The harassment was extraordinary. Former “Hounds” talk about going into people’s homes to search for anything that could be labeled incriminating. Even minor items like grocery bills might be intercepted for scrutiny. All of which was legal. If it seems bizarre that so much effort would be expended on someone like Phoebe, consider that in the case of some suspected Communists, an entire family would be followed every day—including children. There might be two Hounds in two different cars to follow each family member in case they changed direction. Then other Hounds would be assigned to enter the house and search—and all of this paid for by the taxpayers. The stress of life under the blacklist is clear in all the writings about it. Friendships and marriages dissolved, in addition to careers being ruined. Some people’s health suffered and never recovered. Others, unable to cope with no work or support system, and ongoing persecution, committed suicide.
Many people fled to Europe and Britain in the hopes of escaping harassment or worse, and being able to continue working.
Though people did indeed have some relief abroad, nearly every situation described or mentioned in the book is based on a real experience. The American embassy tried to insist that UK officials deny residency to American exiles, and letters were often sent to try to get people to bring their passports to the embassy, where they would then be confiscated. Some agencies and producers were pressured not to hire artists. And the real Hannah did report being followed in London. While the level of overseas harassment I create is mostly fictional, many exiles still felt themselves unsafe.
The midpoint near catastrophe, when Hedda Hopper descends on the set of Robin Hood and the blacklisted director is forced to hide, is also based on a real incident. The scandal-obsessed Hedda Hopper was a notorious Red-baiter, and was very happy to name names. She came to England precisely to try to catch blacklisted directors on sets. On a film Joseph Losey was directing, he was lucky enough to hide in a building overlooking the set before she saw him. There was a telephone there, and he was able to call the assistant director and carry on working until she left.
That The Adventures of Robin Hood was written entirely by blacklisted writers was considered one of the industry’s biggest open secrets. Sapphire partnered with American producers, a company called Official Films, who never knew about the enterprise. Hannah did indeed instruct her staff not to open registered letters in fear of a subpoena. It was the president of Official Films, not an executive at CBS, who insisted on meeting at least one writer, and an American script editor in New York acted as a front for this meeting—I wanted to keep this action where we could see it, and Beryl was the obvious person to pretend to be a writer on this occasion.
Hannah herself was classified as a “concealed Communist,” and an FBI investigation determined Sapphire was “influenced by Communists.” For reasons yet unknown, nothing further was done. It is possible that, because the British press and public were generally sympathetic to the victims of the witch hunts, attacking what was by then one of the most popular programs on both British and American television might have been viewed as unwise.
Though Phoebe is said to be on the blacklist, there was actually a separate “list” for people who worked exclusively in television—a booklet published in 1950 called Red Channels. I chose to use only the blacklist for reasons of expediency.
For a few years in the 1950s, people living in exile abroad were offered “golden tickets” to return to the US if they agreed to name names. Many who could not cope with the strain of living abroad and not finding work chose this option. People’s passports were indeed seized, or not renewed. This went on until 1958, when the Supreme Court ruled that a citizen’s passport could not be revoked under such circumstances.
Two people whose passports were held until 1958 were writers and activists W. E. B. and Shirley Du Bois, on whom the LeGrands are based. Some of the real exiles remembered interacting with the Du Boises in London and Europe, and as they were such extraordinary people, and examples of those outside Hollywood who were targeted by HUAC, I was inspired to create characters based on them and place them in London during these years. In 1961, they did indeed move to Ghana, where Shirley (an incredible woman who deserves her own book) helped develop the nation’s first television network.
One of the stranger moments that occurs toward the novel’s end is also based on real reports. During the initial hearings in Washington, members of the Hollywood Ten would snap their fingers as they talked in their hotel rooms, as this was understood to disrupt the listening devices.
The hearings themselves were essentially show trials, as the committee knew if someone was still in the party or not. The investigations stretched far beyond the arts—into science, labor, the armed forces, and the government. It is perhaps no coincidence that many of the people targeted were not just political progressives, but also members or organizers of labor unions, Jews, LGBT, African Americans, and intellectuals. It was very fitting that Lillian Hellman titled her memoir of the period Scoundrel Time.
Although HUAC lasted far longer and was more devastating, the Communist-hunting of Senator Joseph McCarthy is better remembered, thanks in large part to the phrase McCarthyism being used to describe such witch-hunting. I chose to effectively leave him out of the narrative because by 1955, he had been denounced and left the Senate. But the damage he did was great, and long lasting. His chief counsel was Roy Cohn, who is also briefly mentioned. Cohn was a closeted gay man who was keen on purging the government of gay men as well as supposed Communists. He is famously a character in Tony Kushner’s multi-award-winning play Angels in America.
On a much lighter note, bonus points to any reader who picked up that Nigel’s club, the Egotists’, is a favorite of the famous fictional detective Lord Peter Wimsey.
Hollywood has only recently begun to come to terms with its complicity during the scoundrel years. There was no great reckoning that ended it. Rather, the beginning of the end came thanks to the actor Kirk Douglas, who wanted Dalton Trumbo to write the script for Spartacus and insisted that Trumbo be allowed to use his name. Douglas’s star power was such that this was allowed, and from there the blacklist crumbled. One can’t help but wonder what might have happened if a major star a decade earlier had made the same insistence.
I wrote Red Letter Days to tell a story people would enjoy reading. That said, one of the reasons I’ve always loved history is because it not only tells us who we used to be, it also has the power to show us who we are. It was the blacklist and HUAC that were truly un-American, but they were allowed to happen then. It’s my hope that knowing that now should guard against it ever happening again.
Acknowledgments
Working on this book was a journey into a history both sinister and surreal. I was lucky to have an enormous amount of help and support throughout.
I could never have found as much, and so readily, without the existence of excellent libraries. From the New York Public Library, to the libraries at the University of California, Los Angeles, to the British Library and the Barbican Library in London, I found both books and original source material that were invaluable in bringing life on the blacklist from those pages to these pages.
My professional support team continues to be amazing—my agent, Margaret O’Connor of Innisfree Literary, and two brilliant editors. Kate Seaver, who helped shape the initial story, and then, while Kate was on maternity leave, Ellen Edwards, who with great patience and insight got me through to a (mostly) finished manuscript. Kate helped with the final hurdle, and I could not have managed without either of them.
Somewhere in the middle of the initial draft, I moved from the States to London (under much happier circumstances than the Americans in the book), and I definitely could not have achieved that and carried on with the book without a lot of wonderful people, starting with Amanda and Alisa in New York, my very lovely mother in Los Angeles, and then my awesome friends in London—Melinda and Michael, and th
eir daughter Anya (whose flight of fancy one summer day inspired a similar flight for Rhoda). Thanks as well to Sheila, Ariane, and Rebecca, and all the people who helped make London home. Melinda and Ariane also turned me into a coffee drinker (one appreciates the irony), and there were days when that cup (or three) of joe was a capable and generous cowriter.
Speaking of joe, the best chapter in the writing was when I met Joe, the love of my life, who helped me in ways I didn’t even know I needed, and whose inspiration I look forward to exploiting enjoying for as long as I carry on with this writing lark.
And, finally, gratitude always for readers everywhere.
Questions for Discussion
1. Hedda Hopper was a real person, who really did wield great power as a gossip columnist, destroying the careers of suspected Communists, homosexuals, and anyone she believed was involved in some scandal. How do you think her newspaper and radio programs were allowed to have such influence? What might have stopped her at the time? How might a similar person be stopped from doing such damage today?
2. Many former Communists were frightened enough by the prospect of being blacklisted or imprisoned that they agreed to “name names.” What other alternatives might there have been? Do you think their choices were reasonable?
3. The fears of the spread of Communism, or rather, the fears of the growing power of the Soviets, were used to justify the actions of HUAC and the FBI. What sort of response in the face of concern might have been more reasonable?
4. Hannah Weinstein really did report being followed while living in London. Do you think the FBI’s tactics were just attempts to frighten people, or did they think there was something to learn from their tailing?
5. Wiretapping was just as chaotic as described in Phoebe’s experience—either there was silence at the other end or, occasionally, a recording of a previous conversation. How does this invasion of privacy compare with tactics used today, by either law enforcement or sites attempting to tailor marketing?
6. Hannah tells a story about her first foray into television when there were no designated women’s lavatories and so she used the men’s and hung her handbag on the door handle. This comes from a real anecdote a female pioneer in television recalled. What other hurdles do you think women had to leap if they wanted to be part of the growing industry? How does that compare to today?
7. Though a number of people who lost their work and good name in this era knew either who named them or why they were destroyed, many did not. Discuss whether you think Phoebe is correct and it was her action at the airfield that got her on the blacklist, or another cause. Who might have named her?
8. The Adventures of Robin Hood was a hugely popular television series, and many of its episodes were lightly veiled critiques of authoritarianism and the Communist witch hunts. In what ways could the show have shaped the views of its young audience? How can art change the way people think about things?
9. Though Britain dealt with actual spies for the Soviet Union, and was by no means pro-Communist, the British government never emulated anything like HUAC, and the general attitude was that the witch-hunting in America was unacceptable. Why do you think that was? Was it just their experience of the war, or do you think there was something more inherent in British culture that prevented such persecution?
10. Phoebe claims to not want to get involved with a man because she is worried such involvement might mean she won’t be able to keep working. Hannah is considered an exception in that she’s married with children and yet holds a position of power. Do you think Phoebe would have been able to keep working and build herself up to a staff position if she were married and had children? How do you think it compares to working mothers today in the television—or any—industry?
Sarah-Jane Stratford is the acclaimed author of Radio Girls. Her work has also appeared in the Guardian, the Boston Globe, Los Angeles Review of Books, Marie Claire, Bustle, Guernica, and many others. A former resident of both American coasts, she’s now living the expat life in London, where when she isn’t working, she’s exploring and seriously considering learning how to garden.
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Red Letter Days Page 37
