- 1953 . New York Times , 22 January : 6 In January 1953, the New York Times reported a 'Communist policy of attack against Zionism'. The Communist Party in Prague had been purged of Jews, Jewish doctors at the Kremlin were arrested on charges of plotting the murder of Stalin and the Soviet journal New Times asserted that 'the entire Jewish Zionist movement … was helping United States imperialists to create a 'fifth column' in the Soviet Union'. This was a revitalisation of policy first promulgated in 1949, when the Soviet Union had demonstrated its support of the Arab states against Israel by condemning Zionism as a 'nationalist and bourgeois movement' and suppressing both the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee and the Jewish press. Examples of Soviet anti-Semitism filled American papers throughout the month, with the New Times accusation that Zionists had ' "sold out" to American intelligence' being publicised just 2 days before Luraschi wrote this letter. The allegations of Soviet atrocities reached sufficient levels for Eisenhower to address the American Jewish Committee on 30 January adding his own denunciation of 'the vicious anti-Semitism raging behind the Iron Curtain'., 30 January 1953, p. 6 and 9 February 1953, p. 6.
- Burk , Robert Frederick . 1984 . The Eisenhower Administration and Black Civil Rights 29 46 – 50 . 134 Knoxville, TN Luraschi appears to be responding to the fears of America's Cold War strategists 'that continuing racial discrimination was the "Achilles heel" of American foreign policy'. Eisenhower's incoming administration was immediately confronted by the need to implement Truman's executive order calling for an end to discrimination in the military (which was apparent to those countries with American bases) and Ike's own pledge to end segregation in Washington DC (which was apparent to visiting non-White diplomats). As well as the Cold War dimension, Luraschi was also undoubtedly aware that one of the last acts of Truman's Justice Department in December 1952 was to file the brief challenging the constitutionality of a group of Supreme Court cases, entitled Brown v. Topeka Board of Education. This was the case which led to the Supreme Court ruling in May 1954 that racially segregated public schools were a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment and that 'separate educational facilities are inherently unequal'. Such a ruling was in America's international interests and the CIA may have wanted Hollywood to promote positive images of civil rights to help win over domestic audiences as well. (see
- Heston , Charlton . 1995 . In the Arena 119 336 London Heston was an early and ardent supporter of the civil rights movement, organising a group from Hollywood to join Martin Luther King's march on Washington. Yet his attitude towards American Indians was far more ambiguous than that displayed toward African-Americans. Native Americans--a 'politically correct' term which Heston expresses disgust for in his autobiography--had the historical baggage of having fought and killed many Whites and Heston's opinion seems to have been shaped by the images of the Western, which he then acquiesced in. Commenting on Jack Palance's performance, Heston recalled 'He played the part with a deep ferocity that was mesmerizing. I've never seen an Indian role better done.' The irony of perpetuating negative stereotypes of the Indian while simultaneously fighting for civil rights went unnoticed by Heston, who recalled that during the production of Major Dundee: 'while I'd been off chasing Sam Peckinpah's Apaches, Congress had passed the Civil Rights Bill'
- D.A. Doran, executive assistant to Don Hartman, head of production at Paramount.
- Meyers , Jeffrey . 1998 . Gary Cooper: American hero 239 – 249 . New York Foreman had been subpoenaed by the HUAC in April 1951 while writing the script and knew that he would be blacklisted after refusing to cooperate. Consequently, he rewrote the script, adding elements which made it an allegory of how fear affected people in Hollywood. (See
- Meyers . Gary Cooper: American hero 239 – 249 . According to biographer Jeffrey Meyers, Kramer and Fred Zinnemann had considered Cooper as perfect casting as Will Kane, 'whose idealism opposed indifference and evil'. Cooper himself relished the task: 'The sheriff I was asked to play was different than any I'd ever known or heard about because Sheriff Kane had to stand alone, literally, against the lawless. It was a challenging role--and I loved it.' Pressure was put on Cooper to leave the film, by Louis Mayer and Walter Wanger among others, but Foreman recalls that Cooper personally stood by him. (See
- Vizzard , Jack . 1970 . See No Evil: Life Inside a Hollywood Censor 123 New York In his memoir of the PCA, Jack Vizzard records that Durland, a Cuban-American was hired 'at the urging of officials in high estate in Washington' to help bring Hollywood into step with the cultivation of international goodwill during the war. He recounts an occasion in 1953, when Durland brought producer Sam Katzman to book on the script Flame of Calcutta, a film concerned with the fight of Indian guerrillas to oust the East India Company in 1760:'You're running around with the recklessness of a bull in a china shop,' Durland told Katzman. 'Line after line in your script tramples on the sensitivities of the Indian people. You have gross distortions of history, you are untactful, you maul traditional customs, and, in a word, you leave much to be desired. Don't you realize your picture will be banned everywhere throughout the Far East?''So what if it is?' asked Sam … 'You don't think I've had pictures banned before.''I imagine you have,' conceded Durland, 'but India is a tinderbox at the present moment. The Russians are trying to woo it, and the American government is trying to get it over to our side. So why do you aggravate it?'Katzman prevaricated and pleaded he was too poor to hire a technical advisor, so Durland himself personally undertook the research to correct the misrepresentations. (See
- Sikov , Ed . 1998 . On Sunset Boulevard 345 New York Although the film was never produced, Yul Brynner came on board with Wilder and Epstein, to play the role of a Soviet Commissar in Washington. A discussion of the potential project was held with the PCA which Luraschi attended. According to a memo in the PCA files dated 10 December 1952, Wilder envisaged 'a modern story very much along the lines of Anna Karenina. The lead, Jule [sic] Brynner will be a member of the Soviet embassy in Washington. He will fall in love with the wife of some other foreign diplomat. The situation will develop to the point where they will have to flee the country to Mexico. The Soviets will be after him throughout the story. After a very unhappy and tragic time in Mexico, our lead will realize the impossibility of the situation and will let the Soviets catch up with him and kill him, somewhat as in the case of Trotsky. The wife will then be free to endeavor to rehabilitate herself.' Wilder's most recent biographer suggests 'casting complications' as the reason for shelving the project. (See
- Hall , Barbara , ed. Robert M.W. Vogel Oral History , 200 AMPAS . Robert Vogel was a close friend of Luraschi's. According to Vogel's Oral History, he was responsible for showing Luraschi the ropes when he arrived in 1933 and they had a close working relationship---with Vogel recommending Luraschi for positions in the Motion Picture Society for the Americas and on Academy Award committees. Here, Luraschi was cautiously pushing Vogel forward--providing much more personal information than with any other candidate, but at the same time distancing himself a little. Perhaps Luraschi was wary of Vogel's involvement with the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, for he was evidently uncertain of the CIA's opinion of such right-wing groups. Vogel also apparently had second-thoughts about his membership, and later recalled the hysteria:I think I saw things in scripts that I was dreaming. We got too concerned. We got too worried. We created evils that didn't exist …There was a great fear in all the studios that the Communists were trying to take over the industry. And we would read scripts--I know Luigi did it at Paramount, I did it at MGM--and read things into it that weren't there on account of our fear. The slightest little indication of dissatisfaction with something about our system, boom! became Communist propaganda.(See
- MacCann , Richard Dyer . 1973 . The People's Films: a political history of US Government motion pictures 144 New York Actually entitled Autobiography of a Jeep, this was a 1943 documentary film written by Joseph Krumgold, directed by Irving Lerner and produced by the Office of War Information's Overseas Branch. It was the success story of the jeep, whimsically 'told' by a jeep itself (voiced by Robert Sloan), showing exactly what the vehicle could do. Its implications was that this 'remarkable little machine' was 'a symbol of America's presence throughout the world'. (See
- 1953 . State Dept. lauds H'W'D pix exports . Variety , 29 January : 3 Anderson's report is reproduced in full in the Appendix below. Positive results--at least in terms of cooperation and mutual support between the industry and State Department--were already being heralded. Reed Harris, head of the department's International Information Program told a Senate Select Committee that 'Hollywood has shown increasing awareness in recent months of the need for sending films overseas which can improve and not hurt our international relations … the motion picture industry has shown a thorough realization of the importance of telling the proper story about American overseas.' Anderson's report was an analysis of further ways in which the 'proper story' could be told through and by Hollywood. (See
- 1966 . Los Angeles Times , 19 August The news report concerned a peculiar burglary at Alsop's Pasadena home, in which a 'masked gunman' broke into the house, tied up the maid and forced the butler 'to go to the Alsops' bedroom and get Alsop to open the door by telling him he needed $25'. Alsop refused to answer the door, but passed through the $25, which the gunman took and fled! It seems that, while being interviewed by the LA Times about this incident, Alsop himself boasted of his former CIA connections, adding an air of intrigue to the affair.
- Hall , Barbara . 1991 . Robert M.W. Vogel Oral History , 231 Los Angeles : Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . interviewed by
- Maltby , Richard . 1983 . Harmless Entertainment: Hollywood and the iodeology of consensus 82 London
- MPAA press release, 27 March 1947, Production Code Administration File 1, Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers' (AMPTP) Collection, at the Margaret Herrick Library (AMPAS), Los Angeles.
- Ambrose , Stephen . 1988 . Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy Since 1938 London Chapter 8
- Cripps , Thomas . 1993 . Making Movies Black: the Hollywood message movie from World War II to the civil rights era Oxford By 1953, the cycle of films which had dealt openly with issues of racism in America had ended. Following the war, film makers had made efforts at treating the race problem with some seriousness. In 1949, 20th Century-Fox had made Pinky, MGM adapted William Faulkner's Intruder in the Dust and independent film makers, such as Stanley Kramer with Home of the Brave, had produced a run of films which dealt with issues of racism and Black identity in post-war America. Fox's No Way Out of 1950 perhaps went furthest, at least in 'shock value', by embodying extreme racism in a psychotic killer and filming cinema's first 'race riot'. However, by 1953, the crusading momentum had been lost and Blacks were increasingly being shown in 'normative' positions in society. Paramount had avoided any real contribution to the cycle of 'message' films and Luraschi's idea of showing African-Americans at country clubs and golf clubs in the 1950s was in effect a continuation of the studio's policy. As Frances Stonor Saunders noted, this was at a time 'when many "negroes" had as much chance of getting into a golf club as they had of getting the vote', but the studio preferred to place Blacks in circumspect roles. Perhaps by showing them with cars, Luraschi hoped White American audiences might assume they were valets or chauffeurs. Caddy was finally released in September 1953. See
- Dick , Bernard F. 1992 . Columbia Pictures: portrait of a studio 16 Lexington, KY Left-wing directors such as John Huston had provoked accusations of 'communist propaganda' being turned out by Columbia. Huston's 1949 film We Were Strangers concerned the 1933 Cuban revolution and the overthrow of the Machado Government and Hollywood Reporter had branded the film 'a shameful handbook of Marxian dialectics' (22 April 1949). The studio was an easy target for the anti-communist investigations and, in 1952, the HUAC accused Columbia of having had 38 communists on the writers' payroll. Five of the Hollywood Ten--Herbert Biberman, Edward Dymtryk, John Howard Lawson, Samuel Ornitz and Dalton Trumbo--had worked at the studio before the war. Sidney Buchman, writer of Mr Smith Goes to Washington, Here Comes Mr Jordan and The Talk of the Town was the most notable HUAC casualty at Columbia. (See
- Jeffreys-Jones , Rhodri . 1989 . The CIA and American Democracy 89 New Haven, CT The Persian Gulf had been the scene of one of the earliest crises in the Cold War. During the Second World War, the Soviets, British and Americans had jointly occupied Iran, but in 1946 the Soviets hesitated to leave until they received oil concessions similar to those won by the British. Diplomatic pressure had been sufficient to end this confrontation, but in 1951 the premier of Iran, Dr Mohammed Mosaddeq, provoked new tensions by nationalising Iran's oil wells, including those owned by Britain. In retaliation, the Western-owned companies boycotted Iranian oil, creating an economic crisis in the Persian state. As Luraschi was writing, Eisenhower had refused Mosaddeq's appeal for assistance. This encouraged the premier, who was already associated with the Soviet-inspired Tudeh party, to turn towards the Soviet Union. In August 1953, the CIA was to intervene in backing a coup d'etat in which the imperial government of Shah Pahlavi took the place of Mosaddeq's administration. As historians have noted, this served a number of US goals, 'protecting the flow of oil to the American economy …; destroyed the potential menace of an oil-enhanced power bloc extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean; diminished the Moslem threat to the fledgling state of Israel; and ended the danger of Soviet encroachment on the oil-rich gulf'. (See
- Custen , George . 1997 . Twentieth Century's Fox: Darryl F. Zanuck and the culture of Hollywood 312 – 317 . New York George Custen, Zanuck's recent biographer, notes that, unlike Louis Mayer or Jack Warner, Zanuck did not go to Washington to testify before the HUAC and, standing apart from almost every other powerbroker in Hollywood, he did not consent to the 1947 Waldorf Agreement which initiated the blacklist. Zanuck was a conservative, but he had many left-wing and liberal writers working for him and knew that they did not represent a threat to the national welfare. However, he did yield to pressure in dismissing Ring Lardner Jr and Abraham Polonsky, two of the Hollywood Ten. And he did become more cautious in his productions: the man who had made films in the 1940s attacking racism and anti-Semitism now backed away from some of Philip Dunne's ideas for making similar films which criticised the HUAC and McCarthyism. (See
- Conant , Michael . 1960 . Antitrust in the Motion Picture Industry Berkeley, CA With regard to distribution, MGM was the last studio to hold out against the Supreme Court's 1948 divestiture order, separating production from ownership of theatres; not until 1959 did it divide itself into two unconnected companies (Loew's Theatres and MGM), and thus lose direct control of the distribution of its product. This delay gave the company greater stability during the 1950s than Paramount, which was the first studio compelled to comply. (See), Chapter VI.)
- 1993 . The New York Times , 6 May Marc Eliot, in Walt Disney: Hollywood's dark prince, revealed that, because of the information he provided the bureau, Disney was made a 'full Special Agent in Charge Contact' [sic] in 1954. For discussion of this and Reagan's similar role as confidential source designated 'T-10', see
- Saunders , Frances Stonor . 1999 . Who Paid the Piper? The CIA and the cultural Cold War 290 London
- Saunders . Who Paid the Piper? 2
- Saunders . Who Paid the Piper? 148 Statement by Eisenhower, quoted in
- Saunders . Who Paid the Piper? 293
- Crosby , Donald F. 1978 . God, Church and Flag: Senator Joseph R. McCarthy and the Catholic Church, 1950-1957 229 Chapel Hill, NC Crosby casts serious doubt on the validity of the Gallup results, but evidently Luraschi was one Catholic who did stand behind McCarthy
- Allitt , Patrick . 1993 . Catholic Intellectuals and Conservative Politics in America, 1950-1985 60 81 London
- Burk , Robert Frederick . 1984 . The Eisenhower Administration and Black Civil Rights 29 Knoxville, TN
- 1953 . Daily Variety , 30 January : 6
- State Dept. lauds H'W'D pix exports . 1953 . Daily Variety , 29 January
- 1953 . New York Times , 6 March : 13
- Haight , David . Winter 1976 . “ The Papers of C.D. Jackson: a glimpse at President Eisenhower's psychological warfare expert ” . Winter , 29 Manuscripts
- Saunders . Who Paid the Piper? 288 Letter from C.D. Jackson to Henry Luce, 19 May 1953, quoted in. The last comment bears uncanny similarity to a quote frequently attributed to the famously egotistical DeMille: 'Give me any couple of pages of the Bible and I'll give you a picture'
- Saunders . Who Paid the Piper? 284
Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television
Volume 20, 2000 - Issue 2