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COMMUNISM IN MOTION-PICTURE INDUSTRY 129 thing was washed up, and I simply met a correspondent in Boston who knew a producer, and he told the producer about me, and he con- tacted me in New York and made a test, a very bad test, but it got me a contract with Paramount and I went to work as an actor. Mr. Tavenner. While you were on the west coast serving under this first contract, was Capt. Warwick Tompkins on the west coast also? Mr. Hayden. Yes. He had at that time, I believe in 1938 or 1937, he had shifted his base of operations from Boston to San Francisco, therefore he was in San Francisco in 1940 when I first got out there. I felt kind of lost in Hollywood, not really being an actor by in- clination, and one time when I was feeling particularly low I decided to pay him a visit. I went to San Francisco and saw him. He at that time, or previously, had become, I believe, an open and avowed Com- munist. He made no bones about it. He talked about very little else, and he started to deluge me with propaganda. . Mr. Tavenner. Were you a Communist at that time ? Mr. Hayden. No. It had never entered my head. Mr. Tavenner. Do you recall meeting any other persons at that time who you either knew then or have found out since were members of the Communist Party, through your connections with Captain Tompkins ? Mr. Hayden. On one of those visits, I believe probably that it was in 1941, while he was in San Francisco living on his ship, he said he wanted to introduce me to what he called, and I quote, "an old warrier in the class struggle," "Pop" Folkoff. I met him at a luncheon. I thought he was a retired tailor at that time. What he was, I don't know to this day. Who else I may have met that year, I don't remem- ber too clearly. Mr. Tavenner. During your first contract in Hollywood, did you join any particular unions or groups? Mr. Hayden. I joined the Screen Actors' Guild, as every actor does. That was all. Mr. Tavenner. What was the way in which Captain Tompkins went about consulting with you regarding communism? Tell us a little more in detail about that. Mr. Hayden. All right, sir. If I may change the word, I wouldn't say he consulted with me. I think he recognized I was at a peculiar stage in my life. I was sort of betwixt and between. The sea had always been my calling. This was now denied me, or I had denied myself it. I was feeling restless and dissatisfied in Hollywood. He used the device of talking and talking and asking why I didn't read more. I had never thought in political terms at all. That was an- other world, which I am not particularly proud of today. Mr. Tavenner. As I understand, your work in Hollywood was in- terrupted by your service during the period of the war? Mr. Hayden. That it was. Mr. Tavenner. Will you tell us the circumstances under which you left Hollywood? Mr. Hayden. Yes. Mr. Tavenner. But before doing that, have you been engaged in the production of any particular movies prior to your leaving Hollywood? Mr. Hayden. Yes. I made two pictures. I had only been in Holly- wood 2 weeks when I was cast in second lead in Virginia, and a short while later in Bahama Passage.