Thursday, December 8, 2011

JDM on the Hollywood Red Scare


Now that the headlines on the testimony of various Hollywood characters have faded away -- to reappear later, no doubt -- we must confess that the whole affair gave us an odd feeling of unreality. There were those famous faces -- R. Taylor, G. Cooper, R. Montgomery -- performing for the investigating committee. We are used to those people as two dimensional beings on a flat silver screen. We are accustomed to seeing little publicity releases on their marriages and their swimming pools. To have them plunked down in the middle of a discussion of ideologies seems a bit like reading an appreciation of Einstein by one Mickey Mouse.

The next time we go a few steps up Fountain street and buy ourselves a hunk of celluloid escape, we will gaze at those famous faces and ponder that the life of an actor or actress in indeed a hard one. Not only do you have the responsibility for getting rid of several thousand dollars a week, but you might at any time have to sit in front of a group of un-sympathetic Congressmen and be led into a discussion of realities. Any touch of reality must be quite a jolt to our tinseled friends out there.

-- from JDM's Clinton Courier column "From the Top of the Hill," November 6, 1947

2 comments:

  1. I only came across your blog about a week ago and I would just like to say how much I've enjoyed reading it. JDM's work is not very well known in England. In fact I don't know anyone who's heard of him let alone read his work. So it's great to be reading so much about him. Many Thanks

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  2. Thanks Warren. Judging from the traffic I see here there are more than a few JDM fans in England.

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