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1468 COMMUNISM IN MOTION-PICTURE INDUSTRY and Percy was very active in the Contemporary Theater work which staged left-wing plays. Mr. Tavenner. When you say he was "active" in the theater in this particular theater group, do you mean to indicate that activity related to Communist Party work of any character ? Mrs. Ash. Well, Contemporary Theatre was a front organization for staging left-wing plays. A number of plays were staged under the banner of the Contemporary Theatre, and Mr. Solotoy was very instrumental in organizing that and keeping it going. Mr. Tavenner. Did you meet in Communist Party meetings with each of the persons whose names you have given ? Mrs. Ashe. Yes; I did. Did I mention Lou Harris ? Mr. Tavenner. Yes; you did. Now, in the course of your con- nection with the Communist Party, did you have occasion to meet Communist Party functionaries on a higher level ? Mrs. Ashe. Yes; I did, on numerous occasions. We met often with Hanoff. Elmer Hanoff, I think his name was. Mr. Tavenner. Was he also known as Pop Hanoff? Mrs. Ashe. Pop Hanoff was organizer for the Los Angeles section when we joined the party. Lawrence Ross at that time was organi- zation secretary. Jimmy Allen, who had charge of educational work. I also knew Sam Darcy, who was district organizer. I knew Louise Todd very well who, at one time, was organizer here. I knew John Leech. I knew Jim Thorne. I knew Rube Lambert. I think he spells it R-u-b-e L-a-m-b-e-r-t. I know Oleta O'Connor. That is all I recall at the moment. Mr. Tavenner. Do you recall Paul Klein? Mrs. Ashe. Well, yes. I had very little to do with Paul. I think maybe Paul conducted a central council committee a time or two when I was a delegate. Other than that, I didn't know Paul. I didn't work under Paul at all. Mr. Tavenner. Were you associated in any way with Pettis Perry ? Mrs. Ashe. Yes, I knew Pettis Perry very well. I don't know what his—I don't know what his official position as a functionary was, but I did know Pettis. Mr. Tavenner. Did you know him as a member of the Communist Party? Mrs. Ashe. Definitely. Mr. Tavenner. He is the same person who is now under indictment in California? Mrs. Ashe. Well, I wouldn't know, but I would say yes. He was a Negro comrade. Mr. Tavenner. You mentioned Louise Todd. Now, what was your first association with her? Mrs. Ashe. Well, Louise came to Los Angeles to take over the organization job, and I worked with Louise a very great deal. I knew Louise very well, up to the time she went to Tehachapi, and even after, because I visited her at Tehachapi, and it was Louise who as- signed me to the reserve committee that you asked about a few mo- ments ago. She also assigned me to act as collector for the party. That is, collecting from people who gave regular donations who were not Communist Party members, or, if they were, they were so under- ground that we didn't know it.