Fifty years ago, McCarthyism silenced Hollywood. Now those who were suppressed finally have their say. In the pages of Tender Comrades, more than 30 blacklisted survivors, among them Ring Lardner, Jr. and Martin Ritt, tell their stories. 32 photos.
| ||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Product Description
From Amazon
Tender Comrades contains a series of in-depth interviews with people who suffered during the hysteria of the red scare in Hollywood. The McCarthy era has been studied for years, and although we may know the basic stories of how careers were ruined by accusations and innuendo, hearing the stories from the participants themselves is very moving. Interviewees range from people whose careers eventually rebounded, such as Martin Ritt, Walter Bernstein, and Ring Lardner Jr., to people who never again worked as writers or actors.
From Library Journal
The 50th anniversary of the 1947 House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) hearings, which resulted in the infamous Hollywood blacklist, is the occasion for this landmark collection of interviews with more than 30 of the blacklisted filmmakers. While HUAC's activities are well known and documented, only recently have many victims of the blacklist stepped forward, most notably Walter Bernstein with his Inside Out: A Memoir of the Blacklist (LJ 9/15/96). The sheer bulk of this book gives a sense of the enormous damage to the lives and careers of those blacklisted and the impact on filmmaking caused by losing this magnitude of talent. The interviews, expertly conducted by McGilligan (biographer of Fritz Lang and George Cukor) and Buhle (historian of the political Left), vividly reveal those who for so long have lurked in the shadows, silenced by their adversaries or, more often, allowed to perform, write, and direct under an alias. Formerly unacknowledged film credits are listed for each filmmaker. Highly recommended for academic libraries.?Richard W. Grefrath, Univ. of Nevada Lib., Reno
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence
NORMA BARZMAN WAS born Norma Levor, in New York City, on September 15, 1920. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
NORMA BARZMAN WAS born Norma Levor, in New York City, on September 15, 1920. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
By M. Rogan
Format:Paperback
It has been nearly 50 years since the Hollywood blacklist and they just can't get over what happened. The blacklist victims were hardly "tender comrades", they were dangerous people who sought to destroy the American way of life. The real enemy is not anti-communism, but communism itself. The KGB and Venona files have confirmed that everything McCarthy said was right. Why can't they get over this? Why? They need to get over this and move on.
By "marieisme"
Format:Paperback
I love this book. Its first person accounts by the courageous men and woman who fought valiantly for social justice and economic equality for all people, and stood strong against reactionary forces are so inspiring and moving that I was often in tears.
The book is also immensely informative and even quite funny at times. It vividly presents an amazing array of personalities and is arguably the most affecting, revealing and far-reaching volume about the most shameful chapter in Hollywood's history
Tender Comrades is required reading. We are all indebted to Patrick McGilligan and Paul Buhle for gathering these testimonials, which are true profiles in courage.
Format:Hardcover
I grew up midwestern 1950's, in a hotbed of Mc Carthyism. Needless to mention, my ingrained image of who and what was a communist was somewhat different from the thoroughly humanized portraits that emerge in the pages of the book. Not that the interviews with individual victims of the blacklist result in glamorized or enviable cameos. They don't. Instead, we get a glimpse of what life was like for people of strong conviction who defied the fashion of their day even when it cost them dearly. The fact that most were communists was enough to demonize them in the eyes of so many of us, who, when it comes right down to it, were victims ourselves.
To those of you who have been assailed by America's peculiarly virulent strain of anti-communism, read the book. It won't make a communist of you, but it will give you second thoughts about a political culture that regularly demonizes its opposition, whoever that may be. The interviews reveal not only an America that was, but in many ways an America that still is. The individual stories themselves are fascinating. The names are ones you may have seen briefly on a late night movie credit crawl. Here they come alive in their own words; names and faces that were on the screen one day, then gone the next. Not celebrities, but the kind of people who made movies memorable because they brought more than varying degrees of talent to their work, they brought social concern.
I hope the authors soon bring us a similar volume on non-Hollywood victims of the purges, of which, I gather, there were thousands. Folks without marquee names, but with their own stories to tell about how the world was made safe for democracy.
Want to see more reviews on this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 8 reviews
4.4 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely Fascinating Read
For anyone that's ready to move past the historical books about the Blacklist period and is ready to hear more about the people involved this is the book to read. Read more
Published on Oct 9 2000 by David Cromwell
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good look at the the Blacklistee's story.
This book is a good resource for anyone who wishes to study the Hollywood Blacklist during the 1940s through 1960s. Read more
Published on Mar 24 2000 by don@onepurpose.com
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Business & Investing > Economics > Labour & Industrial Relations
- Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Language Study & Reference
- Books > History > Americas > United States > 20th Century
- Books > History > United States > 20th Century
- Books > Humour & Entertainment > Movies > History & Criticism
- Books > Literature & Fiction
- Books > Professional & Technical > Accounting & Finance > Economics > Labour & Industrial Relations
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
