Milford chronicle., 1948-01-02

ization.
If my ears do not
deceive me, the
magnates and their
counsel meant these
- dismissals to be ac-
cepted as proof that they had cleaned
house, absolutely: a little late. to
be sure, but better late than never.
That makes the score: Ten babies
down: 100 more to 60.
Illusion Is the great art Of the
moving pictures. / hope the
masters do not deceive them
selves, but that Is as Il may be.
One thing I can tell you plain,
however: They haven't deceived
the committee on un-AmeFican
activities.
They did not proceed against
/ these 10 until the industry had been
dragged in leg-irOns and handouts,
so to speak. before the committee.
The agents Of the industry tried to
ridicule the committee but the fact
finally got across to the people Of
the United States that this commit
tee represented and actually person
lied them. It is committee Of the
house Of representatives.
Say that last again. Representa-
tives."
REALLY REPRESENT US
These men are elected by direct
vote Of the people Of the United
States to represent them. They
are more representative Of the
American people than the sneering,
supercilious continental. intellects Of
Hollywood realized. They look just
like so many people Of the United
States. Some Of the members make
amusing little mistakes in grammar
and figures Of speech. Those Holly
wood intellectuals can sneer at
these slips, but that is where they
make great mistake, themselves.
Many Of the people Of the United
States also use double negatives and
jumbled metaphors and they win
not thank you for curling a lip at
them. They win make you sorry.
All Of a sudden, the men who
represented the d.ustFy,
stopped short and went into q
solemn. frightened huddle in
New York. The people were
good and sore at them for pay
ing unbelievable salaries to men
who were in q position to poison
the stream Of culture and make
e a sewer by the time Il flowed
through the theaters on q thou
sand main streets; who refused
even to say, whether they were
Cor or against the United States.
The people were supporting
their representatives, and they
showed their sentiments in letters
to the editors, to the theater man
ayers and to the producers in Holly
wood. They were starting to show it
at the box-office, too.
ORDERS FROM EUROPE
They were good and tired Of being
lectuFed on "Anericanism" by ma
licious doctrinaires who either came
here from Europe or stretched an
ear toward Europe for their guild
ance. The racial and social prob
lens Of the United States are pecul-
lar and our own, and are not to be
dealt with peaceably by iron rules
devised by Europeans with the very
purpose Of causing petty angers,
tiny in themselves, but only as the
head Of a match is tiny, and with
equally fearful potentialities. The
Americans were sore at Hollywood
for scolding them and their native
American customs and traditions.
Sore at Hollywood for advertising
them to the world as failures at
self-government and advertising the
abundant life Of the United States
as a system composed go per cent OF
poverty and 10 per cent Of dis
gusting vulgarity and cruel greed.
The most revolving vulgarity
Ia the United States was not OBJ
served in the moral family cir-
cles Of the decent WelI-tO-dO, de-
picted Ia tae movies as the idle
rich, but In the palaces and
ranch houses and camps and
gambling resorts Of the moving
picture set.
Now, IL Hollywood had an fnteIi.
gent respect for the dignity and
pride Of the people Of the United
States. the industry would have
taken the initiative, itself, long ago,
to eliminate the Communists.
How2
Well, how does Hollywood usually
get rid Of people who, for reasons Of
personal vengeance and racial big
otFy. are marked for elimination?
BY nodding them out, that is how. It
has been done for years.
Sorry, nothing today
Nobody in Hollywood needed tell
ing how to get rid Of anyone without
a trace and without risk Of legal
process. II is an old Hollywood art
and custom.
But the industry wouldn't take the
initiative and when the committee
called the hearings the Hollywood
giants were still confident that BY
posing legalistic problems and re-
peating old European memory gems
about unfettered art and freedom oi
expression they could fool the people.