Mostel, are you or are you not a Communist?" he leapt out of his chair and acted like he was grabbing for the attorney's throat, yelling, "That man called me a Communist! Get him out of here! He asked me if I'm a Communist! Get him out of here!" When he finally got to testify, Mostel took the opportunity to exercise the comedic chops which had been in hibernation since the public accusation. Zero Mostel was named to the list of suspected Communist Party members in 1952, and although he didn't appear before HUAC until 1955, the accusation was enough to kill his career. ZERO MOSTELīy Graphic House, New York - eBay, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons Years later, de Havilland recalled, "He said to me, 'Have you read the Russian constitution?' And I said, 'No I haven't-and how recently have you read ours?'" 6. During a meeting of the Independent Citizens' Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions, Shaw started talking about how the Soviet constitution should be the standard-setter when it came to democracy. But if you believe Olivia de Havilland, Shaw was definitely behind Communism all the way. "I hate to admit that I was a dupe, but I guess I was," he told the committee. Shaw didn't dispute that he had been present at a number of gatherings, but said that it was simply because of his interest in social justice and world peace. ARTIE SHAWĪrtie Shaw, also named in the Red Channels pamphlet, was brought before HUAC in 1953 for statements supporting the Communist Party and for allegedly attending a couple of meetings. He was held in contempt of Congress and was sentenced to serve 10 years in jail for it, but the conviction was overturned. "My father, Charles Seeger, got me into the Communist movement," he said, but later apologized for "following the party line so slavishly, for not seeing that Stalin was a supremely cruel misleader." When he was called to testify in front of HUAC in 1955, Seeger refused to plead the Fifth, but also refused to name any names. PETE SEEGERīy Walter Albertin - Library of Congress, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commonsįolk singer Pete Seeger was a member of both the Young Communist League and the Communist Party and made no bones about it. However, friends such as Pete Seeger felt that Ives had sold them out in order to get back to work and severed ties with him for many years. He adamantly denied being a Communist and said that any union activity he had participated in was simply to keep in touch with "working folk." Because of his cooperation with the House Un-American Activities Committee, he was removed from the blacklist. BURL IVESīurl Ives was called out in the 1950 Red Channels pamphlet, a brochure that named 151 supposed Communists in the entertainment industry who should be avoided. Edgar Hoover documented his intentions to run a smear campaign against Bernstein specifically because of his Black Panther ties. He was targeted as a communist during the whole McCarthy era, even though he swore on an affidavit that "I am not now or at any time have ever been a member of the Communist Party." The FBI was never able to officially verify that he was a member of the Communist Party, but they continued to monitor his activities when he supported Vietnam protesters and became friends with a member of the Black Panthers. The composer and conductor fell under the FBI's watchful eyes for more than 30 years. By The Library of Congress, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons
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