The Cine Technician (1953-1956)

December, 1953 THE CINE-TECHNICIAN 165 TT is against this background of intention and J dedication that the attacks upon this picture during the course of production must be seen. We had been shooting SALT OF THE EARTH since 20th January, Inauguration Day. The production was sponsored by the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, and our cast included hundreds of its members and their families. Even after a storm of hysterical publicity burst over us, thousands of our neighbours and associates in the Silver City area assumed we had a right to be there. A false assumption, said Congressman Donald Jackson. On 24th February, this California Representative delivered a speech in the halls of Congress, in which he said : ". . . Mr. Speaker, 1 have received reports of the sequences filmed to date . . . This picture is deliberately designed to inflame racial hatreds ... (It) is a new weapon for Russia. For instance, in one sequence, two deputy sheriffs arrest a meek American miner of Mexican descent and proceed to pistol whip the miner's very young son. (They) also imported two auto carloads of coloured people for the purpose of shooting a scene depicting mob violence." As a direct result of Congressman Jackson's speech, our leading lady was arrested, members of our cast and crew were physically assaulted, and a vigilante committee warned us to leave " within twelve hours or be carried out in black boxes." We defied the deadline, demanding and receiving the protection of the New Mexico State police, and finished our work on 6th March. After we did depart, however, and the protective police as well, the attacks on our Mine-Mill brothers and sisters continued. Two union halls were set afire, one of them burning to the ground. Also razed by arson was the home of a union leader, Floyd Bostock, who had played a role in the film. His three young children narowly escaped the flames. Without reading the script, or asking to, without seeing the film, or waiting to, an incendiary Congressman had spoken. His fury can be understood only if one recognises how unprecedented it was for manual workers and cultural workers of our country to collaborate, and what promise for a more truly democratic future such a collaboration holds. In organising for independent productions, we had one basic aim : to place the talents of the blacklisted (both those who had worked in films and those who had never been given the opportunity) at the service of ordinary people. There were indeed Negroes in this production : an assistant to the director, an assistant cameraman and two technicians — all in categories of work never available to Negroes in Hollywood. Simon Lazarus, a respected motion picture exhibitor, had formed Independent Productions Corporation to back us. Money was borrowed from liberal Americans, it being understood that none of us who wrote, directed or produced the film would receive any remuneration until the loans were repaid. In the wake of the Silver City storm, Mr. Lazarus was himself hailed before the Un-American Activities Committee and asked to divulge who the backers were. He refused to answer personal questions and thus could not be forced to inform on others. He did, however, volunteer to tell the Committee what our film was about. But the investigators were not interested. They did not want to investigate, but to prejudge and censor. The efforts to prevent SALT OF THE EARTH from being made began long before the spectacular assaults in Silver City, and continued long after our location shooting was completed. Consider, as a pre-production problem, a crew. In Hollywood, most motion picture technicians belong to the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees (AFL). West coast head of the IATSE is Roy M. Brewer, who inherited his protectorate over Hollywood labour from two gangsters, William Bioff and George E. Browne. A zealous adherent of Congressional witch-hunters, Brewer has understood that his civic responsibility to enforce the blacklist goes far beyond his trade union responsibility to see that his men get jobs. That, no doubt, is why he refused to let us hire an IATSE crew. As a trade paper reported it later : "Simon Lazarus, named as prexy of the company, approached Roy M. Brewer, the chairman of the AFL Film Council, about nine months ago, seeking assurance from him that he could make a motion picture using the ' Unfriendly Ten.' Brewer yesterday recalled he flatly told Lazarus he would prevent such a project in every legal way possible." — Daily Variety, 25th February, 1953. " Legal " was an afterthought. What Brewer said was that he would see us in hell first. We gathered a union crew despite Roy Brewer. Some were members of his own IATSE. Some had been expelled from the IATSE for opposing Brewer's rule. Three were Negroes, denied membership in the IATSE because of its Jim Crow policies. Every member of our crew carried a union card. As for post-production problems, the would-be censors of the picture have tried to sabotage it in every way. They have demanded that all laboratories close their doors to us, warned technicians not to help us — lest they find themselves blacklisted. Failing here, we expect they will extend their intimidation to film exhibitors when the picture is ready for release. Meanwhile Congressman Jackson has been needling the Departments of State and Commerce to find some obscure statute which might forbid the export of this picture. No such statute exists, but we would be naive to think that the legality of our endeavour will give the bigots pause. WHLL the film be shown ? We have no illusions *» about the fight that lies ahead. Of this we are certain — the harassment will continue, and we will need many allies to defeat the censors and saboteurs. Naturally, the degree of support we eventually get will depend on the end product — the finished film. If trade unionists someday discover that this picture is the first feature film ever made in this country which is of labour, by labour and for labour; if minority peoples come to see in it a film that does not tolerate minorities but celebrates their greatness; if men and women together find in it some new recognition of the worth and dignity of a working class woman — then this audience, these judges, will find ways of overcoming the harassment. But to reach these judges, we must first get past the pre-judgers. To reach these eventual allies, we need immediate allies — for whether the people are to praise this film or damn it, they must first have the right to see it. That is why we appeal to everyone who is morally concerned with free communication to help provide the atmosphere and the place in which SALT OF THE EARTH can be shown and judged on its own merits.