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Movies and TV Shows of the 1950s

Suspect Red

Much has been written about the ten screenwriters who lost their fight against the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) by arguing their First Amendment rights. What happened in the entertainment business—literature, movies, radio, TV, live theater, magazines, and newspapers—reflects the ripsaw of changing politics and world circumstances that made so many vulnerable to McCarthy’s smears.

Many of the creative artists blacklisted had indeed once been “armchair Communists”—liberals and progressives during the Depression’s financial disaster, involved with trying to unionize and improve workers’ lives, maybe passing petitions, perhaps attending political rallies or fundraisers that had some association with the American Communist Party. At that point, in the 1930s, the American Communist Party was just another pro-labor political faction within American society. During World War II, the Soviets were allies, not trusted exactly, but admired for their stubborn fight and certainly integral to Hitler’s defeat.

All that changed after World War II with Stalin’s aggression in Eastern Europe. But American citizens could not erase their own pasts and political statements. Think about your tweets and Facebook posts. Fanatical Red-hunters, or those who exploited the nation’s fears simply in order to elevate themselves professionally or socially, used people’s past opinions and activities against them.

Once blacklisted, entertainment professionals could not get jobs. Screenwriter Dalton Trumbo had to ghostwrite, hiding his identity for years, even after anonymously winning Oscars for Roman Holiday and The Brave One.

Anyone who spoke out in support of the Hollywood Ten might be investigated themselves. For example, when the Ten testified in front of HUAC, a group of actors formed the Committee for the First Amendment. They signed and ran a petition in newspapers, and traveled to Washington, DC, to sit in support in the audience. Many were later hauled in front of the hearings themselves.

Despite all this, some screenwriters and studios still dared to push content to the “subversive”—themes or characters which challenge conventional thinking.

From Here to Eternity showcased the emotional devastation of WWII, while On the Waterfront focused on the plight of dockworkers during a strike against management (and the first onscreen use of the curse word “hell”). Roman Holiday won the Best Screenplay Oscar anonymously for the man who ghostwrote it—one of the “infamous” Ten, the blacklisted Dalton Trumbo. Hitchcock’s Rear Window explored the existence of quiet desperation in everyday lives. And works like Singing in the Rain expanded the artistic vision and panache of cinema.

Other films remain rooted in 1950s stereotypes and definitions, sexism and prejudices.

For more information on the Red Channels and the Blacklist see:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128005395

http://www.npr.org/2017/02/21/516427212/what-a-classic-50s-western-can-teach-us-about-the-hollywood-blacklist?sc=17&f=13&utm_source=iosnewsapp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=app

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91576667

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1cF1x6V16k

http://www.bleeckerstreetmedia.com/editorial/hollywood-ten

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkHzURumycM

See links below for a taste of the most popular films, TV shows, and movie stars of 1952-1955, and to further information about blacklists:

Roman Holiday

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twi3lQIDkiU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-PmluGC2wk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6af1dAc9rXo

From Here to Eternity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5OxBOZGlaQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7XxhdIOXo4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lfk-JTdQ_0I

On The Waterfront

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBiewQrpBBA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYBAPVjJykY

Singing in the Rain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qu4v5hB1dKk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_EVHeNEIJY

Oklahoma

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrGwxrqzGe4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G85aEsgMDwA

The Wild One

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlKWlx-Yxkg

Calamity Jane

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lquz78eV2uA

Stalag 17

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQh3qoGYVTg

Rear Window

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m01YktiEZCw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFollUtH108

TV SHOWS:

Here's more information about the undercover FBI agent show I LED 3 LIVES, which was so important to Richard, and the Pick Temple Show, where Ginny shows her pluck and natural abilities as an aspiring “camera girl.” I've also included a peek at the most popular shows of 1953-54. The variety hours and talk shows have the feel of the vaudeville and radio programs that proceeded them. The comedies typically focus on the era’s idealized, suburban family with a stay-at-home mom and a dad as the “breadwinner” and “king-of-the-castle”—even if he was slightly goofy for the sake of the audience’s laughter. In them, you’ll experience the cultural context of Richard and Ginny’s dreams, limitations, and self-definitions.

I Led 3 Lives

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-08-18-mn-24867-story.html

Pick Temple Show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RA3hWPyVT8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5tWAUk1g9I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg-S2Qm7N-k

http://kidshow.dcmemories.com/pick.html

Dragnet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtApm_dpWpk

Jack Benny Program

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C4Af55Wy1k

Make Room for Daddy