work but for all the wrong reasons.

Forty three witnesses were subpoenaed to appear before the HUAC in Washington in September 1947 to account for their un-American activity. Nineteen were deemed unfriendly, that is they were branded as being uncooperative Communist sympathisers. The first ten of the nineteen refused to co-operate entirely and were charged with contempt: they were all screenwriters. John Howard Lawson, Dalton Trumbo, Albert Maltz, Alvah Bessie, Samuel Ornitz, Herbert Biberman, Edward Dmytrytz, Adrian Scott, Ring Lardner Jr. and Lester Cole all spent time in jail for their refusal to co-operate with the committee.[2] Nearly 60% of all those called to testify and a corresponding number blacklisted were screenwriters. Shortly after the sentencing of the ten, producers met at the Waldorf Astoria and announced that none of those not cleared by the HUAC would be fired and not re-hired until they had been cleared by the committee.

In 1951, when the HUAC returned to Hollywood, there was an active and unofficial blacklist in operation. Studios denied that it existed yet employees of the industry found it difficult or near impossible to find work. However, unlike others who had to turn up on set to get paid, screenwriters could continue working during the blacklist period by using pseudonyms or fronts. Dalton Trumbo enlisted the use of Ian McLellan’s name for his screenplay, Roman Holiday (1953). McLellan posed as creator and even won an Oscar for it on Trumbo’s behalf. In 1956 Robert Rich won an Oscar for The Brave One (1956) but he failed to collect his award. The reason for this was that it was one of the pseudonyms used by Trumbo so that he could continue working. Other blacklisted writers left the country, moving to Mexico or to Europe. Hugo and Jean Butler, both writers and both blacklisted travelled to both Mexico and Europe and while doing so wrote for Luis Buñnel. This generation of writers had grown up with the motion picture industry and were in favour of it as a legitimate form of entertainment on a par with the novel and the stage play. But it was a dangerous time for a screenwriter when one’s ability to openly create had been retarded because of political bigots.