Marsha Hunt: Part II
Sixty years ago, on November 25, 1947, the heads of the major studios and several independent producer organizations met at the Waldorf Astoria to address the issue of communist infiltration in motion pictures. In a historic proclamation known as the Waldorf Statement, the studio heads and producers voted unanimously to refuse employment to the Hollywood Ten as well as to any Communist working in the motion picture industry. What was known in Hollywood unofficially became official: the Hollywood Blacklist was now a reality.
In his statement to the press, Eric Johnston, president of the Motion Picture Association of America stated that this new policy was not going to be characterized by hysteria or intimidation. He also promised that an atmosphere of fear in Hollywood would not be created and innocent persons would be protected. Johnston, however, did not keep his promise. There is at least one person I know who was innocent and was definitely not protected — Marsha Hunt.
Marsha was among twenty-six members of the entertainment industry who had gone to Washington to support nineteen Hollywood personalities called to testify at the U.S. capital in 1947. She did so because she believed what was happening in Washington was an unfair witch hunt that had to be stopped. But she also went for a more personal reason.
Producer Adrian Scott, one of the Hollywood Ten, was married to Marsha’s best girlfriend, actress Anne Shirley, and was a dear friend of her husband, writer Robert Presnell Jr. Marsha knew Adrian to be a man of honor and a gifted producer. She felt a special sense of outrage at the treatment he was being accorded by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).
Acting on their conscience, none of those who flew to Washington believed there would be dire consequences for their actions. Instead, they believed that standing up for their fellow artists would hasten the end of the hearings and prevent the possibility of further action to limit free speech in the entertainment industry.
On June 22, 1950, Marsha was one of 151 performers listed in Red Channels, a booklet published by the right-wing journal Counterattack. Marsha was wrongly accused of being a Communist sympathizer for her support of and participation in projects involving persons who were among those called before HUAC. With this publication, her career came to a quiet halt. There were no subpoenas, but after 54 films in 17 years, the job offers stopped coming in.
Kurt Kasznar, Charles Boyer, Bobby Driscoll, Marsha Hunt, Louis Jourdan in The Happy Time
In 1952, while Marsha was filming The Happy Time (above) for Stanley Kramer Productions, publicist George Glass repeatedly sent for her, citing threats from so-called (and nameless) patriot groups threatening to boycott and picket the film because of her. Glass insisted that she place full-page ads in Variety and The Hollywood Reporter renouncing her liberal positions, denying any Communist Party membership, and swearing undying hatred for Communism. Marsha refused.
As she recalled in Tender Comrades, Patrick McGilligan and Paul Buhle’s book on the blacklist, "I said to Mr. Glass, ‘I tell you what: If any of these shadowy groups wants to step forward and accuse me of some wrong, I will answer an accusation. Let somebody call me a Communist or charge me with subversive activities. Then I can answer. But I’m not gonna fight shadows.’" She held out. And there was no picketing or boycott of The Happy Time. Even so, she remained blacklisted as if she were a Communist.
The focus of Marsha’s life changed after she and her husband Robert went on a trip around the world in 1955. For the first time in her life, she witnessed abject poverty in countries like India and Pakistan. Spending most of her adult life on a sound stage, she had no idea that this kind of poverty and despair was going on in the world. She came back to the States, vowing to learn all she could about how she could help alleviate the pain and suffering she witnessed. Thus began the education of Marsha Hunt, "planet patriot" and citizen of the world.
Marsha spent 25 years as a board member of the United Nations Association, dealing with their specialized agencies. She was president of Southern California’s Valley UNA chapter for several years before she co-founded the Pacific UNA chapter on the Los Angeles Westside. Her idea for "Global Gifts," a gift shop which she opened at the Encino UNA office served as a successful business model for all UNA offices across the country.
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Tags: Adrian Scott, Classic Movies, Hollywood Blacklist, Marsha Hunt, Politics, Red Channels, Robert Presnell Jr, Tender Comrades, The Happy Time
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