The Movement Of Hollywood During The 1950's

The 1950’s was a time marked by fear, paranoia, and persecution, where even Hollywood was under scrutiny. Those involved in Hollywood whether it be directing or acting found themselves being censored and limited due to the political events taking place around the world. Within the accounts of Mark Goodson and Arthur Miller, they cite the ways in which the anti-communist movement affected television programming and motion pictures during the 1950’s. To start, Mark Goodson recalls his experiences as a television producer during the Red Scare. He said his first experience when dealing with the movement was at the start of his television show, What’s My Line?, when a member on his panel was listed in the Red Channels. This man went by the name
Miller was an influential playwright during the 1950’s and had his first run in with the movement when he was debuting Death of a Salesman (341). While he was in the Midwest, the American Legion and the Catholic War Veterans protested the show and ended up dissuading people from attending because they feared for their own safety (341). In fact, throughout his career he often times found himself being censored by Hollywood in order to appease the anti-communist ideals. Specifically, when he wrote The Hook, it was deemed as too dangerous of a film to be produced and because of this was never made (342). To continue, when Miller tried to put on the show The Crucible, it was also picketed across the country for its plot (343). In fact, what first keyed Arthur Miller in on the fact that he was on the blacklist was when he applied for a passport to Brussels to see the opening of the play where he was then denied access (343). It took Arthur five years before he was able to be allowed to have a passport again, but he says that the effects of the anti-communist movement are far more worrisome than just a few legal documents. He states that due to the fear of creating any work that is controversial or could cause friction with the public, “theater became just mere entertainment and lost its audience” (345). He goes further by stating that, “it no longer was engaging the great moral issues that the society throws up” (345). In summary, the anti-communist movement’s effect on Hollywood is very important to address because even though the Cold War has ended, the American public is still affected by the movement each and every day through the censorship and fear that once shrouded