INVESTIGATION OF COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE
LOS ANGELES AREA— PART 6
HEARINGS
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES
HOUSE OEIEEPBESENTATIVES
EIGHTY-THIRD CONGRESS
firs't se^sio^j^
MARCH 21, 1951, AND JUNE 2, 1953
Printed for the use of the Committee on Un-American Activities
INCLUDING INDEX
UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
31747 WASHINGTON : 1953
Boston Public Library
Superintendent of Documents
OCT 7 - 1953
COMMITTI']E ON UN-AMEItlCAN ACTIVITIES
United States House of Representatives
HAROLD H. VELDE, Illinois, Chairman
BERNARD W. KEARNEY, New York FRANCIS E. WALTER. Pennsylvania
DONALD L. JACKSON, California MORGAN M. MOULDER, Missouri
KIT CLARDY, Michigan CLYDE DOYLE, California
GORDON H. SCHERER, Ohio JAMES B. FRAZIER, Jk., Tennessee
RoBEUT L. KuNziG, Counsel
Frank S. Tavennek, Jr., Counnel
Louis J. Russell, Chief Investigator
Thomas W. Beale, Sr., Chief Clerk
Raphap:l I. Nixon, Director of Research
II
CONTENTS
March 21, 1951: Page
Testimonv of Larry Parks 2299
June 2, 1953: '
Statement of —
Charlotte Darlinfi Adams 2309
Roland William Kibbee 2321
Babbette Lang 2337
Lee J. Cobb 2345
Index 2357
m
Public Law 601, 79th Congress
The legislation under which the House Committee on Un-American
Activities operates is Public Law 601, 79tli Congress [1946], chapter
753, 2d session, which provides :
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States
of America in Congress assembled, * * *
PART 2— RULES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
RXTLE X
SEC. 121. STANDING COMMITTEES
• • * * * * «
17. Committee on Un-American Activities, to consist of nine members.
Rule XI
POWERS AND DUTIES OF COMMITTEES
(q) (1) Committee on Un-American Activities.
(A) Un-American activities.
(2) Tlie Committee on Un-American Activities, as a whole or by subcommitr;
tee, is authorized to malie from time to time investigations of (i) the extent,
character, and objects of un-American propaganda activities in the United States,
(ii) the diffusion within the United States of subversive and un-American propa-
ganda that is instigated from foreign countries or of a domestic origin and attacks
the principle of the form of government as guaranteed by our Constitution, and
(iii) all other questions in relation thereto that would aid Congress in any neces-
sary remedial legislation.
The Committee on Un-American Activities shall report to the House (or to the
Clerk of the House if the House is not in session) the results of any such investi-
gation, together with such recommendations as it deems advisable.
For the purpose of any such investigation, the Committee on Un-American
Activities, or any subcommittee thereof, is authorized to sit and act at such
times and places within the United States, whether or not the House is sitting,
has recessed, or has adjourned, to hold such hearings, to require the attendance
of such witnesses and the production of such books, papers, and documents, and
to take such testimony, as it deems necessary. Subpenas may be issued under
the signature of the chairman of the committee or any subcommittee, or by any
member designated by any such chairman, and may be served by any person
designated by any such chairman or member.
RULES ADOPTED BY THE 83d CONGRESS
House Resolution 5, January 3, 1953
Rule X
STANDING COMMiri'EES
1. There shall be elected by the House, at the commencement of each Con-
gress, the following standing committees :
* * * J^ * * i^
(q) Committee on Un-American Activities, to consist of nine members.
* « 4< * « « *
Rule XI
poweeS and duties of cowmittees
* * * * * ^f ^f
17. Committee on Un-Amei-ican Activities.
(a) Un-American Activities.
(b) The Committee on Un-American Activities, as a whole or by subcommittee,
is authorized to make from time to time, investigations of (1) the extent, char-
acter, and objects of un-American propaganda activities in the United States,
(2) the diffusion within the United States of subversive and un-American prop-
aganda that is instigated from foreign countries or of a domestic origin and
attacks the principle of the form of government as guaranteed by our Constitu-
tion, and (3) all other questions in relation thereto that would aid Congress
in any necessary remedial legislation.
The Committee on Un-American Activities shall report to the House (or to the
Clerk of the House if the House is not in session) the results of any such investi-
gation, together with such recommendations as it deems advisable.
For the purpose of any such investigation, the Committee on Un-American
Activities, or any subcommittee thereof, is authorized to sit and act at such times
and places within the United States, whether or not the House is sitting, has
recessed, or has adjourned, to hold such hearings, to require the attendance
of such witnesses and the production of such books, papers, and documents, and
to take such testimony as it deems necessary. Subpenas may be issued under
the signature of the chairman of the committee or any subcommittee, or by any
member designated by such chairman, and may be served by any person desig-
nated by any such chairman or member.
VI
INVESTIGATION OF COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE
LOS ANGELES AREA— PAKT 6
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, 1951
United States House of Representatives,
Committee on Un-American Activities,
Wcuskingto7i^ D. C.
Executive Session ^
The Committee on Un-American Activities met in executive ses-
sion at 4 p. m., in room 226, Old House Office Building, Hon. John
S. Wood (chairman) presiding.
Committee members present : Representatives John S. Wood (chair-
man), Francis E. Walter, Clyde Doyle, James B. Frazier, Jr., Harold
H. Velde, Bernard W. Kearney, Donald J. Jackson, and Charles E.
Pott«r.
Staff members present: Frank S. Tavenner, Jr., counsel; Louis J.
Russell, senior investigator: William H. Wheeler, investigator;
Thomas W. Beale, Sr., assistant counsel; and A. S. Poore, editor.
TESTIMONY OF LARRY PARKS, ACCOMPANIED BY HIS COUNSEL,
LOUIS MANDEL
Mr. Wood, Mr. Parks, at the conclusion of the morning session, the
conmiittee had a meeting, and it was the unanimous expression of the
members of the committee that we were going to seek your further
cooperation in an executive session, for further testimony that will
not be publicized until such time, if at all, as the committee itself may
deem expedient. It may never happen, but it is only fair to say to
you that it is in the discretion of tlie committee at any time to make
public any information that you may see fit to give in this executive
session. Until such time, if it does happen, it will be kept in the con-
fidential files of the connnittee.
With that statement, counsel will now propound additional ques-
tions.
Mr. JMandee. So that Mr. Parks will be fully aware of where he
is going, is it the intention of the committee that unless he answers
these questions in private, that is, in executive session, they intend to
cite him for contempt of this committee?
Mr. Wood. The committee makes no threats.
JSIr. Mandel. We haven't approached it as a matter of threat, just
to clear his thinking so that he is fully informed in his own mind of
the consequences of following that path.
^ This testimony, taken in executive session during ttie 82d Congress, has been examined
and released by tlie full committee.
2299
2300 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA
Mr. Wood. Coimselor, you have asked a question, and I will answer
it as frankly as I can. The committee did not discuss that phase of
it and hasn't discussed it. It is entirely possible, if Mr. Parks placed
himself in the position here of being in contempt of Congress, that
the committee may request a citation for that purpose. On the other
hand, it may not. I cannot speak for the committee. Does that an-
swer your question ?
Mr. Mandel. No, not quite. I would like to spend another minute
on it. I realize that, and I also realize the position of the committee
not to commit themselves to Mr. Parks, but in view of Mr. Parks'
general attitude of being cooperative, and everyone easily understands
here what is motivating him — he feels so bad about what he has to
do, and if he thought in liis own judgment there was any chance at all
that you would elicit from him information that was important to you,
that he would very gladly give it to you voluntarily. It is only sav-
ing that little bit of something that you live with. You have to see
and walk in Hollywood with that. You have to meet your children
and your wife with it and your friends. It is that little bit that you
want to save.
Although I don't want to ask the committee to commit itself, in
fairness to Mr. Parks, he may have to sacrifice the arm with gangrene
in order to save the body. Even though he doesn't like it, he will walk
around the rest of his life without an arm.
I realize the purposes of this committee, and our attitude has been
one of cooperation. We want to go right through with that. Now,
if that is going to be the penalty that he eventually will have to pay,
then I have to help him think a different way. I have to urge him a
different way.
His honest and sincere opinion is that what he is going to give you
will only eat up his insides and you will get nothing, no more than
you have today. This is a conviction of this man.
Mr. Wood. Mr. Attorney, the committee has to be the judge of what
information has pertinency and relevancy. It can't take the opinions
of other people. I have tried to be frank about it, and the committee
is very anxious — I think you will agree — to be considerate of this man.
The committee is in no sense responsible for the position he finds
himself in, but we are responsible for the position we find ourselves
in. We have a responsibility and duty that is on us as public officials.
Mr. Mandel. I realize that.
Mr. Wood. I will be glad to answer any further inquiries.
Mr. Mandel. I realize that. I was wondering if I could get the
opinion of the committee before, because the direction will have to
come to him "If you don't answer, then we will cite you for con-
tempt." I think that is part of the law, for the man to know the
price. So it would have to come anyhow as a matter of law. I am
urging it now so that I can sit down with him. I know how it is
biting on the inside.
Mr. Wood. I am not going to put the committee in a position here,
and I don't think any of them want to be placed in the position, of
making any compromising statements about what they will do here
in any given set of circumstances. I think they can cross that when
they arrive at that point.
Mr. Mandel. I don't intend to argue with the committee any fur-
ther. I believe I made my point.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA 2301
Mr. Wood. Proceed, counsel.
Mr. Tavknner. Mr, Parks, are you acquainted with an effort made
to raise funds for the New Masses magazine, which was in the form
of a party held at the home of Frank Tuttle on June 8, 1945 ?
Mr. Parks, No, sir ; I don't recall any such party at Frank Tuttle's
house. I was at his house I believe only once, and as I remember
it there were maybe 2 or 3 people, and it was purely a social evening.
This is the best of my recollection. I don't believe to the very best
of my recollection of having attended such a party.
Mr. Ta\'enxer. I have just learned there are two Frank Tuttles in
Hollywood. Are you acquainted with that fact?
Mr. Parks. No. I only know one Frank Tuttle, who is a director
in Hollywood.
Mr. Tavenner. He is the one that I had reference to.
Mr. Parks. That is the one that I am acquainted with, was ac-
quainted with. I don't know whether he is out there now at this time.
Mr. Tavenner. Did you attend a Communist Party meeting of a
cultural group of the Communist Party at the home of Hugo Butler?
Mr. Parks. I have been to Hugo Butler's house twice, I think.
One was on a matter of — I believe I read a script of his. The other
time to the best of my recollection was a party given for — as I recall,
it was given for the people who had come before your committee in
1947. This is the best of my recollection. I don't recall ever going
to a party for — what was it ? New Masses ?
Mr. Tavenner. No. This party that I am speaking of now did not
necessarily have anything to do with New Masses. This is a different
meeting that I am referring to now at the home of Hugo Butler.
It is alleged to have taken place on January 3, 1945.
Mr. Parks. No, I don't recall going there for a party at that time
at all. I am being very honest when I say that. As I say, I know
where he lives, and I think I have been there twice.
Mr. Tavenner. Was Hugo Butler a member of the Communist
Party, to your knowledge, or from information made available to
you ?
Mr. Parks. No, sir, I have no knowledge of Hugo Butler at all
being a member.
Mr. Tavenner. Did you ever attend a Communist Party meeting at
which he was present ?
Mr. Parks. Not to my recollection, I never did.
Mr. Tavenner. Was Frank Tuttle a member of the Communist
Party, to your knowledge ?
Mr. Parks. This, counsel, I do not know. I don't believe I have
ever heard that. I don't believe that I have ever to the very best of
my knowledge ever attended any meeting of such a nature with Frank
Tuttle.
Mr. Tavenner. Wlio were the members of the cell of the Communist
Party to which you were assigned during the period from 1941 on up
to the time you disassociated yourself from the party about 1945?
Mr. Parks. This is Avhat I have been talking about. This is the
thing that I am no longer fighting for myself, because I tell you
frankly that I am probably the most completely ruined man that you
have ever seen. I am fighting for a principle, I think, if Americanism
is involved in this particular case. This is what I have been talking
3J747— 53— pt. 6 2
2302 COMJMUNIST ACTIVITI?:S IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA
about. I do not believe that it befits this committee to force me to
do this. I do not believe it befits this committee or its purposes to
force me to do this. This is my honest feeling about it. I don't think
that this is fair play. I don't think it is in the spirit of real Ameri-
canism, as we know it. These are not people that are a danger to this
country, gentlemen, the people that I knew. These are people like
myself.
Mr. Tavenner, Mr. Chairman, if the witness refuses to answer the
question, I see very little use in my asking him about other individuals.
Mr. Wot!D. The witness, of course, has got to make up his own mind
fiS to whether he will or will not do it. It isn't sufficient, as far as this
committee is concerned, to say that in your opinion it is unfair or un-
American in the proper administration of justice.
The question is: Do you refuse to answer or will you answer it?
Mr. Mandel. At this point I would like to ask the chairman whether
he is directing the witness to answer.
Mr. Wood. The witness has been asked. He must answ^er or decline
to answer.
Mr. Mandel. I think a little more is needed. He must be directed
to answer, and if he refuses to answer, just merely asking him and
not going beyond, I don't believe under law is sufficient. I think he
has to be dii-ected and told "You have got to answer."
Mr. Wood. I don't understand any such rule, but in order to avoid
auy controversy I direct tlie witness to answer the question.
Mr. Parks. I do not refuse to answer the question, but I do feel that
this committee is doing a really dreadful thing that I don't believe the
American people w-ill look kindly on. This is my opinion. I don't
think that they will consider this as honest, just, and in the spirit of
fair play.
Mr. Jackson. Mr. Chairman, might I interpose at tliis point ? Mr.
Parks, we are, each one of us, individually responsible to the Ameri-
can people. I think that our concept of our responsibility or of the
extent to which we must answer is a thing which we ourselves are
fully conscious of. That determination must rest with the individual
members of the committee and the committee as a wiiole, I for one
resent having my duties pointed out to me.
Mr. Parks. I am not pointing the duty out.
Mr. Jackson. The inference is that we are doing something which
is un-American in nature. That is a personal opinion of yours, and I
merely think that it should be in the record. We have accountability
for which we must account and for which we must answer.
Mr. Wood. The witness has said he doesn't refuse to answer, so I
assume he is ready to answer.
Mr. Mandel. I may say this at this point : I think the committee
and the individual members of the committee are all seeking within
themselves to do the right thing. There is no question about that. I
think in the same spirit, no one can, with the heritage that Mr. Parks
has to uphold, think that he isn't as loyal as any member of this com-
mittee, individually or collectively, and that he in his own mind has
to do the right thing as we Americans in our elections do and choose.
Of course, when the final gong goes down, he intends as he indicated
to respect the will of this committee, but I think justly he reserves the
right to talk to you gentlemen and possibly persuade you to think
differently and express his opinions.
COMJMUNIST ACTIYITIP:S IX THE LOS ANGELES AREA 2303
Mr. Wood. Tlie committee took the view, sir, that perhaps there
mio-ht be some merit in your contention if we were still in an open
liearing, but we are not. It is an executive session.
Mr. Mandel. I realize that, and I want to thank the committee for
this consideration. I think it should have been done first before we
started here, but this session is a very private session or executive
session, which is A^ery considerate of the conmiittee, and the record
should so state.
May I have a minute to talk to Mr. Parks?
Mr. Wood. Yes. You may retire if you like.
Mr. Mandel. I make this request of the committee. I want no
])romise from you, but just as a matter of finding what is the sports-
manlike attitude, that what he gives you will not be used in that way
if it can be helped, without embarrassing these people in the same
position he finds himself in today.
Mr. Wood. Nobody on this committee has any desire to smear the
name of anybody. That isn't of benefit to this committee in the dis-
charge of its duties. It has been a uniform custom of the committee
since I have been connected with it. I think all of the American
people who have viewed the work of the committee dispassionately and
impartially will agree with that.
Mr. Mandel. The reason I asked is because in the struggle that Mr.
Parks is going througli I think the internal struggle would go a little
lighter, having that statemeiit from you.
Mr. Tamsnner. If you will just answer the question, please. The
question was : Wlio were the members of the Communist Party cell
to which you were assigned during the period from 1941 until 1945,
or the period when you dissolved your membership with the Com-
munist Party ?
Mr. Parks. Well, Morris Carnovsky, Joe
Mr. Tavenner. Will you spell that name?
Mr. Parks. I couldn't possibly sj^ell it. Carnovsky, Joe Brombergy
Sam Rossen, Anne Revere, Lee Cobb.
Mr. Tavenner. Wliat was tlie name?
Mr. Parks. Cobb. Gale Sondergaard, Dorothy Tree. Those are
tlie principal names that I recall.
Mr. Taat.nner. What was the name of Dorothy Tree's husband?
Was it not Michael Uris ?
Mr. Parks. Yes.
Mr. Ta\:enner. Was he a member ?
Mr. Parks. Not to my knowledge.
Mr. Tavenner. Do you know whether INIichael Uris was a member
of any other cell of the Communist Party ?
Mr. Parks. No. I don't know this at all.
Mr. Ta%t.nnt:r. I believe he was a writer, was he not, as distin-
guished from an actor ?
Mr. Parks. I think he was a writer ; yes.
Mr. Tavenner. The persons whose names you have mentioned
were all actors ?
Mr. Parks. Yes ; that's correct.
Mr. Tavenner. Can you recall the names of others who were at
one time a member of that cell ^
Mr. Parks. That's about all I recall right now.
Mr. Tavenner. Was Howard Da Silva a member?
2304 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA
Mr. Parks. No ; I don't believe that I ever attended a meeting with
Howard Da Silva.
Mr. Ta\'enner. Was Howard Da Silva a member of the Communist
Party, to your knowledge ?
Mr. Parks. Not to my knowledge. To the best of my ability, I
don't believe I ever attended a meeting with him, and I don't recall
ever having attended a meeting with him.
Mr. Tavenner. Was Roman Bohman a member?
Mr. Parks. Yes.
Mr. Ta%'enner. He is now deceased, I believe.
Mr. Parks, He is dead.
Mr. TA^^NNER. Was James Cagney a member at any time?
Mr. Parks. Not to my knowledge. I don't recall ever attending
a meeting with him.
Mr. Ta\^nner. Was he a member of the Communist Party, to your
knowledge or from information made available to you?
Mr. Parks. I don't recall ever hearing that he was.
Mr. Tavenner. Sam Jaffe ?
Mr. Parks. I don't recall ever attending a meeting with Sam Jaffe.
Mr. Tai-enner. Was he a member of the Communist Party, to your
knowledge or from information made available to you ?
Mr. Parks. I don't recall any knowledge that Sam Jaffe was ever
a member of the Connnunist Party.
Mr. Ta%^nner. John Garfield ?
Mr. Parks. I don't recall ever being at a meeting with Jolui Gar-
field.
Mr. Tavenner. Do you recall whether John Garfield ever addressed
a Communist Party meeting when you were present?
Mr. Parks. I don't recall any such occasion.
Mr. Tavenner. Marc Lawrence, was he a member of that cell '?
Mr. Parks. I believe he was. I wouldn't say with certainty. I
believe so.
Mr. Taat^nner. What is there in your memory that leads you to
believe that he was a member of the Communist Party ?
. jMr. Parks. Well, as I told you, I didn't attend very many meetings,
and I believe I recall that he was there. I don't swear to it.
Mr. Tavenner. Was it during the early part or the latter part of
your membership that you have that recollection of him?
Mr. Parks. Well, this I couldn't say. I really don't remember.
Mr. Mandel. May I suggest to counsel, in view of the general feel-
ing of the witness — I don't mean to rush you, but this whole thing
being so distasteful, I wonder if we can proceed a little faster so h©
doesn't suffer so much while this is going on.
Mr. Tavenner. I want him to be accurate on it. I purposely do not
want to rush him into answering about matters as important as these.
Mr. Mandel. I didn't infer that and mean that. I am just trying
to be considerate of the man's feelings, doing something that
Mr. Tavenner. I asked you this morning about Karen Morley.
Was she a member of the Communist Party ?
Mr. Parks. Yes ; she was.
Mr. Tavenner. Was she in this particular cell that you have
described ?
Mr. Parks. Yes; she was.
COJVIMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA 2305
Mr. Tavenner. Ricliard Collins, were you acquainted with him?
Mr. Parks. I know Richard Collins. He was not to my knowledge
a member of the Communist Party.
(At this point Representative Clyde Doyle left the hearing room.)
Mr. Ta^^nner. I have asked you whether or not members of the
Communist Party from the eastern part of the United States had
appeared before your Communist Party meetings. You said you did
not recall that any had.
Mr. Parks. That's correct.
Mr. Tavenner. But did Communist Party organizers from the
State of California appear before your committee from time to tune ?
Mr. Parks. Not to the best of my recollection. I don't believe I
ever met any of them or ever saw any of them.
Mr. Ta\^nner. Were lectures given at any time or study courses
given in your cell in which persons outside of your cell took part?
Mr. Parks. Well, I believe on one occasion. The onlj'^ one that I
recall at this time was a talk by John Howard Lawson.
Mr. Tavenner. What was John Howard Lawson's coimection with
the Communist Party ?
Mr. Parks. I don't really know. I don't really know.
Mr. Tavenner. Fred Graff, was he a member of this group ?
Mr. Parks. What was the name?
Mr. TA^^NNER. G-r-a-f-f. Fred Graff, usuallv referred to as Fred-
die Graff.
Mr. Parks. The name doesn't ring a bell at all.
Mr. Tavenner. Georgia Backus ?
Mr. Parks. No ; I don't recall ever being at a meeting with Georgia
Backus.
Mr. Tavenner. Meta Reis Rosenberg?
Mr. Parks. I don't believe I know the lady.
Mr. Ta\t:nner. Robert Rossen ?
Mr. Parks. No; I don't recall ever being at a meeting with him.
Mr. Taat:nner. Do you know whether he was a member of your cell,
even if you were not in a meeting with him ?
Mr. Parks. No. To the best of my knowledge, I have no informa-
tion at all.
Mr. Tavenner. Philip Loeb — L-o-e-b ?
Mr. Parks. Wlio?
Mr. Ta^^nner. Philip Loeb I believe is the correct pronunciation.
Mr. Parks. No; I don't recall I know the gentleman at all.
Mr. Ta^^nner. Lloyd Gough?
Mr. Parks. Yes; I believe he was a — I saw him at a couple of
meetings.
Mr. Ta\^nner. Sterling Hayden ?
Mr. Parks. No ; I don't recall ever being at a meeting with Sterling
Hayden.
Mr. Ta^t:nner. Will Geer ?
Mr. Parks. No; I don't recall ever being in a meeting with Will
leer.
Mr, Tavenner. Victor Killian, Sr. ?
Mr. Parks. Yes ; I recall that he attended at least one meeting where
I was present.
Mr. Tavenner. Victor Killian, Jr. ?
Mr. Parks, I don't believe I am acquainted with the gentleman at all.
2306 COMJVIUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA
Mr. Tavenner, Lionel Stander?
Mr. Parks. I have met him. I don't recall ever attending a meeting
with him.
Mr. Taa^nner. Andy Devine?
Mr. Parks. I don't recall ever attending a meeting with Andy
Devine.
Mr. Tavenner. Edward G. Robinson ?
Mr. Parks. No ; I don't recall ever attending a meeting with Edward
G. Robinson.
Mr. Tavenner. Mr. Chairman, I think nearly all of tliese people
have either been subpenaed or we have tried to find them. Some of
them unquestionably are attempting to avoid service.
Do you know Hester Sondergaard?
Mr. Parks. No; I don't recall ever meeting her. I believe that is
(rale Sondergaard's sister.
Mr. Tavenner. Do you know whether she is married?
Mr. Parks. No ; I don't.
Mr. Tavenner. Francis Edwards Faragoh?
Mr. Parks. No. ' ,
Mr. Tavenner. Vera Caspary ?
Mr. Parks. No; I don't believe that I know the woman.
Mr. Tavenner. Madelaine Carroll?
Mr. Parks. No; I don't recall ever attending a meeting with
Madelaine Carroll.
Mr. TaM'Inner. AVas she a member of this group, to 3^our knowledge ?
Mr. Parks. I have no knowledge of that.
Mr. Tavenner. Gregory Peck?
Mr. Parks. I have no remembrance of ever attending a meeting with
Gregory Peck.
Mr. Tavenner. Humphrey Bogart?
Mr. Parks. I don't recall ever attending a meeting with Humphrey
Bogart.
(At this point Representative Donald L. Jackson left the hearing
room.)
Mr. Walter. I think you could get some comfort out of the fact that
the people whose names have been mentioned have been subpenaed, so
tliat if thej' ever do appear here it won't be as a result of anything that
you have testified to.
(At this point Representative Bernard W. Kearney left the hearing
room. )
Mr. Parks. It is no comfort whatsoever.
Mr. Tam^nner. Do you know of any other person now whose name
comes to your recollection ?
Mv. Parks. No, I don't recall anyone else.
Mr. Tavenner. I think that is all, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Potter. I would like to say, Mr. Chairman, that Mr. Parks'
testimony has certainly been refreshing in comparison with the other
veitnesses that we have had today.
Mr. Wood. I am sure you reflect the sentiments of the entire com-
mittee. We appreciate your cooperation, and subject to call, the com-
mittee will stand in recess. You are excused. You do not have to
remain here.
Mr. Mandel. We can go home now ? He can go back to California ?
COMIMUNIST ACTIVITIES IX THE LOS ANGELES AREA 2307
Mr. Wood. Any time you like.
(Whereupon, at 4 : 40 p. m., the hearing was recessed, subject to call.)
( By order of the committee the following letters are being included
in the record at this point :)
JuLT 23, 1953.
Hon. Harold Velde, "
Chairman, House Cominittee on Un-American Activities,
Washingtov, D. C.
Dear Chairman Velde : I have your letter of July 17, and it was so good to
hear from you.
Pursuant to your suggestion, I'm enclosing a sworn copy of the letter I sent
you and also authoi-ize you and your committee to release the testimony I gave
you iii executive session.
Again let me take this opportunity to thank you for your consideration, 1
remain
Respectfully,
Larey Parks.
(Sworn letter mentioned by Larry Parks in his letter dated July
23, 1953 :)
July 15, 1953.
Hon. Harold Velde,
Chninnan, House Committee on Un-American Actiivties,
Washington, D. C.
Drar Chairman Velde: After careful consideration, I wish to file a clarify-
ing statement of my point of view on the Communist problem with your com-
mittee. In re-reading my public testimony before the House Committee on
Un-American Activities, I am now convinced that it improperly reflects my true
attitude toward the malignancy of the Conmiunist Party.
If there is any way in which I can further aid in exposing the methods of
entrapment and deceit through which Communist conspirators have gained the
adherence of Ameican idealists and liberals, I hope the committee will so advise
me. Perhaps some of the confusion now apparent to me in my testimony before
your committee can best be explained by the fact that I was the first cooperative
witness from Hollywood to appear before your committee and at the time I
was under really great strain and tension. Upon reflection, I see that I did not
adequately express ray true beliefs — beliefs which have even deepened and
strengthened since my appearance.
Above all I wish to make it clear that I support completely the objectives of the
House Committee on Un-American Activities. I believe fully that Communists
and Communist intrigues should be thoroughly exposed and isolated and thus
rendered impotent.
In the light of events which have transpired since I appeared as a witness
before your committee, it is crystal clear that no one w'lo reallv beli* ve^ 'n a
progressive program for humanity can support any part of the Communist pro-
gram. No true liberal can doubt that Soviet communism constitutes as grave a
threat to the rights of man today as once did Hitler fascism. The most recent
attack ')y the Soviet Army on unarmed German workers makes it crystal clear
that their interest in labor is only to increase their power.
Liberals must now embrace the cause of anticommunism with the same dedi-
cation and zeal as we once did that of antiuazism. The enemy is the same
though the labels have changed.
It is my conviction that to assist your committee in obtaining full information
about the Communist Party and its activities is the duty of all who possess such
evidence. Certainly, if I were to testify today I would not testify as I did in
1951 — that to give such testimony is to "wallow in the mud," but on the contrary
I would recognize that such cooperation would help further the cause in which
many of us were sincerely interested when we were duped into joining and
taking part in the Communist Party.
My statement about not wanting my sons to become "cows in the pasture"
obviously needs clarification. The thought I really meant to convey was that
my sons should not become indifferent to the plight of the people less fortunate
than themselves. It is my conviction that through sympathetic understanding
and aid to the repressed peoples we Americans cannot only best represent Ameri-
can traditions, but also effectively aid in combating the false power of commu-
2308 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA
nism. I want my sons to participate fully in the search for democratic answers
to the continuing threat of totalitarianism — Communist or Fascist. To that end,
I will do all within my power as one who once was duped but has since learned
the hard way about the guileful traps which communism can set for an unwary
idealist or liberal.
I sincerely hope that the committee will publish the statement of my militant
anti-Communist beliefs at the earliest possible date.
Sincerely,
Labbt Pabks.
State of California,
County of Los Angeles, ss:
On this 23d day of July, A. D. 1953, before me, Viola W. Johnson, a notary
public in and for said county and State, personally appeared Lari-y Parks, known
to me to be the person whose name is subscribed to the within instrument, and
acknowledged to me that he executed the same.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my official seal
the day and year in this certificate first above written.
Viola W. Johnson,
Notary Public in and for said County and State.
I
INVESTIGATION OF COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE
LOS ANGELES AEEA— PART 6
TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 1953
United States House of Representatives,
Committee on Un-A]vierican Activities,
Hollywood^ Calif.
executive statement^
An executive statement, given at 10 a. m., June 2, 1953, at room 1107,
Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, Hollywood, Calif.
Present : William A. Wheeler, investigator.
STATEMENT OF CHARLOTTE DARLING ADAMS
Mr. Wheeler. You are Charlotte Darling Adams ?
Mrs. Adams. Yes; I am.
Mr. Wheeler. You are the same person who testified before the
committee on March 26, 1953, in Los Angeles ?
Mrs. Adams. I am.
Mr. Wheeler. Are you accompanied by counsel ?
Mrs. Adams. No ; I am not.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you desire counsel ?
Mrs. Adams. No.
Mr. Wheeler. Are you presently under subpena?
. Mrs. Adams. No; I am not.
Mr. Wheeler. You are giving this statement voluntarily
2
Mrs. Adams. Yes ; I am.
Mr. Wheeler. Your appearance before the committee on March 26,
1953, you testified you joined the Communist Party in approximately
1936 and left the Communist Party in 1946. In your appearance of
March you were not asked in detail the identity of individuals you met
as Communists.
At this time we will begin in 1936, and if possible, in chronological
order, list the Communist Party groups to which you were assigned
and identify the individuals you met as Communists. Now, do you
recall to what group you were first assigned in 1936 ?
Mrs. Adams. Yes. I was assigned to a mixed group of studio
workers.
Mr. Wheeler. What type of employment did the members of this
group engage in in the motion-picture industry?
Mrs. Adams. They were all sorts of people. Mostly craft workers
and technicians and musicians. I really don't know the complete setup
of it because I attended only two meetings.
^ Released by the full committee.
2309
31747— 53— pt. 6— — 3
2310 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA
Mr. Wheeler. Now, who recruited yon into the Communist Party ?
Mrs. Adams. Ed Gilbert.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall the names of the individuals of this
first gi'oup?
Mrs. Adams, Not vei*y many of them. There was Ed Gilbert, of
course, and Frank Drdrlik.
Mr. Wheeler. What was Mr. Gilbert's occupation ?
Mrs. Adams. He was a set designer.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall Mr. Drdrlik's occupation?
Mrs. Adams. He was also a set designer.
Mr. Wheeler. Those are the two individuals you recall in this first
group ?
Mrs. Adams. Yes.
Mr. Wheeler. Were you subsequently transferred to another group ?
Mrs. Adams. Yes; I was. The three of us were transferred to
another group.
Mr. Whej:ler. What type of group was that ?
Mrs. Adams. This was a group of wliat were considered craft work-
ers, set designers, and cartoonists, supposed to be, and I believe there
were some teamsters. This was supposed to be all of the back-lot
workers who were not technicians.
Mr. Wheeler. How long did you remain with the second group?
Mrs. Adams. About 2 years.
Mr. Wheeler. Now, do you recall the identity of the individuals
that comprised this thing?
Mrs. Adams. Well, there was Don Gordon.
Mr. Wheeler. A reader?
Mrs. Adams. I think so. And Drdrlik and Gilbert, Henrj^ Peter-
son, a carpenter. Hjalman Peterson; also a carpenter. Father and
son, and the father is Hjalmar. Joe Kromberger. He was an elec-
trician. Sam Cloner.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall his occupation ?
Mrs. Adams. A laborer.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall approximately how many individ-
uals comprised the second group ?
Mrs. Adams. Oh, about 6 or T ; it varied. One or two people would
come in and maybe so many would leave.
Mr. Wheeler. What was the purpose of this group or the main
program set forth by it?
Mrs. Adams. It was a trade union group. Most everyone in it
was working in organization of unions.
Mr. Wheeler. Most individuals were members of the lATSE ?
Mrs. Adams. No. These were people outside of the lATSE. Krom-
berger, for instance, was a member of the IBEW. Cloner, the labor-
ers, while they were in the lA, I think.
Mr. Wheeler. What union did you belong to at that time?
Mrs. Adams. Well, ours was an independent guild.
Mr. Wheeler. Screen Cartoonists' Guild ?
Mrs. Adams. Yes.
Mr. Wheeler. Did you hold any office in the Screen Cartoonists'
Guild at that time?
Mrs. Adams. Yes. I was secretary.
Mr. Wheeler. What year was that?
Mrs. Adams. 1936-37."
COAIMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA 2311
Mr. Wheeler. Were you president of the Screen Cartoonists'
Guild?
Mrs. Adams. No ; I am not presidential material.
Mr. Wheeler. Now, after you left the second group in 1030, were
you assigned to a third group ?
]Mrs. Adams. Yes. The third group was cartoonists.
Mr. Wheeler. Cartoonists?
Mrs. Adams. Yes.
Mr. Wheeler. This was in approximately 1939 ?
Mrs. Adams. It was a very small group.
Mr. Wheeler. How long did you remain a member of this car-
toonists' group ?
Mrs. Adams. Until I got married in 1941; it was several years.
Mr. Wheeler. Would you say you Avere a member of it up to 1941 ?
Mrs. Adams. Well, yes, through 1941.
Mr. Wheeler. How many individuals were members of the car-
toonists' group ?
Mrs. Adams. Four or five or six. There were a few wives, Libby
Hilberman, and Dave Hilberman.
]\Ir. Wiii:EL7:R. Were all the members of this group also members
of the Screen Cartoonists' Guild?
Mrs. Adams, Well, no. Part of them were. The wives were also
members.
Mr. Wheeler, Did you hold any position in this group of the Com-
munist Party ?
Mrs. Adams. Oh, T don't know. I think that from time to time
I did things, like literature and membership and dues, organization
for a little while, but I wasn't very good at it.
Mr. Wheeler. Was this group active in formulating the policy
of the Screen Cartoonists' Guild?
Mrs. Adams. Well, yes, in a way. It was mainly in support of the
organization. We influenced what policy we could.
Mr. Wheeler. During this period of time, did you ever have occa-
sion to meet Jeff Kibre ?
Mrs. Adams, Oh, yes,
Mr. Wheeler, Did you know Jeff Kibre as a member of the Com-
munist Party?
Mrs, Adams. Yes.
Mr. W^heeler. Do you recall his position at that time with the
Communist Party?
Mrs. Adams. I don't know what he was called, but I rather imagine
he was the organizer for the Hollywood studios. I would think that
is what his title would be.
Mr. Wheeler. Would you say he was organizer of the labor groups
in the studios?
Mrs, Adams. He also apparently, although I don't know this of my
own knowledge he apparently also worked with the talent groups, too.
Mr. Wheeler Did he ever attend any meetings of your group of the
Screen Cartoonf its' Guild ?
Mrs. Adams. Ko. He met with a fraction. This was probably in
about 1939.
Mr. Whep:ler. Do you recall who else were members of this cartoon-
ists' gi'oup, other than Libby and David Hilberman ?
2312 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA
Mrs. Adams. They did not ever meet with Kibre while I was there.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall who were the other members of the
cartoonists' group?
Mrs. Adams, Oh, a fellow by the name of Phil Klein.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall where he was employed ?
Mrs. Adams. No, I don't. I didn't know him very well.
Mr. Wheeler. Anyone else ?
Mrs. Adams. No ; I can't remember any others.
Mr. Wheeler. In your testimony you mentioned you attended frac-
tion meetings, at which time you met Jeff Kibre.
Mrs. Adams. Yes.
Mr. Wheeler. Would you go into greater detail with reference to
these meetings?
Mrs. Adams. Well, it seems that one incident I remember very well
because it caused me a lot of trouble, was that the Screen Writers'
Guild had an attorney named Leonard Janofsky.
Mr. Wheeler. In what way did this Leonard Janofsky cause you
trouble ?
Mrs. Adams. Well, Jeff Kibre opposed Leonard Janofsky as attor-
ney for the Screen Writers' Guild because he didn't go along with the
party line in relation to the Screen Writers' Guild policy.
Mr. Wheeler. Was any effort made by Jeff Kibre to remove Jan-
ofsky from his position with the Screen Writers' Guild ?
Mrs. Adams. Yes; Janofsky took a position as attorney for the
Independent Union of Cartoonists at Disney's Studios.
Kibre was opposed to this union because it was considered an out-
law union and wouldn't affiliate with the existing union in the car-
toonists, and took steps to eliminate Janofsky from his position as
attorney in the Screen Writers' Guild.
Mr. Wheeler. Wliat steps did Kibre take in eliminating or having
Janofsky fired from the Screen Writers' Guild ?
Mrs. Adams. He wrote a letter and I signed it.
Mr. Wheeler. What was the text of this letter, as well as you
remember ?
Mrs. Adams. It pointed out to the board of the Screen Writers'
Guild that Janofsky was not a suitable representative for them, was
not a good trade unionist because he was representing an outlaw
union, which was organizing opposition to what we considered a
legitimate union.
Mr. Wheeler. You state that you signed this letter.
Mrs. Adams. I signed it ; yes.
Mr. Wheeler. You were at that time secretary of the Screen Car-
toonists' Guild?
Mrs. Adams. Yes.
Mr. Wheeler. AVliat position did Kibre have with the Screen Car-
tonnists' Guild ?
Mrs. Adams. No position.
Mr. Wheeler. Was this, in your opinion, a direct Communist Party
directive?
Mrs. Adams. Yes ; it was.
Mr. Wheeler. Was it considered to the best interest of the Screen
Cartoonists' Guild? ; ,
Mrs. Adams. Do you mean I considered it that? ' '•'1^'>'*T4 ''■'^'
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES EST THE LOS ANGELES AREA 2313
Mr. Wheeler, Yes.
Mrs. Adams. No ; I don't thiiik it was, because it alienated a large
group of cartoonists at Disney's.
Mr. Wheeler. Did you place your membership in the Communist
Party over your position as secretary of the Screen Cartoonists' Guild ?
Mr. Adams. That is hard to say, Mr. Wheeler. I don't think I
really did, although that is looking at it in retrospect. My reason
for joining the party was to organize the union. Consequently, I
believe that the union was more important to me.
Mr. Wheeler. But yet you would lend yourself to directives of the
functionary of the Communist Party ?
Mr. Adams. Well, as I said, I believe in my testimony downtown,
my previous testimony before the committee, I joined the party be-
cause I knew nothing about organization and it was the place to get
information.
Since my basic reason for joining was to organize cartoonists, I do
feel tliat the cartoonists' union was more important to me than the
party itself.
Mr. Wheeler. Wlien was the Screen Cartoonists' Guild first
organized ?
Mrs. Adams. The first organization was in 1936.
Mr. Wheeler. Did Jeff Kibre have any voice in it at that time ?
Mrs. Adaivis. No ; he didn't.
Mr. Wheeler. Did he subsequently have a voice in it ?
Mrs. Adams. Very little, because his attitude was a little too ex-
treme to us to direct cartoonists.
Mr. Wheeler. Did you confer with Kibre on problems that arose
in the industry, in the Screen Cartoonists' Guild ?
Mrs. Adams. Yes ; I conferred with him and I took nonparty mem-
bers with me to confer with him.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall any occasion where you took opposi-
tion to Mr. Kibre's decision in a matter, or his advice ?
Mrs. Adainis. Well, yes. I can remember occasions on which it was
necessary, because his point of view wasn't practical.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall any specific instance ?
Mi^. Adams. No; I don't. I just remember that very often his
advice was confusing. When issues came up in the Screen Cartoon-
ists' Guild they were acted upon very often from the floor or by the
executive board. And while I influenced them where I could, I didn't
give too much opposition to the democratic processes.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall any other instances in which you lent
yourself as secretary of the Screen Cartoonists' Guild to carry out
other decisions or directives of Jeff Kibre ?
Mrs. Adams. I participated in an unemployment conference within
the studios.
Mr. Wheeler. Would you further explain what the unemployment
conference was?
Mrs. Adams. It was a legitimate organization, to do research into
the unemployment situation in the studios.
Mr. Wheeler. Wlio were the officers of this organization ?
Mrs. Adams. I believe Herbert Sorrell was president. It seems to
me he was.
Mr. Wheeler. Wliat year was this?
2314 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA
Mrs. Adams. 1939.
Mr. Wheelek. Well, did Jeff Kibre have a voice in this organiza-
tion ?
Mrs. Adams. Yes ; he was representative from the prop makers.
Mr. Wheeler. Were you a representative from the Screen Cartoon-
ists' Guild?
Mrs. Adams. I was a representative from the Screen Cartoonists'
Guild. We had two delegates.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall the other one ?
Mrs. Adams. Yes ; the other was Ted Pierce. He was not a party
member,
Mr. Wheelek. Do you recall the other delegates from the other vari-
ous unions?
Mrs. Adams. There was Frank Drdrlik, who was a delegate, and
Ed Mussa.
Mr. Wheeler. Was he a Communist, do you know ?
Mrs. Adams. No. I believe Ed Gilbert was a delegate; Ben Mar-
tinez, of the plasterers. These are not Communists ; Jules Scacerieux,
a plasterer. There were several writers.
Francis Goodrich and Albert Hackett were writers.
There were some people from the office employees.
Virginia Kibre, Jeff Kibre's wife, was there. There Avere several
directors, Harry Herrick. I believe Herbert Biberman was a member
of that conference, of the directors. I kncAv none of these individuals
to be members of the Communist Party, except the ones I previously
testified to. Most of them were simply interested in solving the un-
employment problem.
Mr. Wheei.er. Were you elected a delegate to this — what was
the name of it ?
Mrs. Adams. Studio Unemployment Conference, at that time,
Mr. Wheeler. Were you elected from the Screen Cai-toonists'
Guild?
Mrs. Adams. Yes ; I was elected a delegate.
Mr. Wheeler. Did the members of the Communist Party, who
were also delegates to this Studio Unemployment Conference, have
fraction meetings or discuss what policies should be formulated?
Mrs. Adams. Yes.
Mr, Wheeler. Were you able to control the Studio Unemployment
Conference to any degree?
Mrs. Adams. Well, controlled it to the degree that the policies were
so fantastic it fell apart. We did make a survey of the unemployment
situation in the studios, and Jeff Kibre, at a fraction meeting, sug-
gested we have a mass meeting at the Hollywood Bowl. Most of us
thought that was a little fantastic, those of us in the fraction. He
prevailed on us to do it, and it was a collossal flop.
Mr. Wheeler. Wliat other policies were set forth by the fraction
that you considered to be fantastic that led to the falling apart of
this conference ?
Mrs. Adams. I couldn't generally say. I think the Hollywood Bowl
fiasco M^as the last straw, actually.
Mr. Wheeler. Were you able to get the non-Communist members
of this conference to agree to the policies as set forth by the fraction ?
Mrs. Adams. Yes. Drdrlik brought the question up. He was the
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA 2315
one who was to bring it up. He had a lot of friends in the conference
meeting, as he has a lot of friends every place usually. He made it
seem like it would be a very good Hollywood thing to do, it would
appeal to people.
Mr. Wheeler. How is it that a small group of Communists are able
to control a whole body where they are outnumbered!'
Mrs. Adams. I think because Communists are the most active mem-
bers of the union, usually. They work the hardest, and they give
more time.
Mr. Wheeler. Were the other members of this unemployment con-
ference conscious of the Communist infiltration of it ?
Mi-s. Adams. I don't think so, to any degree. I would think some
of them might have suspected it, but where you feel that people agree
with you, you are inclined to say, "Well, so what do their politics
matter ?" At least, at the time that was the feeling.
Mr. Wheeler. The overall objective- of the conference was for the
good of the
Mrs. Adams. For the good of the motion-picture industry, the work-
ing people in the motion-picture industry. It could have done some
goocl but was badly directed.
Mr. Wheeler. You didn't attain any positive results from the
conference ?
Mrs. Adams. No, because we couldn't get any agreement on what
to do about it. The feeling was that maybe the work could be spread
out so there wouldn't be so much unemployment, people who were
employed could work less and tliose who were unemployed could get
a few days' work instead of no work at all. But that is a very hard
thing to get the membership of the union to agree upon.
Mr. Wheeler. To get back to the former attorney of the Screen
Writers' Guild, Mr. Janofsky, do you recall what action was taken by
the Screen Writers' Guild after the receipt of the letter that Jeff Kibre
wrote and you signed and sent to the guild ?
Mrs. Adams. They fired him.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you know who was on the board of the Screen
Writers' Guild at that time ?
Mrs. Adams. No, I didn't know anyone on the board.
Mr. Wheeler. Actually what this amounts to in the Communist
Party
Mrs. Adams. Kibre was actually a sort of liaison person between the
Screen Writers' Guild and the talent guilds and the craft unions.
Mr. Wheeler. You say the Communist Party was liaison between
the Communist Party in these guilds?
Mrs. Adams. That is right. I didn't mean he was important to the
other people besides Communists.
Mr. Wheeler. Mr. Kibre, then, as a functionary of the Communist
Party, was able to remove this attorney because he was in opposition
to the Communist Party ?
Mrs. Adams. Yes.
Mr. Wheeler. During this period of time that we are presently
talking about, 1939, Germany and Russia entered into a nonaggression
pact; do you recall that?
Mrs. Adams. Yes.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall your reaction to the nonagression pact ?
2316 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA
Mrs. Adams. Well, chagrin, because as far as I was concerned at the
time I felt that there were no two ideologies more diametrically op-
posed than nazism and communism. The whole party line had been
in opposition to Hitler and to Mussolini and to Franco.
Mr. Wheeler, How did you bring yourself in a position to accept it ?
Mrs. Adams. Well, we felt that because the Soviet Union was a
country surrounded iDy capitalist countries that this pact with Ger-
many was an expedient.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall who explained this sudden twist in
party line to you ?
Mrs. Adams. I don't remember who did that,
Mr, Wheeijer, However, you did accept fully this change in the
line?
Mrs. Adams. Yes.
Mr. Wheeler, You also recall several years later that when Ger-
many attacked Russia there was again a sudden change?
Mrs, Adams. Yes.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall how you reacted to the breaking of the
pact?
Mrs. Adams. As far as I was concerned, I got the feeling that other
people felt the same way. There was never a feeling of trust for the
Nazis simply because there was a nonaggression pact, that it was a
kind of a holding oif. Further, that whoever discussed this in 1939,
to us, this was to stall the present danger, and only proved that they
were correct.
Mr. Wheeler. Mrs. Adams, I believe we have discussed your Com-
munist Party membership up to approximately 1942. Do you recall
if during that period of time you were transferred to another unit of
the Communist Party?
Mrs. Adams. At about this time I got married, in the fall of 1941. I
continued on with the cartoonists until, oh, about the beginning of
1942. Then I quit work and I continued for a little while, it seems
to me, in the cartoonists, and I met for a short period of time with the
lab technicians because my husband was a lab technician. He didn't
want to go into the party and it was a very unhappy period.
I introduced him to a couple of members. He didn't like them and
we had lots of arguments about it. I was transferred a little bit later
to a group in Burbank.
Mr. Wheeler. How long were you a member of this lab technicians'
group ?
Mrs. Adams. A couple of months or so.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall how many individuals were in the tech-
nicians' group ?
Mrs. Adams. It wasn't a very big group. I believe it was mostly
technicolor people.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall who these individuals were ?
-Mrs. Adams. No, because I didn't work with them and they used
party names. I remember a Hank Morley because he used his right
name. Most of them used party names.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall any of the individuals' party names?
Mrs. Adams. No; I don't.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall who was chairman of this group ?
Mrs. Adams. No.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA 2317
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall the individuals you introduced your
husband to?
Mrs. Adams. Norville Crutcher.
Mr. Wheeler. Anybody else?
Mrs. Adams. There was a big obnoxious guy. I can't remember
vrhat his name was. He was the last straw, so far as my husband was
concerned; just couldn't stand him. He was with technicolor.
Mr. Wheeler. How many individuals were members of this lab
technicians' group?
Mrs. Adams. Oh, 5 or 6 or 7.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall Julian Gordon being a member?
INIrs. Adams. I don't remember him. He may have been a member.
I didn't remember when I saw him at the hearing.
Mr. Wheeler. Were you subsequently transferred to another group ?
Mrs. Adams. Yes.
Mr. Wheeler. What was this group ?
Mrs. Adams. It was at a neighborhood group in Burbank.
Mr. Wheeler. How long were you a member of the neighborhood
group in Burbank ?
Mrs. Adams. Well, I was a member for, oh, well, 6 months, but I
didn't attend meetings regularly.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall any of the individuals who were mem-
bers of this group ?
Mrs. Adams. Well, I remember a girl named Thelma Bachelis.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you know Mrs. Bachelis' occupation?
Mrs. Adams. She was an attorney, I believe.
Mr. Wheeler. How many meetings did you attend while assigned
to the Burbank group ?
Mrs. Adams. To the best of my recollection, about 4 or 5.
Mr. Wheeler. How many individuals were members of this club ?
Mrs. Adams. There must have been 10 or 12.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall the names of any of the other indi-
viduals ?
Mrs. Adams. No; I don't.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall at whose homes you met ?
Mrs. Adaixis. No. We alternated, I remember. It was always at
a different place.
Mr. Wheeler. Were you employed in the motion-picture industry
at that time ?
Mrs. Adams. No ; I wasn't.
Mr. Wheeler. After you left the Burbank group, were you assigned
to another club ?
Mrs. Adams. Well, yes. Late in 1943, I believe, I went back to
work.
Mr. Wheeler. Where were you employed at that time ?
Mrs. Adams. At Universal Pictures.
Mr. Wheeler. Did you reaffiliate with a motion-picture group of the
Communist Party?
Mrs. Adams. Yes ; I did.
Mr. Wheeler. How long were you a member of this group ?
Mrs. Adams. Until I dropped out in 1946.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall who the members were?
Mrs. Adams. Well, there was a Kate Lawson, who was the wife of
John Howard Lawson. Edward Biberman, a painter. Eugene
31747— 53— pt. 6 4
2318 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA
Fleiiry, a teacher and artist. Bernice Fleurv. also a teacher and artist.
David Hilberman, Libby Hilberman. David Hilberman was a car-
toonist-
Mr. Wheeler. Libby Hilberman?
Mrs. Adams. His wife. John Hubley, a cartoonist. Cecil Beard,
cartoonist. Edwina Pomerance, William Pomerance, who was only in
briefly. Zachery Schwartz, who was only in for a short period of
time.
Mr. AYheeler. I would like the record to show at this point Eugfene
Fluery, Bernice Finery, and Zachery Schwartz have all testified before
the Committee on Un-American Activities as cooperative witnesses.
You mentioned the name of William Pomerance.
Mrs. Adams. Yes.
Mr. Wheei^r. Did he at one time have an official position with the
Screen Cartoonists' Guild ?
Mrs. Adams. He was business agent.
Mr. Wheeler. Did the Communist Party have any voice in the
appointment of William Pomerance as business agent of the Screen
Cartoonists' Guild?
Mrs. Adams. Indirectly, I suppose, but he was actually recom-
mended by the Pacific Coast Labor Bureau.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall who
Mrs. Adams. He was a board examiner for the National Labor
Relations Board at one time, I believe. When he stopped working
with the Board.
Mr. Wheeler. Were any oth.er business agents of the Screen Car-
toonists' Guild members of the Communist Party, to your knowledge?
Mrs. Adams. Yes, Morrie Howard.
Mr. Wheeler. Maurice Howard?
Mrs. Adams. Yes.
Mr. Wheeler. He succeeded William Pomerance ; is that right ?
Mrs. Adams. Yes.
Mr. Wheeler. Where did you meet Maurice Howard as a member
of the Communist Party ?
Mr. Adams. In the Screen Cartoonists' Guild.
Mr. Wheeler. As a cartoonist?
Mrs. Adams. Yes.
Mr. Wheeler. Was he in one of your groups ?
Mrs. Adams. Yes.
Mr. Wheeler. What group would you place him in?
Mrs. Adams. He was in this group.
Mr. Wheeler. He was in the last group to which you were assigned ?
Mrs. Adams. Yes. Later on that was, I mean he wasn't
Mr. Wheeler. Was he a member of this group when you left ?
Mrs. Adams. Yes, he was.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall anyone else who was a member of this
later group or any group to which you were assigned ?
Mrs. Adams. No. I don't.
Mr. Wheeler. Were you dues secretary at any time of the last
group ?
Mrs. Adams. Yes, I was for a short period of time.
Mr. Wheeler. You collected dues from all these individuals you
have mentioned?
Mrs. Adams. Yes.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA 2319
Mr. Wheeler, Do you recall to whom you gave the dues ?
Mrs. Adams. Yes. I gave them to Naomi Robison.
Mr. Wheeler. During the time you were a member of the Com-
munist Party, did you ever have occasion to meet Paul Perlin as a
Communist ?
Mrs, Adams. Yes. I don't remember in which group I met him.
Mr. Wheeler. It was in one of your groups ?
Mrs. Ada^is. Yes.
Mr. Wheei,er. Would you say it was in one of the groups?
Mrs. Ada3I8. It was very early. It may have been in this first
group, but I am not quite sure Avhether I met him in the beginning —
he used to take me to parties and things once in a while. So I don't
remember whether I met him at parties or where I met him, actually,
within the j^arty group.
Mr. Wheeler. Did you ever liave occasion to meet Mary Nolan as
a member of tlie Communist Party?
Mrs. Adams. She may have come along with Ed. Wasn't that the
husband's name? -.
Mr. Wheeler. Frank.
Mrs. Adams. Slie may have come along with him. I remember I
saw her at union meetings quite often.
Mr. Wheeler. But not as a member of the Communist Party?
Mrs. Adams. I believe she was a member for a short period of time
and dropped out.
Mr. Wheeler. After you left the Communist Party in 194G, did
anyone endeavor to resolicit your membership?
Mrs. Adams. No.
Mr. Wheeij2r. You have had no contact with the members of the
Communist Party since that date?
Mrs. Adams. No, I haven't; casually, to say hello, perhaps.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you have any specific reason why you left the
Communist Party?
Mrs. Adams. Yes. I got tired of being told what to do. For an ex-
ample, at that time I was secretary of the Community Homes, a hous-
ing co-op, which I considered an important activity. After I quit
work it was suggested to me that I should resign as secretary of the
Community Homes and come back into the Screen Cartoonists' Guild.
It was suggested to me by someone in the party that I should go
back to work and rejoin the cartoonists' union and drop out of the
Community Homes, because they did not consider it an important
enough activity for me.
Mr, Wheeij:r, Was there a little more than a suggestion by this
party person?
Mrs. Adams. Yes. I said, "I have no intention of going back to
work. I have my family to consider."
Mr, Wheeler. Do j^ou recall who asked you to resume your work
in the studios and stop your work in the Community Homes?
Mrs. Adams. I know it was a woman. I am not just sure who. It
was someone from the group. It may have been Mrs. Howard.
Mr. Wheeler. That is Mrs. Maurice Howard?
Mrs. Adams. Yes.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall her name?
Mrs. Adams. Evelyn.
2320 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES EST THE LOS ANGELES AREA
Mr. Wheeler. Evelyn Howard was also a Communist Party mem-
ber?
Mrs. Adams. Yes.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall what your reaction was to this?
Mrs. Adams. I said, "I have no intention on going back to work.
I have too much to do at home and I feel, that Community Homes
is a good activity that is related to my family."
She said, "You will go back to work."
I said, "No, I won't." That was all. I said, "I am through with the
party. I don't want to have anything to do with it. Don't call me
again. I am through."
Mr. Wheeler. Do you have anything additional you would like
to add for the record at this time?
Mrs. Adams. Well, just that dropping out of the party was not a
sudden thing. Over the last year or two that I was a member I had
become increasingly disillusioned with it, actually.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall at this time any other individual
you met to be a member of the Communist Party, whether it was a
fraction meeting, group meeting, or any other type of meeting, that
could be construed as pure Communist?
Mrs. Adams. No, I really don't. There were many meetings where
there was a mixture of people who were communistic people, who were
not Communists. I couldn't be sure enough to name any of those
people.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you have anything additional you want to put
in?
Mrs. Adams. No.
Mr. Wheeler. I am sure that the committee will find your state-
ment of great interest, Mrs. Adams. Thank you very much.
(Whereupon the interrogation of Charlotte Darling Adams was
concluded. )
INVESTIGATION OF COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE
LOS ANGELES AREA— PART 6
TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 1953
United States House of Representatives,
Committee on Un-American Activities,
Hollywood^ Calif.
executive statement ^
An executive statement given at 1 : 30 p. m., June 2, 1953, at room
117 Hollywood Koosevelt Hotel, Hollywood, Calif.
Present : William A. Wheeler, investigator.
STATEMENT OF ROLAND WILLIAM KIBBEE
Mr. Wheeler. Will you state your full name ?
Mr. Kibbee. Roland William Kibbee.
Mr. Wheeler. Where were you born and when ?
Mr. Kibbee. February 15, 1941 ; Monongahela, Pa.
Mr. Wheeler. Are you presently under subpena ?
Mr. Kibbee. I am not.
Mr. Wheeler. You are giving this statement of your own free
will?
Mr. Kibbee. I am.
Mr. Wheeler. You realize that by giving this statement does not
eliminate the possibility of your being called before the committee in
the future?
Mr. Kibbee. I do.
Mr. Wheeler. Have you ever been a member of the Communist
Party, Mr. Kibbee ?
Mr. Kibbee. I have.
Mr. Wheeler. When did you first join the Communist Party?
Mr. Kibbee. In 1937, to the best of my memory.
Mr. Wheeler. How long did you remain a member ?
Mr. Kibbee. For a period of approximately^ 2 years.
Mr. Wheeler. Have you previously discussed your party member-
ship with me ?
Mr. Kibbee. Yes, sir ; I have.
Mr. Wheeler. I believe the records show that we had such a dis-
cussion on December 14, 1951.
Mr. Kibbee. That is correct.
Mr. Wheei^r. Would you relate how you became a member of the
Communist Party ?
1 Released by the full committee.
2321
2322 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA
Mv. KiBiJEE. Yes. I was unemployed at tlie time, to the best of my
memory, quite frustrated and dissillusioned as a young writer. I
think that I had a tendency to find fault with the world rather than
wdth myself, and I had radical social ideas, if you will.
I had been unemployed in Hollywood, and I was not well connected
in Hollywood. I had never been a film writer or worked in the
motion-picture industry, but an agent in towm became interested in an
idea for a play that I had, and he financed me while I wrote the play.
It amounted to about $25 a week for a year.
I was then in those days what was known as a working writer, and
$25 a week went a long way.
I began to go to meetings of the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League whicli
w^as then a very popular organization in Hollywood, broadly attended,
at any rate, and Communists were very much in evidence, and I came
to knoW' a group of people in the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League who
I later came to know as Communists.
They seemed to me to be the most outspoken, the most organized,
and I had strong anti-Nazi leanings. They seemed to me to be the
leaders in that regard. Although, as I say, psychologically I think I
was in a state of mind of where radical ideas ajDpealed to me generally,
1 went, I believe, to open meetings at first, or so-called open meetings,
wlijch involved this group of people.
As nearly as I can make out, the first meeting I recall going to which
comes to mind as a Communist meeting was in the home of Budd
Schulberg. That may not have been the first one I went to, but it
seems to me that it was, and I think the home stands out in my mind,
because it was the home of someone of wealth, which is something that
1 was not familiar with. As nearlj^ as I could make out. the part of
the Communist Party that I saw in HolWwood at that time was partly
a social organization. It didn't seem to devote any great attention to
security. I don't know that I was screened before I came iji. As I
remember it, if one wanted someone to join, one brought along a
friend and introduced him around, and in the normal course of events
he was in if he chose to be in.
Mr, Wheeler. You mentioned the w^ords "social organizations."
Do you think that may have been a deceptive characterization of it
a f ter what transpired ?
Mr. KiBBEE. I think this, Mr. Wheeler : I think that that may have
been the appeal made to the people in Hollywood at that time. I think
that the appeal of the Communist Party at that time may have been
its informality. I don't know wliat directives came from a higher
echelon in the^ East and so forth and so on and whether or not they
foresaw the tense situation that would eventually exist in the kind of
a party your own hearings have demonstrated came into l)eing in
Hollywood. Certainly a lot of them were not loath to have a drink
during meetings and that sort of thing.
, The memories that stick in my mind mostly are social to some ex-
tent, but I think I can explain that this might not have been true
throughout the party in Hollywood.
. Shall I just ramble on for a moment? It is a little hard to organize
this tliat way. One of the reasons I say I was not employed and I was
uot well connected in Hollywood, and 1 was therefore to a large extent
iiietfective from a Communist Party point of view. Most of the
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA 2323
activities then seemed to be confined to fund raising, some of it
directly, for tlie Communist Party, a good deal of it for organiza-
tions that since that day have come to be known as front organiza-
tions, organizations which the Communists played a leading role in
or which they financed to a large extent with funds collected in Holly-
wood. Not having any funds of my own and not being able to ap-
proach people, which was an assignment frequently dished out, I was
pretty much left out of that sort of thing. Since there were others
like myself, when I pined, I remember you were given a choice of
inner party or extra party work, extra party work meaning just what
I have covered now, tliat you go out around and utilize your con-
tacts and your general effectiveness in the Hollywood community in
belialf of the party and its causes.
Inner party work was more a theoretical matter. You read books.
You read a lot of literature. You were expected to report to the unit
that you belonged to on various pamphlets and })ooks and novels and
treatises and so forth and so on. That is vrhat I did mostly at that
time, so that the social aspects of it may have been exaggerated in my
mind, because I really wasn't out working with what were known as
fractions in other organizations.
I think it is curious, but I believe it is true that 1 never belonged
to any of the outside organizations at all at that time.
Mr. Wheeler. Was the anti-Nazi appeal tliat was being made in
the party at that time to solicit new members made to you?
Mr. Kii5BEE. That certainly was an appeal to solicit new members.
Tliat went almost without saying, the Communist Party was so voci-
ferous at that time in that respect. This was before the so-called
phony war that came on later. It was a combination of things. They
said if you wanted to fight depression, Avhich still existed to some
extent, if you wanted economic equality — I would say that on the
international level it was anti-Nazi appeal ; on a national level it was
a strong trade union appeal, pro-CIO, which was in a period of
organization, and that sort of thing.
Mr. Wheeler. Did you leave the Communist Party prior to the
signing of the Stalin-Hitler Pact ?
]\Ir. KiBBEE. Yes. That is the only mark I have of w^hen I left it,
because, as I think I remarked to you once before, I remember my
sense of relief to this day that I didn't have to go around making an
explanation of how these two people had been able to sign a pact, and
1 knew the Reds did have to go around making it, because you heard
it around. That is one of the ways that I have been able to mark a
formal departure from it, because there was relatively no formality
in either my entrance or departure that I have been able to recall.
I really drifted in. In the sense of any type of organization, I don't
believe there was an oath. I am sure there wasn't, as a matter of fact.
I don't think there was any ceremony. I think they said, "This is
Mr. Kibbee, and this is so and so," and you already had a nodding
acquaintance with these people because you usually went into a unit
you did know about, and that was pretty much the extent of it.
When I left it was on a similarly informal basis. I know I drifted
out for some time. Then somebody called me, I suppose the unit
chairman or something of that sort, to come back, and I said no,
and I either asked for or was summoned to or an appointment was
2324 COIVIMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA
arranged, and I have never been able to remember with whom, Biich-
man or John Howard Lawson, but I know I had a conversation with
this individual in which I said it wasn't for me, and I remember one
argument, the accusation that I had no faith in the American people,,
and that was why I was leaving. The person who said it, if it was
Lawson or Buchman, meant it in quite a different way, but it was
quite close to the truth because one of the things that bothered me was
the party's assumption, "You see it and hear it, that the American
people were with them 100 percent," and you couldn't adjust this with
the reality outside.
You could feel that way sometimes among a group of Communists
or left-wing parties, but when you were in my position, doing odd
jobs around town and not in the Hollywood media, you would dis-
cover that the American people were not pro-Communists, and you
found yourself keeping quiet about your own affiliations, because you
were a little embarrassed about it when you heard their own views
and how they felt about it.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall who solicited your membership ?
Mr. KiBBEE. That has been almost impossible for me to determine in
terms of one specific individual. I can remember a group now of
7 or 8 people, and I know that it must have been somebody in that
.group. I have to presume it was somebody.
In this case, I would have to say that the solicitation of membership'
in my case must have been that individual who first asked me to
attend an open meeting. If somebody said point blank, "I would
like you to join the Communist Party," and I suppose that must
have happened, it would be lost in my mind now as to who it was. I
can narrow it down to a group of people, a half a dozen or so, one
of whom it must have been.
I have been in the position of asking Richard Collins when I saw
him if it was he, which it might have been, who is one of the first
men I ever met in those days.
Mr. Wheeler. After you joined the Communist Party were you
assigned to a branch or a unit ?
Mr. Kibbee. Yes, immediately. I began to meet witli the unit,
I believe, who were holding the open meetings that I went to.
Mr. Wheeler. Did you belong to one unit during your period of
membership or more ?
Mr. Kibbee. To the best of my memory, I was never transferred,
but the unit, I remember, changed personalities. People drifted into
other kinds of work. There was some small effort made to keep
the units filled with people who were in one line of endeavor, I be-
lieve, in Hollywood, I believe writers or actors, perhaps, and since
I was unemployed and only a self-proclaimed writer, there never
was any reason to change me.
It is possible, I would be willing to say, that in any case I wouldn't
have moved through more than two units. I think it would have
stuck in my mind had I done so, had I been transferred.
Mr. Wheeler. Were you assigned to a writers' branch of the
party ?
Mr. Kibbee. I cannot say for sure. Most of the people in it were
writers, although I recall one actor now offhand.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall who were in the unit?
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA 2325
Mr. KiBBEE. Yes, pretty closely. I don't know that they were all
in when I joined it, but during the course of time that I was in it
I met in the unit with Maurice Rapf, Richard Collins, Ring Lard-
ner, Jr. I went to a unit meeting once, I am sure, at the home of
James Dow, who was a collaborator with Arnaud D'Usseau.
Whether Arnaud D'Usseau was in the meeting or the unit at the
time, it is hard to recall now. I recognize him as one of the larger
groui3. A great many of them were that I actually did not meet.
Mav I consult a card here, because I have got some of this written
down ?
Jeff Kibre, I know at one unit I was in, and INIr. Kibre was one of
the very first men I met in that period who identified himself to
me as a Communist. Whether he was a member of that unit or
not is very difficult for me to say. To the best of my recollection
he had been a writer, but was at that time already involved in some
kind of trade union work, I think, at the harbor. I don't think he
met regularly with us, but I have a very clear impression of meeting
Kibre in the framework of a closed Communist Party meeting.
Betty Anderson, who I believe today — I haven't seen her for a
number of years, but I believe her name today is Mrs. Wilson, the
same girl.
I think George Bassman I met in a unit, although Mr. Bassman
is confused in my mind with a number of gambling parties that I
attended at his house, I am sorry to say. I am not positive, but I
considered Bassman a member of the Communist Party at that time,
I know.
Mr. Lawson and Mr. Buchman I have already mentioned.
I know I listened to Samuel Ornitz delivering the party line.
Whether or not it applies to a unit meeting or a closed party meeting,
I don't know. He often spoke to broader groups, and it might have
well been a broader group. I don't think he was a regular member
of my unit.
I know that I met a writer named Paul Trivers in my unit at one
time or another, and I also met Waldo Salt as a Communist in mat-
ters pertaining to an organization, a front organization that was then
the darling of the Communist Party, called the Committee to Aid
Agricultural Workers. It had to do with the people from Oklahoma
who were in the San Joaquin Valley. That was, I am sure, a unit
meeting. As a matter of fact, I haven't been able to remember any
meetings except unit meetings. I don't think there were any other
meetings except the people who were in higher positions or special
positions, chairmen of units, I know, who met separately.
After the unit meetings on other nights or something of that sort,
other officials met together or fractions met together, but because of
the ratlier in-and-out connection I had at that time, I missed out on
a lot of meetings that were not unit meetings that could be accurately
described as closed meetings of the Communist Party.
Mr. Wheeler. Did you hold any position at all in your unit?
Mr. KiBBEE. I don't believe I ever did, although the units at that
time were half a dozen or 8 people, and usually I do remember there
were almost enough jobs to go around. For instance, a job might be
classified as publicity director or educational director or treasurer.
It might entail at that time no more than collecting the dues around
31747— 53— pt. 6-
2326 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA
the room or picking up the literature and bringing it to the meeting
or delivering a report on a particular phase. And I might very well
have held a job of that sort.
The only job in the unit that meant anything in terms of rank as
we know it was the chairman of the unit, the sort of lieutenant of the
platoon, if you will. That job I did not hold.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall who did hold that job?
Mr. KiBBEE. It would be hard for me to say. I would be making
a pretty good guess if I said that Richard Collins did. I would rather
not guess. I am not sure who was the chairman. I am also not sure
that it was not rotated occasionally in some form or other, that you
didn't serve for say several months and then give over to somebody
else so that somebody else would get the experience in that sort of
thing.
Mr. Wheeler. Did you pay dues ?
Mr. KiBBEE. Yes, I must have. I had a card with stamps. I re-
member that.
Mr. WiiEELER. Do you recall the amount of the dues ?
Mr. KiBBEE. I paid unemployed dues because I was mostly unem-
ployed. That was some nominal fee, perhaps 50 cents or a dollar a
month. I was for a time a radio announcer at KFVD during that
period at a very low salary. No matter what it was — I think 20 or
25 dollars a week — I would have been obliged to pay some percentage
of that. I must have paid dues or I couldn't have continued as a
member.
Mr. Wheeler. You were aware of the system of paying a percent-
age of salary ?
Mr. KiBBEE. I believe I was aware of it at that time. I believe peo-
ple paid a percentage of their salary by request.
Mr. Wheeler. Would you continue with the membership of the
unit?
Mr. KiBBEE. Well, I think I have run over the names of the people
that I met within units that I am able to recall. I have a couple of
question marks. I have Harold Buchman's name here with a ques-
tion mark. I have been unable to remember whether or not he
sat in the unit with me, whether or not he was a member of the same
unit. My impression is tliat lie was.
At the meeting at Waldo Salt's house the name stands out in my
mind of Luke Hinman. He was not a Hollywoodite. He was a trade-
union organizer. The best grip I can get on it is that he kind of
briefed us about this situation in the San Joaquin Valley. I believe
he was associated with the Cannery Workers Union.
Mr. Wheeler. How would you spell his name ?
Mr. KiBBEE. I would spell it H-i-n-m-a-n. and the first name Luke.
L-u-k-e. I don't know that I have ever seen it in print. That is the
way it stands out in my mind. It was, to the best of my knowledge,
not a closed Communist Party meeting. This was a unit meeting,
I am sure, in which we were briefed on that situation in the San
Joaquin Valley, and what was expected of us.
Mr. Wheeler. Martin Berkeley identified you on Septemberl9, 1951,
as a member of the Communist Party. Do you recall him as being
a member?
COIVIMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA 2327
Mr. KiBBEE. I have seen Mr. Berkeley and spoken with him since
he testified, not lon<r ago, as a matter of fact, of trying to put these
things togetlier. We both agreed that we had not been members
of the same unit, that we had been exposed to each other within the
framework of the Communist Party, and as I said earlier in the testi-
mony, I don't contradict Mr. Berkeley's word. I simply have not been
able to put my jSnger on the exact specific situation in which we met.
Mr. Berkeley's recollection is, I know, he told me, that I had at-
tended a writers' fraction meeting on race relations. This is possible.
I was not a qualified writer. It is certainly possible, as a self-pro-
claimed writer, I would have been at something of that sort, but I
don't know with what organization.
Mr. "Wheeler, Miss Isobel Lennart, on May 20, 1952, in her public
testimony before the committee, also identified you as a onetime mem-
ber of the Communist Party. Do you recall her as a member?
Mr. Kibbee. I met Miss Lennart at that time. I am sorry to say
I do not clearly recall her as a member of the Communist Party.
Mr. Wheeler. I believe on the date that Mr. Berkeley testified you
were in Italy engaged in motion-picture work.
JNIr. Kibbee. Yes.
Mr. Wheeler. And upon receipt of the information that you had
been so identified, you sent a telegram to the committee.
Mr. Kibbee. I did.
Mr. Wheeler. I quote this telegram for the record :
To the best of my recollection joined 1937 left 1939. No afliliation since then.
Promise testify immediately upon return scheduled late November. Signed
Roland Kibbee.
Do you recall having met anyone else as a member of the Com-
munist Party either at a fraction meeting, cell meeting, or any t}pe
of meeting that was comprised only of individuals who were
Communists ?
Mr. Kibbee. Mr. ^^^leeler, in terms of my own convictions, there are
several names that have been exposed before the committee. Some of
the people have been cooperative themselves, whom I am sure that I
met within the framework of the Communist Party, men like Herbert
Bibermaii, for example, whom I listened to delivering lectures and
party-line material, who perhaps visited a fraction.
I believe a man named Lou Harris was an official at that time, and
there are several others of that sort, but over the span of 15 years it
has been extremely difficult for me to try and find out the origin of that
meeting of my first encounter w^th them.
Mr. Wheeler. I believe in your testimony you previously mentioned
an actor.
Mr. Kibbee. That's right. I know a member of my group, an actor
by the name of Maurice Murphy was a member of the group, I tried
to place before. It has now become interlarded with a group that was
not actually a part of that group that I perhaps met in broader
meetings.
There was every 6 months or once a year, at very rare intervals
there was a meeting called a section meeting which purported to rep-
resent the entire membership of the Hollywood section in one gath-
ering. Let's call it a yearly conclave. It may have been more fre-
quent than that. I only have been able to recall one of those meetings
2328 COIVIMUNIST ACTIVITIES EST THE LOS ANGELES AREA
I attended. That was early in my Communist Party membership. A
Jot of the people there were unknown to me.
I believe that what has happened is that many of the impressions
I have carried away of people as having been Communist Party
members are people whom I met later on at a social organization
and knew to be because I had seen them there or heard them men-
tioned there. It could not be called a unit meeting. It was a closed
party meeting. That could have been where I met Berkeley, because
I have never been able to figure out at whose house it was, except a
house on the hill with an open patio, and we sat outside in the open.
I remember going over Berkeley's testimony. There was something
in it that struck a responsive cord in my mind, and it may have been
there that I first met him. It may have been his home, I "don't know.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall if any outside instructors came in to
give lectures to the group you were assigned to ?
Mr. KiBBEE. If you say instructors, I would have to say I don't
recall it, but I believe it happened. Outside people, people not mem-
bers of that group, not assigned to that group, did come through to
give indoctrination talks. Do you mean in Hollywood or within the
Hollywood section ?
Mr. Wheeler. Well, both.
Mr, KiBBEE. I have only the vaguest memory that such things did
happen.
Mr. Wheeler. Would you put Jeff Kibre in that category ?
Mr. KiBBEE. Yes, I would.
Mr. Wheeler. And Luke Hinman ?
Mr. KiBBEE. Yes, I would there too, because I never met with these
men regularly. This was in the closed confines of the party meeting,
and it was only occasionally. I met with Hinnman once and Kibre
perhaps 2 or 3 times, although I don't know what it was he talked
about or spoke of, except my impression is he was not a part of the
motion-picture industry.
There is one segment of that section meeting that I do carry away
with me, that either Bright or Tasker — they were a writing team, and
they are rather closely identified in my mind — spoke and gave a very
long report, and were functionaries of some sort. I can say with
reasonable certainty that they were never a part of my group or unit.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall seeing John Bright and Kobert Tasker
at a fraction meeting ?
Mr. KiBBEE. No, at the section meeting, at the large broad meeting.
That is almost the only thing that I can recall of that meeting, I
think, because one of them made a very, very long report and it got
very, very dull and hot sitting there. That is the thing that sticks in
my mind.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall at whose homes the meetings were
held?
Mr. KiBBEE. Yes ; I can remember some homes that I know I at-
tended the meetings in. I think I mentioned the Schulberg home and
the Waldo Salt home. At the Joe Bromberg home there was some
sort of school going on there. Whether Bromberg taught or not, it is
hard for me to recall.
I attended classes in the Marxist political economy. I lemember
the book. I believe these took place at the Bromberg home. I don't
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA 2329
recall if they were exclusive to members of the party. I think it likely
that they were.
Also the Frank Tiittle home, although I never knew Mr. Tuttle at
all at that time, and I know that he had been a cooperative witness.
I did not know him. I remember the home mainly because it did have
a private gymnasium, and it seemed to me to be the last word in
luxury and a home devoted to many left-wing endeavors, and there
were party members there.
I did attend closed party meetings in that home. I know that. It
seems to me that it was not unusual to have a unit meeting in the home
of somebody who, technically speaking, had not been exposed to you
as a member of the Communist Party in the sense that you asked the
qustion, you know, "Did you see him at a party meeting?" — although
you certainly assumed that if the home was made available that it
was made available by a fellow Communist.
]Mr. Wheeler. "VMiat caused your disillusionment with the Commu-
nist Part}^?
Mr. KiBBEE. Well, I don't want to take you over material that has
been gone over so often. I can remember in my own case it even was
involved more or less with the theory of the Communist Party and
not outside working in organizations where activity would kind of
keep you from thinking too deeply.
Several of the contradictions that arose troubled me a great deal.
The one that troubled me the most, and still does now — I still feel
it keenly — were the Moscow trials going on in that period and the
revelations in those trials.
I mentioned Mr. Samuel Ornitz before and he is the man that I
recall that gave very effective explanations above and beyond what
you would read in the Communist Party press as to why these trials
were justified and why the defendants in those trials were guilty,
but one thing that bothered me was not whether they were guilty or not.
I was willing to go along and say yes, they were, from the evidence
adduced, but why they were guilty, I couldn't understand why in this
Utopia, which we were supposedly working toward, that men in very
high places, as these men always were, would commit such heinous
crimes in order to overthrow. It just didn't make sense to me and
that was a very disturbing factor. The lack of democracy was within
the party itself. The business of orders coming down from some place
that you never could put your finger on was not an easy thing to adjust
to and I didn't adjust to it.
I have mentioned before the party's popularity as a very false sort
of whistling in the dark, the constant repetition of the phrase in the
party press that the American people will do this and the American
people will do that, when my own private experience led me to believe
that the American people were not sympathetic.
Still another case I can remember specifically was the Scottsborocase,
which was one of the causes at that time. I had no concrete knowl-
edge of it, but I sensed that there was an ulterior motive in Communist
support of this thing, which I was sympathetic to, and the Liebowitz
angle in the Scottsboro cause upset me quite a bit.
My memory may be faulty but, as I remember it, Samuel Liebowitz
was retained to defend the Scottsboro boys and became involved in an
altercation with the Communists or the Communist-sponsored com-
2330 COJVUVIUNIST activities in the LOS ANGELES AREA
mittee who were in defense of them, too, and they were able to push
Liebowitz out, or something of that sort. I felt that the most effective
thing that could have been done for the Scottsboro boys, if they could
haveTbeen paroled, was not the Communists' chief concern, that their
chief concern was to excite pro-Communist feeling among tlie Ameri-
can Negroes, and that sort of thing. I sensed that in many things.
I remember John Steinbeck who wrote, I thought, a most effective
novel about the agricultural workers in the San Joaquin Valley, or,
take it a step further, that the man did more for them than anyone
else. A motion picture was made of the very sorry situation that
existed there. I recall that John Steinbeck was at odds with the
Connnunist Party. I can't say just how. It was a question of hear-
ing them attacked and the Avork deplored and too bad he doesn't see
the light, and so forth, and these things troubled me a good deal.
Also, as I say, Mr. Wheeler, I had been an indifferent member. I
had not attended regularly. I was not as active a Communist as I
was expected to be, and these troubling matters pushed me out very
very quickly. I stopped going to meetings for a long period of time,
for a reasonable period of time, anyway. I attach my formal break
to Mr. Lawson, because after that everything was shut off to me.
Mr. Wheeler. You have testified that you knew John Howard
Lawson as a member of the Communist Part3\
Mr. KiBBEE. Yes.
Mr. Wheeler. In October 1949 when you signed the amicus curiae
brief in behalf of John Howard Lawson and Dalton Truinbo, do you
recall the purpose, the motive in signing this?
Mr. Kibbee. Yes, I do. I think my immediate motive, my personal
one, was a gimmick that that petition contained, which is still in my
mind. It said at the top of it that the undersigned did not express
sympathy with the plight of the doomed men, but wanted a Supreme
Court decision in regard to this whole problem of testifying before the
committee and so forth.
I don't want to represent myself here as being or as having been a
hell-for-leather anti-Communist when I left the party because I was
nothing of the sort. I was anti-Communist and non-Communist from
that time on. I certainly did not begin to develop a sense of indigna-
tion about the whole thing until after World War II, and well after it,
perhaps when most of the rest of the population, I suppose, was doing
the same thing. I did not have a sympathy for the Hollywood Ten.
As a matter of fact, I had a number of arguments about the Hollywood
Ten. I was opposed to the position. I was often accused of being
opposed to it because it did harm as an ex-Communist. I thought my
opposition was broader than that, and I still do, because as an ex-
Communist who might and who indeed now has been brought out by
the committee, I was very interested in hearing any kind of official
declaration in regard to the position of men testifying before a com-
mittee, and so forth, that could be gotten, and I believe that that was
the rationale on which I signed that petition.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall who asked you to sign it?
Mr. Kibbee. No, sir ; I do not. Those petitions were all over town
at the time. I know I did not join the committee that was submitting
the first amendment that I think sponsored that petition. At any
rate, it was involved in the fight for the Hollywood Ten, because I
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA 2331
was not in favor of the position they had taken. I cannot remember
who gave me that petition to sign, although I know a nmnber of people
who were sympathetic to that.
jNIr. Wheelkr. Did you meet Albert Maltz, a member of the Com-
munist Part}'?
Mr. KiBBEE. No, sir ; I did not. I am sure of that. I think I met
]\laltz socially or professionally. I recall only 1 or 2 very brief en-
counters with him.
Mr. Wheeler. You signed a petition to nominate him for office in
the Screen Writers' (hiild in 1949?
Mr. KiBBEE. Yes, sir, I did, and I haven't been able to explain tliat
to myself at all. There are several probabilities. I don't know Maltz.
It might have been on the basis of some issue before the guild at that
time in which the so-called progressive faction, which was certainly
heavily infiltrated with the Communists, was taking a position on some
salarj^ raise or something with which I was sympathetic. I might
liave done it on that basis. I might have done it while I was drunk at
some party, I nm sorry to say. I just don't know how I came to sign it.
Mr. Wheeler. Would an ex-Connnunist sign a petition such as the
Maltz petition if the person M^ho circulated the petition kncAv you to
have been a member of the Communist Party at one time?
Mr. KiBBEE. Todtiy and in recent years, certainly not.
Mr. Wheeler. I mean during the period that this transpired.
]Mr. KiBBEE. Woidd a member, ex-Conunimist Party member sign it
if a part}' member presented it to him? I think under certain cir-
cumstances he would; yes.
Mr. Wheeler. Would that be caused, perhaps, by fear of what the
Communist Party itself might do to an ex-Communist ?
Mr. KiBBEE. That is an element.
Mr. Wheeler. Did you ever possess any type of fear after you left
the Comnumist Party?
Mr. KiBBEE. Yes: I did. It is an element. There are many, many
Communists in Hollywood, as you know better than anyone else, and
it is hard to know whether you are behaving sincerely or not. It was
something that I felt certainly in my subconscious fear of some sort
of slanderous treatment at the hands of Communists.
As I say, I did nothing to come out slugging against the Communists.
Mr. Wheeler. Was the Communist Party then in the practice of
slandering members who turned against them?
Mr. KiBBEE. There is no question about that. Yes; they did. They
did. It was always viewed with suspicion. It was never presumed
that you acted on your own volition. It was assumed that you were
lured away by the FBI. In my day the FBI was not regarded as any-
one that would do that, but there were some very prominent people
in the anti-Communist forces that might have thought so wlien you
went after a job or something of that sort.
I clon't want to suggest that I was blackmailed into signing that
petition, because I would have remembered that. That was not the
case. You asked me if an element of that sort was in my mincl, and
certainly that element always stays with the ex-Communist'. It always
does. A Communist is a man who thinks dogmatically and he can't
understand it and he has to find reasons for it.
I know that when I was a member you would hear it said in the
unit — I can't remember any of the people, only the name Lynch, and
2332 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA
I don't know if it is a real name or not — but you would occasionally
as a part of the unit business, a memo would come through saying,
"Stay away from John Smith." That is a fictitious name. "He was
an FBI agent, and he did it because he wanted to get a good job," and
all sorts of things. You would hear that.
Mr. Wheeler. Doesn't that involve a person's civil rights ?
Mr. KiBBEE. Of course, it involves his civil rights. It is a form of
social blackmail, as I say. It is hard to put your finger on it. I don't
think they ever have made it so obvious as to say, "Sign a petition."
1 don't think it was that important to them. It certainly has gone
on. I know that.
Mr. Wheeler. Those who seemed to cry the loudest for civil rights
seem to have abused them the most.
]\Ir. KiBBEE. I guess we all know that now.
Mr. Wheeler. When did you first come to California ?
Mr. KiBBEE. My parents brought me here when I was 10 years old.
It is my home.
jSIr. Wheeler. Did you go to school here ?
Mr. Kibbee. Yes; in South Los Angeles. I graduated from the
Fremont High School.
Mr. Wheeler. Have you had any other education ?
Mr. Kibbee. Just a year at Los Angeles Junior College.
Mr. Wheeler. Have you been a writer since leaving Los Angeles
Junior College ?
Mr. Kibbee. I always thought I was. The world didn't realize
it until about 1939. I was with Fred Allen back in New York.
Mr. Wheeler. Did you live in Los Angeles from the time you left
Los Angeles Junior College until you went to New York?
Mr. Kibbee. No; I did not. I went to work at KGFJ in Los
Angeles in approximately 1932 as an announcer and advertising copy-
righter. I was there approximately a year. I went to New York in
nbout 1933 or 1934, and I believe I must have been there for about 2
years. I was unemployed there for all of 2 years except for very
odd jobs. I place myself back in Los Angeles about 1936 or so. I
had come back with a New York writer, ghost writer, who went to
work at Twentieth Century, and shortly after I quit him because I
wanted to strike out on my own. I was in New York about 2 years
before the last time.
Mr. Wheeler. After you left the party you went to New York
again ?
Mr. Kibbee. Yes. After I left in 1939 I went to New York and
started to work for Fred Allen about 1940.
Mr. Wheeler. How long did you remain in New York ?
Mr. Kibbee. Remained in New York then until the outbreak of the
war, and for a period thereafter. Shortly thereafter I got a release
from Fred Allen. Then I went to New Jersey to take a Government
course in flying. I had meanwhile become a private flyer. Then I
took a course in Army flight instruction. Then I came back to Cali-
fornia as a licensed commercial pilot and an employee of the Army as a
civilian flight instructor.
In late 1941 or early 1942, I worked a year and a half or perhaps
2 years, the best part of 2 years, as a civilian pilot for the Army, at
Ontario, and later at Lancaster, and then was commissioned in the
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA 2333
Air Force directly, stationed at the Van Nuys Army Air Base for
the duration of the war. I was discharged in October of 1945; dis-
■charged as a captain.
I really went to work in the studios for the first time with the
sale of an original story. I'm sorry. I better correct that.
I worked in motion-picture studios before then very briefly for a
few weeks, but really became a screen writer in that sense of the
word by selling an original story to MGM in 1946. From then on
I have resided here in California.
Mr. Wheeler. Did you reaffiliate with the Communist Party while
in New York City ?
Mr. Klbbee. No, sir ; I did not.
Mr. Wheeler. Did anybody contact you and attempt to resolicit
your membership ?
Mr. KiBBEE. I have a feeling that it was done, but I simply can-
not place it. I don't know that it was done in terms of a formal
resolicitation of membership so much as it was to try to draw me
back into that media, but it did not happen. I know that I knew
Communists in New York.
Let me say this: I know it to my own satisfaction that I never
attended a Conununist Party meeting in New York. To the best
of my knowledge, I don't know how I could have, and I know that
I was glad to be free of the thing when I left here. It could not
have happened.
M-r. Wheeler. While a civilian employee of the United States
Army, did you attend any meetings of the Communist Party ?
Mr. Kibbee. Oh, no, sir. I was more than a civilian employee.
I was an enlisted member of the Reserve, frozen in that position,
and you are not called to active duty to return to the service by keep-
ing your job as a civilian employee. If you resign, then you are
immediately called to active duty in the walking Army.
Mr. Wheeler. Did you attend any Communist Party meetings at
all after 1939?
Mr. Kibbee. No ; certainly not.
Mr. Wheeler. Your present occupation is that of a screen writer ?
Mr. Kibbee. Yes, sir.
Mr, Wheeler. Is there anything you want to add for the record ?
Mr. Kibbee. Well, I would like to say this, then, that it has been
in the years since World War II that I have developed active hos-
tility to communism and to the Communist Party, and since Korea
my own view is that membership in the Communist Party is treason-
able, and so are its own policies.
It is hard for me to believe that the men I knew have developed
to the point of consciously pursuing these policies today with full
awareness of their disloyalty to their own country and paying alle-
giance to a foreign one about which they know very little.
I know that at that time that was always implicit in Communist
theory, great loyalty to the Soviet Union. I think you never faced
it at that time. It has been hard for me to believe, now, that a tense
situation exists between the two nations, that the ideology has taken
such a hold that they are able, obviously, to place their loyalty with
the Soviet Union. I do feel that they are being fanatically swept
along in international Communist strategy even toward their own
2334 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA
destruction. I think I felt that about the Hollywood Ten, which is
one of tlie reasons I was opposed to their position.
It may seem strange that men would destroy themselves that way,
but it isn't so stranare, I think, if you know Communist theory and
follow it through to its logical conclusion. I think it was thinking
about those logical conclusions that made it very uncomfortable for
me back 15 years ago or so. I know that martyrdom is a favorite Com-
munist weapon and always has been. I think it has been very clearly
demonstrated in Korea. It has been very apparent to me in the newsr
pa})er accoimts of the prisoner-of-war disorders where many men lose
their lives apparently deliberately in order to cause excitement.
My own current political views may be ascertained fully among a
wide circle of anti-Comnumist friends and professional associates in
Hollywood, and I liave recently been tendered and proudly accepto.l
a reiiewal of my Air Force Keserve commission.
The problem of signing petitions and supporting causes promoted
by the Comnninist Pai'ty has always been a tricky one in Hollywood,
and my record over the years will be found to be exceptionally good
in that respect. I have striven to sign i)etitions only when the text
is literally in accord with my own views, it being well nigh impossible
to investigate and determine what organization is behind a proffered
petition. Thus I was al)le to sign the original Eisenhower-crusade-
for-freedom pledge at al)out the same time I was declining to sign the
Stockholm Peace Petition.
I am opposed to war, but a careful reading of the text of the latter
document revealed it to be a partisan appeal for the outlawing oidy of
the atom boml). which at that time the United States had, and the
Russians presumably hadn't.
I check such contributions as I make against the Internal Revenue
Departmeiit's list of bona fide charities. To the best of my knowledge
and belief, I have never belonged to or supported any organization
on the Attorney General's subversive list.
My prewar years in New York radio did not bring my name into
the very broad listings in Red Channels, and my postwar yeai'S in
Hollywood have involved me in no activities that would have put my
name into the equally broad listings of the California Tenney Com-
mittee reports.
Well, I think in my own case the Committee on Un-American Ac-
tivities has been a blessing, Mr. Wheeler. We have referred before
to the element of fear that is in a man as an ex-Communist. He never
really comes out as anti-Communist. He is afraid of how it may be
interpreted. It is not very pleasant to be dragged out, but I am grate-
ful to have had the opportunity to speak freely without coercion, with-
out any pressure of any icincl, ixnd tliat I have had an op})ortunity
to express an open ffoling of anlicomrnunism and take the position as
an anti-Communist without it being felt that I am trying to wriggle
out of my own responsibility for ever having joined.
I think the committee does serve the ex-Communist very well in
that regard, and I feel that very strongly indeed. It gives them a
chance to close a part of his life that he doesn't very much like to have
laying dormant, although that is very difficult, esjjecially with the
memory problem, to go back that far it is very difficult to open it up.
That's it, roughly. I have received every consideration, certainly.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA 2335
I hiiven't been rushed or pressed into this. I have been given a great
deal of time. I am particidarly grateful for the recent consideration
in regard to my wife, who was quite ill, and to whom a public appear-
ance on my part would have caused quite a bad situation, I am glad
that history has taken its turn and given me a chance to get out from
under in that way,
Mr. Wheeler. Thank you very much for your most revealing state-
ment, Mr. Kibbee.
(Whereupon the interrogation of Roland William Kibbee wasi
concluded.)
INYESTIGATION OF COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE
LOS ANGELES AKEA— PAET 6
TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 1953
United States House of Representatives,
Committee on Un-American Activities,
Hollywood^ Calif.
executive statement ^
An executive statement given at 3 : 50 p. m., June 2, 1953, at room
1117, Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, Hollywood, Calif.
Present : William A. Wheeler, investigator.
STATEMENT OF BABBETTE LANG
Mr. Wheeler, Will you state your full name, please ?
Mrs, Lang. Babbette Lang.
Mr. Wheeler. "Wliere were you born?
Mrs. Lang. Chicago, 111.
Mr, Wheeler. You are giving this statement voluntarily and of
your own free will?
Mrs, Lang, I am.
Mr. Wheeler, And you are not under subpena ; is that correct ?
Mrs. Lang, Right.
Mr. Wheeler. What is your educational background ?
Mrs, Lang, High-school graduate and about 2 years of college.
Mr. Wheeler. Wliere did you attend college ?
Mrs. Lang. Los Angeles City College.
Mr. Wheeler, What is your employment background ?
Mrs. Lang. Oh, I worked as a secretary in various incidental jobs
until 1933, at which point I went to work at the Screen Writers' Guild
for 3 years, and then I went to work for Dore Schary as secretary,
and was with him for 5 years, and that's it.
Mr. Wheeler, Have you been a member of the union in Hollywood ?
Mrs. Lang. No.
Mr, Wheeler. Mrs. Lang, the committee has come into possession
of information which discloses you were at one time a member of the
Communist Party. Is that correct ?
Mrs, Lang, It is.
Mr. Wheeler, And when did you first join the Communist Party?
Mrs. Lang. In 1942.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall who recruited you ?
Mrs. Lang. Steve Morgan.
^ Released by the full committee.
2337
2338 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA
Mr. Wheeler. And for what reason did you ioin the Communist
Party?
Mrs. Lang. Well, it was during the war, and I, along with many
others at that time, was interested in furthering the war effort. It
seemed in talking to many people and reading literature — and I at-
tended a few classes here and there — world events classes, they were
called; current events classes in which it was pointed out — actually,
these were probably recruiting classes, though at the time I didn't
realize it, but it just seemed like they were world events classes, and the
shape of events was explained, it seems to me, very clearly and very
well. I was very confused on many political issues at the time, and
this seemed to give some cohesion and credibility to what was hap-
pening.
I went to these current events classes several years before I ever
thought of becoming a Communist. I think they were in about 1937
or 1938. Then when my husband and I ran into Steve Morgan and his
wife, they talked to us a great deal along the same lines, and it seemed
that the Communist Party at that time was in the forefront in further-
ing the progression of the Avar and antinazism and so on. It was kind
of like belonging to a group whose aims I understood or thought
I understood, and it was just one of those big emotional bursts of
enthusiasm that seemed at the time very right to me.
Mr. Wheeler. You referred to the wife of Steve Morgan. Is that
Ann Morgan ?
Mrs. Lang. Yes; Ann Roth Morgan.
Mr. Wheeler. Wlien you joined the Communist Party were you
assigned to a unit or a branch ?
Mrs. Lang. Well, not immediately. I was assigned to an indoctrina-
tion class.
Mr. Wheeler. How long did this class run ?
Mrs. Lang. About 12 or 13 weeks.
Mr. Wheeler. How many individuals attended these classes, do
you recall ?
Mrs. Lang. Oh, there were about 7 or 8 people, I guess.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall who the instructor was ?
Mrs. Lang. Yes ; Michael Wilson.
Mr. Wheeler. Michael Wilson, a screen writer ?
Mrs. Lang. Yes.
Mr. Wheeler. Do vou recall what subjects w^ere discussed or
taught?
Mrs. Lang. Oh, there were classes on dialectical materialism, dif-
ferent phases of Marxism, elementary phases, I guess, and the Jewish
question, the Negro question, America's part in the war effort.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall who the other students were at the in-
doctrination class ?
Mrs. Lang. Estelle and Carl Foreman. It is quite difficult to re-
member. I remember we met once at the home of Viola Brothers
Shore. I met in her home once or twice. I don't believe I recall
any of the other people in the class.' There was a girl named Helen,
but I never knew her last name. I never saw her after that.
Mr. Wheeler. Would you recall at whose other homes you met ?
Mrs. Lang. We met at Michael Wilson's home. I believe we had
them at my home once or twice, and at Viola Shore's. That's about
all that I recall.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IX THE LOS ANGELES AREA 2339
Mr, Wheeler. After the completion of the indoctrination or be-
j^inner's class, were you then assigned to a unit ?
Mrs. Lang. Yes.
Mr. Wheeler. And what type of people belonged to this group ?
Mrs. Lang. These Avere motion-picture people in the main. At first
my husband and I — as I remember, we were in a group together,
but for a very short time, and then they were separated and wives
were put in one group and the writers then were put in a special
Avriters' group. The residue of mostly the wives then were put in
what was called a neighborhood group.
Actually, Avhat it amounted to was principally writers' wives.
Mr, Wheeler. Do you recall the members of the first group ?
Mrs. Lang, Let's see. There was Sam Ornitz and his wife Sadie;
Oeorge Willner and his wife Tiba ; Guy Endore and his wife Henri-
ette; and Carl and Estelle Foreman ; and David and myself. Oh, yes,
Charley Leonard and his then wife Helen,
Mr, Wheeler. How long were you a member of this first unit?
Mrs. Lang. I don't remember exactly. It was a very short time. I
don't remember the exact length of time. It seems to me it was just a
period of weeks.
Mr. Wheeler. And you testified you were then transferred to a
second unit ; is that correct ?
Mrs. Lang. Yes.
Mr. Wheeler, And how long were you a member of the second
group ?
Mrs, Lang, I was in that group for a couple of years, anyway, maybe
longer. That gi-oup began as a very small group. As I remember,
as I said, primarily the wives of the writers were put in special groups.
Then it enlarged. We were told then that the party was coming more
above ground and there was a lot of talk about showing the face of
the party.
Mr. Wheeler. It became the Communist Political Association?
Mrs. Lang. Yes. And there was less secrecy about the whole thing,
and then many people came in and out. I mean they were in for a
couple of weeks. You never got to know them. You knew maybe
their first name and then they were gone and other people came in and
they were gone. There was a great influx during that period.
There is a little confusion in my mind at this point because during
this period it was decided that for purposes of recruitment a group
would be set up, a discussion group, to just discuss theoretically world
events, and I was put in charge of this group to organize it and lead it.
Mr. Wheeler. Was this after it became the Communist Political
Association ?
Mrs, Lang, I think so. That was during the period when there
was a great deal less secrecy, when it allegedly was showing its face,
as it is termed.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall wdio were members of the second
group ?
Mrs. Lang. You mean of the discussion group ? You just mean the
second Communist group ?
Mr. Wheeler. The second Communist group.
Mrs. Lang. Well, let's see. The people I mentioned first, the wives
were all there; Henriette Endore and Estelle Foreman and Jean
Lees, Margaret Maltz, Catherine Larkin, I don't know that she is
2340 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA
married. She is Margaret Maltz' sister. I don't know that she is
married. She wasn't then.
Then there were many people whose first names I knew and never
knew their last names. There was a man by the name of Ed, There
was another woman by the name of Catherine. They were there for
short periods of time. Also, a girl named Estelle Saul, Oscar Saul's
wife.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you know Clare Burnstein ?
Mrs. Lang. Yes. Clare Burnstein, I know her now. I can't re-
member too well whether she was in the discussion group or in the
party group. I think she was in both groups, as a matter of fact.
Mr. Wheeler. How about Russell William Burnstein?
Mrs. Lang. Yes ; her husband.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you know what his occupation was ?
Mrs. Lang. No; I don't. I know that Rus Burnstein — he was in
some technical capacity, I think. He was either an engineer or some-
thing. He went to Europe, I know, with Lou Bunin and that whole
group.
Mr. Wheeler. Was his wife, Clare, employed in the motion-picture
industry ?
Mrs. Lang. As far as I know she was just housewife.
Mr. Wheeler. Did you ever learn that this particular branch was
called Branch I of the Communist Party ?
Mrs. Lang. I never knew that. As far as I knew we were called
the Wilshire-Fairfax group. I never knew it by any other name.
Mr. Wheeler. Now, you mentioned that you helped organize a dis-
cussion group. Would you go into more detail in regard to this ?
Mrs. Lang. As I said, the idea was for recruiting purposes, and in
the beginning Jean Lees and I were supposed to organize this, and we
met, and various other people in the club were to either bring or send
friends to this group. We met the first time in Jean Lees' home,
and as I remember, there were some, maybe 20 or 30 people, and then
we met on Sunday nights, alternate Sunday nights, twice a month.
The group would decide what they wanted to discuss, what they
wanted to talk about, and then someone would volunteer to either
give a report or lead the discussion. Actually, the Communist Party
was never mentioned, as I recall, or if it was it was just in passing,
and I am sure, I feel very convinced, that most of the people for the
most part that came to the discussion group did not know it was or-
ganized or that it was Communist inspired.
I think the idea was that they would just come in to discuss world
events, and actually, as far as recruiting is concerned, to my knowledge
there was very little or none. I know I never recruited anybody for
that group. I don't know of anybody who was.
Mr. Wheeler. How long did this discussion group operate?
Mrs. Lang. Oh, I would say approximately a year.
Mr. Wheeler. And during this period of time were you also a mem-
ber of the second group for the Communist Party ? This was extra-
curricular work, was it not ?
Mrs. Lang. Yes. This was my assignment, and also during that
time I had another assignment which was to organize a blood donor's
booth, which I did, and carried on that for many, many months. We
had a blood booth on Wilshire Boulevard, and we all took turns taking
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA 2341
hours there in recruiting blood donors. So it all seemed a very worth-
while furthering of the war effort.
Mr. Wheeler. Who were the lecturers at these discussions ?
Mrs. Lang. Actually, there were no lecturers. It was just as I said.
The group would decide what they wanted to talk about, and then
some person would just say, "Well, I'll look up and get some material
on that subject," if it was the Negro question or the Jewish question
or the Hitler-Stalin pact or whatever it was currently being talked
about and thought about in the world. No one actually what you
would call held the floor or gave any lectures.
No ; that isn't tru3. Occasionally we did have someone who would
come and give a formal talk, such as I think at one time Albert Maltz
came and led a discussion. There were a couple of writers who came
in on different occasions. I can't remember who they were. I can't
remember their names. I can visualize one of them very plainly but I
just can't think of his name to save my life.
Mr. Wheeler. "Wlien did you leave the Communist Party ?
Mrs. Lang. In either 1945 or early 1946.
Mr. Wheeler. Were you assigned to another group during that
period of time ?
Mrs. Lang. Yes.
Mr. Wheeler. For what reason were you transferred? Do you
recall ?
Mrs. Lang. Well, the groups were in a great state of flux at that
point and they were breaking up. As I recall, the group was getting
unwieldy, too large, and it was thought that it was better for people
to be assigned more directly to their own neighborhood, and so I was
transferred to another group which was my last group. From that
group I left the party.
Mr. Wheeler. Was this group comprised of motion-picture people ?
Mrs. Lang. For the most part ; no.
Mr. Wheeler. Just a geographical group ?
Mrs. Lang. Yes.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall who the members were in this group ?
Mrs. Lang. There was a girl by the name of Ruth Oser and a guy
by the name of Harry Tanner. Now, some of these people I knew
fairly well. Others I didn't know at all. I remember I used to laugh
because it seemed to me every other person's name in the group was
Euth, most of whom I didn't know and had no desire to know, because
by that time I was getting a little chilly, and my attendance at these
meetings was very irregular. For the most part I was reluctant to
take assignments and do jobs, and I was begimiing to get resentful
of the whole attitude of the party.
Up to this point there was no dissension in the groups and it was
pleasant and more or less social and no one made any great demands
on you. You did what you could do and it was mostly on a volunteer
basis, but in the last group there seemed to be what is termed a feeling
of greater party discipline, and I began to resent it.
Mr. Wheeler. Would this be after the Duclos letter?
Mrs. Lang. Oh, yes.
Mr. Wheeler. Wliat was your attitude with respect to the Duclos
letter?
2342 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA
Mrs. Lang. Well, I didn't take part in any of the discussions. It
was mostly listening, and at the time I thought, "Gee, this is kind of a
fast shuffle" wo were being given, aiid it seemed to me as though there
was a lot of directive from above.
The business of the group — well, the whole idea that we were always
being told, and I accepted it for a long time, as the autonomy of the
group, and for a long time it seemed to operate very well. The group
was a group of people who I considered were fairly independent think-
ers and there seemed to be autonomy.
In the last group it seemed like we were always getting directives,,
and all you had to do was open your mouth in disagreement and you
were looked at quite with askance. There would be terms such as
"renegade'' and "deviant" and terms that I was just not able to accept.
The Duclos thing I think I accepted, because the people who dis-
cussed it were very articulate and very convincing and it was just
sort of a subtle shuffle that you almost weren't aware of. There was
a vague feeling of maybe there should be more discussion. I never
had a feeling of open resentment. I kind of accepted the Duclos
letter.
Mr. Wheeler. What was the size of this group ?
Mrs. Lang. It wasn't a large group. I would say generally there
probably weren't more than 10 or 12 people in attendance and not
always the same ones ?
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall where they met ?
Mrs. Lang. Yes. We met at Kuth Oser's home. We met a few
times at my home. Oh, yes; there was another girl who also lived
in my neighborhood, at whose home we met, by the name of Carufo.
Jessie Carufo. I don't think she is even in town any more.
Oh, yes, there was another girl by the name of Catherine Van de Kar.
We met at her home up in the Hollywood Hills.
Mr. Wheeler. What was Miss Van de Kar's occupation?
Mrs. Lang. Nursery school director.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall who was the chairman of this third
group ?
Mrs. Lang. He was a man by the name of Milton. I don't know his
last name. It was a long foreign name and I heard it maybe once
or twice, but I never really knew.
Mr. Wheeler. Was he an elderly man ?
Mrs. Lang. No ; he was in his late thirties, I would say.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall any of the other officers of this group ?
Mrs. Lang. Harry Tanner I think was an officer. I am not quite
sure what. If I am not mistaken, he collected the dues. He wasn't
called the treasurer. I forget what the person's name was — I mean
what the person who collected the dues was called. Ruth Oser was
some kind of an officer. I don't recall what she was, either.
At one point I was educational director. I did a very bad job. I
wasn't interested.
Mr. Wheeler. Did you purchase the Communist publications?
Mrs. Lang. No, sir ; I was never literature director. I think in this
group, as I remember, anybody who happened to get near the book-
store picked up the books. I don't think there was a definite person
who did it all the time.
Mr. Wheeler. Why did you leave the Communist Party, Mrs.
Lang?
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA 2343
Mrs. Lang. Well, there was a great bit of disillusionment that
started setting in with nie over a long period of time. It was one of
those things where I wasn't happy with the great feeling of secrecy. I
wasn't happy with the kind of directives that you either accepted or
else. There was so much it seemed to me there. There were so many
demands made on the individual that whether or not you wanted to
do whatever it was, it was expected of you, and there were no ex-
cuses acceptable. I don't know. It almost became what the — the
whole feeling, to me, became what non-Communists feel about the
Communist Party, which is a kind of a stereot^'pe, very serious, mili-
tant feeling, and then I started hearing things. I started listening to
people.
All during these years actually I never once thought about, and as
a matter of fact we were told that there was no connection iDetween
the Communist Party of the United States and the Kussian Com-
munist Party, and when I started thinking and started hearing that
this was an international setup, I didn't like it. I didn't like the feel-
ing that the American Communist Party might be taking directives
from the Russian Communist Party. I didn't like the idea.
There was literature that we were practically forbidden to read.
Mr. WuEELER. Do you recall the literature that you were forbidden
to read?
Mrs. Lang. The main thing I remember, which I have been read-
ing just recently, were the Arthur Koestler books, for instance. Dark-
ness at Noon is one of them. Those were the main things that I re-
member. He was terribly frowned on.
There is another very famous writer that we were told absolutely
a good Communist does not read.
Suddenly all these things started piling up. I just lost enthusiasm.
I lost heart for the whole thing. I didn't like the dictation. I didn't
like any part of it. I just felt washed up.
Of course, it takes a long time to get out of the party. You don't
just suddenly make up your mind one day and get out. There are all
sorts of guilt feelings. There are feelings of fear of disapproval, not
actually physical reprisal, but after long contact with certain kinds
of people you have the fear of being cut off, almost cut off from the
main stream. It becomes so much a part of your life for so long that
for a very long time I wanted to get out before I actually had the
nerve to do it.
Then I took leave of absence. I made all sorts of excuses.
Mr. Wheeler. Did you ever attend any fraction meetings of the
Communist Party ?
Mrs. Lang. I never had any occasion to because I never belonged
to a guild or a union.
Mr. Wheeler. You never had the occasion to meet any of the
secretaries in the motion-picture industry who were Communists?
Mrs. Lang. I was never at any fraction meetings of the — wait a
minute. There were a couple of girls that were in my first group
toward the end who were secretaries ; one girl by the name of Eunice
Mindlin.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall Esther Jerry Wagner as being a
member of the Communist Party ?
Mrs. Lang. Jerry Wagner I think came to the first group or the
second group I was in, but only for a very short time; maybe a
2344 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA
€ouple of meetings. She wasn't there regularly, or maybe it was
right before I left.
Mr. Wheeler. I am not going to ask you the names of the in-
dividuals for the public record who attended your class which you
organized. However, if you do recall any of the names of the indi-
viduals who attended this class, I would like to have them.
Mrs. Lang. You mean the discussion group ?
Mr. Wheeler. Yes.
Mrs. Lang. That is a tough one. If I remember correctly, if she
is the same person I think she is, it seems to me that Catherine Brant
was a member of the discussion group, but I can't remember now
whether she was a party member or not. I can't say for sure. It
seems as though she was, but I'm not positive.
Mr. Wheeler. What was Catherine Brant's occupation?
Mrs. Lang. Housewife as far as I know.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you have anything you would like to add for
the record ?
Mrs. Lang. No; I don't think so. As far as I am concerned, I
am finished and washed up with the Communist Party. I want no
part of it. I think that actually, psychologically, I have forgotten
so much because I just wanted to push it out of my life. I would
never think of rejoining the Communist Party. I think they are
a menace, not in terms of overthrowing the Government, but just
as a mild disruptive force.
Mr. Wheeler. You have deviated to the degree that you are non-
acceptable, I think.
Mrs. Lang. I think I am really nonacceptable. I don't think they
would want me. I don't think I would be suitable material at all.
One thing I failed to mention that during the time that I was in
the last group I was also a member of the IPP.^ Actually it was
an assignment and my naivete was so great that I never even knew —
and this I say shamefully — actually because I obviously was not a
good Communist and was obviously painfully ignorant, but I never
even knew that the IPP was a Communist organization.
Now, you can believe that or not, but that is actually the truth.
Mr. Wheeler. Did you come to the conclusion that it is a Com-
munist organization ?
ISIrs. Lang. I know it now. I certainly didn't know it during the
whole time I was a member of the IPP. I didn't even know what
people were Communists. I venture to say that most of them were
not. I attended a lot of IPP neighborhood meetings during the
Henry Wallace period.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you think of anything else ?
Mrs. Lang. No; I can't think of anything. There was another
man, now that I think about IPP, who worked in the IPP, whom
1 knew as a Communist, and I can't even remember his last name
liow. His first name was Morry.
Mr. Wheeler. Your statement will be very much appreciated by
the committee, Mrs. Lang. Thank you very much.
(Whereupon the interrogation of Babbette Lang was concluded.)
^ Independent Progressive Party.
\ii, l5:;0(y.*>S
INVESTIGATION OF COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE
LOS ANGELES AEEA— PART^G
TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 1953
United States House of Representatives,
Committee on Un-American Activities,
Hollywood^ Calif.
executive stateinient^
An executive statement given at 4 : 30 p. m., June 2, 1953, at room
1117, Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, Hollywood, Calif.
Present : William A. Wheeler, investigator.
STATEMENT OF LEE J. COBB
Mr. Wheeler. State your name, please.
Mr. Cobb. Lee J. Cobb.
Mr. Wheeler. When and where were you born, Mr. Cobb?
Mr. Cobb. New York City, December 9, 1911.
Mr. Wheeler. Your educational background, just briefly.
Mr. Cobb. Public schools and high school in New York City and
CCNY at night.
Mr. Wheeler, Did you obtain any degrees from New York City
College?
Mr. Cobb. No.
Mr. Wheeler. Your profession is that of an actor ?
Mr. Cobb. That is correct.
Mr. Wheeler. And how long have you been so employed?
Mr. Cobb. Twenty-two years or so.
Mr. Wheeler. You have appeared both on the New York stage as
well as in motion pictures ?
Mr. Cobb. Yes ; and radio and television.
Mr. Wheeler. Mr. Cobb, are you presently under subpena?
Mr. Cobb. No, sir.
Mr. Wheeler. Are you represented by an attorney ?
Mr. Cobb. No, sir.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you desire counsel ?
Mr. Cobb. No, sir.
Mr. Wheeler. You realize by giving me this statement that it does
not eliminate the possibility that in the future you may be called as a
witness before the committee ?
Mr. Cobb. I do ; and I shall be happy to appear wherever and when-
ever the committee directs.
Released by the fuU committee.
2345
2346 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA
Mr. Wheeler. Mr. Cobb, are you acquainted with Larry Parks ?
Mr. Cobb. Yes; I am.
Mr. Wheeler. I would like to refer to his testimony in executive
session on March 21, 1951. Mr. Parks testified that he was a member
of the Communist Party in Hollywood and was being questioned by
Mr. Tavenner, counsel for the Committee on Un-American Activities,
and was asked to identify individuals whom he had known to be mem-
bers of the Communist Party.
On page 11 ^ of the testimony by Mr. Parks, he stated that he knew
Lee Cobb to be a Communist. Is that a correct statement?
Mr. Cobb. Yes ; that is correct.
Mr. Wheeler. When did you join the Communist Party, Mr. Cobb?
Mr. Cobb. I joined in 1941, 1 believe, 1940 or 1941.
Mr. Wheeler. In what city did you join?
Mr. Cobb. In New York City.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall the circumstances that led up to your
becoming a member of the Communist Party ?
Mr. Cobb. I do.
Mr. Wheeler. Would you relate them, please?
Mr. Cobb. In the pursuit of my professional endeavors I became a
member of the Group Theater in New York. As a member I made
several friends, among them Phoebe Brand and Morris Carnovsky.
It was at their invitation after an association professionally and in
friendship of a few years that I attended a couple of meetings as a
visitor and subsequently accepted the fact that I was a member. I
put it that way because there didn't seem to be any formality involved
such as the signing of a card or indoctrination of any other kind.
Mr. Wheeler. Well, Morris Carnovsky aixl Phoebe Brand, in all
probability, did some kind of sales talk to promote the Communist
Party so that you would become interested in it. What sold you on
the Communist Party ?
Mr. Cobb. xVs I recall, the atmosphere in the country as a whole
at that time lent itself to rather a loose liberal, if not leftist, interpre-
tation of events, local and international, and at that time we took each
other for granted as subscribing generally to a similar interpretation
of liistory. I was influenced greatly by their seniority within the
group. I respected their opinions and, as I say, socially as friends we
had loiown each other sufficiently long for me to accept an invitation
of that kind.
Mr. Wheeler, How long were you a member of the Communist
Party in New York City ?
Mr. Cobb. In New York City it was until the middle of or the be-
ginning of 1942, at which time I went to a small town called T3^rone,
Pa., where I undertook a Government course in flight training to im-
prove my qualifications to become a flight instructor.
Mr. Wheeler. How many months would you say you were a mem-
ber of the Communist Part}^ in New York, approximately ?
Mr. Cobb. To the best of my recollection, it lacked a year. I im-
agine it was in the vicinity of 8 or 10 months.
Mr. Wheeler. How many meetings did you attend over that period
of time ?
1 See p. 2303, this publication.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA 2347
Mr. Conr,. I would say half a dozen.
Mr. WiiKELEK. Do you recall wlio notified you of the meetings?
The attendance was infreijuent; tlierefore, I assume you would have
to be notified.
Mr. CoKH. I would say that invariably it was either Phoebe Brand
or Mori'is Carnovsky, since they were the ones I knew most intimately.
Mr. Wheeler. Where were the meetings held i
Mr. Cobb. In a private house. At the Carnovsky's. I can't recall
the. names of several of the other people, although I have succeeded
over the last week in isolating some of them visually, but I don't re-
member what their Jiames were.
Mr. WiiEEi;ER. Do you recall who was chaii-man of the group?
Mr. Cobb. Xo, sir. 1 am much more dependable with respect to
recalling the names of the people in Hollywood than I seem to be
Avith respect to the New York period, which is quite confused because
I had been attending meetings in connection with Actors' Equity, as
well as a caucus within Equity called tlie Forum, in addition to these
party meetings.
The Forum was a caucus within Equity, pur])ortedly dedicated to
liberal union issues, in which a Counnunist fraction played an im-
portant part.
Mr. Wheeler. Well, how did you become aware of this fraction ?
Mr. (^OBB. I heard references among Comnmnists to the fact that
there were fraction meetings on Forum questions. Also, as a Com-
munist I was instructed to support certain issues or vote in certain
ways on the floor of Equity meetings whenever these issues arose.
Mr. Wheeler. Did you ever attend a meeting of this fraction?
Mr. Cobb. No, sir.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall any specific issues that j'ou were in-
structed to vote in a certain way on ?
Mr. Cobb. No.
Mr. Wheeler. Who controlled the Forum i Who was the actual
leader of the caucus?
Mr. Cobb. Prominent in the Forum activities were, among others,
Phil Loeb and Sam Jaifee, though I never knew them to be Com-
munists. And i don't mean by mentioning their names to suggest that
they were. But in answer to your question, they were very active
in Forum, as well as Bob Reed.
Mr. Wheeler. Did you pay dues in New York, do you recall?
Mr. Cobb. In iSew York, I don't remember paying any dues in the
Communist Party. Possibly I paid the nominal 25-cent minimum
which was required. That, incidentally, goes for my dues paying on
the west coast, too. I never paid any appreciable sum.
Mr. Wheei-er. Now, do you recall any of the members of this group,
other than Phoebe Brand and her husband Morris Carnovsky?
Mr. Cobb. On the occasion of my meeting with the Federal Bureau
of Investigation I tried to recall the names for that purpose as well
and was successful. Since then I have recalled one more name, and
that is the name of Pete Lyon, or Pete Lyons.
Mr .Wheeler. What was his occupation?
Mr. Cobb. I believe he was a radio writer. Also Bob Reed. I
mentioned Bob Reed to the FBI.
Mr. Wheeler. What was Mr. Reed's occupation?
2348 COIUMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA
Mr. Cobb. He was an actor.
Mr. Wheeler. Would you please give your estimate of the number
of people in this group in New York City of which you were a
member ?
Mr. Cobb. I would estimate about 10.
Mr. Wheeler. I believe you testilied that in 1942 that you went to
Pennsylvania to become a flight instructor; is that correct?
Mr. Cobb. Yes. I took this CPTC course and completed it and got
my instructor's rating and commercial license.
Mr. Wheeler. How long were you in Pennsylvania ?
Mr. Cobb. About 3 months.
Mr. Wheeler. Did j'ou have any contact or association with the
Communist Party or members of the Connnunist Party while receiv-
ing this instruction ?
Mr. Cobb. No, sir; not at that time.
Mr. Wheeler, After you received your certificate for instructor^
where did you move to then ?
Mr. Cobb. I went directly to Hollywood.
Mr. Wheeler. And approximately what date would this be?
Mr. Cobb. Middle of August 1942.
Mr. Wheeler. T\nien you arrived in Hollywood, did you reaffiliate
with the Communist Party ?
Mr. Cobb. It was after a number of months, quite a few months.
Mr. Wheeler. Would you say as long as a year ?
Mr. Cobb. Well, certainly 6 months.
Mr. Wheeler. That would bring it up to January or February of
1943.
Mr. Cobb. That's right. I was contacted here by the party and ad-
vised that I Avas assigned to a local group and tokl to come to a meet-
ing.
Mr. Wheeler, Do you recall who contacted you?
Mr. Cobb. I believe it was Gerry Schlein.
Mr. Wheeler. What was Mrs. Schlein's occupation ?
Mr. Cobb. I don't think she had any professional occupation. She
was a housewife, the wife of an artist by the name of Charles Schlein.
Mr. Wheeler. Did you know Charles Schlein as a member of the
Communist Party ?
Mr. Cobb. No, sir.
Mr. Wheeler. I assume that his wife, contacting you, was a mem-
ber?
Mr. Cobb. Oh, yes; she was. We met at her home several times.
Mr. Wheeler, Were you assigned to a group in Hollywood?
Mr, Cobb, Yes, I don't know that the group was identified by any
name or number, but virtually all of the people in it were.
Mr. Wheeler, How long did you remain a member of the Com-
munist Party in Hollywood ?
Mr. Cobb. With the exception of 2 years, during which I was in the
Army, in the Air Force, I was with this group from the last date
mentioned to sometime in 1946.
Mr. A¥heeler. We established that you probably reafRliated with
the party in January or Februaiy of 1943. Now, can you tell us what
date you entered the United States Army ?
Mr. Cobb. I entered the Armed Forces of the United States on
September 7, 1943.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA 2349
Mr. Wheeler. Well, then, in 1943 you were a member of the Com-
munist Party for approximately 8 mouths. Do you recall how many
individuals comprised this group you were assigned to ?
Mr. Cobb. Oh, a dozen, roughly.^
Mr. Wheeu^r. How many meetings did you attend ?
Mr. Cobb. For the period before I went into the Army, must have
been possibly 10 or 12.
]\Ir. Wheeler. How often did they meet ?
Mr. Cobb. They met every 3 weeks, 2 or 3 weeks. It is evident that
I was not regular in attendance. That accounts for the discrepancy in
the number of times.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall who the members of this group were ?
Mr. Cobb. Yes ; I do. To the best of my recollection, the members
were Ann Revere, Gale Sondergaard, Dorothy Tree. Larry Parks,
Marc Lawrence, Gerry Schlein, Lloyd Bridges,' Shimen Ruskin, Rose
Hobart, Jeff Corey, George Tyne, and Ludwig Donath. Several of
these I iiad completely forgotten about until I was asked.
Mr. Wheeler. On how many occasions would you say you met Lud-
wig Donath as a member of the Communist Party?
Mr. Cobb. His name is last on the list because he was the last one
I recall, and I don't think I saw him more often than 3 or 4 times.
It could have been because he was a member of the other group and
I didn't see him until there was this unification.
Elliott Sullivan is another one. Victor Killian, Sr., George Tyne,
also known as Buddy Yarns.
Mr. Wheeler. Durhig this 8-month period, the first time you were
in the party here in Hollywood, did )■ ou pay dues ?
Mr. Cobb. From time to time — yes; I would pay the minimum. I
frankly explained that when I was working I was making a sizable
salary and I didn't think it was fair the weeks that I worked to pay
such a large fee.
Mr. Wheeler. They had requested that you pay a percentage?
Mr. Cobb. A percentage of salary.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall what the percentage was?
Mr. Cobb. No. I think there was a sliding scale if I am not mis-
taken, but I never did it, so I didn't know.
Mr. Wheeler. "Wliat would you estimate your dues amounted to
over this 8-month period ?
Mr. Cobb. Altogether?
Mr. Wheeler, Yes.
Mr. Cobb. Certainly no more than $5 or $10.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall who the chairman of this group was or
any other officers of this particular club ?
• Mr. Cobb. I recall that Gerry Schlein was pretty much the driving
force in the group.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall whom you paid the dues to ?
Mr. Cobb, No. I believe that varied from time to time. The
treasurer would be a different one.
Mr. Wheeler. What was the purpose of this group? "Wliat was
the purpose of having a group of Communists comprised of actors?
Mr, Cobb, Well, I don't know what their affirmed purpose was. I
do know in effect it seemed to serve no practical purpose except the
indoctrination and general orientation of actors.
2350 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IX THE LOS ANGELES AREA
Mr. Wheeler. Was it possible that an actor can portray in anj^ way
the Communist Party line through the method of acting? Can he
get over a political line or thought?
Mr. Cobb, No. I don't think that was at all possible. However, a
project was undertaken, led by John Howard Lawson, to rewrite the
precepts of Stanislavski's metliod on acting, to tiy as far as possible to
color it by the prevailing Communist ideologies. The project failed
miserably because the moment we departed from the text as published
by Stanislavski, we destroyed the most important aspect of it and
consequently I resigned from the project.
Mr, Wheeler, Wlio was Stanislavski and what was his method of
acting?
Mr, Cobb, Stanislavski was an actor and director in Russia before
and since the revolution, wlio kept himself above all political questions
of the time and dedicated his life to formulating an approach, a scien-
tific approach, for the actor in his work, and for the first time broke
down into scientific terms the elements involved in the creation of a
role and thereby made possible a cogent practical attack for the actor.
Mr. Wheeler. Have you readied any conclusion in your own mind
why John Howard Lawson wanted to change the writing of Stanis-
lavski^
Mr. Cobb. The excuse was that however good Stanislavski was, he
would be so much better if he were a Communist, and so the purpose
was to add the Communist portion to Stanislavski which he was not
endowed with by God.
Mr. Wheeler. Stanislavski's method of acting has been widely
adopted in the United States by members of the acting profession?
Mr. Cobb. .Vll over the world. It had a profound effect upon acting
in general.
Mr. Wheeler. How long did j'Ou state you were in the United
States Army ?
Mr. Cobb. Almost 2 years. I was discharged, honorably discharged,
on August 24, 1945.
Mr. Wheeler. What was your rank at that time?
Mr. Cobb. Pfc,
Mr, Wheeler. Where did 3'ou serve in the United States Army ?
Mr. Cobb, Mainly at Santa Ana with a radio-production unit,
Mr. Wheeler. While at Santa Ana, or, rather, while you were in
the armed services, did you participate in any Communist meetings?
Mr. Cobb, No, sir. There was a strict directive in the party pro-
hibiting that.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you know for what reason ?
Mr, Cobb. I can only suspect that since that was a period of relative
harmony as between the Allies, it was thought best not to do anything
that might upset that.
Mr. Wheeler. Well, after you returned, or, rather, after you were
discharged, did you resume your membership in the Communist Party?
Mr, Cobb, I waited until I was invited again, and attended some
few additional meetings during which it became increasingly clear
that since I and Mrs, Cobb, who, incidentally, has the same attendance
record as my own in the party, that we were thorns in their sides and
Ave didn't subscribe more and more to the requirements and the general
pattern of acquiescence.
CORIMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA 2351
Mr. Wheeler. What pattern of acquiescence did you object to?
Mr. Cobb. Well, a big point was made of adhering to a spirit of
democratic centralism, and it was so obvious that the centralism ob-
tained and the tiemocracy was only given lip sei"\dce to. True, we
were invited to discuss things and to raise questions, but if after that
we still were unconvinced, invariably you were to be pitied and per-
haps given some extra talking to and lecturing and prevailing opinion
as handed down was not to be questioned.
Mr. Wheeler. Are you familiar with the Duclos letter?
Mr. Cobb. I am generally familiar with it.
Mr. Wheeler. Were you a member of the Communist Party at the
time the Duclos letter was written?
Mr. Cobb. I know of its existence. I never read the letter. I
know generally what its purpose was.
Mr. Wheeler. Well, did it affect you in any way in your leaving
the Conmmnist Party ?
Mr. Cobb. It was shocking to me and it coincided with my general
disenchantment with the party methods.
Mr. Wheeler. After you reaffiliated in 1945, were there any addi-
tional new members of this group? I am going on the assumption
that you were reassigned back to the actors' group.
Mr. Cobb. If there were, they were included in the general list of
people.
Mr. Wheeler. You have identified all the individuals you met as
Communists in Hollywood ?
Mr. Cobb. That's right.
Mr, Wheeler. Did any outside instructors come in to give lectures?
Mr. Cobb. Yes ; lectures and classes of a sort were held by Arnold
Manoff.
Mr. Wheeler. He is a screen writer ?
Mr. Cobb. He is a screen writer, and on one occasion k functionary,
whose name I never got, had a private talk with me in an attempt to
congenially pull me back into line. I can only describe him. I don't
know his name. He was a man of more than average height. He had
dark hair that was straight. He spoke with a German accent.
Mr, Wheeler. When do you date the time you completely left the
party, or, rather, you quit attending meetings?
Mr, Cobb. In an endeavor to be completely certain, I was going to
say 1947, but in discussing it with Mrs. Cobb, she was convinced that
it must have been 1946, sometime in 1946.
Mr. Wheeler, Well, would you say the first quarter or the second
quarter or the third quarter? What would your estimate be?
Mr, Cobb, Well, to avoid error, I would rather be on the long side
than the short side, so I would say perhaps even as late as the third or
fourth quarter.
Mr, Wheeler, We could estimate your membership after you re-
turned from the Army a period of about a year. That could vary one
way or the other ?
Mr, Cobb, That's right, a month or two.
Mr, Wheeler, How many meetings would you say you attended?
Mr. Cobb, Very few,
Mr, Wheeler. During that period.
Mr, Cobb. Very few. My ability to attend was circumscribed be-
cause I was sent on location on 1 or 2 occasions to Mexico.
2352 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA
Mr. Wheeler. At that time you were under contract with Twentieth
Century-Fox ?
Mr. Cobb. Yes.
Mr. Wheeler. Their records would sliow the j)eriod of time you
were on location?
Mr. Cobb. Yes. That is true, I have some of the dates.
Mr. Wheeler, Could you estimate the months that you were away ?
Mr. Cobb. Yes; I could. I was about 3 months in Mexico, about
5 weeks in Connecticut, and New York.
Mr. AVheeler. Any place else?
Mr. Cobb. I was on location in Chicago in 1946 or 1947. I can
estimate that the time I was away from Hollywood during my latter
membership was about 5 months.
Mr. Wheeler. I have no further questions to ask you about the
period of time you were a Communist. I would like to ask you if you
think we have covered most of the information you possess.
Mr. Cobb. I think so, and I want to make myself clear as being
available should any furtlier questions be necessary. If I should
recall anything further that would be pertinent, maj^ I amend ?
Mr. Wheeler. Certainly. Upon receipt of a letter, we can amend
the testimony, with the permission of the chairman.
Were you a member of the Progressive Citizens of America ?
Mr. Cobb. Is that the same organization that became ASP?
Mr. Wheeler. Yes ; it is.
Mr. Cobb. At one time I paid a dollar and got on the mailing list of
ASP. If that makes me a member, I was.
Mr. Wheeler. It is noted here that a conference on thought control,
sponsored by the Plollywood Arts and Sciences and Professions Coun-
cil, Progressive Citizens of America, was held in the Beverly Hills
Hotel. This information indicates that you were a sponsor of the
thought-control conference ; is that correct ?
Mr. Cobb. I was a speaker.
Mr. Wheeler. You were a speaker ?
Mr. Cobb. I was invited to speak at this panel and when I demurred
on the grounds that I was a poor speaker and hardly an authority, it
was suggested that ASP would have the speech written for me, and
when I examined the roster of what seemed to be respectable speakers
from the university et cetera, I agreed to give this talk if the speech
satisfied me.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you remember the topic of the speech ?
Mr. Cobb, It had to do with the historical role of the actor.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you know who wrote it ?
Mr. Cobb. No ; I don't. It came unsigned.
Mr. Wheeler, Was there any political content in it to your knowl-
edge? Or communistic content?
Mr. Cobb. It was not communistic. It was liberal in tone and had
no special pertinence to the present. It was mildly erudite and con-
tained a lot of anecdotal information.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you believe that the United States Government
and committees of Congress have the right — I am not speaking of the
rights as set up by the laws of the United States, but the right to
investigate Communists within any environment in the United
States?
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA 2353
Mr. Cobb. Yes, sir; I do. I believe a reasonable interpretation of
the laws and the Constitution would disclose not only a right but a
duty on the part of the various agencies of the Government so to do.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you believe that the Committee on Un-American
Activities so-called set up a censorship of scripts in the motion-picture
industry or of the products to be released by the motion-picture
industry ?
Mr. Cobb. No, sir ; I have seen no instance of it.
Mr. Wheeler. Now, the program of the American Peace Mobiliza-
tion discloses that you signed a call to the American People's meeting
to be held in New York City on April 5 and 6, 1941. I assume this
was during a period of time when or about the period of time you
joined the Communist Party.
Mr. Cobb. That's right. It must have been around that time.
Mr. Wheeler. Do you remember signing such a thing ?
Mr. Cobb. No. I wouldn't deny it, but I don't specifically recall.
Mr. Wheeler. Are you familiar with an organization known as the
International Labor Defense ?
Mr. Cobb. I have heard of it.
Mr. Wheeler. Well, the Daily Worker of March 5, 1942, page 8,
reports that Lee J. Cobb is going to be an auctioneer in the selling
of books for this organization,
Mr. Cobb. March 1942?
Mr. Wheeler. March 5.
Mr. Cobb. I don't recall anything in that connection. I am strongly
inclined to say that I don't remember ever being an auctioneer for
anything.
Mr. Wheeler. That would be a unique experience if you had been
an auctioneer, and if so, you would recall it, wouldn't you ?
Mr. Cobb. I would recall it. There is no doubt that at that time
I permitted myself to be identified with organizations, that is, with
themes of that kind.
Mr. Wheeler. I notice from activities concerning the League of
American Writers that they also had an auction and you were re-
ported as the auctioneer and the reference is given as the Daily Worker,
March 5, 1942, page 8. There must be a mistake made by whoever
compiled it ?
Mr. Cobb. That would be the same thing; wouldn't it?
Mr. Wheeler. Yes. So it would either be the International Labor
Defense or the League of American Writers, I would assume.
Mr. Cobb. In eitlier case, I must say that it is possible that I was
tapped on the shoulder to do something like that. But, in all honesty,
I don't recall the specific instance.
Mr. Wheeler. The Daily Worker of October 19, 1948, page 7, in
an article, reports that you signed a statement in support of Henry
Wallace, to which I certainly don't take exception. However, this
was sponsored by the National Council of Arts, Sciences and
Professions.
Mr. Cobb. I probably did sign it.
Mr. Wheeler. You don't recall the background of who asked you ?
Mr. Cobb. Ithinkthere was a banquet which I attended.
Mr. Wheeler. For Henry Wallace?
2354 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA
Mr. Cobb. I think it was for Henry Wallace. As I recall, it was
quite an extensive affair. I think it' was at Giro's. A good repre-
sentation of Hollywood society was there.
Mr. Wheeler. The Daily Worker of March 8, 1949, page 13, shows
you as a sponsor of a Cultural and Scientific Conference for World
Peace to be held on March 25 to 27, 1949. The article reports that you
were also on the conference program. Do you recall anything about
this particular item ?
Mr. Cobb. I recall specifically signing the petition, I was never
asked nor did I appear on any program in that connection. The occa-
sion was a young high-school boy and girl coming backstage to the
dressingroom of the theater where I was then playing in New York
City with the petition, acquainting me with the fact that it was a plea
for peace, and I could see that quite a few prominent world figures
had already signed, and I must say that I am most receptive w'here any
efforts for the cause of world peace are concerned, and so I signed.
I didn't look any further for any hidden political implications in
this.
Mr. Wheeler. Were you a member of Actors' Lab ?
Mr. Cobb. No ; I was not a member of the lab. I worked with the
lab and I taught one term.
Mr. Wheeler. Did you receive compensation?
Mr. Cobb. No, sir.
Mr, Wheeler. I just wondered, because the school was approved
by the United States Government for GI
Mr. Cobb. That was much later. When I taught at the lab it was,
I believe, before I went into the service.
Mr. Wheeler. To what degree did the Communist Partv control
the Actors' Lab?
Mr. Cobb. To the degree that there were several Communists on
the board of the lab. Incidentally, I declined when I was invited to
become a board member because of my ideas about the theater which
Avere in variance with theirs. Their intention was to make the lab
a mass people's organization, which obviously would have made im-
possible any real theater activity, and since I was interested in the
theater, I did not lend myself to the attempt.
Mr. Wheeler. Did the Communist fraction in the lab in any way
control the product of Actors' Lab ?
Mr. Cobb. They influenced it insofar as they could influence other
members on the boaid. I don't know whether numerically they were
in the majority on the board, and of course I have no way of knowing
to what extent they could have been an influence through pei-sonal
association with the students and other people in the lab.
Mr. Wheeler. I note here by the Daily Worker of February 23,
1948, page 16, the Actors' Lab evidently formulated some type of
protest against censorship. I note from this article or from the
dossier that you were a supporter of this program. Do you recall
any of the background of how you became a supporter?
Mr. Cobb. That was directed at the committee inA^estigation, was it?
Mr, Wheeler. I would go on that assumption, Mr. Cobb. Unfor-
tunately, I don't have the article here.
Mr. Cobb. Did you say I signed something?
Mr, Wheeler. It says you supported the Actors' Lab and protested
against censorship.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA 2355
Mr. Cobb. That may have been in connection with attacks on the
lab by the Tenney committee in California, which in all honesty I
liad considered as unfair. I think it nmst have been that.
Mr. Wheeler. Are you familiar with the People's Drama ?
Mr. Cobb. No. sir.
Mr. Wheeler. The Dailv Worker of August 22, 1949, page 11,
reflects that you signed a call for a meeting. This was sponsored by
the People's Drama.
Mr, Cobb. I perhaps did, but I still know nothing of the People's
Drama.
Mr. Wheeler, Well, the Daily Worker of September 2, 1949, page 4,
discloses that you signed a statement on behalf of Robeson, I imagine
the Paul Robeson meeting.
Mr. Cobb. That was in 1949. I recall the time and I recall that I
deplored very deeply the physical violence that flared up then. What
did it say I signed?
Mr. VVheeler. On behalf of the Robeson meeting.
Mr. Cobb. It is my firm belief that any individual, whether I sub-
scribe to his beliefs or not, does have the right to express himself pub-
licly so long as he does not by so doing endanger the safety and rights
of others.
Mr. Wheeler. Are you familiar with an organization called China
Welfare Appeals, Inc.?
Mr. Cobb, I am once again familiar with it. I say "once again,"
because recently I took the trouble to trace my past connection with
it, which I had completely forgotten about. An organization which
I believe was called the China Relief Ship in 1949, 1 think, asked for
names for sponsorsliip in the theater.
Richard Watts, Jr., the New York drama critic, approached me in
this connection and I said he might use my name. I had completely
forgotten about it. When it was called to my attention a couple of
years later that another organization called China Relief, I believe,
occupying the same address as the former, was then using my
name on its letterhead in connection with its political activity
Mr. Wheeler. The latter was undoubtedly the successor organiza-
tion; I mean they changed names, so frequently they changed names.
Mr. Cobb. Yes.
Mr. Wpieeler. However, this was prior to the Korean police action,
and what would your attitude be now in regard to
Mr. Cobb. Well, in line with my attitude now as well as last year,
I last year sent them a registered letter insisting that they cease using
my name in any way for their efforts, and that would still be my
attitude today, of course.
You did mention the Korean conflict. May I say now in that con-
nection that in 1951 I offered my services to the Korean Consulate
General in New York. I offered my services in behalf of South Korea
to their Consulate General in New York in 1951 to be made use of in
whatever way they might, in answer to which I received a very kind
letter from David Y. Namkoom, the Consulate General.
The letter is dated November 16, 1951.
Also may I say for the record that I have letters and commenda-
tions from the Treasury Department dated October 31, 1949, for my
participation in transcribed radio programs.
2356 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA
I also was happy to make several Navy recruiting programs in 1950
or 1951, and two big United Nations radio programs in 1949 and 1950.
I have participated prominently in several other programs on radio
and film in connection Avith our Government's efforts at home and
abroad in the furtherance of the cause of democracy as expressed by
our current foreign policy.
Mr. Wheeler. Mr. Cobb, do you have anything further you would
like to add for the record?
Mr. Cobb. I would like to thank you for the privilege of setting the
record straight, not only for whatever subjective relief it affords me,
but if belatedly this infonnation can be of any value in the further
strengthening of our Government and its efforts at home as well as
abroad, it will serve in some small way to mitigate against whatever
feeling of guilt I might have for having waited this long.
I did hope that in my delay to speak earlier others of the people I
had mentioned might have availed themselves of this opportunity for
themselves to do likewise. I think by this time I can reasonably as-
sume that those who have desired to do so have taken the opportunity
to make their position clear, and I can only say that I am sorry for
those who haven't and that more haven't done so.
Mr. Wheeler. Thank you very much, Mr. Cobb, for giving the
committee the benefit of your laioWledge of the Communist conspiracy.
(Whereupon the interrogation of Lee J. Cobb was concluded.)
INDEX
Paga
Adams, Charlotte Darling 2309-2320 (statement)
Allen, Fred 2332
Anderson, Betty (Mrs. Betty Wilson) 2325
Bachelis, Thelma - 2817
Backus, Georgia 2305
Bassman, George 2325
Beard, Cecil 2318
Berkeley, Martin 2326-2328
Biberman, Edward 2317
Biberman, Herbert 2314, 2327
Bogart, Humphrey 2306
Bohman. Roman 2304
Brand, Phoebe 2346, 2347
Brant, Catherine 2344
Bridges, Lloyd 2349
Bright, John 2828
Bromberg, Joe 2303, 2328
Buchman, Harold 2324-2826
Buniu, Lou 2340
Burnstein, Russell William___ 2340
Butler, Hugo 2301
Cagnev, James 2304
Carnovsky, Morris 2303, 2346, 2347
Carroll, Madelaine 2306
Carufo, Jessie 2342
Caspary, Vera 2306
Cobb, Lee J 2303, 2345-2356 (statement)
Cobb, Mrs. Lee J - 2350, 2351
Collins, Richard 2305, 2324-2326
Corev, Jeff 2349
Crutcher, Norville 2317
Da Silva, Howard 2303, 2304
Devine, Andy 2.306
Donath, Ludwig 2349
Dow, James 2325
Drdrlik, Frank 2810, 2314
D'Usseau, Arnaud 2,825
Endore, Guy 2339
Endore, Henriette 2339
Faragoh, Francis Edwards 2306
Fleury, Bernice 2318
Fleury, Eusene 2317. 2318
Foreman, Carl 2338, 2339
Foreman, Estelle 2338, 2339
Garfield, .John 2304
Geer. Will 2305
Gilbert, Ed 2810, 2314
Goodrich, Francis 2314
Gordon, Don 2310
Gordon, Julian 2317
Gough, Lloyd 2805
Graff, Fred : 2305
Hackett, Albert 2314
Harris, Lou 2827
Hayden, Sterling 2305
2357
2358 INDEX
Page
Herrick, Harry 2314
Ililberman, Dave 2311, 2318
Hilbermau, Libby 2311, 2318
Hinman, Luke 2326, 2328
Hol)art, Rosp 2349
Howard, Evelyn (Mrs. Maurice Howard) 2319,2320
Howard, Maurice 2318
Hubley, John 2318
Jaffe. Sam 2304. 2347
.lanofsljy. Leonard 2312, 2315
Johnson, Viola W 2308 (statement)
Kibbee, Roland William 2:^21-2335 (testimony)
Kibre, JetT 2311-2315, 2325, 2328
Kibre, Viridnia — 2314
Killian. Victor, Sr 2305,2349
Klein, Phil 2312
Koestler. Arthur— 2343
Kromberuer. Joe 2310
Lang, i'.abbette 2337-2344 (statement)
Lantr. David 2339
Lardner. Ring. Jr 2325
Larkin. Catfieiine 2339
Lawrence, Marc 2304, 2349
Lawson. John Howard 2305,2317,2324.2325,2:^0,2350
Lawson, Kate 2317
Lees, Jean 2339, 2340
T^nnart, Isobel 2327
Loeb, Philip 2305, 2347
Leonard. ( 'harlev 2339
Leonard, Helen 2339
Liebowitz. Samuel 2329, 2330
Lvon. Pete 2347
Maltz, Albert 2331, 2341
Maltz, Marj^^aret 2339, 2340
Mandel, Louis 2299-2307
Manoff, Arnold 2351
Martinez, Ben 2314
Mindlin, Eunice— 2343
Morgan, Ann Roth 2338
Morgan. Steve 2337, 2338
Morley, Hank— 2316
Morley, Karen 2304
Murphy, Maurice 2327
Mussa, Ed 2314
Namkoom. David Y 2355
Nolan, Frank 2319
Nolan. Mary 2319
Ornitz, Sadie 2339
Ornitz. Samuel 2325, 2329. 2339
Oser, Ruth 2:U1, 2342
Parks, Larry 2290-2307 (testimony), 2346,2349
Peck, Gregory 2306
Perlin, Paul 2319
Peterson, Henry 2310
Peterson. Hjalmar 2310
Pierce, Ted 2314
Pomerance, Edwina 2318
Pomerance, William 2318
Rapf, Maurice 2325
Reed. Bob 2347
Revere, Anne 2303, 2349
Robeson, Paul 2355
Robinson, Edward G 2306
Robison. Naomi 2819
Rosenberg, Meta Reis 2305
Bossen, Robert 2305
INDEX 2359
Page
llossen, Sam 2303
Kiiskin, Sliimeu 2349
Salt, Waldo 2325, 2320, 2328
Saul, Estelle 2340
Saul, Oscar 2340
Scacerieux, Jules 2314
Schary, Dore 2337
Schleln, Charles 2348
Schleiu, Gerry 2348, 2349
Sc'liulberg, Bufld 2322, 2328
Schwartz, Zachery 2318
Shore, Viola Brothers 2338
Sondergaard, Gale 2303, 2349
Sondergaard, Hester 230tj
Sorrell, Herbert 2313
Stauder, Lionel 2306
Stanislavski 2350
Steinbeck, John 2330
Sullivan, Elliott 2349
Tanner. Harry 2341, 2342
Tasker, Robert 2328
Tree, Dorothy 2303, 2349
Trivers, Paul 2325
Truiubo, Dalton 2330
Tuttle, Frank 2301, 2329
Tyue, George 2349
Tlris, .Aiichael 2303
Van de Kar, Catherine 2342
Wagner, Esther Jerry 2343
Wallace. Henry 2344, 2353, 2354
Watts, Richard. Jr 2355
Winner, Gi^orge 2339
Winner. Tiba 2339
Wilson, Betty (Betty Anderson) 2325
Wilson, Michael 2338
Yarns, Buddy 2349
Orgamzations and Pttiu.ications
Actors" Equity 2347
Actors' Lab 2354
American Peace Mobilization 2353
Cannery Workers Union 2326
China Relief Ship 2355
China Welfare Appeals, Inc 2355
Committee To Aid Agricultural Workers 2325
Community Homes 2319, 2320
Congress of Industrial Organizations 2323
Cultural and Scientific Conference for World Peace 2354
Daily Worker 2353-2355
Disney Studios 2312, 2313
Federal Bureau of Investigation 2331,2332,2347
Group Theater 2346
Hollywood Anti-Nazi League 2322
Hollywood Council of the Arts, Sciences, and Professions, Progressive
Citizens of America 2352
IBEW 2310
Independent Progressive Party 2344
Independent Union of Cartoonists 2312
Internal Revenue Department 2334
International Association of Theatrical and Stage Employees 2310
International Labor Defense 2353
League of American Writers 2353
National Council of Arts. Sciences, and Professions 2353
National Labor Relations Board 2318
New Masses 2301
New York City College 2345
2360 INDEX ^
1
Page
Pacific Coast Labor Bureau 1. 2318
People's Drama _ 1_ 2^55
Progressive Citizens of America 2352
Red Channels -.^ 2334
Scottsboro Case 2329
Screen Cartoonists' Guild 2310, 2311, 231:?, 2314, 2318, 2319
Screen Writers' Guild 2311:, 2315, 2331, 2337
Stockholm Peace Petition 2334
Studio Unemployment Conference 2314
Supreme Court 2330
o
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