Red Hollywood Page #3

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and...

She represented

at that time

a very strong

partisan of...

Of the war

of Britain and France,

and America's

getting into the war,

whereas I was still

expressing reservations

about America

getting in the war,

so many of our

story discussions

turned into

political discussions

between Kate and me.

NARRATOR:

The debate continued

into the film itself

and Lardner won,

simply by casting

Spencer Tracy

as his spokesman.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

I'm sorry, I must,

I thought... (STAMMERS)

I'm looking

for Miss Harding.

Well, come right in.

This is Miss Harding's?

Yes. Uh, may I

have your hat?

NARRATOR:

Hepburn's internationalism

looked ridiculous

and pretentious

against his plain-spoken

chauvinism.

I'm so glad you came.

Thanks.

Who won?

Who won? What?

The game?

Oh, the Yanks,

in the 10th.

How nice, everyone

in Philadelphia

must be so happy.

A few people always

come in after my broadcast.

Why do you broadcast?

Why don't you just wait

and tell them here?

(SPEAKING FRENCH)

(SPEAKING FRENCH)

Excusez-moi.

(INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS)

Now let's see, I wonder

who you'd get along with.

Uh...

There's Madam Laruga

sitting over there.

You probably don't speak

Slovenian either.

No, just a little

broken English.

(CHUCKLES)

Hello! Sam,

will you excuse me?

He doesn't know

anyone here.

Yes?

Yes, yes, sit down.

I get kind of lost

at these big parties,

don't you?

Yes.

Well, the situation's

pretty warm

over in your part

of the world, isn't it?

Yes.

Having fun?

Yes.

By the way, I'm afraid

we haven't met.

My name is Craig.

What's yours?

(CHUCKLES) Yes.

You don't speak English,

do you, Charley?

Mmm. Yes.

And what's more

you're a pretty

silly-looking little jerk

sitting there with that

towel wrapped

around your head,

you know that,

don't you?

Yes. (LAUGHS)

That's all, brother.

Yes.

Mmm, yes.

NARRATOR:

As often happens,

left-wing isolationism

came uncomfortably close

to right-wing isolationism,

with all the tinges

of racism and sexism intact.

(CROWD CHANTING)

But Lardner's isolationism

was exceptional

among Hollywood Communists.

Despite the Pact,

they continued to create

strong denunciations of

fascism at every opportunity.

Joan Bennett discovers

the man she married

is a Nazi sympathizer,

and a pre-war trip

to his homeland

turns into a nightmarish

political education.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

Can't you make them

get out of the way?

It doesn't do to

irritate storm troopers

on the loose.

Well, what goes on?

(WOMAN LAUGHING)

(SOBBING)

(SPEAKING GERMAN)

I don't get it.

It's a

brownshirt blitzkrieg

against old people

and kids

Jews?

No, in this instance

they're Czechs.

There's quite a few

of them who live down

in this quarter.

Hey, you see that

garbage truck?

ERIC:
The bully boys

bring their own filth,

dump it, and make

the Czechs clean it up.

(WOMEN LAUGHING)

A charming

little pastime.

(LAUGHING)

(CROWD LAUGHING)

(SPEAKING GERMAN)

(CURSING IN GERMAN)

MAN IN MOVIE:

But you don't understand...

NARRATOR:

By early 1941, a number

of Hollywood films

had alerted

American moviegoers

to the threat

of Nazi Germany.

It was these films,

and especially

The Man I Married,

that first aroused

the suspicions

of Congress about Hollywood.

WOMAN IN MOVIE:

Everything.

(MOVIE SOUNDTRACK PLAYING)

MAN:
Speaking before

a crowded Reichstag,

in a desperate attempt

to regain confidence,

Adolf Hitler...

NARRATOR:

Two committees traveled

to California to investigate

warmongering in

the motion-picture industry.

But Hollywood could claim

that it spoke for a nation

that had already

turned irrevocably

against Hitler's Germany.

Thank you.

(MEN CHANTING ON SCREEN)

(HISSES)

(CHANTING CONTINUES)

RADIO ANNOUNCER:

A report has just

come in that the Japanese

have bombed Pearl Harbor.

Jim, where is

Pearl Harbor?

Pearl Harbor?

Oh, it's down

the Jersey coast,

near Atlantic City

someplace.

Can't be, the Japs

are bombing it.

I know where

Pearl Harbor is.

We had it in Geography.

Oh, it's one of those

men from Mars programs,

the Japs just got

through telling

Roosevelt they love us.

RADIO ANNOUNCER:

We interrupt this program

with news of

grave importance

to every American.

Look.

War broke with

lightening suddenness

in the Pacific today.

Without warning...

Doesn't it smell good?

Shh!

...waves of Japanese planes

attacked Hawaii this morning.

Bombers blasted

at Pearl Harbor,

at the city of Honolulu.

The initial attacks caused

widespread damage and death.

Full reports

have not yet come in.

But one thing

is already certain,

the United States

is at war with Japan.

Stand by.

Dinner's ready.

War, what do ya know?

Are you going

to war, Daddy?

Are you going

to be a soldier?

Come on and sit down,

the roast will get cold.

We're at war, honey,

the United States

is at war!

Yes, dear, I know,

but the roast

will get cold.

Now come on

and start carving.

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

NARRATOR:

With the United States

and the Soviet Union

finally allied in the war

against Nazi Germany,

American Communist

culture fell into sync

with the dominant

popular culture.

Nobody could find

Communist propaganda

in wartime films,

because Communist ideals

and Communist kitsch

were everywhere,

even in MGM musicals.

(SINGING)

(MALE CHORUS SINGING)

The beginning

of the Cold War

was there

even before

the hot war was over.

We were faced with

a mythology that was

embraced in America

by all the media

and by the government itself,

the mythology that...

That we were about

to be attacked

by the Soviet Union,

and that

the Communists or anybody

sympathetic with them

was...

Were potential spies

and traitors.

(THUDS)

NARRATOR:

And Hollywood soon

took up the right-wing line

that another war

was inevitable.

The iron logic of

communism demanded it.

Kulin, you know

more than I.

Do you think

there's going to be

another war?

War is part

of the process

leading toward

the general upheaval

throughout the world,

but will result

in the establishment

of world communism.

There mustn't be

another war.

Never again.

(INHALES DEEPLY)

Listen, Kulin,

there must be

another way.

Tell me the truth.

Truth?

What's that?

(INDISTINCT TALKING)

Ah...

NARRATOR:

The Hollywood left

could still respond,

but no longer

with confident speeches

and stirring anthems.

STOREOWNER:
One can

of pork and beans.

MARY:
Did you see what

Robert Wilson said

in his column today?

He says, unless

we're prepared,

there's just no way

of avoiding it.

STOREOWNER:

One can of pork

and beans, Peter.

MARY:
The scientists say

we'll all be blown to bits

in the next one.

I declare, I don't know

what the world's coming to.

Seems like it's human nature

to want to kill.

SOPHIE:
Well, if it's

human nature to kill,

all the more reason

we should be ready,

just in case

the other fellow wants

to start something.

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