The Real Blacklist

In 1947, a group of prominent writers and directors known as the Hollywood 10, all members or former members of the Communist Party, refused to answer the questions of a congressional committee investigating the Party’s activities in Hollywood. Each of the ten served brief jail terms for contempt.

Forty-two years later, Hollywood’s treatment of the two surviving members of that group is a study in contrasts. Ring Lardner Jr. continues to write and is widely celebrated in the film community, a hero who wears his status as a non-cooperative witness like a badge of honor. Edward Dmytryk, on the other hand, is a pariah, shunned by many of his former colleagues; he now makes a living teaching his craft to university students.

JF

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Joseph Farah

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In 1947, a group of prominent writers and directors known as the Hollywood 10, all members or former members of the Communist Party, refused to answer the questions of a congressional committee investigating the Party’s activities in Hollywood. Each of the ten served brief jail terms for contempt.

Forty-two years later, Hollywood’s treatment of the two surviving members of that group is a study in contrasts. Ring Lardner Jr. continues to write and is widely celebrated in the film community, a hero who wears his status as a non-cooperative witness like a badge of honor. Edward Dmytryk, on the other hand, is a pariah, shunned by many of his former colleagues; he now makes a living teaching his craft to university students.