Comparing The Paramount Decision And The Hollywood Blacklist

Two monumental acts would take place in the Hollywood film industry within a year of each other that would alter the course of the entire business. The Paramount Decision and The Hollywood Blacklist changed everything concerning life of employees affiliated with the Hollywood studios. On May 3, 1948 The Paramount Decision as it came to be known, simply because Paramount was the first of eight studios named in a lawsuit by the United States Supreme Court. The prosperous theatre chains RKO, Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox, Loews-MGM, Columbia, Universal and United Artist joined Paramount as being accused of producing and showing their films in their own theaters leaving to question the justice of these self serving acts. Right in the middle of the postwar economic boom, the Supreme Court
Ten of the nineteen employees were asked to testify by the House Committee on UnAmerican Activities(HUAC) whose purpose for the inquiring was to find out if any of the men, “ were now or had they ever been a member of the screen writers guild?” or “were now or ever a member of the communist party?”(Lewis 198). “The Hollywood Ten” refused to answer directly stating they found the questions improper. This came at a very delicate time when America’s involvement in WWII recently ended in 1945 so tensions were high concerning loyalty and patriotism in the U.S. Considering the popularity of the Hollywood film industry the HUAC had an obligation to the American people to stop any and all communist influence. All of The Hollywood Ten were found guilty and served between six months and a year in prison( Lewis 200). In addition, between 1947 and 1957 over 300 studio employees such as actors, writers, directors and more were also blacklisted. Fired without pay and their contracts broken, causing many lawsuits that carried on into the 1960’s (Lewis