Miriam Hopkins IV: Hollywood Blacklist, Bette Davis

Miriam Hopkins III: BECKY SHARP
Miriam Hopkins blacklisted during the post-war anti-Red hysteria? Why? And how come that fact — to the best of my knowledge — has never been discussed anywhere?
During the late ’30s and throughout the ’40s, Hopkins was involved with several political and social groups that were considered fronts for the Communist Party. These groups included the Motion Picture Democratic Committee (of which Hopkins was 2nd vice president) and the incendiary League of Women Shoppers.
In 1945, Louis Bundenz, a Communist Party functionary and the managing editor of the Daily Worker, renounced communism and in 1950 created a “List of 400 Concealed Communists” for the FBI. Miriam Hopkins was on that list. Of course she wasn’t [...]

Marsha Hunt: Part II

Marsha Hunt: Part I
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 [...]