Trumbo Launches Season for Barrington Stage Company
Reliving the Red Scare and Hollywood Black List
By: Charles Giuliano - Feb 18, 2008
Trumbo
By Christopher Trumbo, based on letters of Dalton Trumbo. Starring Thom Christopher and Brian Hutchison. Directed by Julianne Boyd. Lighting Design by Jeff Davis. Sound Design by Tristan Wilson. Production Stage Manager, Kate J. Cudworth. Casting by McCorkle Casting Ltd. Press Representative, Charlie Siedenburg.
Barrington Stage Company, 30 Union Street, Pittsfield, Mass. February 14 to 24, 2008. For tickets call 413 236 8888. Or order on line.
http://www.barringtonstageco.org
First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for redress of grievances.
Fifth Amendment: No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb: nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor to be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Appearing before the House Committee on Un American Activities (HUAC) in 1947, just two years after the defeat of Fascism during which he saw combat in the South Pacific and the horrors of Iwo Jima, the distinguished screen writer, Dalton Trumbo, was found to be in Contempt of Congress. He and nine others came to be known as the Black Listed Hollywood Ten. For this crime he would serve time in federal prison and upon his release took the family to Mexico.
Like other alleged members of the Communist Party he would continue to work on films using a variety of aliases. One of these scripts even won an Academy Award which he never got to accept. In 1960, Otto Preminger announced that Trumbo wrote the script for the film "Exodus" while Trumbo's good friend Kirk Douglas acknowledged his contributions to "Spartacus." Eventually, he was accorded a posthumous Oscar for his work on "Roman Holiday." In 1976, Woody Allen's "The Front" starred him as a ghost writer for a blacklisted author.
In the post war era of the late 1940s and 1950s radical liberals in America, including many in the arts and higher education, were idealists who envisioned some form of Marxism. They hoped to level the social and economic playing field providing better jobs and benefits for the working class. These were the same individuals who had fought and died in the war against Fascism while their wives "manned" the factories. Blacks whose services were essential in the military came back to a segregated nation. Rosie the Riveter was told to return to the kitchen. Many of the members of the Screen Writers Guild served in the military and five lost their lives. In further hearings of HUAC, after the initial group of Ten, the list of those banned from working in Hollywood and held in Contempt of Congress grew to some 250.
You can still talk to friends about the hard times of parents and relatives during the Red Scare. I had an uncle, Fred Giuliano, an actor during the WPA program, who was a member of the CPA. Some years back, I worked on an exhibition for the Mass College of Art with the artist Michael Russo. We talked in depth of his years in the movement as a union organizer and how he started to create works of art while on the lam from the Feds. I vividly recall Russo telling me that as a member of the CPA he had met the "best and worst" people.
From 1959-1963 I attended Brandeis University, then a very young university, named for a Justice of the Supreme Court, founded in 1948 by Jews. Many of the faculty were radicals like Herbert Marcuse who were not employable on any other American campus. Hiring black listed professors jump started Brandeis into the cutting edge of leading centers of intellect. Leonard Bernstein founded the music program. One could take classes with Philip Rahv, Irving Howe, Paul Radin, Herbert Maslow, Cyrus Gordon, Leo Bronstein, and Max Lerner. On Sundays I attended lectures by Eleanor Roosevelt, with guests like Adlai Stevenson, which were taped by PBS. Occasionally I had coffee with Angela Davis in the snack bar. Abbie Hoffman was a senior when I was a freshman. My chemistry lab partner, I flunked the course, later blew up a bank in New York. Overall I would say that I emerged as an "art radical."
Like Dalton Trumbo and those early leftists we were a generation during the 1960s which believed that it was possible to make a difference. In many ways, I still do, and attribute this to being "radicalized" by a Brandeis education.
So I was particularly eager to attend a timely production of "Trumbo" with Thom Christopher reading from his dense and feisty letters interjected now and then by his son, Christopher, performed by Brian Hutchinson.
Perhaps you are finding this "review" overly preachy. My apology if I am preaching to the converted, if not, let us proceed with the screed. We opened this text with a quote of the First and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution. It is not possible to be overly familiar with their content and promise of freedom for all Americans. They contain some of the most succinct and profound wisdom of our Founding Fathers. One senses that the current administration has read the fine print and searched for loop holes. Once again, like America triumphant having defeated Fascism, the executive branch of government, under the guise of fighting terrorism and rallying under the mantra of Homeland Security, has managed to erode freedom and rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
We needn't list the infractions that prevail currently. This is, after all, about Trumbo and the Red Scare of the post war era. He was never waterboarded. Trumbo wasn't held without trial or access to an attorney in Guantanomo Bay. But he was sent to prison even though he was never convicted of a crime other than "Contempt of Congress" through his refusal to self incriminate as guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment. More importantly, Trumbo was deprived of a livelihood which inflicted suffering on his family. I recall high school, in the 1950s, when teachers were required to pledge allegiance to the flag and take loyalty oaths. Even if you subscribed to the Daily Worker you could get fired.
Yes, there are people out there, terrorists, who want to blow us all to kingdom come. No, we can't have that happen. Nor should we destroy freedom in order to preserve it. Are there Black Ops to keep us safe and secure? Sure. Are they necessary? Arguably. Do we have to fight fire with fire? Yes, when appropriate. But always with an eye to limit and restraint. Are our phone conversations and e mails, as average, law abiding citizens being monitored? Bet on it. Surely surveillance is set up to catch random keywords. Fundamentalism in all its forms, globally and here at home with the religious right, are a threat to freedom and must be resisted by every means necessary. The First Amendment guarantees freedom Of religion and also From religion. We were founded on the notion of separation of church and state. Tell that to Mike Huckabee, George W., and their base.
Just what then is the function of theatre? Do we go to be entertained? For escape? To get away from daily cares and woes? Or is theatre a place where we receive ideas and are made to think? Which is precisely why HUAC perceived the threat that Commies were infesting Hollywood. On a screen behind the actors we were occasionally shown clips of the HUAC hearings.
But theatre has to work. Beyond message and content it must function as drama and engage the audience. So I found this production problematic. It felt more like a reading than a dramatic staging. The relationship between the actors was never really developed. The son just seemed to occasionally interrupt the father who was given no lines other than to read his own remarkable letters. They were intense and specific writings and it was often too demanding to absorb all of their nuances. Did having them read to us significantly improve on the opportunity of finding them on our own? One would have liked the chance to absorb them at leisure. Some of the letters proved to be witty and, yes, entertaining. High points were a birthday poem to his son as well as hilarious advice about self abuse. Some letters absorbed and riveted us while others slid by. There was an ebb and flow to the performance during which Trumbo never left his seat. We needed him to get up now and then, stretch, move about, interact with his son, and become more of a real person and less of a talking head.
While the medium is the message, during this experience of "Trumbo," the message was the medium.