Sound Smart: The Hollywood 10 | History

Historian Yohuru Williams discusses key facts about the Hollywood 10, a group of film directors, screenwriters, and producers blacklisted for Communist affiliations in 1947.

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[evapadilla]

It is really helpful and clear, but if you can add the caption it will be great for people who speak another language THANKS

[hongfang]

Hollywood 10 were a group of mostly screen writers and film directors, some very successful, who were liberals and marxists. Roughly half were born to wealthy Jewish parents in New York. Most had joined the communist party in the US in the 1930s and 40s. They were communists in the Marxist sense, not what we think of today as Stalin or Soviet 'communists'.

They got caught up in the McCarthy hearings in Congress and refused to testify. They lost their case before the Supreme Court and were sentenced up to a year in jail. They were black-balled in Hollywood, most till their death although a few were allowed to openly contribute to American film very late in their lives. Several men of the Hollywood 10 contributed to American film after black-balling but under different names or by crediting others who actually had no role in the film. Famous films of this type include "Born Free" and the film noir classic, "Gun Crazy".

These men had the misfortune of being famous in the era of the 'red scare' post WWII. Had they been at the height of careers today, they would have continued on. Heck, America has a president now who asked Russia to find dirt on his political opponent.

[marcwhite]

Times haven't changed much, have they?

The only difference is that now Hollywood has its reds not by the tens, but by the tens of thousands.

[IsaiahBoutz]

This is a two-minute video, it would be very reasonable to memorize the script. This would greatly increase the production quality of the video and make it much easier to listen to.